Recently in Television Category
As some of you might know, I've been looking forward to HBO's ambitious new fantasy series, "Game of Thrones" for quite some time. Ever since that first promo with the crows, I was hooked. And, after reading the books (all 3500 pages, give or take) by George R.R. Martin earlier this winter, I've become quite the fan. The books are fun, bawdy, interesting, and just great, cheesy reads. I admire their audacious storytelling, and Mr. Martin's fertile imagination. What was it people used to say? Ripping good yarns!
And of course, as a fan, nothing ever lives up to what you hope. So with that, here are my main thoughts about the first episode. THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS. (But reading it over, not really.)
- The opening scene was as freaky and wonderful as I could have hoped. A wise man often tells me "always start with a fight" and that was a great one. I thought the weird forest noises were particularly creepy and excellent. The sound of the man howling was so chilling! I knew exactly what was going to happen, but I still kept saying "woah" while resisting the temptation to cover my eyes.
- I love Sean Bean. He's perfectly cast. That is all. Mark Addy too.
- I hate to say this- I think the actress who plays Catelyn is, like, way old. Also, with those worried eyes, she makes me nervous. I wish she was a little cooler and strangely, a little warmer. I want to love her.
- Cersei was distracting because, geek that I am, I was a fan of the "Terminator" TV series, and Lena Headey was such a great Sarah Conner. I'm sure I'll get over it. Her fake smile was excellent.
- I thought the girl who played Daenerys was pretty good! Great looking! I thought she did a lot with kind of a rough bit of story. Her brother was atrocious though. And the wedding- that was really, eye-rollingly clunky.
- As a whole, I thought the whole episode was a little overworked. I could see where HBO got nervous, and made them do more explaining. Lines such as "Where is Arya, your sister?" in the scene when the king arrives, and the entire scene between Jamie Lannister and Cersei at John Arryn's funeral, well, all I can say is Oy. Vey. It's not nit picking, because that sort of exposition slows things down to an almost glacial speed. We're going to figure everything out. Stop telling us! Let it unfold. I felt like someone was handing me a present they were really excited for me to open, and so they couldn't help dropping huge hints and pulling away the paper way before I was ready. Let me unwrap the damn thing!
- Which brings me to the Tyrion problem. He's the real wit in the books. And Peter Dinklage is awesome. And yet, in this first episode, they slow him down to the point that you lose the humor, so that nearly everything he says becomes weighty and ominous seeming. If they had played the scene between him and John Snow, with maybe, a little bit more comedic timing, it would have worked so so much better. I think, many times, the key to good dramatic storytelling, especially with episodic TV is to find the comedy. It doesn't have to "30 Rock," but a little lightness on the feet never hurt anybody. (The show that currently does this best is "Justified" but "The Wire" was also excellent at it. Not to mention "The Sopranos.") This way the viewer is not completely weighted down by the overwhelmingly portentous mood, and when the shocking things happen, they are really shocking. The first scene proved to me that I could still be shocked, even when I knew what was coming. The rest of the episode not too much.
- I thought most of the sets looked pretty great. Some seemed a little "set" like, but what can you do?
Overall, it was a very long hour and five minutes. But still, I have high hopes for next week! Of course I'll keep watching! You?
I am a huge TV geek, and for me this week is just as exciting at the Oscars- it's the upfronts. For the two of you who read this blog, the upfronts are when the major broadcast networks present their fall schedules to advertisers. It is a glimpse of what we, TV geeks, will be talking about in the fall. Last year was particularly exciting, since a bunch of my friends actually were PART of the upfronts. It was awesome.
And with the upfronts now comes Virginia Heffernan's upfronts blog. It makes me so happy. She is probably my favorite critic out there. She believes in the power of good TV, and she is the only critic I can think of who I always agree with. And, I think she might single handedly have saved "Friday Night Lights." God bless you, Virginia.
Anyway, check out her blog here
Since this is MY blog, and no one can tell me what to do or say on it, I have chosen today to write about something that has absolutely nothing to do with beauty, fashion, or shopping. I, instead, and going to write a little about another passion of mine: TV.
In today's New York Times, there is an article saying that Aaron Sorkin and NBC are refocusing Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as a romantic comedy. They hope that by making it more romantic their initial large audience will return to the show, which many believed had become "smug' and "arrogant" to use Mr Sorkin's words. Fine, fine, fine. I hope it works. But here is why it may not.
Mr Sorkin, in defending his show, went on to say: “In the end it’s a TV show that they’re doing,” Mr. Sorkin said of his characters. “Doing a TV show is something I take seriously, and it’s something everybody here takes very seriously. But it’s something that the average person who, for lack of a better word, works a real job, resents slightly because it doesn’t seem like a real job.”
I predict that the show will fail. And that paragraph is why. The problem with the show is not that the average person resents the people who make television because it doesn't seem like a real job, because, frankly, I am sure the average person gives it very little thought. The problem with the show is that making television is just that, a real job, and thus not that interesting. Making TV is just a nice backdrop for doing all the boring stuff people do at all real jobs- have meetings, coordinate things, etc. The zany antics of the Studio 60 comedy troupe during downtime, I am fairly sure, bear relatively little similiarity to the hard work the actual cast members of Saturday Night Live do all week.
The problem of the show is that Aaron Sorkin BELIEVES that people with "real jobs" resent TV people. But I think you can get those real people to care about just about anything, as long as there are good characters with true stakes. The world of magazines in Ugly Betty is a cream puff fantasy, but no one seems to resent that show. So why does it work? We care about Betty, because she is endearing, flawed, with everything to gain and lose. Even though she exists in a dream, she is relatable. Her challenge is to suceed in a world arrayed against her, while remaining true to herself.
Another great show, that deserves to be a hit, is Friday Night Lights. Each game feels like life or death for those kids. And as characters a lot hangs on their winning games. Matt Saracen, the young new quaterback, has a chance he never thought he would have. Stuck at home, taking care of his grandmother, football is a chance at life for him, and the opportunity he has terrifies him. Coach has his ego, his job, and morale of an entire town hanging on him. Watching the show, you get completely involved in this small town Texas world. But when you step back, it's just high school football. The magic is in making the average person care about it.
On Studio 60, you have two smart funny guys who have no stakes or obstacles. What happens if they fail? It is already established that they have other successful and more highly paying careers writing and directing films. So Danny's character (Bradley Whitford) has that drug thing, and can't shoot for eighteen months. So what? He just made a few million. That is hardly life and death. Its barely even dramatic.
The new network president who hired them, Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet), has her job on the line, which should be a cause for tension. Except that she is a dream of an executive and never has a problem with anything they do. She fights for them, and they all win. Even Steven Weber, who is great as the nasty head of the network, comes around to their side. And when he works against them, he is all bark and no bite. Matt and Danny never take him seriously as a threat.
The reason The West Wing worked so well was that the decisions of that group of people did affect the world. But they were just people, and the stress they felt having to make those decisions was real. Personal victories and losses worked on two levels on that show; they affected the character, and the country. On Studio 60 the characters act like they are on The West Wing: we keep hearing that what they do will have a huge impact on pop culture and America. We the viewers don't really care about that, because it is false. I think SNL barely registers on peoples brains anymore (with the exception of JT's Dick in a Box, and Jake's Dreamgirls but, but that is fleeting.) More people watch Studio 60 then SNL. But it doesn't matter. We, the viewers, just want some good characters who do things we can care about, and relate to. Please get good, because Matthew Perry is awesome.
