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JANUARY 2015 TV DISCUSSION


RIPPA

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The mythology elements ramped up really quickly in Arrow and never looked back. If it had stayed as unconnected as NCIS I wouldn't have watched more than nine episodes. Eat that, Zeidler. There's always a B plot dealing with them now even in episodes with A plots that are Villain of the Week (and those are actually relatively rare now). There's also much more room for character development, I'd say.

 

CBS is the worst.

 

THE GOOD WIFE, babY1!

 

Alan Cumming and Zach Grenier are on CBS every week doing mean things. 

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It depends greatly on the show, but, in general, I prefer procedurals to mythology shows.  I think the procedual format tends to be kind of limiting, but there have been some really great seasons of White Collar, Law and Order, etc.  Generally, I find an average season of, say, NCIS, to be a whole lot more watchable than an average season of State of Affairs

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I really enjoyed the first episode of Empire - the second is on my DVR, but I haven't watched it yet.  I'm skeptical Empire ends up being that good over the course of a season.  It has an "entertaining mess" vibe to it.

 

Anyone watch Hellx last night?  I feel like I shouldn't be that interested in season 2, but I am.  The jungle stuff looks really wacky.  I ended up really disliking season 1.  The first six or seven episodes were very good and really good at building the tension.  The back half of the season dropped off considerably, imo, when it came time to start giving out some answers to the questions.  I really dug the show when it was about genetic engineering.  Was considerably less interested when it morphed into Corporate Highlander.

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I just can't watch EMPIRE for the opposite reasons some people were saying they couldn't watch stuff with too much swearing: a show about the hip-hop business where no one can say much worse than ass or damn is just too ridiculous for me to take seriously.

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Getting too bogged down in the mytharc is what ends up killing genre shows.  A good balance is fine, but getting too far up your own butt kills casual interest in a show.

 

Even the various L&O series do it sometimes, with Goren's breakdown, etc. but what keeps people coming back is the *slowly* layered characterization of the various leads, their chemistry, and the world that eventually gets built.

 

Genre shows try to cut corners and craw loads and loads of world building into generally their second season and end up dead soon after.

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I just can't watch EMPIRE for the opposite reasons some people were saying they couldn't watch stuff with too much swearing: a show about the hip-hop business where no one can say much worse than ass or damn is just too ridiculous for me to take seriously.

I get what you are saying, but in the show there are 2 main characters that are musicians. They are both sons of the president of the record company.

The 1st is a R&B singer that plays the piano. Would you expect that type of language from John Legend? The 2nd is a young rapper, who like I said is the son of the president and I'm not sure would have the credibility to use harsh lyrics. Did Master P's son?

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The procedural formula itself has never been bad...but at time when TV it going through a golden age....it's, like, yeah, is anyone supposed to care about good looking people in suits solving a generic crime every week?

 

Part of Psych's appeal was that it got that, essentially, most individual episodes in a procedural don't matter too much in the long run and used that to get away with some crazy, random shit every week.

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The procedural formula itself has never been bad...

 

I've been transfixed by T.J. Hooker's hair lately.  I'm not saying T.J. Hooker is a bad police procedural, I'm just saying look at this:

 

e_GNn_MXQz_MTI_o_tj_hooker_minisode_deat

 

How do we have 3D printers and not store shelves full of this mold yet?

 

40% of every episode is devoted to people doing jumping jacks in summer camp shorts.  Again, I'm not saying this is bad

 

imag888_9es.jpg

 

just...different.

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http://www.eonline.com/news/615955/wait-is-fox-bringing-back-the-x-files-and-prison-break

 

Ugh.  Per the winter press tour, Fox is interested in The X-Files and maybe Prison Break for another season or more (since 24: Live Another Day apparently did well enough to suit them).  X-Files revival sounds fairly likely if they could get the stars to agree and work out scheduling.  Prison Break return could be just spin (it came up in the context of the network denying a rumor that Prison Break was returning but said they might be interested in bringing back the show).

 

24 was also brought up by the press tour, but not mentioned in the article linked above.  Apparently, Fox hasn't greenlit another season yet, but is interested in doing another season and the producers are pitching an idea for a 24 season without Jack Bauer.  Apparently, the show is currently being pitched around an idea where they could bring Bauer in if they can get Sutherland on-board, or base the season entirely around another character, if Sutherland won't sign.

 

 

I enjoyed 24: Live Another Day, but another season without Jack Bauer sounds like a bad idea, even though they seemed to be setting things up for Yvonne Strahovski's character to take over from Bauer if the show kept going.  And more X-Files sounds really unappealing to me.  I was a big fan at the time, at least until Duchovny left/show collapsed under its own weight, but it hasn't aged well for me.  Very much a product of its time in that it appealed to my twenty-something self, but my forty-something self isn't remotely interested even in the good episodes.

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Getting too bogged down in the mytharc is what ends up killing genre shows.  A good balance is fine, but getting too far up your own butt kills casual interest in a show.

 

Even the various L&O series do it sometimes, with Goren's breakdown, etc. but what keeps people coming back is the *slowly* layered characterization of the various leads, their chemistry, and the world that eventually gets built.

 

Genre shows try to cut corners and craw loads and loads of world building into generally their second season and end up dead soon after.

 

 

I understand that a show has to survive or else what the hell is the point, but when I'm watching a show, I don't generally think "Gee, I'd like this more if it was aimed at dumbshit middle america!" it's usually the opposite. I'm practical, but I'm not going to say that a genre show is better in a general sense if it's easier to watch. It's usually the opposite and with things like binge watching we're getting into a place where such things can exist better than ever before.

 

That said, I can APPRECIATE when something hits the balance very well from a craft perspective, but if we're talking about what I like and love, it's like not having stock in WWE, you know?

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Fucking X Files. It's one of my all time favorite shows but the 2nd movie killed any enthusiasm I had left for it to be revisted again. They should bring back Dark Angel.

 

That's a weird way to pronounce 'Firefly.'

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Fucking X Files. It's one of my all time favorite shows but the 2nd movie killed any enthusiasm I had left for it to be revisted again.

 

This.  I have no desire whatsoever to see it brought back.  They wore it into the ground with the last few original seasons and bringing it back would just make all that worse.

 

Prison Break was a decent show but went on longer than it should have, and that really showed with how much stuff they were struggling to make up or re-explain in the last season or two.  The main character is also dead, and the storylines for all the other characters were resolved and had them going their own ways.  I don't know how they could make that work unless it was the same concept but with completely different characters, which would make it seem like another needless "reboot".

 

Is that new season of 24 any good?  I checked out on the original series about halfway through season 5(?) but heard non-shitty things about this one.

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24 without Jack is a budget thing, per the stories. The ratings were rather flat for the revival and the only way they can justify bringing it back is to jettison Kiefer's salary. 

That wasn't part of the article I read (Eonline), but I assumed as much.  The way they're hedging their bets - "well, we could make Jack Bauer part of this pitch or leave him out entirely" - made me think they might not want to pay him a salary he'd agree to.  As for ratings, most of the run aired in the summer.  I was under the impression they pulled the sort of ratings they expected.

 

Re: Prison Break.  The press conference tossed out the idea that a reboot would either be a prequel or a "missing chapter" from the run. 

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