TV Meme and a small bit on wonky supernatural tv soap fandoms

[shadowkat]

I ganked this from ...


Which TV shows did you start watching in 2012?

*Breaking Bad (well not exactly, I tried it in 2011, gave up, then got talked into giving it a second chance in 2012 by a co-worker.)
* Elementary
* Call the Midwife
* Nashville
* Smash
* Louis
* Revolution
* Arrow
* Newsroom (And quickly gave up on)
* Political Animals (I think it was short-lived)
* Hart of Dixie (may give up on yet)
* Copper
* Bunheads

I'm sure there are more, I just can't remember them. If they aren't memorable they don't count. How you know that you are a tv slut? You can't remember half the tv shows you watch and have to look them up on your DVR.

Which TV shows did you let go of in 2012?

*Supernatural - the three-way bro romance can only go so far before it gets repetitive.
*Leverage
*Royal Pains
* Burn Notice
*Fringe (I watched 3 seasons, but had no time to watch the new episodes...and by the time they came out on DVD, I'd lost interest. Fringe is a lot like OUAT - interesting narrative structure and story ideas, but the characters feel a bit flat or something. I can't quite figure it out. It just never quit grabbed me emotionally. Intellectually yes. Emotionally? No.)
*Dallas Reboot (JR was interesting, everyone else was dull as toast.)
* Being Human (BBC and US versions)
*Newsroom
* Mob Doctor - silly premise, poorly executed
* Last Resort - silly premise, and uninteresting characters
* Scandal - interesting premise, but the characters didn't interest me
* Upstairs/Downstairs
* whatever that silly horror tale was on ABC that starred Paul Blackthorne and took place on the Amazon about the missing documentary show doctor/adventurer?
* Missing
*American Horror Story - too over-the-top
*Political Animals
*The Killing

There must be others, but drawing a blank at the moment.


Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2012? Why?

*Grimm -tried two episodes, but just never grabbed me. Seen too many similar shows, unfortunately.
*Teen Wolf - decided the werewolf thing and me are unmixy things. I just don't like the genre. I find it either gross or silly and the metaphors obvious. Unless of course it's one of the three films that did not take themselves too seriously: Wolf, Teen Wolf, and American Werewolf in London.
I struggle with Vamp Diaries for similar reasons. I don't know why I don't like the genre, or why it doesn't work for me - just that it doesn't.
* Luther - not in the right frame of mind
* The Hour - have a lot of S2 on DVR, so who knows...
* Wallender - same problem as Luther...not in the right frame of mind


Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2013?

*Homeland - it's on Showtime
*Sons of Anarchy - requires renting, too far along, also I think from flist's reviews it jumped the shark in later seasons?

Which TV show impressed you least in 2012?

*Downton Abbey - too sentimental and sappy, and I found that I did not like the Upstairs stories that much

* Nashville - supposed to be the hit of the fall season...turned out to be a disappointing series of poorly executed cliche sub-plots and unlikable supporting characters...but I'm hanging in there, because I like the music and the two female leads.

* SMASH - weirdly like Nashville, it was supposed to be the hit of the Spring Season, but turned out to be a disappointing series of poorly executed cliche sub-plots and unlikable supporting characters...but I'm hanging in there because I like the music and I like Derek, Tom, and Ivy.
They both have the same problem, too much cliche soap, not enough cool music.

*Vamp Diaries - lame handling of the whole heroine becomes a vampire thread. Also too much focus on the oppressive love triangle from hell. Really disappointing.


Which TV shows surprised you the most - in a good way?

* Breaking Bad - I didn't expect it to end up being that good.
* Elementary - not like any Sherlock Holmes tale I'd seen and interesting characters..
* Walking Dead - it got interesting and developed its characters
* True-Blood - hilarious and actually turned Tara, victim of the week, into a kick-ass character
* General Hospital - fast paced and great historical reflection and use of old favorites
* Vamp Diaries - turned heroine into a vampire (in the Spring was surprising in a good way)
* Copper - twisty plots and atmospheric grittiness, also interesting lead characters

Which TV show did you enjoy the most in 2012?

* Breaking Bad - no question about it, that show blew me away. It really requires being in the right mood though.

Runners up include: The Walking Dead, which did a swift about face from 2011 and actually got really really good. And Game of Thrones...which, while not quite as entertaining as the first season, still got the job done and was a whole lot more entertaining than the second book upon which it was based. (Granted not hard to do, Clash of Kings is not a great read, well not unless you like reading really long detailed battle scenes - not my thing. I liked Feast of Crows better.) The Good Wife - not as good as the previous season, but still a lot of fun. Revenge - best soap out there. And of course the hilarious Big Bang Theory - which surprises me that it makes me laugh so consistently, this is a rare thing. Also, hee, my wonky soap operas: General Hospital, True Blood, and Vamp Diaries which I get such a huge kick out of making fun of, and railing at. Vamp Diaries and True Blood online. GH with the my mother over the phone. They are about equal in wonkiness and oddly in pacing...but GH weirdly has more likable not to mention more realistic and saner characters. There's something to be said for longevity and well giving characters who are over the age of 40 an actual storyline. Oh, nearly forgot..Mad Men, the most realistic and best written of the wonky soap operas, yet oddly with the least likable characters...

So top tv shows this year or tv shows I'd recommend quality wise?

1. Breaking Bad
2. Walking Dead
3. The Good Wife
4. Game of Thrones
5. Mad Men
6. Big Bang Theory
7. Louis
8. BBC's Sherlock
9. Justified
10. Call the Midwife

For a wonky fun time or leave the brain at home please?

1.Revenge
2.Once Upon a Time
3. Vampire Diaries
4. True Blood
5. Subgurgatory
6. General Hospital
7. Glee

As an aside, I'm glad I haven't joined any of the wonky fun time tv series fandoms. Already the shipper wars regarding Vamp Diaries give me a headache. Seriously in Supernatural Soap Operas you'd need a rollerdeck or a log to keep track of all the characters various crimes. People actually did this in the Buffy fandom. They actually went episode by episode and listed text and subtext and actions - in graphic detail - logging what evil things every character did. Then armed with this information, they'd go online and debate. Today, I suspect fans do the same thing but with screen-shots and GIF's. I personally preferred the text - it was more fun and required more work to debate.

If you are thinking some people have far too much time on their hands, you would be right. Not that I was any better...I did my own tracking, just not necessarily on that, although being a former lawyer who did work in Criminal Defense - I could not resist getting embroiled in the debates. Get a bunch of smart, detail oriented geeks together - and well...

I hear OUAT fandom isn't a lot better. Apparently people are fighting over who is worse - Regina or Rumplestilskin. (I vote for Rumple - since he created the curse and taught Regina and Cora how to rip out hearts...and created Captain Hook. But what do I know.)

In Vamp Dairies fandom it's less clear-cut. And little more grey. Mainly because on the one hand you have Damon compelling human Caroline to let him drink from her, have him abuse her, insult her, and I think inadvertently sire her (I can't remember if Katherine or Damon sired Caroline). On the other, Damon selflessly saves Caroline's life and Tyler's, at great risk to his own and a potentially horrible death - he gets bitten by the werewolf. (Granted this is done mainly so that Stefan will go off and martyr himself to Klaus to save Damon's life... now if Damon had just been his nasty self, that would never have happened because I can't really see Stefan doing it for Caroline, although Klaus might have saved Caroline without Stefan. )

It's similar to Caroline and Tyler...on the one hand S1 Tyler is an abusive boyfriend to Vickie, beats her up/beats up Jeremy, is the reason she's so messed up. Then, on the other, we find out Tyler is abused by Dad, and is a werewolf, and Tyler redeems himself. So everyone forgives him and forgets what an ass he was to Vickie, who was of course an evil bitch - so why do we care about her? So do we go by S1 Damon and Tyler or S5? Depends on who appeals to you. Tyler shippers forget S1-2 Tyler (who was a jerk and an ass - mainly because it was to Vickie and Jeremy) and Damon shippers forget S1-2 Damon who was well an ass to Caroline and just about everybody (Give Damon credit - he was not discriminating). But Elena doesn't forget jerk Tyler, any more than Jeremy does, while Caroline doesn't forget jerk Damon. Buffy was somewhat the same way - all the characters were jerks, it was a matter of degree and which action triggered you. And which character you liked and were willing to turn a blind eye towards.

Fans being human beings liked to fight over which trigger was worse or more emotionally valid. All of this looks insane and somewhat silly to someone who never saw the tv shows or is outside the fracas.

There is, let's admit it, nothing funnier than reading another fandom's shipping kerfuffle. You feel this overwhelming desire to poke your head in and say..."you are both right and both wrong"
or "both characters are asses, hello!". Having survived the Spike Wars, I know whereof I speak.

Comments

[promethia_tenk]

Hi! Been pointed over to your journal many a time by elisi and always enjoy your thoughts. Woefully fandom-inactive right now, but I always like having interesting journals to read, so I hope you don't mind if I listen in : )

[shadowkat]

Not at all. And welcome. ;-)

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I hope you'll give Downton Abbey a second chance when season 3 begins in January on PBS. Season 2 really was (as you said) "too sentimental and sappy", which shocked me because WWI should have been way more realistic and edgy (in my opinion), so I was really disappointed in it. But I found that right from the first episode (which I put off watching online for about 6 months because I didn't expect anything interesting from it) the 3rd season REALLY had interesting things to say. They went much more deeply into class issue, religious prejudice, women's rights, and other other thing that were changing radically during this period between WWI and WWII. I think you'll find it both funnier and more interesting (at least I did).

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh I haven't given up on Downton Abbey as of yet. (Just Upstairs/Downstairs).
But it is going to be a bit problematic to watch it - it's opposite two other shows that I love : Revenge and The Good Wife. My mother and I have come up with a game plan though - we'll watch either Revenge or the Good Wife on demand.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

I would love to hear more of your thoughts about Copper. I'd never heard of it until one of the actors showed up on Elementary, and I went down the rabbit hole looking at the list of other work he's done. The basic idea intrigues me, but I'm curious about your impressions.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think you'd like it. It's very gritty, and dark, with lots of atmosphere - mainly because it takes place at the tail end of the Civil War. The historic detail is fairly accurate and the characters are complex.

The story follows three men, Copper (Corky) who is a homicide detective, Mallory (the son of a rich industrialist, who lost a leg in the war) and
a black medical man who name I can't remember at the moment for some reason or other...along with the men and women they come into contact with. It's slow going at first, but does pick up speed and has a nice detailed twisty plot arc, if a rather depressing one.

I liked it. Sort of a historical meets procedural. Very gritty.

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

It's available to purchase at amazon, so I may give the pilot episode a try soon. Just... not this week, with crazy work stuff. Thanks for your feedback about the show.