[Writer Post] Twists and Turns
I admit it. I’m a TV girl. No surprise there. I’ve mentioned it before. TV writers have been almost more of an influence on me than prose writers. I have it on in the background when I’m home – especially by myself, for voices (and digital people to tune out). And I’ve discovered some things lately, in both tracing my current viewing habits and in discussions with other people.
First – when there is nothing on, there is NOTHING on. I’ve noticed the biggest wasteland seems to be about 2 p.m. I find myself skipping over some stuff I used to have on in order to run them on the West Coast feeds that AT&T U-Verse runs so I have something to cover that wasteland.
Second – there are some “classic” TV shows that hold up 15+ years after they’ve originally run. I’ve mentioned on Facebook lately how much Quantum Leap has “aged well” (though I’m glad QL’s future fashion sense didn’t take off). The stories remain relevant. The writing and acting are still SUPERB. But what I’m always amazed by is The Dick Van Dyke Show. Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore just did clean, classy comedy that stays funny DECADES after the first run. And it’s not “mean” comedy that a lot of people are pointing at these days. It’s just funny. The other show I keep returning to lately is Home Improvement. That show also continues to hold up – also because of the talent and writing. I wish we had more like these shows.
Which brings me to THIRD – current television. We had our local fan group over this weekend, and ended up in a discussion of Grimm vs. Once Upon A Time. Yes, this season there are two shows on competing broadcast networks about Fairy Tales, and I like them both.
Grimm I see as a police procedural with fairy tale monsters – done in the original Grimm Brothers style, so it’s dark and creepy (and very German). I don’t have a problem with this – there is some semblance of a story arc going through it. I still don’t know if the Sasha Roiz character is a Good Guy or Bad Guy (I’m just glad he’s still alive after almost a dozen episodes, he’s been killed off by now in everything else I’ve seen him in). But it’s a police procedural with monsters.
Once Upon A Time is done by the folks who wrote Lost (which I never got into or really cared for). So there is half on-going story, half back-story. It’s very, very Disney (well, because Disney owns ABC and ABC Studios). But I like having names I can pronounce and story lines that make me go, “Hmmm”. And they’re doing some stuff with the characters that you won’t necessarily see in any animated movie, that go darker and deeper, and make sense.
Which made me look at shows I’m watching like Ringer and have some to the conclusion that though Ringer IS more soap opera-y than I like, I do like twisty turny shows that make me not sure where stuff is going. I started watching Alcatraz for Sam Neill, I’m staying to see what happened to the people sucked through whatever cryogenic wormhole happened there (yes, it’s another Lost people thing).
I have nothing against episodic TV. Really don’t. The problem with the twisty, turny, Lost-esque shows are that you can’t miss them and have to watch them in order from the beginning or you’re…well, lost. Shows like Grimm, and Castle and the more episodic ones give you a breather. They’re self-contained, even if there is a story arc. But right now, I’m really enjoying the twisty.