It Was the Best and Worst of TV Times...
Unlike my dear sister, whose snobbery of all things anime grows daily, I actually believe that there are some shows on American TV worthy of my precious time and mental energies. Not many, but enough to merit repeat viewings and, dare I say it, obsession. As a designer, it is my duty to keep up with the modern pop trends (one friend of mine writes off her cable bill on her taxes for this very reason), and as a potential American manga artist, I need to stay in touch with the American zeitgeist. To neglect this would mean artistic suicide.
So dilligently, albeit often disgustedly, I scan shows to get an overall view of their styles and themes and overall goodness. Even if the show disgusts or insults me, I at least try to figure out why it was created, greenlighted, and now watched. It is often a waste, but occasionally this process helps me find a gem of a needle in the bloated, moldy haystack of American Television.
Best of Times: On Sunday/Monday I watched happily, then disgustedly, but always excitedly, the finale of a show I can't believe I love but do ever so much, Grey's Anatomy. I even got so bold as to post a comment on Pop Candy about my feelings on the finale, which are posted there but I will also include in the comments section of this post, if you don't want to dig through all of Whitney's comments.
Worst of Times: Then I found out this morning, cruelly, that in the shuffle of the fall lineups the CW will not be picking up Everwood for another season. My rage knows no bounds. They finally redeemed Ephram from his little pissy snit and had him grow up splendidly, made the show interesting again, and this is the thanks they get? To further rub salt in the wound and then poke it with a big stick, the cloying Seventh Heaven just had its series finale, yet they are bringing that sappy oversimplifying show back, and yet they let Everwood bite the dust?! Further proof that life is not fair (like I needed more proof, thanks,) and that UPN/WB/CW/All TV Networks wouldn't know a good show if it bit them on the. . . well, you get the idea. My scant hope is that another network will pick it up, or that if I write an endearing enough letter to these addresses they will change their minds, but I think it is a lost cause. Very very sad day. I should drape my black sparkly shawl over my head in grief; a whole bunch of fictitious yet arrestingly real friends are dying, and all I can do is mourn at their graves. And buy the DVD's. I should do what Andy Brown did: start my life over again in a small town in the Rockies. . .oh, wait, I've already done that! =) Yes, I must use humor to withstand the pain, it is the only way.
However, all is not "Lost." (I am going to ignore the booing and hissing about my hideous pun; how dare you lash out at a woman in grief!) Luckily my fave TV show is in no current danger of cancellation, and I have the season finale to look forward to. Desmond coming back? My heart soars.
This was shaping up to be the perfect summer, and probably will still be (once I recover from being shot through the heart by the CW.) Perhaps I can use the downtime until the fall to get caught up on shows I've been meaning to watch: Grey's Anatomy season 1, Veronica Mars (Yes this relationship will probably end in heartbreak too, since CW only ordered half a season, but I've heard too many good things to not watch it), The Office, How I Met Your Mother, Venture Bothers, and get reaquainted with the entire series of Gem. (Yes, I slipped some catooons in there, so sue me.)
(Off topic: does anyone know if "The Evidence" made it to a second season? Because I actually liked that show; it combined the detective whodunit mysteries I crave with the forensic intensity of CSI, minus all of CSI's nauseating and sensationalistic storylines. But I have a sneaky suspicion it bit the dust as well.)
I'm not sure how far to go with this subject, but I hope you will forgive my indulgence as it has been a tense TV week. TV choices can be divisive, so if I dismissed or criticized your fave show in the course of this post, tell me off in the comments section and let me know why I am dead wrong. Also, let me know what shows aren't on my must-see list that I should check out, if any, because it is a long summer ahead and I am dying for fresh material to see.
Other plans for the summer: work (duh), write and draft manga stories with my sis, take a road trip to a Shakespearean Festival I've beeen meaning to check out for years, usher for the local operas and plays (so I can see them for free, sweet!), catch up or rewatch my fave anime and manga, and make AMV's. And continue doing AngstyBishy of course. =)
posted by Lizzabell @ 4:40 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
First of all, love all the comments. If the Candy ever stops, Whitney, you could be the moderator of a TV show forum and I would faithfully tune in. The Lost posts, and now this? Excellent. Keep these up and I will never quit the Candy.
First off, I my reasoning behind the over-the-top, extra-long season finale was that it was done to ensure high ratings for the show and a concrete place in the fall lineup. Mission accomplished. I think all the networks are becoming too chop-happy with shows lately, which I hate, because I think this forces all the shows to make desperate self-preservational ratings grabs to one-up the competition—to the detriment of logic, continuity, or even plausible character development. And on a show like Grey’s, those elements are essential.
Izzy’s mental breakdown was so uncharacteristic that I cringed during those scenes. What happened to the girl I knew? Granted, stress over losing a love one can make a person desperate, but since we know she has sacrificed much, even her dignity, to become a surgeon, it was too far-fetched that she would just throw her career away like that. The prom was a bizarre plot, but I can honestly say I have never seen that before in a medical drama, and I liked it because we got to learn more about the pasts of a lot of the characters (Addison a band geek too? Now I HAVE to love her) and got to see one of the best Bailey scenes of the season. And I thought the reasons for Webber allowing the prom were well-explained, in spite of its overall absurdness, so I had no other probs with it. But Mere and Derek sleeping together was just wrong and felt contrived. They write her as the stupidest person on earth sometimes; when you are put that close to someone you know you shouldn’t want, you should act like George and LEAVE the room. She has Finn; why is she still pining after the unavailable Derek? I have a bad tendency to get crushes on married men, but I know my boundaries and would never cross them. Mere needs to get some self-respect and morals ASAP. And as far as I am concerned, George is just as responsible as Izzy for the cord being cut. It took her, I swear, five whole freaking minutes to finally do it—he should have wrestled her to the ground or something instead of just standing there in shock. But then there would have been no drama, right? Blah, that scene bothered me the most. I also thought they would all be let go after refusing to name names—with that threat over their heads, even Christina with her newfound emotions would have jumped up to tell. It’s not like there is a shortage of eager medical interns or anything, I’m sure others would be happy to take their easily replaceable places. Oh, but that would end the show, so the writers can’t do that! (Sigh. See what I mean about logic?)
All in all, the finale was so unlike the rest of the season (Like Jimmy I started watching the show late, so can’t compare this season to the last one) that I’m sure anyone who tuned into the heavily-promoted season finales only will be turned off by the show, hopefully not forever.
But I still love Grey’s, in spite of the finale’s detriments, for a few reasons. One, it combines the best in comedy and drama of two medical shows I used to love to death, ER and Scrubs. Two, now that McDreamy no longer has the “high moral ground” in his marriage, I hope the relationship between him and Addison will become more open and equal. (I am rooting for them to stay together—the show has set up Addison as a fantastic character, and it would chart a new path I have never seen before on good TV, where a broken marriage like theirs playing out in front of the audience actually works out.) Three, they have created characters I now love (George, Bailey, Burke, Addison, Callie, now Christina) and will keep watching in spite of the ones I cannot stand (Mere, Alex, sometimes Derek.) Was not Callie’s look at Derek after fixing Mere’s dress the best scathing look EVER? It made me cheer out loud. Four, I loved George’s conversation with Mere—George at his best. I too have been in love with people and was in denial about them not feeling the same way until after the fact. He didn’t let her off the hook for taking advantage of his feelings, but he did extend an olive branch. And I loved his final scene with Callie, honestly letting her know he doesn’t feel the same way but that he wants to. I thought both scenes were well written and very character revealing—aka why I watch this show. Five, because of Denny’s removal from the show and in spite of their perfectly written platonic friendship, I would love to see if Izzy and George ever realize what a great couple they would make, if they gave it a shot.
And lastly, because Grey’s is a well-written, well-acted, welcome change to my other, more cryptic love Lost. A girl needs a break from the heavy conspiracies sometime, and I will no longer have Everwood to fill that role, Sob!
(Did anyone else see the Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday? Very clever way to interview actors on a medical show I thought; I seriously believed at first that he had been bitten. And now I have heard and love Ben Lee, so a fine night indeed.)
Posted by: Liz | May 17, 2006 1:26:42 PM
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