Television Meme -- Day 03 and 04
Jun. 23rd, 2010 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stMaking up some time now on the television meme, I will be combining two days into one post.
Day 03 -- Your favorite new show (this television season).
Day 04 -- Your favorite show of all time.
Day 03 is very easy for me to answer because I didn't pick up any new shows this season. Or last season either. Chuck from the season before that, though. And Heroes.
Day 04 is going to be very hard for me to answer. The obvious answer is Doctor Who. I've been a fan of the Doctor my whole life. But at this stage of my life I only really still watch New Who S2 and S4. So, I'm not sure if I can count the Doctor anymore. But for longevity, it is a definite winner.
The cheeky answer is The Amazing Race which I always enjoy and look forward to watching every season.
But if we were to go with overall quality, I would have to say Farscape is my favorite show of all time. I am watching episodes that are a decade old and they look as fantastic as they ever did. They are just as satisfying to watch, just as entertaining. And I can watch them in order as aired, which isn't true of say Buffy or X-Files or Doctor Who or really any other show that I love.
And I can even tell you why that is. I'm not just watching for the romance. Farscape doesn't use UST as a crutch to keep hobbling along. John and Aeryn are one of the hottest couples ever. They have sex in the middle of S1 and guess what? It is a bit embarrassing for both of them, but not a trigger for psychotic behavior and it doesn't solve their much deeper issues. They continue to have sex, off and on, and with very odd complications. But the issues they have continue to grow our of their complete relationship and out of their relationships with others. Both of the characters develop and change over the course of the show. Basically, Farscape's writers realized that LOVE was far more complex and important than SEX. And character development was the most important thing of all in love. There was none of that, "Oh, now the cute couple has had sex...so our show is over." God, I get so sick of hearing that cop-out from writers and actors and pretty much the entire industry.
Farscape had a lot more SHOW around the main characters than you see in most television. Things happened to the characters and they adapted to their changing reality. This is something I think every show should consider. If you don't want to die when your main couple finally...FINALLY get together...then maybe you should think about developing a SHOW around your main couple.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it...that's why I like Chuck so much. There is a show going on around the main couple. There are other people to enjoy and life goes on around them, Ellie and Awesome get married or go to Africa, so the show stays interesting even if it loses some UST. Buffy tried to give the Scoobies lives, but because the show was so very Buffy focused (naturally, she's the title-girl)...it was challenge for the writers to develop anyone else. Of course, I would say that those writers simply gave up on the challenge and did what most successful shows (Doctor Who now included) do. They start playing to the idea that they can't change ANYTHING about their winning formula. This tosses creativity out the window. Character development grinds to a halt, every storyline circles around to return the cast to their original positions* and the show starts treading water. Then, it dies.
Rae
*the absolute best example of this is Mr. Monk gets a dog...like three episodes from the last one ever...and he can't keep it. Why the hell not? The show was coming to an end in 3 episodes! But if he kept the dog, he would change. And we can't have fundamental change, not even if it is minuscule and never seen on screen. This is why the Doctor couldn't go spend a life time with Rose, too. Even if we didn't see it, even if it had already been implied he'd been married before...it would change something about the character. And we can't have THAT!
Day 03 -- Your favorite new show (this television season).
Day 04 -- Your favorite show of all time.
Day 03 is very easy for me to answer because I didn't pick up any new shows this season. Or last season either. Chuck from the season before that, though. And Heroes.
Day 04 is going to be very hard for me to answer. The obvious answer is Doctor Who. I've been a fan of the Doctor my whole life. But at this stage of my life I only really still watch New Who S2 and S4. So, I'm not sure if I can count the Doctor anymore. But for longevity, it is a definite winner.
The cheeky answer is The Amazing Race which I always enjoy and look forward to watching every season.
But if we were to go with overall quality, I would have to say Farscape is my favorite show of all time. I am watching episodes that are a decade old and they look as fantastic as they ever did. They are just as satisfying to watch, just as entertaining. And I can watch them in order as aired, which isn't true of say Buffy or X-Files or Doctor Who or really any other show that I love.
And I can even tell you why that is. I'm not just watching for the romance. Farscape doesn't use UST as a crutch to keep hobbling along. John and Aeryn are one of the hottest couples ever. They have sex in the middle of S1 and guess what? It is a bit embarrassing for both of them, but not a trigger for psychotic behavior and it doesn't solve their much deeper issues. They continue to have sex, off and on, and with very odd complications. But the issues they have continue to grow our of their complete relationship and out of their relationships with others. Both of the characters develop and change over the course of the show. Basically, Farscape's writers realized that LOVE was far more complex and important than SEX. And character development was the most important thing of all in love. There was none of that, "Oh, now the cute couple has had sex...so our show is over." God, I get so sick of hearing that cop-out from writers and actors and pretty much the entire industry.
Farscape had a lot more SHOW around the main characters than you see in most television. Things happened to the characters and they adapted to their changing reality. This is something I think every show should consider. If you don't want to die when your main couple finally...FINALLY get together...then maybe you should think about developing a SHOW around your main couple.
Actually, now that I'm thinking about it...that's why I like Chuck so much. There is a show going on around the main couple. There are other people to enjoy and life goes on around them, Ellie and Awesome get married or go to Africa, so the show stays interesting even if it loses some UST. Buffy tried to give the Scoobies lives, but because the show was so very Buffy focused (naturally, she's the title-girl)...it was challenge for the writers to develop anyone else. Of course, I would say that those writers simply gave up on the challenge and did what most successful shows (Doctor Who now included) do. They start playing to the idea that they can't change ANYTHING about their winning formula. This tosses creativity out the window. Character development grinds to a halt, every storyline circles around to return the cast to their original positions* and the show starts treading water. Then, it dies.
Rae
*the absolute best example of this is Mr. Monk gets a dog...like three episodes from the last one ever...and he can't keep it. Why the hell not? The show was coming to an end in 3 episodes! But if he kept the dog, he would change. And we can't have fundamental change, not even if it is minuscule and never seen on screen. This is why the Doctor couldn't go spend a life time with Rose, too. Even if we didn't see it, even if it had already been implied he'd been married before...it would change something about the character. And we can't have THAT!
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Farscape!
Date: 2010-06-24 12:22 am (UTC)What I loved about Farscape is that the writers understood that in the real world (even if that real world is far, FAR, away and involves aliens trying to kill you dead) the hard part of love isn't staying apart - the hard part is finding a way to get past all of our shit and stay together. And even though there were lots of outside forces that tried to keep John and Aeryn apart it was always their own personal shit that always did them in. Broke my heart, made my cry numerous times, but was so true to life that every piece of pain was worth it and made sense and made them the people they were in the end. Such brilliant story telling.
If John/Aeryn was the whole show it'd still be awesome, but like you said - around them was this amazing cast of characters with their own stories to be told. AND it was this huge action adventure space opera with pop culture references and daring experimental episodes and pretty, pretty Ben Browder.
Sigh. Love. Must rewatch now.
Re: Farscape!
Date: 2010-06-24 03:13 pm (UTC)This time watching I am calmed by the fact that I know where the show is going and I can see the work they are putting into it, even in very early episodes. The commentaries with Ben and Claudia are priceless. It is interesting to note that when Claudia is with the Director in the commentary for Crackers Don't Matter, the flow of joy in the product fails them. But Ben and Claudia filmed their commentary for S1 while shooting the final movie and they are full of one another and the love for their characters and the journey. It is a real pleasure to listen to them discuss what changes in the show over time.
Also, they are quite lovely to one another. Interestingly, I have only seen that on two other shows. Bones does have a nice lead actor friendship...and of course Doctor Who had Billie and David's very warm and cozy relationship, too. I do think Bill and David and Ben and Claudia are close partly because their characters expressed true love for one another, rather than simple sexual tension...which can often be fed by DISLIKE. I don't know which comes first, the love or the people that can convey it. Or if it is as the director of Crackers Don't Matter...a case of everyone on the set committing to the work.
Farscape's crew and David and Billie and their crew...were very committed to giving us the best possible take on the world and characters.
Rae
who admits that when the Spike/Buffy people linked her to vote in an online Valentine's Day poll for "Best SciFi Couple"...actually voted for John/Aeryn, instead. :grin: