100 TV Shows-#30-Due South
Due South
One theme that seems to be emerging in this meme project is that I don't like change, especially not when it comes to TV shows. Obviously House MD is an extreme example, but it's also makes the point. If I fall in love with a show from the beginning. I want it to stay as close to how it was when I fell in love with it as possible. M*A*S*H was never as good for me without Trapper and Henry. When the Bochco multi-cast shows started to shed characters and gain new ones, I started losing interest. This even applies to shows I come to on DVD after they're done. Dawn on Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, anybody? My loathing knows no bounds.
I honestly wasn't expecting to encounter this feeling when I put the Due South disks on the Netflix queue. I didn't know much about the show, except the basic outlines and I might have read some fic. I had an idea that it was written for Come As You're Not, but I'm not finding it there. I vaguely remember it as a first-time slash fic AND strangely enough, I think it was a Fraser/Ray K fic, which I found hot. Mind you, there was some J/I Torchwood fic I liked before I saw the actual show and knew better.
I'd seen the icons with Diefenbaker and that appealed to my doggie love instincts. I can't remember who it was...Swiss Cheesse brain strikes again, but there was even a hard-core J/I fan (one of the sane ones) and we managed to achieve friendship over our mutual dog love as she pimped Due South to me. If you're still there---send up a flare.
Thanks to TV Tropes, I was aware of the Ray switch AND I kind of knew there was a ship-war involved, but I didn't quite get the details. I wasn't even expecting to like the show all that much. I'm not a big fan of "fish out of water" premises, and it sounded sort of like Northern Exposure. In fact, I used to mix up the titles. Mostly I thought Hubby would like it and I wanted to see the wolf.
What I didn't know was how much I would LOVE the relationship between Ray V and Fraser as it developed in the first two seasons. LOVE LOVE LOVE. One of the best "Buddy Cop" friendships ever. I literally saw those two guys fall in love and it was beautiful. I also loved the supporting guys, the Mounties, the music, the humor and of course...DIEFENBAKER.
The other thing I didn't know was exactly how the switch was going to go down. I'd THOUGHT it was more a Darrin on Bewitched thing. I didn't know how upsetting the actual mechanism of the switch would be for Fraser and how angry I would get when it seemed as though Fraser got over it and immediately transferred his relationship to Ray K. I wouldn't have minded so much IF they'd given them at least a slightly different dynamic, but it felt like whole hog appropriation and it made me furious.
Yes, I understand WHY it happened, because they didn't think they were getting another season and then David Marciano wasn't available and so they had to bring in a new character and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I do not care!
A genuine Darrin switch would actually have been more acceptable to me, rather than making the entire last season feel like a total slap in the face, ESPECIALLY the much-vaunted slashy finale. Yes, I know that some people actually find Callum Keith Rennie attractive and use that to justify the idea that a slash pairing is somehow more likely. (I also know that Paul Gross is one of those people. FUCK YOU PAUL!) I'm also pissed that they managed to derail Fraser/Maggie while they were at it. Hell, I'd have preferred it if Ray V's. SISTER were on that sled.
So yeah....love the first two seasons and then just RAGE at the violation of the third. Presumably the only redeeming feature is that I came to all this after the show was on the air, because you guys know how I fight ship-wars. So I got to do my fulminating on this one mostly in private. UNTIL NOW!
Click to viewOne theme that seems to be emerging in this meme project is that I don't like change, especially not when it comes to TV shows. Obviously House MD is an extreme example, but it's also makes the point. If I fall in love with a show from the beginning. I want it to stay as close to how it was when I fell in love with it as possible. M*A*S*H was never as good for me without Trapper and Henry. When the Bochco multi-cast shows started to shed characters and gain new ones, I started losing interest. This even applies to shows I come to on DVD after they're done. Dawn on Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, anybody? My loathing knows no bounds.
I honestly wasn't expecting to encounter this feeling when I put the Due South disks on the Netflix queue. I didn't know much about the show, except the basic outlines and I might have read some fic. I had an idea that it was written for Come As You're Not, but I'm not finding it there. I vaguely remember it as a first-time slash fic AND strangely enough, I think it was a Fraser/Ray K fic, which I found hot. Mind you, there was some J/I Torchwood fic I liked before I saw the actual show and knew better.
I'd seen the icons with Diefenbaker and that appealed to my doggie love instincts. I can't remember who it was...Swiss Cheesse brain strikes again, but there was even a hard-core J/I fan (one of the sane ones) and we managed to achieve friendship over our mutual dog love as she pimped Due South to me. If you're still there---send up a flare.
Thanks to TV Tropes, I was aware of the Ray switch AND I kind of knew there was a ship-war involved, but I didn't quite get the details. I wasn't even expecting to like the show all that much. I'm not a big fan of "fish out of water" premises, and it sounded sort of like Northern Exposure. In fact, I used to mix up the titles. Mostly I thought Hubby would like it and I wanted to see the wolf.
What I didn't know was how much I would LOVE the relationship between Ray V and Fraser as it developed in the first two seasons. LOVE LOVE LOVE. One of the best "Buddy Cop" friendships ever. I literally saw those two guys fall in love and it was beautiful. I also loved the supporting guys, the Mounties, the music, the humor and of course...DIEFENBAKER.
The other thing I didn't know was exactly how the switch was going to go down. I'd THOUGHT it was more a Darrin on Bewitched thing. I didn't know how upsetting the actual mechanism of the switch would be for Fraser and how angry I would get when it seemed as though Fraser got over it and immediately transferred his relationship to Ray K. I wouldn't have minded so much IF they'd given them at least a slightly different dynamic, but it felt like whole hog appropriation and it made me furious.
Yes, I understand WHY it happened, because they didn't think they were getting another season and then David Marciano wasn't available and so they had to bring in a new character and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I do not care!
A genuine Darrin switch would actually have been more acceptable to me, rather than making the entire last season feel like a total slap in the face, ESPECIALLY the much-vaunted slashy finale. Yes, I know that some people actually find Callum Keith Rennie attractive and use that to justify the idea that a slash pairing is somehow more likely. (I also know that Paul Gross is one of those people. FUCK YOU PAUL!) I'm also pissed that they managed to derail Fraser/Maggie while they were at it. Hell, I'd have preferred it if Ray V's. SISTER were on that sled.
So yeah....love the first two seasons and then just RAGE at the violation of the third. Presumably the only redeeming feature is that I came to all this after the show was on the air, because you guys know how I fight ship-wars. So I got to do my fulminating on this one mostly in private. UNTIL NOW!