[The following is part two of an email conversation between Jesse and Jim with our thoughts about the new television season. You can find part one here.]-----
From: Jesse Craft
To: Jim Fisher
Subject: Guilty pleasure or piece of junk?
One of the (many, many) reasons I had to stop watching Fringe is
because I couldn't take Suzi's exclamations every time the 3-D rendered
words popped up. And by exclamations, I of course mean "What the fuck
is this stupid shit?"
Speaking of not acknowledging your source material: Alan Ball, the
creative force behind True Blood (and Six Feet Under, one of the
original "Suzi likes this show? I'm not sure this relationship is going
to work" shows, along with Nip/Tuck) has said in interviews that he has
not seen a single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Please comment
on (A) how you feel his failing to watch THE seminal vampire show on
television (and an all-time classic in its own right) is negatively
affecting True Blood, and (B) what the fuck is Alan Ball's problem.
Even though I'm not watching it, don't you dare apologize for the
guilty pleasure television show. You are talking to a guy that watches
Chuck and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I understand guilty
pleasures. In fact, as something of a guilty pleasure connoisseur, I
dare say I can suggest how a television show can walk the fine line
between guilty pleasure and claptrap: be true to your characters.
What does that mean? Look at this most recent episode of Heroes.
One of the best episodes from season one is when Sylar, the show's
villian, goes home to visit his (slightly demented mother), and
ultimately ends up killing her. Now, end of episode two, we get a
completely non-sensical cliffhanger: Ma Petrelli is actually is
mother. Whaaa?!?! Not only does it make no sense, but it undercuts
some of the most affecting character development we had with Sylar.
And then, all of a sudden, he's doing the buddy-cop routine with the
Horn-Rimmed Glasses guy. Plot holes are one thing: but forcing
characters to behave in ways that make no sense in the service of your
plot holes is taking it to another level. A level which, in my
opinion, crosses a line.
Terminator, on the other hand, has some of the same time-travel
related plot holes. Time travel plots are filled with plot holes
almost by definition. But the behavior of the characters is
consistent, and they development in believable and interesting ways.
Also? Sexy robots. I love sexy robots.
Maybe that's why I can't get into Mad Men: yes, there are scads and
scads of sexy women wearing shapely and structural undergarments, but
they aren't robots. It's either that, or the fact that it can be
stultifyingly boring. And this is coming from someone who enjoys and
appreciates the show, when I can stay awake through an entire
episode. It looks great (especially in HD), the women are beautiful,
the themes are interesting and complex, the reproduction of life in the
1960's is spot-on...
But it is boring, right?
I have seen exactly one episode of
The Shield. There were 3 or 4 different jokes about the men's room not
working. It looked like the cameraman was having a seizure from
watching a previous episode of The Shield. This show is better than
The Wire?
Oh, and set your DVR: South Park starts next week. I hear Cartman opens an investment bank or something. How topical!
-----
From: Jim Fisher
To: Jesse Craft
Subject: The Shield vs. The Wire
I believe that he never watched Buffy. I also believe that the creators
of "Moonlight" never watched Angel. I'm just gullible like that. If he
isn't lying, it's clearly because he doesn't have a sense of humor. I
never watched the Six Feet Under, but I know enough about it to
understand why its creator is not interested in Buffy. Where Buffy is
tongue-in-cheek about its mythos, True Blood is Important Social
Commentary. I'm fine with this -- I like social commentary and I don't
mind pretentiousness. True Blood landed in my guilty pleasures folder
because it handles the ISC in a dark and twisted way; it's not
tongue-in-cheek, though. You won't have Xander the Demon Magnet, Oz the
Monosyllabic Werewolf, or Wesley Windham Price. You will have Sookie's
stud-muffin of a brother drinking a vial of vampire blood and getting
one of those mythical 4+ hour erections.
Back to Heroes, because, goddammit, we have to keep
talking about Heroes, because we sure as hell aren't going to stop
watching it. Why does Sylar's biological parentage have undercut the
murder of his mother in season one in your eyes? He had the emotional
attachment of having been raised by the woman whom he killed. Just
because he didn't pop out of her vagina, that doesn't stop her from
being her mother. Sylar as Peter's brother is one of the things that I
like a lot about this season. They are two sides of one coin: Peter is
the good side (until he gets a scar on his face); Sylar the evil. One
absorbs abilities simply by proximity, the other has to eat brains.
That aside, I agree with you on the lack of continuity of
characterization. But then again, we're still watching.
You should catch up on Mad Men. It got good again.
It's interesting, even -- beyond the aesthetics and the whole "Wow, the
1960's!" thing. I'm calling it officially un-boring.
Yes, The Shield, at its best, is better than The
Wire at its best. The Wire is all about social commentary -- and, while
it has great characters, they do not drive the narrative. The issues
facing Baltimore, and urban America in general, are the centerpiece of
the narrative. The Shield is about the characters; they drive the
narrative, with the gang warfare and decay of urban Los Angeles serving
as a backdrop. Vic Mackey, Shane Vendrell, and Curtis Lemansky are real
characters. While Jimmy McNulty might be a drunkard and womanizer, and
Lester Freeman a dollhouse furniture-making detective with a strong
moral compass, neither are anywhere near as real to me as the main cast
of The Shield.
You're at a disadvantage because you've not read
any of David Simon's nonfiction work. Aspects of Homicide and The Wire
are largely drawn from characters and events in "Homicide: A Year on
the Killing Streets" and "The Corner." I don't understand your aversion
to cinema verite camerawork or jokes about nonworking men's rooms (an
aside, the men's room gets fixed in season 4, which, I'll admit, is the
weakest season of The Shield -- featuring some Glenn Close stunt
casting.... but if you get through that year, you get Season 5/6, with
Forest Whitaker giving the performance of his life -- yup, better than
The Last King of Scotland -- and perhaps the *greatest* moment of
dramatic television I've ever experienced). The Shield is, at its best,
great, and, at its weakest, very good. So, yup, better than The Wire.
Moving on, FX has promo'd "Sons of Anarchy" very
heavily during The Shield this season. Let me tell you, the show is
pretty good. It's not great television, but it's fun and watchable.
It's like biker Hamlet plus Emma Goldman plus Ron Perlman's chin --
what's not to like about that?
It focuses on Biker Hamlet (Jax), the son of Queen
Gertrude (Peg Bundy/Katy Segal/One-Eyed Futurama Girl) and King Hamlet
(dead, not seen). Gertrude has married King Hamlet's best friend and
gang partner, Claudius (Sam Crow/Hellboy). There's also Biker Elvis,
some gun running, rival gangs, an ATF agent (played by the amazing Jay
Karnes who you would know about if you watched The Shield), a
heroin-addicted Ophelia, and in the last episode a guy got a full-back
tattoo burned off with a blowtorch.
My DVR is set for South Park... more on that next week, I'm sure. Is Cartman's bank backed by the FDIC?
Question: What are the odds of Amy Poehler's water breaking during a sketch?
-----
From: Jesse Craft
To: Jim Fisher
Subject: Top 5?
Obviously, we could go round and round with all the TV we watch. We'll
have to do this again at mid-season. There's still 24, 30 Rock, Lost,
and Dollhouse (which I'm sure we'll both at least give a tryout).
As much fun as it is to hash out the pros and cons of all these
shows, there is, for me at least, the specter of my favorite shows
getting canceled. Following the long strike-imposed layoff, some of my
favorite shows have returned to huge drops in ratings, including Chuck,
Pushing Daisies, and Terminator. While Chuck is probably safe, the
other two are very expensive to produce, and could be looking at the
axe if there isn't a turnaround in the ratings. Anything you are
watching that you are worried about getting through the entire season?
And doesn't it make you appreciate the cable model of giving a show a
full season run regardless of the ratings?
Some quick responses, because we have to wrap this up (if anyone is actually still reading):
-
Peter and Sylar being two sides of a coin is very cool, I will admit
it: Heroes is very good at coming up with intricate plotting that has
very interesting ideas, only the plotting frequently forgets who the
characters are, where they have been, or what happened to Irish
barmaids of futures past.
- I tried to get you to watch Veronica Mars, and you complained
about beautiful Kristen Bell's lazy eye; and yet, you'll watch two
seasons of Forest Whitaker's eye doing everything but actually falling
out of it's socket and sitting on his cheek? Oh, and PS: despite a
slight drop off in quality season 2 and an even larger one in season 3,
I will hold the first season of Veronica Mars up against any television
ever produced. Ever. Just FYI.
- Cinema verite is a complete misnomer. It should be cinema
nausée. And why am I at a disadvantage by not reading Homicide and The
Corner, other then that they are most likely awesome?
- Top 5 shows this fall? I'm going with The Office, Pushing Daisies, Dexter, South Park, and Chuck, in no particular order.
Notable omissions from my list: Heroes, unsurprisingly. House, unfortunately. Oh, and The Hills.
I
watched the season premiere of Dexter tonight, and I was reminded of
something that separates the great shows for me: a sense of purpose.
When I watch The Wire, or Generation: Kill, or Lost, or Dexter, I
always have the feeling that the writers know exactly what they are
doing and where they are headed, even if I can't figure it out. As
opposed to say, this e-mail conversation.
Jim, it has been fun. Your closing thoughts?
-----
From: Jim Fisher
To: Jesse Craft
Subject: Oh, right, this...
And hey, I've been holding us up -- here we go --
I
have one final thought on Fringe. This week, John Noble used a Tesla
Coil to imprint a person's magnetic signature (taken from an audio
cassette that was in a boom box in his apartment) into a group of
homing pigeons. The pigeons found him.
True Blood has gone from iffy Guilty Pleasure to
full-on Guilty Pleasure during the long course of this email exchange.
As our friend Kevin says, it's Vampire Porn. I apparently loves me some
vampire porn.
I know you loved the South Park premiere and hated
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Kingdom Skull. I, on the other
hand, loved Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and
thought the South Park premiere was kind of bleh. The Cartman and
Butters at PF Chang's was uninspired; even with Butters continuing to
shoot people in the dick. I'll keep watching, of course.
My top five of the season: The Shield, The Office, House, Sons of Anarchy, True Blood.
Nothing
that I'm watching is worrying me as far as potential cancellation goes.
I hope they cancel Fringe soon so I can stop watching it, does that
count?
Until mid-season....
