too much tv for me.

[mekosuchinae]

I'm officially in my annual summer funk, which means: kdramas! Kdramas everywhere! I did this last summer, too, when I had my breakdown (wah wah, comedy! Welcome to my lj; remember to tip your waiter) - I marathoned so many dramas, and I did that the year before, too. Suddenly: a pattern! It isn't that I don't love kdramas, period, because I do, I

Comments

[mekosuchinae]

Haha, I think it's telling that the only USA shows I keep up with are Parks and Recreation and (of all the shows on all the networks) Archer. Well, really, what it tells you is that I just don't watch a lot of TV. But YES, so very tired of investing emotionally and time in narratives that don't progress or function - like, The X-Files has been on my mind lately and I think it's emblematic of so many of the things I'm not interested in wrt narratives, which is the glacial progression of character relationships and a dissatisfactory narrative built piecemeal over time without regard for actual narrative structure. IDK, IDK, I think it comes down to seasons and the drive to renew a show for additional seasons, to which end most shows, if they deal with any sort of mytharc, create some huge, shadowy thing that needs multiple seasons to explore (and which is, as with The X-Files, invented in pieces) instead of doing, say, a season-long story with another season-long story if the show is renewed. And it's not like kdramas can't also fail on these fronts, or that there aren't USA shows which succeed on those fronts, but -- hm, IDK, I feel like the way in which kdramas are structured as finite narratives helps in a way the USA structure of seasons doesn't.

NOBODY LISTEN TO ME BECAUSE NOTHING I SAY MAKES ANY SENSE.

Hahaha, BE WARNED that I love rom-coms and wacky hijinx, so. Any recs I make will be fairly limited wrt genre! (One day, sageuk dramas. ONE DAY. ONE DAY I WILL WATCH YOU!)

[peri_peteia]

I'm just sitting here nodding my head thoughtfully at this comment thread, but apparently have nothing to add at this time.

JSYK.

for years, i thought he said "and die from NOT surprise." i prefer that, tbh.

[mekosuchinae]

I, for one, am shocked - SHOCKED! - that you would agree with me on this. To quote a greater orator than I, I am going to have a heart attack and die from that surprise.

Re: for years, i thought he said "and die from NOT surprise." i prefer that, tbh.

[peri_peteia]

OMG WHAT

WHAT

YOU MEAN... HE DOESN'T SAY "NOT SURPRISE"?!?!?1?1

mem you have just altered my perception of the universe

[mekosuchinae]

I WAS WATCHING ALADDIN WITH SUBTITLES ON SO I COULD CAP HUMOROUS LINES, AND I DISCOVERED ... THE TRUTH!!1! Which is horrible, omg, so much more horrible than I ever could have known. That line, when I understood it as "not surprise," was one of the defining jokes of my childhood. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE :((( (Editor's note: This is only a slight exaggeration. This legit upset me. IT WAS FUNNIER THE OTHER WAY!!)

[peri_peteia]

SO MANY FUCKING TIMES I HAVE QUOTED THAT LINE!!

like that was the height of my childhood clever sarcastic responses to things

MY ENTIRE LIFE HAS BEEN A LIE.

IT IS SO MUCH FUNNIER THE OTHER WAY!!1

[bookelfe]

If what you say makes no sense then my thoughts also does not make sense! Because yeah. In theory, I think it's nifty that US TV tries for arc narratives and complex storylines, but in practice, they are just . . . so bad at it, and I do think it's largely because of that pressure/uncertainty with regards to renewal. It's very difficult to plan ahead for your mytharc mysteries and to have real character continuity and development when you have no idea whether you're writing a twenty-episode story or an eighty-episode story! And, I mean, I know I've had great luck with kdramas so far due to self-selecting the ones that came highest recommended and seemed most relevant to my interests, so my eyes are a bit starry, but for now: BRING ON THE WACKY HIJINX.

[mekosuchinae]

Yes! I love-love-love long narratives and arcs, but the pressure and need to maintain ratings so as to convince the network to renew is counterintuitive to that process. (And then you have shows like Lost where no one had any idea what they were doing for the first few seasons, and the guys left to clean up had to do the best they could.) Honestly, I think the only multi-season storyline in recent memory that worked and worked well is (drummer, start that roll for me, would you) Avatar: the Last Airbender -- but that, too, was planned as a finite narrative from its inception, so.

BRING ON THE WACKY HIJINX.

1: You aren't my mom and you can't tell me what to do, and 2: I INTEND TO BRING THEM. PREPARE YOURSELF!!