We haz a deal!
It looks like NBC and Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni have reached an agreement, if this article is any indication, and that makes me happy. For the record, I will always firmly come down on the side of those who actually contribute creatively to the show when it comes to monetary disputes. This case in particular though annoys me for a couple reasons. 1). NBC has very little good programming left; it's a pale shadow of what it was 10 years ago, and frankly, they should be doing everything they can to keep the shows that are popular and well-crafted, but by their willingness to let Chris and Mariska go, NBC is showing that they don't get that yet. 2). Chris and Mariska are actually really damn good at their job, and because of that, 3). SVU just wouldn't be the same without them.
The truth is... I kind of liked Stuckey. Well, that's a lie. He was annoying as hell, but I really love the actor who plays him (see his single scene on !Huff for proof of that).
I always got the impression that Stuckey was, in some twisted way, the audience. His excitement over the crime scene was reflective of our enjoyment, of the entertainment we derive from shows like this. Perhaps too jaded from growing up with shows like CSI and films like Saw and Silence of the Lambs, etc, he'd become immune, as many other audience members have, to the real-life implications of the acts he was investigating (um, case in point: I'm writing this while eating pizza and watching the scene in Night of the Living Dead where the zombies start eating people and thinking, "LOL, we're having dinner together").
Of course, that's not to say that every jaded person will be as obnoxious as Stuckey, as most audience members numb to the gruesomeness of it all don't react in the same way he did. Most of these individuals probably don't go into law enforcement, but Stuckey really is a zebra, because as jaded as he was to the crimes, he was even more enticed by the idea that he could be the hero. He didn't give a crap about the victims, didn't really react to any of the horror inherent in the job, but he was still the kind of character who probably worships Horatio Caine. Seriously, you so know that Stuckey was like practicing the art of saying a one liner while putting his sunglasses on. He just never understood that Lt. Firecrotch is probably not someone you should aspire to me, much less expect to be.
I'm not surprised Stuckey went on a rampage; I was expecting it. So much so that before the episode even began, I thought (without knowing what was going to happen), "Huh, I wonder if that lab rat has cracked yet and killed everyone." Of course, if I were really on top of my game, I would have known that we were due for an episode featuring Eliot or Olivia being hurt, one of the two having to pretend to be angry with the other, and Olivia making out with a random dude. At least, I should have been prepared for the inevitable episode that featured all three together.
Random: how annoying is it that Kal Penn isn't even working at the White House yet? And how wrong is it that the White House is saying that they didn't want KP to start working too soon after Kutner's death???? Seriously? "Oh, we think Kal Penn can do great things for our country, BUT we'll hold off on that, so that Americans can mourn the loss of someone who isn't even real." WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. Not only isn't he working at the White House at the moment, but the White House has said that Kal Penn has no official start date, and KP has signed on already to do another Harold and Kumar movie. I just... don't even know. I'm pissed. I'm not sure exactly who I'm most pissed with Kal Penn, Obama, his asshat employees, or the writers of House for axing Kutner off when they clearly had time to do things with the character. So I'm just going to unleash a very loud FUCK YOU into the universe and trust that it will find its way to the person or people that annoy me the most.
The truth is... I kind of liked Stuckey. Well, that's a lie. He was annoying as hell, but I really love the actor who plays him (see his single scene on !Huff for proof of that).
I always got the impression that Stuckey was, in some twisted way, the audience. His excitement over the crime scene was reflective of our enjoyment, of the entertainment we derive from shows like this. Perhaps too jaded from growing up with shows like CSI and films like Saw and Silence of the Lambs, etc, he'd become immune, as many other audience members have, to the real-life implications of the acts he was investigating (um, case in point: I'm writing this while eating pizza and watching the scene in Night of the Living Dead where the zombies start eating people and thinking, "LOL, we're having dinner together").
Of course, that's not to say that every jaded person will be as obnoxious as Stuckey, as most audience members numb to the gruesomeness of it all don't react in the same way he did. Most of these individuals probably don't go into law enforcement, but Stuckey really is a zebra, because as jaded as he was to the crimes, he was even more enticed by the idea that he could be the hero. He didn't give a crap about the victims, didn't really react to any of the horror inherent in the job, but he was still the kind of character who probably worships Horatio Caine. Seriously, you so know that Stuckey was like practicing the art of saying a one liner while putting his sunglasses on. He just never understood that Lt. Firecrotch is probably not someone you should aspire to me, much less expect to be.
I'm not surprised Stuckey went on a rampage; I was expecting it. So much so that before the episode even began, I thought (without knowing what was going to happen), "Huh, I wonder if that lab rat has cracked yet and killed everyone." Of course, if I were really on top of my game, I would have known that we were due for an episode featuring Eliot or Olivia being hurt, one of the two having to pretend to be angry with the other, and Olivia making out with a random dude. At least, I should have been prepared for the inevitable episode that featured all three together.
Random: how annoying is it that Kal Penn isn't even working at the White House yet? And how wrong is it that the White House is saying that they didn't want KP to start working too soon after Kutner's death???? Seriously? "Oh, we think Kal Penn can do great things for our country, BUT we'll hold off on that, so that Americans can mourn the loss of someone who isn't even real." WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE. Not only isn't he working at the White House at the moment, but the White House has said that Kal Penn has no official start date, and KP has signed on already to do another Harold and Kumar movie. I just... don't even know. I'm pissed. I'm not sure exactly who I'm most pissed with Kal Penn, Obama, his asshat employees, or the writers of House for axing Kutner off when they clearly had time to do things with the character. So I'm just going to unleash a very loud FUCK YOU into the universe and trust that it will find its way to the person or people that annoy me the most.