Television Meme Grab Bag---Days 11-15

[rabid1st]

Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character

Day 11 -- Almost every show I have ever watched disappointed me at some point, usually at the finale but sometimes much earlier. It would be better to list the shows that did not disappoint. That would be Farscape and Supernatural so far. Though both of those shows got on my nerves at a few points along the way. The major disappointments would be Buffy and Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica. All three of those shows took seriously wrong turns and didn't recover from the mistake. As I've said before on this blog, I feel that most shows simply use the same device over and over again for too long. The major failing of most shows is a lack of courage and imagination. They get set in their ways and the characters stop growing and changing. I will say that Buffy did the best job at changing, which is why when they started resetting the character to a heroes don't make mistakes default it was so very jarring. Doctor Who also made a sort of jarring error by claiming that the hero was a god, and beyond real love, rather than a space nerd in need of companionship.

Day 12 -- There are a few episodes I've watched many times. Buffy and Doctor Who hold the records for reviewing for me. I watched all of the Spike-centric episodes of Buffy many times. But I also watched the early Angel/Buffy episodes, too. I have a particular fancy for Doctor Who's "Robots of Death"...Four and Leela on a space liner...I don't know how many times I've watched it. Quite a few. I also watched Kinda several times with Five and Tegan. And, of course, Fear Her and Tooth & Claw. For my fellow Beauty and the Beast fan, I've watched most of S1 and S2 multiple times.

Day 13 -- I didn't really watch television as a child as we didn't have a TV for much of the time. But I do remember watching Land of the Lost at some point. Oh, I did just love Space: 1999.

Day 14 -- Favorite Male Character. Oh, now, there is a real challenge for me, given what has become of the Doctor. I have enjoyed a host of male characters in fiction. I am quite fond of Dean Winchester for example. But I suppose it would have to be the Doctor, still. He's my favorite character overall, even with his recent downturn into fecklessness. So, it must be him.

Day 15 -- Favorite Female Character. At one point, before she went into self-righteous pity mode, I would have said Buffy Summers. But her treatment of Spike soured me on her. And I also didn't care for her acceptance of some of the less deserving characters on the show. Now, I imagine it is most definitely Rose Marion Tyler. She's the only woman I think would be a good match for the Doctor and that's saying something.

Here's the link for the entire meme...should you wish to do it yourself.

http://rabid1st.livejournal.com/275285.html

Rae

Comments

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

It's such a shame when sci fi jumps the shark or loses itself or just ceases to make sense, ala Day 11. I don't know if it's just me, but I tend to expect so much more out of it. I got bored with Grey's Anatomy; I stopped watching it; whatever. It was a nice distraction for a while. But I love sci fi. You can have your drama, romance, and character development PLUS WEAPONS AND MONSTERS AND/OR ALIENS. It's always going to be better! (My mother does not agree with me on this.)

And their plots, themes and moral dilemmas go to places conventional shows and books can't or won't. Think The Mote in God's Eye or Expendable, if you've read them. So if it starts promising, I get hooked. But so many good shows get canceled (Journeyman, Firefly) or go off into lala land (Battlestar, and imo, Heroes).

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! I should have listed Heroes. In a way it was probably the biggest disappointment overall, but I simply have forgotten about it. HA! It is a show that simply refused to get its act together. I was reading back through my blog and I said, before the start of this last season, that they needed to go with Peter and Claire and the Petrelli Family dysfunction because they wouldn't get a second chance. Instead, they decided to bring in more marginal characters...and they did lose more audience.

The Petrelli Family dynamic was sick and twisted and they were onto something when they had Papa Petrelli still alive and made Sylar one of them. That would have created more infighting and fun...but they just kept dropping promising story lines...not unlike a REAL comic book. That's something I can't stand about comics. You start to get interested in a story and you can never find the second half of it...or it was never published.

[xlostangelx.livejournal.com]

Do like I do - consider the real Buffy to have died in The Gift and what they brought back was something else entirely. If I don't think if it this way I get all pissed off about what they did to that character.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

This is the identical method I used with Doctor Who. I assumed the REAL Doctor died at the "metacrisis" that split him in two and what we had left wasn't really him. This explains HIS asshat and totally out of character behavior as well. The only problem is that leaves us with collateral damage on both shows...with Spike and Rose both being heroic and sacrificing themselves to ultimately unworthy partners. And while I can accept the inherent lack of worth of Buffy...it is really hard for me to accept that about the Doctor.

He's much more likable. :grin: Though, ultimately just as feckless and childish as Miss Summers, it seems.

Rae
glad she now has a canon loophole to fix the Doctor issue in fiction. I don't think Whedon ever gets his act together.