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Day 11 - A show that disappointed you.
Jul. 11th, 2014 06:06 amDay 11 - A show that disappointed you.
Downton Abbey, but I’ve posted so many times about how my disillusionment that I’m tired of writing about it and you’re probably tired of reading it, too. So let’s see if I can think of another show that fits…
Well, actually, I’m kind of spoiled for choice here. Television, especially American TV shows, often seems like an inherently disappointing medium, because they’re so rarely the right length. Either shows are canceled too soon, which is disappointing because of their lack of resolution - Firefly, Wonderfalls, Rome all come to mind.
Or shows hang around after the magic is gone and are disappointing because they lack their former brilliance. I adore Veronica Mars, but it definitely lost its way during the last third of the third season. And at least Veronica Mars got put out of its misery pretty quickly: other shows hang on for ages, like The West Wing, which was really never as good again after Aaron Sorkin left.
And then there are shows like Psych, which I keep quitting because its handling of race and gender and...basically everything, really… frustrates me so much (but I always end up coming back for the goofy mysteries and the camaraderie between Shawn and Gus). Clearly I’m just super hard to please.
Basically, my feeling is that the open-ended episodic we’ll-keep-it-on-the-air-as-long-as-ratings-dictate format sets TV up to be disappointing. It leaves the artistic decisions too much up to chance.
Downton Abbey, but I’ve posted so many times about how my disillusionment that I’m tired of writing about it and you’re probably tired of reading it, too. So let’s see if I can think of another show that fits…
Well, actually, I’m kind of spoiled for choice here. Television, especially American TV shows, often seems like an inherently disappointing medium, because they’re so rarely the right length. Either shows are canceled too soon, which is disappointing because of their lack of resolution - Firefly, Wonderfalls, Rome all come to mind.
Or shows hang around after the magic is gone and are disappointing because they lack their former brilliance. I adore Veronica Mars, but it definitely lost its way during the last third of the third season. And at least Veronica Mars got put out of its misery pretty quickly: other shows hang on for ages, like The West Wing, which was really never as good again after Aaron Sorkin left.
And then there are shows like Psych, which I keep quitting because its handling of race and gender and...basically everything, really… frustrates me so much (but I always end up coming back for the goofy mysteries and the camaraderie between Shawn and Gus). Clearly I’m just super hard to please.
Basically, my feeling is that the open-ended episodic we’ll-keep-it-on-the-air-as-long-as-ratings-dictate format sets TV up to be disappointing. It leaves the artistic decisions too much up to chance.
