The first week of this class, we had to comprise a list of our favorite and least TV shows. Now at the end of the sessision we must revisited this list and elaborate from what we've learned these past few weeks.
Favorites:
Doctor Who, has always been one of my favorite TV shows ever since I discovered it as a high school junior on the SyFy Channel (or was it still the Sci-Fi Channel back then?).
Doctor Who has quitley ingrained itself into American Culture, becoming a bestseller on the iTunes store and a big hit on Netflix. Why would a throughly British TV show appeal so much to Americans? The main appeal of the show for me is in a way it's Britishness. In an age where Reality TV and all the competetion shows increasingly dominates the American TV market,
Doctor Who with its escapist fantasy was something quite refreshing: you never know what you're gonna get an
Alien-esque thriller in the distant future, or a mystery in Victorian England. As acclaimed author Neil Gaiman has said: "
Doctor Who has never pretended to be hard science fiction… At best,
Doctor Who is a fairy tale, with fairy tale logic, about this wonderful man in this big blue box who at the beginning of every story lands somewhere where there is a problem." This is the main it has with most American fans. A polyvence that transcends cultural barriers is the ongoing battle with good and evil and the great costs and mental tramuas that comes from defeating evil. Despite it being my favorite show it does have flaws mainly due to Steven Moffat the current producer and head writer whose tenure has been marked by very complicated story lines that stretched out for three seasons (and that he all but left alone in the recent one) as opposed to his predecessor Russell T. Davies who favored simple storylines that would be resolved at the finale; so Moffat's tenure has beomce what resisitive reading, because the roughly half of the fans don't approve that the show has evolved from escapist Sci-Fi to something roughly akin to
Lost. Despite this, it's still my favorite show because even if the plots aren't what they were the characters are still there to tug at your heartscreens.
Phines and Ferb is an animated comedy from the
Disney Channel. Again, what it made it so appealing was just how different it was. It this day most kids cartoon are known for crude humor and dumb characters.
Phineas and Ferb is an intelligent, but simple kids shows. The show centers on the title characters, a pair of step-brothers who spend their summer break from school building fantasic contraptions and do amazing adventures ranging from a buidling a roller-coaster in the backyard, a moon rocket, or helping a friend build a portal to Mars for a summer science fair. Their sister Candance does not approve of their adventures and tries to show their mom the boys' antics in hopes she can stop them, she never does. Meanwhile the boy's pet playtpus Perry is actually a government secret spy, code name Agent P, who spends his days thwarting the plans of the rather inept mad scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz. As you see the show follows the A, B, C plot line. Phineas and Ferb's adventures are the A plot. Perry's life as a spy in the B plot. Candance's antincs or teenage drama are the C plot (although many times she is often merged with A plot). The show relies on witty word play, and good old-fashioned slap stick humor and makes for excellent entertainment for anyone.
Firefly is a sci-fi Western from director, writer, and producer Joss Whedon (
The Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Despite lasting one season it's become a cult hit amongst Netflix users. The central premise is that in the future, Earth has been used up and humans have terraformed a new new galaxy with hundreds and dozens of planets and moons. The wealthy central planets form the Alliance, and decide that for the better of humanity
all the planets must be with the Alliance, whether they want to or not. What follows is a brutal war between the Alliance and the outer worlds who want to remain independent-the Alliance wins. After the war Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, an ex-soldier who fought on the losing side becomes a smuggler and thief, albeit with a moral code in defiance on the Alliance regime. Alone the way he takes in a young doctor who is has become a fugitive, ever since he helped his sister escape from a secret government facillity. Maltakes them both in. At it's heart
Firefly has a very American idealogy, independence. Independence is vital part of American Culture and our idenity: we
fought for our independence from Great Britian, and we won.
Firefly however shows us a group of people who fought for independence and lost (Joss Whedon has said in interviews that
Firefly was inspired by the losing Confederate soldiers from the American Civil War). However they never given up on that, and keep their independence by trying to live under the radar. Americans are the same, no matter what happens, or what laws are passed, Americans will try to live their lives as they see fit, no matter what any government says, or what the odds are. This is perhpas why it's so popular amongst young adults, we naturally rebel.
The shows I really don't care for are stuff like
The Voice, American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, and
Jershey Store. I don't like most reality TV shows, because I think the're just too shallow, they all revolve around people who want there 15 minutes of fames. When it comes to dramas I don't like anymore, such as
House, it's because of poor writing usually. In
House's case it was because of how they treated the main character. He had always been a jerk, albeit one who was amusing and with a very hidden heart of gold. However as the show went on, his antics were growing out of control, and the writers tried to counter by giving him character development to make him nicer, which never really stuck. It really came to a head when the writers had House commit a blatanty criminal act by driving his car into his ex-girlfriend's dining room, and more egriously that episode ended with House on a beach out of the country! He ended up in prison in the next season premire but there comes a point where even a character you love crosses the line, and that's what happened to me with House. With
Downton Abbey, it was when two main actors wanted to leave, so the head writer killed them all off in very dramatic fashion, with no warning. Again, it's poor writing that makes me leave TV shows, if a writer can't handle something well, it alienates the audience.
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