The View From Here » TV

This season of TV shows and an old one

Brian — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:29:47 +0000

I am not the kind of person who watches a whole lot of TV, but I do have a few shows that I keep up with. So I thought I would would give you a rundown of the shows I normally watch and some of the others I have come into contact recently. Here they are:

24 – This has been one of the best seasons of 24 that I have seen. It is your typical 24 in that you never know who is going to end up a bad guy or who will die but I think they have done a great job of making it compelling. I would highly recommend this season to anyone who has enjoyed past seasons of the show.
The Office – This show delivers on a weekly basis. Some show rely on the continual evolution of plot devices that can eventually become ridiculous but The Office seems to stay away from that. I have really enjoyed some of the dynamics they have introduced this season (The Michael Scott Paper Company). The show is all about the characters and they are great.
American Idol - Last season was my first to pay attention to this show at all. I don’t watch it until it gets to around the final 10 or so contestants so I can’t speak to the beginning but there are some great singers left on the show. I think we are down to 5 now. If you want to hear some good remakes of some older songs this is a good place to find them.
Heroes – The first season of this show was awesome. The second was ok. I really enjoyed the way the third season started but I haven’t watched but the first few episodes. So, I am excited for it to come out on DVD. I will watch it then. Hopefully it is good.
The Biggest Loser – I can’t say I am the biggest fan of this show but my wife likes it. So I have watched it some with her. I have to admit that it is growing on me a bit. I have only seen the last several weeks of it and they have been pretty good. As a general rule I don’t like reality shows because when you introduce a camera into the mix people change. Then it is no longer reality.
Parks and Recreation – The show debuted sandwiched between episodes of The Office so I watched it. It seems to me to be a copy of The Office. The first week was kind of ehh. Last weeks was a little better but I really don’t see myself watching it.
Southland – When E.R. (pronounced “er” in my book) left the air waves I was a happier person for it. Then they started announcing this show as “from the producers of E.R.” so I didn’t think I would enjoy it at all. I did look slightly interesting so I gave it a shot. I was completely right. I didn’t enjoy it. I won’t be watching this show.
Firefly – This is the old one. I have already watched this show once (which is pretty easy since it is only 14 episodes long) but I wanted to catch it again and my wife agreed to watch it with me. I can’t say I enjoy all of the content of the show, but that is what a fast forward button is for. What I do enjoy (immensely) is the dialogue, characters, and setting. The show is considered a space-western which makes it different and more enjoyable than the dime-a-dozen shows out there. The dialogue is very witty and fun and there are no “cardboard” characters. They all have their own motivations and they make sense. This is definitely not the cleanest of shows (but who can really expect a clean show) but it is one of the most uniquely enjoyable ones to me.

What are the shows you are watching and enjoying?

Brian

Random Posts

Heroes Season 2

Brian — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:44:38 +0000

Before you begin to think that all my wife and I do is watch Heroes, know that Season 2 is much shorter than the first one. Less than half as long. This is what almost killed it for us. I say almost because we really ended up enjoying it. It seemed like the creative team had gotten off track from the things that made the first season so great but they corrected this by the end.

When we watched the first season, Lacey and I were excited about what was happening. We spent time talking about what we thought was going to happen and how awesome we thought some plot or character element was, but the first few episodes of the second season left us kind of bored. Granted, the first season was similar in that we didn’t really know what was going on for a while but it still kept us interested and then the story picked up. This is what kept us watching Season 2. By the end we were having the same conversations about it that we were about Season 1. I knew that they planned on it being a normal length season so they were starting slowly and then building it into a great story. This is what the first season was like. I can honestly say that by the end I was not disappointed. It was shorter so it felt rushed in some parts but the story came together. If the writers strike hadn’t happened I think that the second season would have been almost as good as the first. As it is, it was good but it doesn’t compare with the awesomeness that was the first season.

So we are now all caught up with the rest of the world and we are really looking forward to Season 3 which will be coming on later this month. We are very excited!

One of the biggest pluses for me with this show is that both my wife and I really enjoy it. It is important to me that we find things that we enjoy doing together. Heroes has turned into that for us.

Brian

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Heroes Season 1 and TV Shows

Brian — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:19:57 +0000

What does one do with a long weekend provided by Labor Day? Finish off the first season of Heroes with friends! So at this point we sit on the edge of finding out if this show will turn into another Lost or if it will keep our attention through the second season.

Let me talk a little about Season 1 (as vaguely as possible to avoid spoiling it for anyone who has not seen it). I really enjoyed the characters of this show. Just a few episodes in all the actors seemed to own their characters and the watcher was able to get attached to them. Most of them are deep and have an intriguing past to find out about I felt like the story was very well done. It move at a quick pace only faltering a couple times with plot lines that seemed to be filler. One of the problems I had with Lost was it was very melodramatic. Heroes didn’t seem to have a big problem with this. The characters actions seemed true to the characters and most of their actions were based on some driving force and not just drama for the sake of drama. There was a little less action than I would have liked to see but I am hoping that as our heroes progress we will see more of this. Overall this is probably the best show of its kind that I have watched and I am really looking forward to season 2.

If you are planning on watching this show based on my recommendation please know that there is some fast-forward-able content at the beginning of the show and in a couple other places.

Let me talk a little about TV shows in general and what I think would make them better. The biggest difference to me between movies and TV shows like Heroes is time. Movies pack a lot into a short time period and TV shows pack a lot into a much longer time period. There are many positives and negatives to this but I think the main ones for TV are these:

Positive: There is much more time for character development and story telling.
Negative: There is much more time for the show to lose itself.

Many shows lose themselves. They don’t develop enough ideas to fill the time they have so they end up stretching the ones they do have too thin. They drag things out and don’t resolve them so the viewer ends up frustrated but they enjoy the ideas that were present enough to come back and see if the show does it better the next season, usually to be disappointed.

Another problem TV shows seem to force on themselves is the idea that they are like a drug. The makers seem to think that the more people get of something the more they are going to want. They think they have to up the ante until the show is not fun to watch because it is so ridiculous.

I don’t know if my solutions would be doable because I don’t know the money or time constraints on developing a TV show but here they are nonetheless. First, don’t stretch ideas too thin. Some plot ideas are worth more time than others. When you don’t resolve one for longer than it is worth you frustrate the audience. Spend more time developing ideas to make sure you have enough to fill the time you have. Second, don’t get lazy with characters for the sake of drama. Let the drama occur on it’s own, don’t force it. If you don’t have it then maybe you don’t have characters that are good enough. Third, show people what they want to see. In Heroes I want to see some more action. I want to see what the heroes can do when they have to. We were teased with this in an episode late in the first season so hopefully the second season will deliver. And if you do tease then deliver soon. I remember in Smallville how long it took after the tease for something to occur and it wasn’t good. That is why I quit watching. Cliff hangers are OK just don’t drag them out over five episodes (or multiple seasons in the case of Lost). Lastly, TV shows need to take a page from movies and resolve some things quicker. Dragging things out causes tension which is good but too much tension immediately kills what you were trying to create. Don’t let it get to that. Timely resolution will create a content audience. There may need to be a few more ideas present if you resolve them quicker but that is well worth it. A content audience is much better than a frustrated one.

So far Heroes has done these things mostly well and because of that I am really looking forward to watching season 2. Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite TV shows are and why.

Brian

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Heroes

Brian — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:56:12 +0000

I am always a late-comer to TV shows. 24, Lost, Seinfeld, and now Heroes. There are a few reasons for this. One, I don’t like watching shows from week to week. Two, I am not always home to watch the latest episode and I don’t want to miss one in the middle of the season (and I don’t have Tivo). Three, I don’t like the garbage that is usually mixed in for ratings (be warned that if you are planning on watching this show there is some fast-forwardable content). So by the time it releases on DVD I already know if it is worth watching and I can solve all of the above three problems.

So season three of Heroes is starting and we are just now getting around to watching the first season. So far I am intrigued. We have only watched the first few episodes but it as already grabbed us. I would love to get my hopes up at this point but we did have a pretty bad Lost experience. It started strong and then the list of unanswered questions didn’t shorten, it just got longer. Lost never seemed to be able to answer any questions by the middle of the second season and we were tired of it. I hope Heroes doesn’t do that to us. Maybe that is just the way modern Television goes these days.

If you have watched this show and have an opinion give me a comment. For now my wife and I are enjoying it. I will keep you posted.

Brian