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Sep. 17th, 2009 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatRead a couple of posts about people losing interest in Glee or giving up on it, after, wait for it...two episodes. I'm not kidding. They have chosen to kick the show to the curb after two episodes. LOL. (Not counting the pilot - which they appeared to have liked). Wish people did the same with the Twilight books, several reality series and procedurals I won't name and 90210, but oh well.
Boggles the mind. Our society really has become spoiled with choices, hasn't it?
We expect to be entertained now, and if we aren't, we wander off to better climes.
It's weird when it comes to TV, I don't expect that sort of immediate gratification and tend to be fairly suspicious of it when it comes. Mostly because 9 times out of ten the tv shows that gave it to me, sucked beans by about the twentieth episode or even the second season, then either disappeared or I gave up on. Examples of the strikes gold with first episode then staggers into mediocrity include Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Joan of Arcadia, Nip/Tuck and to a degree Veronica Mars...while examples of sort of lame, but has potential, and wow, has become surprisingly brilliant include Buffy, Angel, Supernatural...Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 (although I did like the first two seasons), and Gossip Girl.
I've learned to give a tv show that I find intriguing a ten episode try, a tv show that I find halfway interesting - a five episode try. Heck I hated How I Met Your Mother the first season, second one I liked a bit better.
Granted mileage differs on this, as it does on practically everything including how to discuss things and whether or not to argue and how to best support an argument, people are really frustrating to talk to sometimes. While it would be really boring if we all agreed, there are weeks I wish we sort of did. ;-)
And Glee much like Dollhouse and other off the beaten path tv shows (aka Cult hits) is hardly for everyone. It's satire. I'm weird when it comes to comedy - I prefer satire to "embarrassment/situational" comedy.
In other news Dollhouse has a killer guest cast this season. I don't know who Whedon is bribing but he somehow managed to lure the likes of Keith Carradine, Ray Wise, Jamie Bamber, Summer Glau, and Alexis Denisof to his cast this season. Keith Carradine and Ray Wise are the creme of the sci-fi television guest stars. No one can play twisted, multi-faceted characters like these guys. For a low-budgeted series, that's pretty damn good.
Sorry, but I adore Keith Carradine. Some people love lead actor/actress types, me? I follow the character actors...with a few minor exceptions of course.
Boggles the mind. Our society really has become spoiled with choices, hasn't it?
We expect to be entertained now, and if we aren't, we wander off to better climes.
It's weird when it comes to TV, I don't expect that sort of immediate gratification and tend to be fairly suspicious of it when it comes. Mostly because 9 times out of ten the tv shows that gave it to me, sucked beans by about the twentieth episode or even the second season, then either disappeared or I gave up on. Examples of the strikes gold with first episode then staggers into mediocrity include Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Joan of Arcadia, Nip/Tuck and to a degree Veronica Mars...while examples of sort of lame, but has potential, and wow, has become surprisingly brilliant include Buffy, Angel, Supernatural...Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 (although I did like the first two seasons), and Gossip Girl.
I've learned to give a tv show that I find intriguing a ten episode try, a tv show that I find halfway interesting - a five episode try. Heck I hated How I Met Your Mother the first season, second one I liked a bit better.
Granted mileage differs on this, as it does on practically everything including how to discuss things and whether or not to argue and how to best support an argument, people are really frustrating to talk to sometimes. While it would be really boring if we all agreed, there are weeks I wish we sort of did. ;-)
And Glee much like Dollhouse and other off the beaten path tv shows (aka Cult hits) is hardly for everyone. It's satire. I'm weird when it comes to comedy - I prefer satire to "embarrassment/situational" comedy.
In other news Dollhouse has a killer guest cast this season. I don't know who Whedon is bribing but he somehow managed to lure the likes of Keith Carradine, Ray Wise, Jamie Bamber, Summer Glau, and Alexis Denisof to his cast this season. Keith Carradine and Ray Wise are the creme of the sci-fi television guest stars. No one can play twisted, multi-faceted characters like these guys. For a low-budgeted series, that's pretty damn good.
Sorry, but I adore Keith Carradine. Some people love lead actor/actress types, me? I follow the character actors...with a few minor exceptions of course.
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Date: 2009-09-18 07:55 am (UTC)Brilliant policy, btw. Definitely agree with you that Buffy didn't become brilliant until season 2 (subsequently with the arrival of Spike, of course). You nailed the list of shows that had good first seasons then turned blah afterwards, though I'd add The O.C. to that list of one-season wonders.
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Date: 2009-09-18 04:24 pm (UTC)Most tv shows fluctuate - like Lost and BSG. They have their ups and downs. Which makes sense if you consider the writers are hammering out 22 episodes each year. (Sort of the equivalent of writing, producing, editing, acting, directing 22 films a year. Or writing 22 books a year. Not as easy as it looks.) The UK's policy of 13 episodes a year (Torchwoood and Doctor Who) actually works better and has been adopted sucessfully by several series including Mad Men, and possibly Dollhouse. It frees up the writers, actors and the budget. Cheaper and less exhausting on everyone involved.