Many of you are probably aware that I enjoy TV a great deal. Our collection of DVD seasons -- which includes the full run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dark Angel, Firefly, The Office, and Friends, in addition to incomplete collections of Seinfeld and Scrubs -- stands as witness to my obsession. I try to keep the number of shows I'm watching in a given season down to a minimum, but inevitably there are 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5) shows that I try to keep up with on a regular basis. Despite this fact, it occurred to me that I have not yet written a single post about television. So, in an effort to remedy this oversight, I am writing a couple of blogs about some of what I believe to be the best current shows.
First, I thought I'd begin by offering an explanation of why I enjoy good television so much. As I have reflected on my enjoyment of television, I've come to the conclusion that on the whole I enjoy television series even more than most movies. The primary reason, I believe, lies in the character development that occurs in many television series -- at least, in the ones I tend to enjoy. I find that in most all narrative media I enjoy -- fictional literature, television, movies, etc. -- I am most drawn to longer series' which provide an opportunity for the audience to get to know the character(s) and watch as they develop over time. There are numerous examples: books like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Stephen King's Gunslinger series, and Robert Jordan's massive Wheel of Time series; in movies, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars (the original trilogy, of course), Harry Potter (I still haven't gotten around to reading the books), and X-Men; in television, virtually all of the DVD collections noted above fall into this category, and almost all of the shows I discuss in these next couple posts will as well. However, while character development is present in any good example of fictional narrative, I find that it is typically present more in television than in movies, simply because of the amount of time available to the show's writers to explore the characters and their story. This conduciveness of the television medium to character development, coupled with the fact that the quality of writing for television seems to have improved a great deal over the past 10 years, explains why I enjoy television so much.
In the interest of keeping this relatively short, I'll cut this installment off here. I'll post another one or two within the next few days.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree with your observations about character development. That is what draws me into most shows as well. Additionally I like the ability to develop mythology in greater detail (e.g. LOST, Highlander). In a show like Highlander, where you can compare it to the movie (the original is the only one worthy of comparison!), you can see how a movie is able to work with a concept, while a TV series can develop an entire universe and work with a set of characters. Another show that I think hinge on character development that are worthy of mention is Everwood, which was unfortunately cancelled at the end of last year. The challenge for most shows is to develop characters in a way that is both dynamic and internally consistent and internally coherent. Everwood's writers were very good at this.
Character development stands as on of the key pillars of my critique of the Lord of the Rings movies. I think that the character development, due to omissions, additions, and rewriting, is quite different from the books. While Jackson's movies are wonders of cinematic storytelling, they are quite distinct in their development of the characters. Explicating this has given me lots of enjoyable conversation because I too love thinking about characterization in narrative.
Well, since this isn't MY blog, perhaps I shouldn't say more now! Main point -- I agree!
Jody,
Thanks for your comments, and don't worry about long responses. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that thinks this way. The Highlander is another good example, and as you'll see in my next post, Lost tops my list of great television. I used to enjoy Everwood as well - it was a well written show that certainly did not deserve cancellation while a horribly written and horribly acted show like Seventh Heaven somehow got renewed.
Excellent point about the ability to develop the mythology of a show in the television format - that hits on another element of good television I really enjoy.
You and I have had this discussion about Lord of the Rings before, haven't we? :)
Post a Comment