HIGHLA-L Digest - 28 May 2005 to 29 May 2005 (#2005-53)
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Sun, 29 May 2005 22:00:08 -0400
There are 2 messages totalling 132 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. HIGHLA-L Digest - 27 May 2005 to 28 May 2005 (#2005-52) (2)
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Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 12:23:32 -0700
From: FKMel <sgt_buck_frobisher@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: HIGHLA-L Digest - 27 May 2005 to 28 May 2005 (#2005-52)
I'm not sure it's only this last season...Granted I
don't follow too many current shows but it seems like
that last season of Angel had even more deaths than
usual...three main characters. I know those two shows
(Angel and BTVS)did it all the time but three at once?
I have to wonder anyway why it seems shows can't
maintain a constant quality to the end. Highlander,
Buffy, Angel, FK...probably a ton more, but they all
seem to go downhill writing-wise in the last season or
two.
Mel (has been attracted to Veronica Mars, but hasn't
been able to get herself to see an ep)
> And, speaking of Archangel's then-shocking
> Failure-to-Duck ending, killing
> off characters sure got popular lately. I lost
> count of all the regular &
> recurring characters who, for better or worse, died
> this past season.
>
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Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 17:06:48 -0400
From: Wendy <Immortals_Incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Re: HIGHLA-L Digest - 27 May 2005 to 28 May 2005 (#2005-52)
Mel says:
> I'm not sure it's only this last season...Granted I
> don't follow too many current shows but it seems like
> that last season of Angel had even more deaths than
> usual...three main characters. I know those two shows
> (Angel and BTVS)did it all the time but three at once?
I think TV shows have become a lot more comfortable killing off "main
"characters. Maybe they sense that , on many shows, the viewers will
continue to watch even if a main character dies so long as the story is
good and makes sense? Maybe it is just TPTB's way of handling the
"talent"- no actor can feel safe, so maybe they don't try to
renegotiate contacts so often? Maybe they think viewers will be watching
to see who dies next rather than watching to see a continuing story with
the same actors? Maybe they think every show should be like "Law &
Order" where the characters are all expendable each year?
I can accept having characters die if there is some point to it. If the
show is about people in a dangerous profession ( police, space
explorers, spies) then the occasional death is to be expected. On other
shows, like long running dramas, it makes some sense to have characters
face the same tragedies that real people face (accidents, illness,
knife-wielding dwarves, possessed dummies, etc) . Now, to be honest, I
prefer my TV a bit more escapist that that- I don't really tune in to
see what I can already experience in real life. My personal preference
is that main character live even if they get into situations where
"normal" people would surely die.
What I dislike are deaths that scream "ratings stunt", those that are
Blake 7ish ( Just because a show is ending doesn't mean all the main
characters need to die!), and those that seem to be a "screw you" aimed
at the fans (or the actor) by TPTB.
So, in HL's case, death made sense. Duncan couldn't die (except in the
finale, had they chosen to go that way) but Richie could. Fitz could,
Darius could , etc.
> I have to wonder anyway why it seems shows can't
> maintain a constant quality to the end. Highlander,
> Buffy, Angel, FK...probably a ton more, but they all
> seem to go downhill writing-wise in the last season or
> two.
I think a lot of things go into this. I think the writers get fatigued.
Yeah, it's only 22 ( or less) scripts per year and in many cases that
work is spread around amongst several writers but, apparently, writers
have trouble working a full year without burn out. They run out of
ideas. They begin to feel that the plots are repetitive- which seems to
bother the actors and writers much more than it bothers the viewers.
They decide to "stretch" - which means writing episodes that are
different - and which always stand out as "very special episodes". Then,
if the ratings slip, I think they feel under pressure to do *something*
to get ratings back up - which usually means some big stunt- a wedding,
a baby, a death, etc. This almost never works- not because marriage,
babies or deaths "kill" shows but because these events are so poorly
incorporated into shows. Much too often these events are clearly thrown
in *just* to stir things up and then discarded when the moment passes.
It's like the old myth that allowing the main male/female character to
form a relationship will kill a show. It's not the relationship that
kills the show it's the piss-poor writing of the relationships that kill
shows.
Then there is the whole issue of actors who get bored and tired and
cranky at being asked to do the same job for 22 weeks of the year for 5
or more years (poor babies<eg>) . They to want to stretch...often to the
point of leaving a show and ending up stretching in the unemployment
line ever after. They want to do films! They want to do Broadway!(where
no one ever has to perform the same play 8 times a week for years on end
:::snort:::) They want to direct! They want to end up on Hollywood
Squares!
OTOH, it might make sense for most TV series to take a page from JMS's
Babylon 5 "playbook". Figure out what story you want to tell. Plot out
a general idea of where that story should go and how long it will
reasonably take to tell it. Then make the series based on the idea that
it will last 2 or 3 or 5 years and then *end*. I would be much happier
watching "Lost" (which I like a lot) if I knew that it would run 3 years
and be over with everything explained and resolved in that set time. My
biggest fear that it runs years and years and tries to drag out a
increasingly twisted mystery *just* to stay on the air another year.
Wendy(Tell your story and move on!)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 28 May 2005 to 29 May 2005 (#2005-53)
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