how serial fiction broke clio's heart, part 3: reality saves the day, with help from NPH
Sorry for the delay--I went home last night and basically just passed out in the chair. Anyway, on to part three, which won't get to Avatar because my shipping PTSD story got way too long.
So Clio (you might ask) why did you run off into some reality television haze? Well, the first reason is that it gave me what I was looking for, and the second reason was timing.
But let's talk timing first. Spring-Summer-Fall 2007 gave me fantastic, amazing reality television that soothed my wounds from the huge let down of serial fiction. First, there was American Idol season 6, that Cake season, and while I had written my first Rymon fic in season 4 and first posted on and followed idolslash in season 5, Cake was the first time I got into a singer pairing, or got involved in a really active part of the Idol fandom. And while it wasn't a simple, "new fandom ate my head bye bye old fandom" it was soothing to be doing something completely different. That summer we got the amazing season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance (Benjelle!Trivan!) and season 3 of Top Chef (CJ! Casey! Dale! No weird bullying!). And finally, in November, season 4 of Project Runway (Chris March! Christian! Fierce!).
But that's just chance, that I got four great seasons of my four reality shows at that exact moment. Let's go back and look at the lessons:
Lesson 1, endings matter: Reality shows have an ending, an ending that you know is coming and always makes a kind of rational sense. Now, I'm no conspiracy theorist, and while I'm not always happy with who wins (AI5, hello) it always makes a kind of sense to me. I don't feel like, woah, that ending went against what I thought the show actually was.
Lesson 2, romance done well: This applies in that there are almost never romances on the reality shows I watch, which are reality-competition shows rather than the "follow people around" type of reality shows. So they just don't do them, rather than doing them badly. And there aren't nearly as many ship fights in the fandom as a result.
Lesson 3, action/genre about characters: Well, this isn't genre.
Lesson 4, different narrative priorities: The priorities are pretty clear. PR wants to find a high end designer, someone who would have their own house eventually, someone who can mold the challenge to fit their own style, but who is adaptable enough to create different garments for different occasions. Top Chef wants a chef with the potential to open a four-star restaurant, but who could also do more downscale home cooking or catering, or figure out how to make frozen dinners, etc--in other words, Tom, or Wolfgang Puck. Idol wants someone who's going to sound good on the radio right now and who will be a marketable mainstream pop/rock/country/R&B musician. SYTYCD wants someone who has enough personality to be entertaining and come through on the screen, but also have the dancing skills and a great deal of versatility--note how Lacey is on Dancing with the Stars this season. I get this, the systems behind these shows are pretty clear to me. If they were more chaotic, I likely wouldn't watch them at all, because they'd be frustrating. This is part of why I don't watch reality shows where the competition has to do with personalities and gamesmanship, like Survivor or Big Brother, because it's too chaotic and I sort of don't care. I like watching creative people being creative.
Lesson 5, unnecessary drama: This happens sort of around the edges, with a new judge or a new spin on the competition, or new rules, but the essential nature of the show isn't changed, and even the new things make a kind of sense.
Lesson 6, open shipping: See lesson 2.
So the reality shows that I watch, these creative reality-competition shows, give me most of what I was looking for in a fictional serial narrative, including tons of character change and development. I mean, how great is it to watch the contestants rise to a challenge they've never thought of? Christian became a better designer, Stephanie a better cook, Benji a better dancer, D.Cook a better singer, just by having to think their way through all those damn challenges. That is absolutely the most fun of all.
Meanwhile, there was one scripted series I didn't drop from my TIVO: How I Met Your Mother. I know that many of you are pretty dismissive of this show and of sitcoms in general, but (1) it knows where it's headed (2) it does romance incredibly well even with the couple that it got together and broke up (3) it isn't genre and therefore doesn't have those problems to overcome (4) I feel from the DVD commentary tracks that I have the same narrative priorities as Craig and Carter do (not unlike with Alan Ball) (5) no unnecessary drama needs to be introduced to "shake things up" because it's a sitcom and they don't work that way and finally (6) two of the five main characters are already married and we've seen in flash forwards that they will be until they're very old; one is the "father" to the "mother" and equally we've seen in flash forwards that this is a long marriage and the only mystery there is really the mother; which leaves Robin and Barney and I'm really willing to trust Craig and Carter with those two. It's smart, it's funny, it has heart and is willing to show it, it has NPH, great writing, directing, acting, a fantastic sense of both time and timing--it's really just about everything I want in a show.
So Clio (you might ask) why did you run off into some reality television haze? Well, the first reason is that it gave me what I was looking for, and the second reason was timing.
But let's talk timing first. Spring-Summer-Fall 2007 gave me fantastic, amazing reality television that soothed my wounds from the huge let down of serial fiction. First, there was American Idol season 6, that Cake season, and while I had written my first Rymon fic in season 4 and first posted on and followed idolslash in season 5, Cake was the first time I got into a singer pairing, or got involved in a really active part of the Idol fandom. And while it wasn't a simple, "new fandom ate my head bye bye old fandom" it was soothing to be doing something completely different. That summer we got the amazing season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance (Benjelle!Trivan!) and season 3 of Top Chef (CJ! Casey! Dale! No weird bullying!). And finally, in November, season 4 of Project Runway (Chris March! Christian! Fierce!).
But that's just chance, that I got four great seasons of my four reality shows at that exact moment. Let's go back and look at the lessons:
Lesson 1, endings matter: Reality shows have an ending, an ending that you know is coming and always makes a kind of rational sense. Now, I'm no conspiracy theorist, and while I'm not always happy with who wins (AI5, hello) it always makes a kind of sense to me. I don't feel like, woah, that ending went against what I thought the show actually was.
Lesson 2, romance done well: This applies in that there are almost never romances on the reality shows I watch, which are reality-competition shows rather than the "follow people around" type of reality shows. So they just don't do them, rather than doing them badly. And there aren't nearly as many ship fights in the fandom as a result.
Lesson 3, action/genre about characters: Well, this isn't genre.
Lesson 4, different narrative priorities: The priorities are pretty clear. PR wants to find a high end designer, someone who would have their own house eventually, someone who can mold the challenge to fit their own style, but who is adaptable enough to create different garments for different occasions. Top Chef wants a chef with the potential to open a four-star restaurant, but who could also do more downscale home cooking or catering, or figure out how to make frozen dinners, etc--in other words, Tom, or Wolfgang Puck. Idol wants someone who's going to sound good on the radio right now and who will be a marketable mainstream pop/rock/country/R&B musician. SYTYCD wants someone who has enough personality to be entertaining and come through on the screen, but also have the dancing skills and a great deal of versatility--note how Lacey is on Dancing with the Stars this season. I get this, the systems behind these shows are pretty clear to me. If they were more chaotic, I likely wouldn't watch them at all, because they'd be frustrating. This is part of why I don't watch reality shows where the competition has to do with personalities and gamesmanship, like Survivor or Big Brother, because it's too chaotic and I sort of don't care. I like watching creative people being creative.
Lesson 5, unnecessary drama: This happens sort of around the edges, with a new judge or a new spin on the competition, or new rules, but the essential nature of the show isn't changed, and even the new things make a kind of sense.
Lesson 6, open shipping: See lesson 2.
So the reality shows that I watch, these creative reality-competition shows, give me most of what I was looking for in a fictional serial narrative, including tons of character change and development. I mean, how great is it to watch the contestants rise to a challenge they've never thought of? Christian became a better designer, Stephanie a better cook, Benji a better dancer, D.Cook a better singer, just by having to think their way through all those damn challenges. That is absolutely the most fun of all.
Meanwhile, there was one scripted series I didn't drop from my TIVO: How I Met Your Mother. I know that many of you are pretty dismissive of this show and of sitcoms in general, but (1) it knows where it's headed (2) it does romance incredibly well even with the couple that it got together and broke up (3) it isn't genre and therefore doesn't have those problems to overcome (4) I feel from the DVD commentary tracks that I have the same narrative priorities as Craig and Carter do (not unlike with Alan Ball) (5) no unnecessary drama needs to be introduced to "shake things up" because it's a sitcom and they don't work that way and finally (6) two of the five main characters are already married and we've seen in flash forwards that they will be until they're very old; one is the "father" to the "mother" and equally we've seen in flash forwards that this is a long marriage and the only mystery there is really the mother; which leaves Robin and Barney and I'm really willing to trust Craig and Carter with those two. It's smart, it's funny, it has heart and is willing to show it, it has NPH, great writing, directing, acting, a fantastic sense of both time and timing--it's really just about everything I want in a show.