TV round-up
Friday Night Lights #1.13-
Huh. I'm not usually one of those psycho!spoilerphobes who considers episode titles spoilers, but... WOW, I could have done without the GIGANTIC SPOILER in this episode title. :/
This episode sucked, basically. At first my reaction was just *meh*, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how terribly written it was:
The Smash steroids storyline that's been brewing for half a dozen episode? Resolved in one. Tied up with a neat bow, even. Smash learns that football is not the be-all and end-all! Yet still gets to keep playing football! (Sitting on that fence is comfy, huh?)
Matt's father's poignant resolve last episode to stay home with his family who need him is completely reversed (!).
More examples of the shoddy writing: We all know the Panthers are going to the play-offs, okay? (it wouldn't be much of a season if they were knocked out this early), but couldn't the writers have created a little bit of tension over the game's result? LAZY WRITING. :/ Also: there was that scene where Riggins and Jason&Lyla are in the diner... and yet NOTHING HAPPENED. Jason wasn't at all unsettled by his ex-bestfriend sitting ten feet away. Despite the fact that Tim is in love with Lyla, he didn't cast a single glance in her direction! LAZY WRITING. :/ :/
And now the piste de resistance of bad writing: Teenagers getting married is my #2 pet peeve on TV shows, anyway (coming in behind my #1 pet peeve of teenagers having babies), but to have it coming off a fake-out of Jason breaking up with Lyla? UGH.
I'm gonna hope and pray this engagement is dead in the water and only serves as a catalyst for more Jason/Tim/Lyla angst. I swear to god, if I have to watch Lyla trying on wedding dresses, I'm gonna fucking stop watching. Damn you, Jason "thank you for every smile, every kiss" Katims.
The O.C. #4.12-
I called Kirsten's pregnancy within, oooh, 3 seconds. That was some seriously bad writing. I spent the whole episode hoping it was a double fake-out: Kirsten's sick! oops, no, she's pregnant! oops, no, she really IS sick! Sadly no. God, I hate baby storylines. :/
How many times is it that Ryan and Taylor have broken up only to get back together almost straight away? I've honestly lost count. I know they're a couple of fruitloops with committment issues, but this endless dance of break up!/get back together! is the only way the writers can come up with showing it? REALLY? :/
Julie is suddenly in love with Hercules? WTFever. If you wanna show Julie's sensitive side, BRING BACK JIMMY.
The insistent heteronormativity of this show sometimes gets to me. I know other people can watch a show, realize there are no gay people whatsoever (no people of colour, either, unless they happen to be stunt-cast... but that's another rant) and just let it go. I am not one of those people, sorry. It fucking BUGS ME. Time and time again, this show portrays gayness as a joke. And it stopped being funny a long time ago. First, Seth's boycrush on Ryan, played for laughs (Seth walking in on Ryan changing, etc.). Now, Che's infatuation with Seth -- dispatched just as soon as it had been wrung dry of laughs; heteronormative values restored as if with a magic wand! I'm not suggesting that Che was really in love Seth and yeah, it was a mildly amusing storyline, but the thing is, you can't joke about homosexuality if there are absolutely no real, positive examples of homosexuality on your show. You just can't. It shows you up as a fucking homophobic idiot, Josh Schwartz.
Skins #1.01-
Not bad. Not good, either... but not so terrible. Possibly am I overly optimistic, but now that they've got the "shagging! nudity! drugs! teenagers swearing and talking about sex!" provocative bullshit out of the way, it could shape into an alright show.
Its representation of Bristol (where I live... some of the time) isn't so terrible either. One of the characters (Sid) even has a (very slight) Bristolian accent! It's certainly set in Mythic Bristol, not Actual Bristol. People who visit Bristol Uni always see Mythic Bristol, confined to College Green/Whiteladies Road. You go a bit further from the Centre and it gets a whole lot shittier. :D
According to heat, next week's Cassie-centric episode is supposed to be great. Cassie's certainly the most interesting character, so I'm willing to keep watching.
P.S. I never saw Life As We Know It, but I imagine Skins as being quite similiar (?). It certainly seems to take a lot of its cues from Melvin Burgess' novels (Doing It, Junk).
ETA:
Anytime my f'list LOVES an episode of Supernatural, I find myself underwhelmed. (I much preferred last week's creepy dolls to this week's redux-o-rama.) I dunno. It's becoming a pattern. :| Still, the Doctor Who shoutout in 'Nightshifter' did make me happy. Hee!
Huh. I'm not usually one of those psycho!spoilerphobes who considers episode titles spoilers, but... WOW, I could have done without the GIGANTIC SPOILER in this episode title. :/
This episode sucked, basically. At first my reaction was just *meh*, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how terribly written it was:
The Smash steroids storyline that's been brewing for half a dozen episode? Resolved in one. Tied up with a neat bow, even. Smash learns that football is not the be-all and end-all! Yet still gets to keep playing football! (Sitting on that fence is comfy, huh?)
Matt's father's poignant resolve last episode to stay home with his family who need him is completely reversed (!).
More examples of the shoddy writing: We all know the Panthers are going to the play-offs, okay? (it wouldn't be much of a season if they were knocked out this early), but couldn't the writers have created a little bit of tension over the game's result? LAZY WRITING. :/ Also: there was that scene where Riggins and Jason&Lyla are in the diner... and yet NOTHING HAPPENED. Jason wasn't at all unsettled by his ex-bestfriend sitting ten feet away. Despite the fact that Tim is in love with Lyla, he didn't cast a single glance in her direction! LAZY WRITING. :/ :/
And now the piste de resistance of bad writing: Teenagers getting married is my #2 pet peeve on TV shows, anyway (coming in behind my #1 pet peeve of teenagers having babies), but to have it coming off a fake-out of Jason breaking up with Lyla? UGH.
I'm gonna hope and pray this engagement is dead in the water and only serves as a catalyst for more Jason/Tim/Lyla angst. I swear to god, if I have to watch Lyla trying on wedding dresses, I'm gonna fucking stop watching. Damn you, Jason "thank you for every smile, every kiss" Katims.
The O.C. #4.12-
I called Kirsten's pregnancy within, oooh, 3 seconds. That was some seriously bad writing. I spent the whole episode hoping it was a double fake-out: Kirsten's sick! oops, no, she's pregnant! oops, no, she really IS sick! Sadly no. God, I hate baby storylines. :/
How many times is it that Ryan and Taylor have broken up only to get back together almost straight away? I've honestly lost count. I know they're a couple of fruitloops with committment issues, but this endless dance of break up!/get back together! is the only way the writers can come up with showing it? REALLY? :/
Julie is suddenly in love with Hercules? WTFever. If you wanna show Julie's sensitive side, BRING BACK JIMMY.
The insistent heteronormativity of this show sometimes gets to me. I know other people can watch a show, realize there are no gay people whatsoever (no people of colour, either, unless they happen to be stunt-cast... but that's another rant) and just let it go. I am not one of those people, sorry. It fucking BUGS ME. Time and time again, this show portrays gayness as a joke. And it stopped being funny a long time ago. First, Seth's boycrush on Ryan, played for laughs (Seth walking in on Ryan changing, etc.). Now, Che's infatuation with Seth -- dispatched just as soon as it had been wrung dry of laughs; heteronormative values restored as if with a magic wand! I'm not suggesting that Che was really in love Seth and yeah, it was a mildly amusing storyline, but the thing is, you can't joke about homosexuality if there are absolutely no real, positive examples of homosexuality on your show. You just can't. It shows you up as a fucking homophobic idiot, Josh Schwartz.
Skins #1.01-
Not bad. Not good, either... but not so terrible. Possibly am I overly optimistic, but now that they've got the "shagging! nudity! drugs! teenagers swearing and talking about sex!" provocative bullshit out of the way, it could shape into an alright show.
Its representation of Bristol (where I live... some of the time) isn't so terrible either. One of the characters (Sid) even has a (very slight) Bristolian accent! It's certainly set in Mythic Bristol, not Actual Bristol. People who visit Bristol Uni always see Mythic Bristol, confined to College Green/Whiteladies Road. You go a bit further from the Centre and it gets a whole lot shittier. :D
According to heat, next week's Cassie-centric episode is supposed to be great. Cassie's certainly the most interesting character, so I'm willing to keep watching.
P.S. I never saw Life As We Know It, but I imagine Skins as being quite similiar (?). It certainly seems to take a lot of its cues from Melvin Burgess' novels (Doing It, Junk).
ETA:
Anytime my f'list LOVES an episode of Supernatural, I find myself underwhelmed. (I much preferred last week's creepy dolls to this week's redux-o-rama.) I dunno. It's becoming a pattern. :| Still, the Doctor Who shoutout in 'Nightshifter' did make me happy. Hee!