What makes a good TV show
*Theme Music- the theme song and opening credits can make or break a show for me. Here are some shows with excellent theme songs: 6 Feet Under, Monk, Star Trek, Psyche, BJ and the Bear, House, Life on Mars, The Office When they FIRST started, E.R. and that other hospital show were about the same, but E.R. had a better theme song. E.R. won and started getting a bigger budget and better writers etc. I don't like Spongebob Squarepants, but the theme song is excellent.
*Writing- particularly dialog. If the dialog doesn't sparkle, the show is just not going to thrill me. The show can be shallow fluff but if the writing is good I will enjoy it.
*Cleverness- there should be something clever about it, either in its humor or in making me think or grappling with difficult social issues or providing a puzzle to solve.
*Attractiveness- it really does make a difference that the sets and people on the show be nice to look at, all other things being equal. Castle is a good example of this- the writing is decent, the theme song is ok, it's clever at times, but what really sets it apart from other shows is that it's pleasing to the eye. They use a lot of aerial shots of New York, and the opening credits are beautiful. One of my favorite things about Miami Vice is that they filmed inside a lot of interesting houses and used lens filters or colored lighting to achieve really stunning visual effects. The plots were clever too, but there was always a certain aesthetic pleasure to watching that show.
cross posted to FB
*Writing- particularly dialog. If the dialog doesn't sparkle, the show is just not going to thrill me. The show can be shallow fluff but if the writing is good I will enjoy it.
*Cleverness- there should be something clever about it, either in its humor or in making me think or grappling with difficult social issues or providing a puzzle to solve.
*Attractiveness- it really does make a difference that the sets and people on the show be nice to look at, all other things being equal. Castle is a good example of this- the writing is decent, the theme song is ok, it's clever at times, but what really sets it apart from other shows is that it's pleasing to the eye. They use a lot of aerial shots of New York, and the opening credits are beautiful. One of my favorite things about Miami Vice is that they filmed inside a lot of interesting houses and used lens filters or colored lighting to achieve really stunning visual effects. The plots were clever too, but there was always a certain aesthetic pleasure to watching that show.
cross posted to FB