farewell Ugly Betty (spoiler free unless you click the links)
Goodbye Ugly Betty! Thank you for going out with a sparkly, wonderful bang rather than with a whimper. These past few episodes have been great. I find myself humming Renee Olstead and Macy Gray and being really, really happy
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(See also Dead Like Me vs. Pushing Daisies, or due South vs. The Middleman - with the caveat that I haven't seen enough of the latter shows in each example to know if my assessment is unfair.)
I think it depends what you want of them. Pushing Daisies revelled in being over the top, almost baroque in its approach, and the times it managed to connect that to its underlying sadness, it was great. The Middleman was meant to be a living comic book, a fountain of pop cultural allusions build around a cool heroine and a traditional manly hero who was gently mocked by his show. Neither are realistic by any stretch, but I don't think they are meant to be, they draw their power from being artificial (at which they largely succeeded, I'd say). Dead Like Me, on the other hand, is really more a quirky show with supernatural elements and Bryan Fuller's trademark odd humour, and Due South - it's been quite a while since I saw that, but I wouldn't compare it to those shows at all. Maybe to something like Northern Exposure.
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The last few seasons have been kind of drab, but they really crammed everything into the last few eps and that worked like whoah.
Neither are realistic by any stretch, but I don't think they are meant to be, they draw their power from being artificial (at which they largely succeeded, I'd say).
Yeah, I don't necessarily mean it as a slam against them, just that unless a show is outright comical, I personally need some kind of true-felt reaction to anchor me in them. If it's over-the-top people doing over-the-top things and no moments to show me how they really see the world, I just can't connect.
Due South - it's been quite a while since I saw that, but I wouldn't compare it to those shows at all.
It came to mind early on when I was trying to figure out why Middleman didn't work for me, when Fraser in due South is a similar kind of ridiculously straight-laced character. But I really felt that while Fraser was a freak, Paul Gross was Fraser. I could believe that the character existed, as unlikely as that was.
It's sort of like Doctor Who, too - I'm fine with the living plastic, and the Doctor being an alien in a little blue box, as long as he's a well-rounded alien in a little blue box.
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To be fair, the Doctor had almost 50 years to become well-rounded, and Fraser had four seasons, as opposed to 12 episodes.
I don't mean to say that The Middleman doesn't have problems; it took me roughly 'til episode 6 or 7 to really appreciate it. I can also see how the Middleman himself is not that engaging, but I really liked Wendy quite a lot - and with her, Lacey, Noser and Tyler. I'd even argue she was well on her way to being well-rounded, and I would have loved a few more seasons with her.
Btw, if you watch nothing else of The Middleman, watch the parallel universe one, for Matt Keeslar's Snake Plissken impression if nothing else. ;)
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Yeah, but the Doctor had me at "run for your life" and it didn't take much longer with Fraser. It's possible to establish a well-rounded characters in ten minutes or less. Not easy, by no means, but possible.
Although, as I said to lilacsigil, I thought BtVS was unmitigated crap when I first saw it, so things can change.
I can also see how the Middleman himself is not that engaging, but I really liked Wendy quite a lot
Yeah, I like her too. That's why I still have the eps around and do plan on watching them (or at least a few more).
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