digitaldiscipline (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
digitaldiscipline) wrote2003-11-21 03:27 pm
digitaldiscipline) wrote2003-11-21 03:27 pm
Entry tags:
Boob Tube Ruminations
[inspired by something Critus wrote.
The question I now ponder on is this – Did the writers of Angel do her, and anyone else who tuned in to the show for the first time that night, a disservice?
I would say "yes." they were, to mix metaphors, rude, by not introducing a new guest to their friends. you could have played tour guide, saying "oh, that's so-and-so, he's such-and-such," but another first time viewer wouldn't necessarily have that.
think about how "outside" some new acquaintence would feel the first time they got together with your inner circle of friends for pizza - you have a shared history, a retinue of in-jokes and conversational asides that are a rich tapestry of meaning that are utterly, impenetrably opaque to someone new. i get the sense that this episode was like that.
those relationships developed over time, and it will take a new person a while to get up to speed, even with someone parenthetically filling in the back-story when someone steps into the kitchen to get more beer.
television without closure is nothing but soap operas, which are open-ended and pointless on purpose, because they need to go on forever. pat, 27 minute story arcs are cloying and dull, but require no committment. but the hour-long should have -some- ability to be seen in a vacuum, as it were.
i got hooked by a standalone X-Files [the fountain of youth episode in the florida forest, still the creepiest-ending episode i've ever seen]. I watched ST:TNG from the first to the end. I lost interest in DS9 when the plot arcs began wielding more weight than a single episode, or even a "To Be Continued..." could bear.
I resent the unspoken demand that season-long story arcs require my viewership to appreciate. television is leisure entertainment. books do not tell you to read them every thursday at eight. video games do not operate only on weekends. but television deigns to tell us when to give it our devotion and attention [tivo and its ilk notwithstanding]. . . and when you have a life beyond that, the "threat" of "missing something important" crosses a line, for me, from enjoyment to imposition, and turns watching a favorite show into work, or, little better, like going to church.
this may say more about my attitude about television than about television's place in the social consciousness. make of that what you will.
The question I now ponder on is this – Did the writers of Angel do her, and anyone else who tuned in to the show for the first time that night, a disservice?
I would say "yes." they were, to mix metaphors, rude, by not introducing a new guest to their friends. you could have played tour guide, saying "oh, that's so-and-so, he's such-and-such," but another first time viewer wouldn't necessarily have that.
think about how "outside" some new acquaintence would feel the first time they got together with your inner circle of friends for pizza - you have a shared history, a retinue of in-jokes and conversational asides that are a rich tapestry of meaning that are utterly, impenetrably opaque to someone new. i get the sense that this episode was like that.
those relationships developed over time, and it will take a new person a while to get up to speed, even with someone parenthetically filling in the back-story when someone steps into the kitchen to get more beer.
television without closure is nothing but soap operas, which are open-ended and pointless on purpose, because they need to go on forever. pat, 27 minute story arcs are cloying and dull, but require no committment. but the hour-long should have -some- ability to be seen in a vacuum, as it were.
i got hooked by a standalone X-Files [the fountain of youth episode in the florida forest, still the creepiest-ending episode i've ever seen]. I watched ST:TNG from the first to the end. I lost interest in DS9 when the plot arcs began wielding more weight than a single episode, or even a "To Be Continued..." could bear.
I resent the unspoken demand that season-long story arcs require my viewership to appreciate. television is leisure entertainment. books do not tell you to read them every thursday at eight. video games do not operate only on weekends. but television deigns to tell us when to give it our devotion and attention [tivo and its ilk notwithstanding]. . . and when you have a life beyond that, the "threat" of "missing something important" crosses a line, for me, from enjoyment to imposition, and turns watching a favorite show into work, or, little better, like going to church.
this may say more about my attitude about television than about television's place in the social consciousness. make of that what you will.
no subject
This is so very true. After I got wrapped up into writing in various fandoms, I found that I was becoming less and less interested in TV, just because of this. Sure, I wanted to watch West Wing, it's one of my fav shows actually... but when it was time for it, I was too busy with writing (you can't just tell your muse to shut up for an hour), too involved in an interesting discussion on irc (you can't tell the ppl there to hold either), or just busy with other 'more important' stuff...
Love books, you can put them down for weeks, and they don't complain.. and you can do instant replays, etc. *grins*
no subject
Actually, books used to. In the 19th c., most novels were published as serials in magazines. Dickens, Hardy, et. al., were published this way. They had multiple cliff-hangers, worse than "who shot J.R.," & the whole country would get wrapped up in it.
27 minute story arcs are cloying and dull, but require no committment. but the hour-long should have -some- ability to be seen in a vacuum, as it were.
A lot of times, I get bored by hour-long shows that wrap everything up in one tidy little package after 48 minutes. I crave more complexity in a drama. That was a big problem I had w/the X-Files. I madly adored the conspiracy-arc episodes & was bored to tears by many of the monster-of-the-week episodes (with a few exceptions, esp. early in the series). Now, a comedy, I *want* that to have a clever little 27-min. story. Those are pure entertainment to me. A little thinking is ok, but not required.
Then again, I have TiVo & I only watch 2 serial shows anymore (West Wing & Enterprise, & the later barely counts). I record & watch them at my leisure. I also record an assload of fluffy TV to veg out too -- that's all the travel, home dec, cooking, & cartoon shows. Plus hockey. TiVo really is the best electronic device since the computer, IMO ;-)