May 2006
"saying goodbye (to imaginary friends)"
Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Filed in: random
musings
you know... i get a lot
of crap for watching as much TV as i do. people think
it's indicative of laziness or that it's a waste of
time. but, i truly believe that one day, we'll look
at certain TV shows as art (much like we do plays and
many movies now). people said the same kinds of
things about plays in Shakespeare's time and about
movies in the first half of the 1900s.
right now, i think we're in a sort of TV renaissance. some of the stuff currently on TV (or over the past few years) has been extraordinarily well written. unfortunately, a lot of people don't would rather watch the crappy stuff that has earned television its stereotype and many good shows are going away. here are some of the ones i've had to say "goodbye" to lately.
1. ALIAS... i just finished watching the series finale of this show and i'm really kinda sad.
i mean, it wasn't
the best show on television, but it started out that
way. because of people who couldn't keep up with how
smart the show was, the producers were forced to dumb
it down a bit. anyway, this is probably the show i'm
the most attached to, only because it's the only show
i've followed from the first episode to the last.
(plus, Sydney Bristow is an extremely attractive
character for a lot of reasons.)
2. The West Wing... i've said this many times: the first four seasons of this show were the best TV writing ever. amazing stories... amazing acting... amazing music... amazing everything. Aaron Sorkin is a genius. after season four, it sorta went downhill. it was still a good show, it was just a very different kind of show. if you never watched, get the first seasons on DVD. they're great.
3. Will and Grace... yeah, it went on for too long. yeah, the characters got a bit stale and the stories were overdone. but you know... it was generally pretty funny. another show where the first four seasons were great. for better or for worse, Will and Grace changed pop culture forever.
4. Arrested Development... this was, quite simply, one of the two best written comedies on network television. (the other being Scrubs, of course.) it was incredibly smart, amazingly funny and brilliantly acted. the American public seemed to miss this and it was cancelled mid-season. the Bluth family was probably the most dysfunctional family imaginable and it was always fun to watch them go through life. another show where you need to buy the DVDs and find out how amazing it was.
5. Everwood... now, i know it's a bit fem to admit that i watch this WB show, but Everwood was really underrated and well done. the acting, the stories... all of it seemed real and very rarely seemed like the contrived melodrama the WB usually puts out. it was dropped at the last minute because the new network (the CW) decided to bring 7th Heaven back. this is, perhaps, the greatest injustice of scheduling i've ever heard of.
now, there is some good TV still out there and hopefully more to come. but, please watch LOST, Scrubs, Battlestar Galactica (sounds lame... but it's seriously really good), What About Brian?, Grey's Anatomy, etc... and make sure that we still have some good TV to watch in the future.
right now, i think we're in a sort of TV renaissance. some of the stuff currently on TV (or over the past few years) has been extraordinarily well written. unfortunately, a lot of people don't would rather watch the crappy stuff that has earned television its stereotype and many good shows are going away. here are some of the ones i've had to say "goodbye" to lately.
1. ALIAS... i just finished watching the series finale of this show and i'm really kinda sad.
2. The West Wing... i've said this many times: the first four seasons of this show were the best TV writing ever. amazing stories... amazing acting... amazing music... amazing everything. Aaron Sorkin is a genius. after season four, it sorta went downhill. it was still a good show, it was just a very different kind of show. if you never watched, get the first seasons on DVD. they're great.
3. Will and Grace... yeah, it went on for too long. yeah, the characters got a bit stale and the stories were overdone. but you know... it was generally pretty funny. another show where the first four seasons were great. for better or for worse, Will and Grace changed pop culture forever.
4. Arrested Development... this was, quite simply, one of the two best written comedies on network television. (the other being Scrubs, of course.) it was incredibly smart, amazingly funny and brilliantly acted. the American public seemed to miss this and it was cancelled mid-season. the Bluth family was probably the most dysfunctional family imaginable and it was always fun to watch them go through life. another show where you need to buy the DVDs and find out how amazing it was.
5. Everwood... now, i know it's a bit fem to admit that i watch this WB show, but Everwood was really underrated and well done. the acting, the stories... all of it seemed real and very rarely seemed like the contrived melodrama the WB usually puts out. it was dropped at the last minute because the new network (the CW) decided to bring 7th Heaven back. this is, perhaps, the greatest injustice of scheduling i've ever heard of.
now, there is some good TV still out there and hopefully more to come. but, please watch LOST, Scrubs, Battlestar Galactica (sounds lame... but it's seriously really good), What About Brian?, Grey's Anatomy, etc... and make sure that we still have some good TV to watch in the future.
|