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shadowkatLost my entire post. Dang-it.
So, instead of rewriting it. Go here to read the article from the Metro on Rupert Murdoch scandal slowly making its way across the pond to the US. The skinny? CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Journalism) has requested that the US Congress investigate Murdoch's News Corp. to determine if they hacked into American politicians and private citizens emails. Also the US Department of Justice is considering using the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to launch an investigation of allegations that News Corp. routinely paid police officers bribes for information - this according to The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). And not to be outdone, Murdoch's stock took a dive on the NY Stock Exchange.
Hot stinky day. And I'm noticing an undercurrent of irritation throbbing through me, either caused by the weather (I'm admittedly a human weather vane) or hormones (annoying things hormones get me into all sorts of trouble be much happier without the bloody things, then again maybe not). Also, an observation? Is it just me or is life or rather all forms of human conversation thwart with emotional landmines? I can get into trouble for just voicing my opinions on movies and television writers and characters - doesn't matter where. Which may explain why I seldom discuss such things offline.
Heaven forbid I admit to liking a show like Buffy offline. Or *cough* Vamp Diaries (I did once and ran into a very uncomfortable discussion over the phone with the Risk Management Manager at work of how Bones and House were more intelligent and better written than Vamp Diaries - they aren't, I know I've watched all three, about the same actually). The Wire - is fairly safe. It's mainstream and critically acclaimed. Farscape? No one has heard of it , except people who loved it or people who made fun of it, sort of helps to know which group your about to run smack dab into before making a comment. True Blood? Need to be careful - fans are split into three groups, those who love the tv series and don't think it's a hilarious comedy, those who loved the books, and those who think it's a great parody/satire of the books and entire trope. In short? See Farscape. Doctor Who and/or Torchwood? See Farscape. Books? Same problem - if I were reading things like Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking or something contemporary literary - or non-fictional literary - like The Midmeasure of a Man, I'd be fine. But I'm reading a YA fantasy novel called Graceling that no one has ever heard of. I am not permitted to discuss Twilight books with anyone. Half my extended family (aunts, cousins, not the immediate one thank god) read the books and loved them to pieces. And co-workers loved it. (I don't understand the appeal frankly. And find the whole fact that such a poorly written book got published highly offensive. See? This is why I'm not allowed to discuss it.) Had a rather awkward experience with my Aunt and cousin during a funeral a few years back. Aunt - your cousin is watching the film Twilight for the second time - if you'd like to join her? Me = wincing. Aunt - okay, perhaps not. The polite thing would have been to go join her, watch Twilight, and resist the urge to wince or snark during it. But I know me.
Used to be religion and politics were the only emotional hot-buttons...but not any more. Even apartment hunting can be problematic as a topic. Life ain't safe...there's verbal landmines everywhere just waiting to be stepped on. The only topic that seems halfway safe any more may be the weather, but you have to make sure you keep it to just the weather and don't start comparing notes on which area of the planet is the best to live, or whether summer is better than winter - because ack, landmines!!! Is it any wonder that I come from work to relax in my cool flat sans people in happy relief?? Happy Hour?? Sounds like a nightmare. With Beer. (Actually tequila, since I can't do beer unless its gluten free and wine, well does not like me any more for some reason. Don't know what I did to piss it off, but it just decided one day, I don't like you and that was that.)
So, instead of rewriting it. Go here to read the article from the Metro on Rupert Murdoch scandal slowly making its way across the pond to the US. The skinny? CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Journalism) has requested that the US Congress investigate Murdoch's News Corp. to determine if they hacked into American politicians and private citizens emails. Also the US Department of Justice is considering using the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to launch an investigation of allegations that News Corp. routinely paid police officers bribes for information - this according to The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). And not to be outdone, Murdoch's stock took a dive on the NY Stock Exchange.
Hot stinky day. And I'm noticing an undercurrent of irritation throbbing through me, either caused by the weather (I'm admittedly a human weather vane) or hormones (annoying things hormones get me into all sorts of trouble be much happier without the bloody things, then again maybe not). Also, an observation? Is it just me or is life or rather all forms of human conversation thwart with emotional landmines? I can get into trouble for just voicing my opinions on movies and television writers and characters - doesn't matter where. Which may explain why I seldom discuss such things offline.
Heaven forbid I admit to liking a show like Buffy offline. Or *cough* Vamp Diaries (I did once and ran into a very uncomfortable discussion over the phone with the Risk Management Manager at work of how Bones and House were more intelligent and better written than Vamp Diaries - they aren't, I know I've watched all three, about the same actually). The Wire - is fairly safe. It's mainstream and critically acclaimed. Farscape? No one has heard of it , except people who loved it or people who made fun of it, sort of helps to know which group your about to run smack dab into before making a comment. True Blood? Need to be careful - fans are split into three groups, those who love the tv series and don't think it's a hilarious comedy, those who loved the books, and those who think it's a great parody/satire of the books and entire trope. In short? See Farscape. Doctor Who and/or Torchwood? See Farscape. Books? Same problem - if I were reading things like Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking or something contemporary literary - or non-fictional literary - like The Midmeasure of a Man, I'd be fine. But I'm reading a YA fantasy novel called Graceling that no one has ever heard of. I am not permitted to discuss Twilight books with anyone. Half my extended family (aunts, cousins, not the immediate one thank god) read the books and loved them to pieces. And co-workers loved it. (I don't understand the appeal frankly. And find the whole fact that such a poorly written book got published highly offensive. See? This is why I'm not allowed to discuss it.) Had a rather awkward experience with my Aunt and cousin during a funeral a few years back. Aunt - your cousin is watching the film Twilight for the second time - if you'd like to join her? Me = wincing. Aunt - okay, perhaps not. The polite thing would have been to go join her, watch Twilight, and resist the urge to wince or snark during it. But I know me.
Used to be religion and politics were the only emotional hot-buttons...but not any more. Even apartment hunting can be problematic as a topic. Life ain't safe...there's verbal landmines everywhere just waiting to be stepped on. The only topic that seems halfway safe any more may be the weather, but you have to make sure you keep it to just the weather and don't start comparing notes on which area of the planet is the best to live, or whether summer is better than winter - because ack, landmines!!! Is it any wonder that I come from work to relax in my cool flat sans people in happy relief?? Happy Hour?? Sounds like a nightmare. With Beer. (Actually tequila, since I can't do beer unless its gluten free and wine, well does not like me any more for some reason. Don't know what I did to piss it off, but it just decided one day, I don't like you and that was that.)
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Date: 2011-07-15 11:00 pm (UTC)TV is a tough business. The show are written and produced so quickly. The fact that any are good is a miracle. In the US - so many of the network tv series have 22 episodes - which is exhausting. One of the best television writers ever - Rod Serling of Twilight Zone- burned out trying to keep up the pace, he would write 18 of the episodes each year, back to back. He couldn't do it. It was too much. Be a bit like writing 18 books a year.
The better series are actually the shorter ones. The Wire is 10-13 episodes each season. That's roughly half the number of episodes of each Season of Buffy. Same deal with Game of Thrones, Dead Wood, Mad Men...if you are only writing 10-13 episodes, you can do an arc, it's easier.
Genre tv has a problem that realism doesn't - the genre tv show often has to great a world along with the characters, and a mythology, with rules. Ron Moore - prior to filming BSG, wrote a character bible and mythology, he built his world. Joss Whedon wrote up something similar but not as detailed and it showed - Whedon's one weakness was he's not detail oriented enough to write genre, he has a comic book/soap opera writers' laziness. Genre fans are crazy about the details. Sci-fi? You have to have some understanding of science - to play with it effectively. (The Lost writers read every time travel scientific theory they could get their hands on - trying to stay true to hard science.) Genre often requires more attention to detail, and more
knowledge of your world and characters than say a show like Castle or Bones.
You have to make it up and you have to do a convincing enough job that your audience will buy your world - it won't distract them or throw them out of the story.
It's very hard to do well. Which is why sci-fantasy gets such a bad rap. It will either fail - in that it pays too little attention in building its world, or it fails in paying too much and the characters get lost or become cardboard ciphers (Neil Gaimen is guilty of this at times). Balance between the two - very difficult.