Thoughts on TV in light of the Criminal Minds uproar...
So apparently, there's been a bit of a hullabaloo in fandom recently. Maybe you've heard about it. Criminal Minds is firing AJ Cook and drastically reducing the status of Paget Brewster, yet Kirsten Vangsness is being kept as the token fulltime female character because she's popular with the fans. [Two more looks at this debacle are on Jezebel and Deadline Hollywood.]
Really? Drop the new mother completely, severely cut back exposure to the "sexually ambiguous" character, and keep the geek-goddess. They can get other profilers to replace Prentiss. They can get other PR people to replace JJ. But they can't replace the Goddess because she's got the mad l33t techno skills, and she flirts so nicely with all the boys, especially Morgan. And speaking of Morgan, none of the male characters on the show have been compromised like this, because after all, it's only the men that count, right?
And this was all for financial reasons, right, CBS? And probably related to finding financing for your Criminal Minds spinoff that has already been greenlit for this fall. Despite the fact that a good portion of the fanbase didn't buy the backdoor pilot you did this season on Criminal Minds. Like at all.
Hunh… Really, CBS? Is that why you initially put out comments that the cast upheaval was for financial reasons, then ret-conned yourself to say that it was creative reasons when the fans went ballistic? Is a crappy carbon copy spinoff with unknown cast really that much more important than the established cast on an established fan favorite show? Apparently so. The all-mighty dollar wins out over integrity, eh?
And what does this mean for the fans? For the future of the show? Well, based on fan outcry, it's not going to go well. Fans are professing to leave in droves if this upheaval continues as stated. There's even a petition to keep AJ Cook and Paget Brewster in their full cast member status. [I'm signature # 22811, btw] These same fans are pretty much decrying en masse that they won't be watching the spinoff, supposedly called Mind 2.0. [WTF kind of name is that any way?] And apparently a new article is now out in which AJ Cook thanks the fans for their support. The fact that she's apparently taking this so well only makes it worse, you know?
Is CBS really that dependent on ratings? Oh wait! What am I saying? Of course, they are. Because they keep making cookie cutter spinoffs of their popular shows, then fucking with the formula and/or cast. CBS used to be a powerhouse network. WTF happened?
And yes, before anyone says anything, this sort of shit DOES happen on the other networks. I'm not saying that it doesn't. But right now, it's happening pretty publicly on CBS. Between this Criminal Minds shit and something similar happening on CSI with Liz Vassey. No, Vassey isn't a top, regular cast member like Cook and Brewster, but she's a fan favorite and has been on the show for like 5 years now. And this all makes me wonder about the whole thing with Louise Lombard, too, but that's probably for a different rant…
And this is on the tail of the Legend of the Seeker cancellation, particularly given that ABC Studios basically told fans to abandon hope of the show ever coming back.
So what is it with this bad blood re: women characters? Do the network execs really think that women are expendable? Seriously? Are there really television execs who think this way still? Then again, the target, golden demographic is males 18-49, so who the fuck cares about female viewers? And besides, all we female viewers want is hot men [straight or gay, doesn't really seem to matter] that we can drool over, right? Fuck you. And I'm not even getting into the whole aspect of me being gay in this. Just in general, television doesn't have to be completely heteronormative like that. Not every female character needs a man to be strong and fulfilled in her life. You can have plenty of male characters who are in that fulfilled without a wife/girlfriend arena. Why can't the women be there, too?
And now that this whole thing with cutting the Criminal Minds team has been brought to light, I've been thinking about a few things. Like the fact that at the same time, there are some further developments that have arisen. For example, Adam Rodriguez couldn't come to an agreement with CSI: Miami over his contract, so he was scaled back to like 11 episodes or something like that. Enter one Eddie Cibrian to replace him. Guess what, guys? CSI: Miami has dropped Cibrian since Rodriguez is coming back. But more on this later…
Example #2, Private Practice. For those that aren't in the know, Chris Lowell's character, Dell, was killed off and is no longer with the show. Today, a release came out saying that Private Practice has bumped Brian Benben up to regular cast. I'm still sad over the whole thing with Dell, and initially had a bad knee-jerk reaction to Benben moving up to full regular cast. And yet, upon reading the comments, I learned that Lowell wanted to leave the show and pursue other acting opportunities and that he was okay with Dell dying because he felt that Dell never really fit in with the rest of the doctors. And at the same time, I am thrilled for Benben because I like Sheldon. I didn't at first, but he grew on me, and I really like the interactions between Sheldon and Addison. Not in a couple kind of way, but in a doctor-patient kind of way where the doctor doesn't let the patient get away with shit. And that's reciprocal re: his relationship with Charlotte. So maybe it's better to say they have a great friendship?
And... Umm... Damn....
And what's really sad right now is that I've completely lost the train of thought I'd had for this post, particularly with regard to femslash and losing 2/3 of the primary female cast of Criminal Minds. And I'd had a really great rant growing about it. I guess I'm going to have to refer y'all to the people who have been saying it better than I can. They're all out there, and honestly, if you know about the debacle, you've probably seen the ranty meta already…
But that aside, I think it's time to do a bit of a breakdown of AJ's shows, to see where the men vs. women ratio comes into play… Note that these are all using the current seasons just ending [tho' a couple of past people are included for effect].
Original post @ Dreamwidth with
comments. Commenting is welcome on either post.
Really? Drop the new mother completely, severely cut back exposure to the "sexually ambiguous" character, and keep the geek-goddess. They can get other profilers to replace Prentiss. They can get other PR people to replace JJ. But they can't replace the Goddess because she's got the mad l33t techno skills, and she flirts so nicely with all the boys, especially Morgan. And speaking of Morgan, none of the male characters on the show have been compromised like this, because after all, it's only the men that count, right?
And this was all for financial reasons, right, CBS? And probably related to finding financing for your Criminal Minds spinoff that has already been greenlit for this fall. Despite the fact that a good portion of the fanbase didn't buy the backdoor pilot you did this season on Criminal Minds. Like at all.
Hunh… Really, CBS? Is that why you initially put out comments that the cast upheaval was for financial reasons, then ret-conned yourself to say that it was creative reasons when the fans went ballistic? Is a crappy carbon copy spinoff with unknown cast really that much more important than the established cast on an established fan favorite show? Apparently so. The all-mighty dollar wins out over integrity, eh?
And what does this mean for the fans? For the future of the show? Well, based on fan outcry, it's not going to go well. Fans are professing to leave in droves if this upheaval continues as stated. There's even a petition to keep AJ Cook and Paget Brewster in their full cast member status. [I'm signature # 22811, btw] These same fans are pretty much decrying en masse that they won't be watching the spinoff, supposedly called Mind 2.0. [WTF kind of name is that any way?] And apparently a new article is now out in which AJ Cook thanks the fans for their support. The fact that she's apparently taking this so well only makes it worse, you know?
Is CBS really that dependent on ratings? Oh wait! What am I saying? Of course, they are. Because they keep making cookie cutter spinoffs of their popular shows, then fucking with the formula and/or cast. CBS used to be a powerhouse network. WTF happened?
And yes, before anyone says anything, this sort of shit DOES happen on the other networks. I'm not saying that it doesn't. But right now, it's happening pretty publicly on CBS. Between this Criminal Minds shit and something similar happening on CSI with Liz Vassey. No, Vassey isn't a top, regular cast member like Cook and Brewster, but she's a fan favorite and has been on the show for like 5 years now. And this all makes me wonder about the whole thing with Louise Lombard, too, but that's probably for a different rant…
And this is on the tail of the Legend of the Seeker cancellation, particularly given that ABC Studios basically told fans to abandon hope of the show ever coming back.
So what is it with this bad blood re: women characters? Do the network execs really think that women are expendable? Seriously? Are there really television execs who think this way still? Then again, the target, golden demographic is males 18-49, so who the fuck cares about female viewers? And besides, all we female viewers want is hot men [straight or gay, doesn't really seem to matter] that we can drool over, right? Fuck you. And I'm not even getting into the whole aspect of me being gay in this. Just in general, television doesn't have to be completely heteronormative like that. Not every female character needs a man to be strong and fulfilled in her life. You can have plenty of male characters who are in that fulfilled without a wife/girlfriend arena. Why can't the women be there, too?
And now that this whole thing with cutting the Criminal Minds team has been brought to light, I've been thinking about a few things. Like the fact that at the same time, there are some further developments that have arisen. For example, Adam Rodriguez couldn't come to an agreement with CSI: Miami over his contract, so he was scaled back to like 11 episodes or something like that. Enter one Eddie Cibrian to replace him. Guess what, guys? CSI: Miami has dropped Cibrian since Rodriguez is coming back. But more on this later…
Example #2, Private Practice. For those that aren't in the know, Chris Lowell's character, Dell, was killed off and is no longer with the show. Today, a release came out saying that Private Practice has bumped Brian Benben up to regular cast. I'm still sad over the whole thing with Dell, and initially had a bad knee-jerk reaction to Benben moving up to full regular cast. And yet, upon reading the comments, I learned that Lowell wanted to leave the show and pursue other acting opportunities and that he was okay with Dell dying because he felt that Dell never really fit in with the rest of the doctors. And at the same time, I am thrilled for Benben because I like Sheldon. I didn't at first, but he grew on me, and I really like the interactions between Sheldon and Addison. Not in a couple kind of way, but in a doctor-patient kind of way where the doctor doesn't let the patient get away with shit. And that's reciprocal re: his relationship with Charlotte. So maybe it's better to say they have a great friendship?
And... Umm... Damn....
And what's really sad right now is that I've completely lost the train of thought I'd had for this post, particularly with regard to femslash and losing 2/3 of the primary female cast of Criminal Minds. And I'd had a really great rant growing about it. I guess I'm going to have to refer y'all to the people who have been saying it better than I can. They're all out there, and honestly, if you know about the debacle, you've probably seen the ranty meta already…
But that aside, I think it's time to do a bit of a breakdown of AJ's shows, to see where the men vs. women ratio comes into play… Note that these are all using the current seasons just ending [tho' a couple of past people are included for effect].
- CSI: Miami
Main cast :: 3 men & 2 women [Horatio, Ryan, Delko/Jesse vs. Calleigh, Natalia]
Supporting cast :: 3 men & 1 woman [Tripp, Walter, Cooper (tho' he's gone now) vs. Valera]
- CSI: New York
Main cast :: 2 men & 2 women [Mac, Danny vs. Stella, Lindsay/Aiden]
Supporting cast :: 3 men [Don, Adam, Sid]
- NCIS
Main cast :: 3 men & 2 women [Gibbs, Tony, McGee vs. Abby, Ziva/Kate]
Supporting cast :: 3 men [Ducky, Palmer, Vance]
- Private Practice
Main cast :: 4 men & 4 women [Sam, Pete, Cooper, Dell/Sheldon vs. Addison, Naomi, Violet, Charlotte]
Supporting cast :: 2 men & 1 woman [Fife, William vs. Maya]
- In Plain Sight
Main cast :: 1 man & 1 woman [Marshall vs. Mary]
Supporting cast :: 3 men & 3 women [Stan, Raph, Peter vs. Jinx, Brandi, Eleanor/Theresa]
- Leverage
Main cast :: 3 men & 2 women [Nate, Eliot, Hardison vs. Sophie/Tara, Parker]
Supporting cast :: 1 man & 1 woman [Sterling vs. Maggie]
- Glee
Main cast :: 5 men & 6 women [Shue, Finn, Artie, Kurt, Puck vs. Sue, Emma, Rachel, Tina, Mercedes, Quinn]
Supporting cast :: 6 men & 4 women [Mike, Matt, Figgins, Howard, Sandy, Coach Tanaka vs. Terri, Brittany, Santana, Shelby]
Original post @ Dreamwidth with
comments. Commenting is welcome on either post.