Why I love the shows I love.

[deird_lj]

I was just thinking about my favourite tv shows and the moment I first realised I was going to love them.

Surprisingly, they were actually all quite similar. Although... not.


The List

Firefly: when Mal kicked the evil guy through the ship's engine.

Frasier: the "flashback episode"... that turned out not to be a standard flashback episode, because modern-day Frasier and Niles were inside it, looking at early-years Frasier and Niles, and commenting on them.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the moment Spike appeared and started talking about Woodstock.

NCIS: when they kidnapped a body from the FBI (by bluffing really well) so that they'd have jurisdiction over it.

Farscape: when the episode's teaser ended with "I demand... one of your Pilot's arms!" *dramatic music* - and I was sure the episode was going to be about the moral dilemma of do-we-cut-off-the-Pilot's-arm-or-not-hmm-we-must-think-about-this-deeply-and-moralise... but, two minutes later, they CUT HIS ARM OFF, and the rest of the episode was about something else.



I like many shows. For many reasons. But the thing that makes me grin and love them is when they start surprising me. When I can see the standard tv moment that's about to happen - and then something else happens instead. When a show about gothic, dramatic vampires turns out to be more interested in punk vampires who roll their eyes at the rules. When it's suddenly not what I thought it was, and I suddenly don't know everything.

I love that.

Comments

JL rambles on and on... Part 2 About Shows and Characters

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I'm also much more selective about my shows in a similar way. These days, I watch fewer shows, because I just can't be bothered with most of them any more.

So I was thinking about the shows I'm into and have been into in the past. And it's very different criteria from yours, because I can't think of any particular plot events that made me go, "COOL."

(BTW, that arm cutting off thing is seriously awesome.)

Here are the shows that spring to mind when I think about 'My Shows':
(and I'm bolding the ones I got properly obsessed by - as in, I'd spend mental energy on them while not actually watching them)

Two half hour sketch shows (I was properly nuts, so I'm going to include them):
- I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again
- Monty Python

Two half hour sitcoms:
- Red Dwarf (Rimmer, and Rimmer-Lister (as opposed to R/L))
- The Big Bang Theory (Sheldon, and Sheldon/Penny)

Three Hour Dramas:
- NCIS (briefly - Tony/Kate, so I gave up when she died)
- The Practice / Boston Legal (specifically, Alan Shore, and Alan/Tara, and Alan-Denny)
- House (House, and House/Cuddy)

plus a couple of ones like
- Hustle
- Burn Notice
that I watch occasionally but don't think about at any other time

and my current fixation
- The Daily Show - well, only the parts with Jon Stewart, really, particularly the bits where he talks to Stephen Colbert... and any Even Stevphen bits with Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert... and the any bits involving STEPHEN COLBERT, OH, THAT WONDERFUL MAN, which is why I *really* like The Colbert Report which cuts out all those annoying other people and just has HIM for Half An Hour with only the occasional interruption by some tiresome guest, YAY.

Ahem. *drags self back to earth*

The reason I ended up on the movies tangent was because I think my criteria for shows tend to be similar. i.e. for me to be interested, it has to be Interesting, which usually means some sort of mystery / con job to keep me interested for an hour. Or, it has to be a half hour sitcom / show that is funny enough to keep me entertained.

But to get me HOOKED, it has to have
1) a very cheeky sense of humour
2) a character for me to fall madly in love with.
i.e. Rimmer, Alan Shore, House, Sheldon, and Colbert.

In each case,

1) the character as written sounds DREADFUL, and many viewers are disbelieving that anyone could find them attractive or feel any sympathy for them at all;

2) BUT the actor brings a sweetness to thir portrayal that makes you love them despite their outrageous behaviour AND

3) a depth of characterisation that indicates personal angst and pain and history and longing and irony that makes you understand what might cause their behaviour (and to which I usually strongly relate)

4) AND this brilliant characterisation means that the character gradually shapes the show around themselves because the writers enjoy exploring them and giving them growth and stuff

5) PLUS, there's always someone else with whom they have magnificent chemistry and those scenes are the best. It's usually arguments with a bit of flirting thrown in.

I find it interesting that all the shows I've gone bananas about have this one character that I'm set on...

... and the shows I'm not 'besotted with' but just 'like', don't have a stand-out character like that. And so I end up watching with one eye - like NCIS. Or, I was into Burn Notice, but the characters aren't engaging enough these days to get me interested enough to spend my brain on the plot.

And there are other shows where it's the opposite, because I'm wildly into Ten, and Donna, and the Master - but not enough into the overall show to keep concentrating for full shows. Not quite enough my style to be worth the mental energy investment. I'd be happy with the character bits but ignoring all the other stuff.

[deird1]

1) the character as written sounds DREADFUL, and many viewers are disbelieving that anyone could find them attractive or feel any sympathy for them at all;

2) BUT the actor brings a sweetness to thir portrayal that makes you love them despite their outrageous behaviour AND

3) a depth of characterisation that indicates personal angst and pain and history and longing and irony that makes you understand what might cause their behaviour (and to which I usually strongly relate)

4) AND this brilliant characterisation means that the character gradually shapes the show around themselves because the writers enjoy exploring them and giving them growth and stuff

5) PLUS, there's always someone else with whom they have magnificent chemistry and those scenes are the best. It's usually arguments with a bit of flirting thrown in.

Oooh... Fascinating...

(Wesley from AtS would completely fit in with this definition. You have no idea.)

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

Glad you like it. It was quite interesting lining all my boys up and noting the similarities.

Jack Sparrow is right up there, too.
And it's why I love Ten and the Master and Ten/Donna, even though I'm not into DW so much (although not quite, because The Dr doesn't sound DREADFUL, exactly).


And I'll be soppy and note that Matt kinda fits this, too. Sorta. :)