Hits and Misses
1) This article and others are suggesting that realtime game apps will become the new appointment TV. I'm not sure where they're getting that though, since the attraction seems clearly to me the possibility of winning something. This makes it seem more like the next wave of gambling rather than TV.
Yes, there are game shows on TV and they do offer prizes, but not for the viewers. And most gamers do not play for money but for the enjoyment of the game or the spirit of competition. Enticing people to your server on a daily basis by offering the chance at a prize isn't the same as watching, or even taking part in, entertainment. If anything entertainment is moving in the opposite direction -- fragmented, time shifted, and niche oriented. And possible scarcer.
I hadn't realized some networks are discontinuing all scripted dramas. I would hardly argue with the suggestion that we've got way too much TV to watch, though as the rest of this post suggests, this probably then leads to increasing impatience with what's there. On a side note another article wrestled with how inadequate the term "TV" now is for programming that may be online only or encompassing such a wide variety of content, suggesting that the generic "shows" will begin to be the common term. I rather agree, though I think things like "live action stories" will cover a lot of ground too since "shows" can also mean a really broad range of genres.
2) I gave up on The Orville after an episode but Mike has continued to watch. When we almost cleared the DVR prior to our trips I ended up seeing a few episodes with him. While I agree that the pilot episode was somewhat misleading as to what the series was like, I still haven't been impressed with the series as a whole. For one thing, the writing is very A to B and holds no surprises. Even when it tries to be progressive all it shows is how little we've progressed since TOS or TNG.
For example, the episode with the time shifting planet and cultural contamination could have been quite interesting. The whole idea of a culture jumping forward hundreds of years with every reappearance in our reality offered all sorts of opportunities for storylines. That they chose a cultural contamination storyline was ok, as this is also a potentially interesting episode given how important (yet how often violated) this precept was in Trek. But nothing in it was surprising.
So the first officer encounters a girl on the planet and heals a minor injury by using a medical device. The officer, Kelly, is then spotted by a group of adults before she can run off. Despite being chastised by higher ups for hiding this incident, she and her captain decide that the best thing is to return to the planet when it phases back in to see what has happened. Obviously this is a terrible decision but no one seems to question it.
It turns out that she has become a god and has become the center of a religion which goes the way of many religions. Because she is horrified and guilty, she goes to a church and confronts what one assumes is the local prelate, attempting to show him she isn't divine. There is no discussion at all about what she thinks will happen next, which anyone with half a brain or any experience with religious institutions could predict. The prelate believes her and considers informing people of his new knowledge but then is promptly stabbed by an underling who realizes that obviously the institution will come apart should such heresy be proposed and all its staff will lose their power.
Even more to the point is why anyone would believe him anyway and how politically disruptive such a claim would be, but it's not like any of this is delved into. Nor, I should add does the captain or any of the other crew suggest that this is a terrible idea and even worse meddling since even if she had never appeared, a similar religion would have sprung up with someone else at its center.
When in the planet's next appearance it is clear that her previous visit did nothing to change anything, they decide to interfere YET AGAIN by sending down their artificial intelligence science officer who will spend hundreds of years on the planet until its next appearance.
At the end he returns and the now very advanced culture tell the captain and first officer that they have put their religion behind them and she shouldn't worry because what it was formed around wasn't that important. This was obviously the case from the get go but it sure does make for a convenient (and predictable) resolution so no one has to feel bad about their insane decisions.
But what really got me was the scene where she confronts the prelates. Here is a religion formed around a woman healing a female child and yet EVERYONE in that scene is a man before the crew walks in! What the ever loving hell? In any scene one should question why there aren't any women in it but here we have 2 church officials, 2 guards, and 1 boy accused of a crime. Why did no one look at that and question the writing or casting? One could also question why any of the planet seemed like a copy of ours but I could handwave this as a budgetary and time decision. But there's no excuse at all for making this planet as sexist as our own, especially since having it be more egalitarian would have changed nothing about the overall plot.
As an aside, when Kelly is asked to bless a child which ends up being a boy another crewmate suggests "that he'll never get a girl pregnant" which she repeats without any objection. Given that such a "blessing" would mean he'd never have children it was already odd but really - the future and there is still no useful birth control? Really?
This all results in either extreme eye rolling or outright boredom in the plots. But it makes me particularly irritated to suspect that all the creators are patting themselves on the back for their daring stances when it doesn't approach anything that TOS did in its time period.
3) By contrast, a movie I really enjoyed recently was Miss Sloane. I didn't remember hearing about it in 2016 and that's probably because the film didn't do well although Jessica Chastain was nominated for a Golden Globe. I suspect it would do a lot better in 2018. It's a political thriller about a lobbyist who decides to take on the gun manufacturers. I noticed that right wing sites were gleeful about its lack of success but given the nature of the movie, that's hardly surprising. Heartily recommended.
4) Officially giving up on The Gifted. There are characters I like but as it is I am sticking out the last season of AoS and just can't watch yet another Marvel show with what's already feeling like circular storytelling. I think part of the problem is that the show keeps wanting to raise the crisis stakes. But it would be nice to spend more time with the characters and give them more standalone stories with just two or three partnering in something than this massive faceoff that it's all leading up to. And the Struckers are simply all annoying and dull.
5) Vikings has provided some unexpected developments this season. At this point I don't know that I care about anyone but Lagertha anymore and I don't know as I'll continue if her character dies. But Floki's colony experiment in, I am assuming, Iceland is novel and the defeat of Ivar in this last episode was satisfying (though I'm guessing not for long).
Comments at Dreamwidth
.
Yes, there are game shows on TV and they do offer prizes, but not for the viewers. And most gamers do not play for money but for the enjoyment of the game or the spirit of competition. Enticing people to your server on a daily basis by offering the chance at a prize isn't the same as watching, or even taking part in, entertainment. If anything entertainment is moving in the opposite direction -- fragmented, time shifted, and niche oriented. And possible scarcer.
I hadn't realized some networks are discontinuing all scripted dramas. I would hardly argue with the suggestion that we've got way too much TV to watch, though as the rest of this post suggests, this probably then leads to increasing impatience with what's there. On a side note another article wrestled with how inadequate the term "TV" now is for programming that may be online only or encompassing such a wide variety of content, suggesting that the generic "shows" will begin to be the common term. I rather agree, though I think things like "live action stories" will cover a lot of ground too since "shows" can also mean a really broad range of genres.
2) I gave up on The Orville after an episode but Mike has continued to watch. When we almost cleared the DVR prior to our trips I ended up seeing a few episodes with him. While I agree that the pilot episode was somewhat misleading as to what the series was like, I still haven't been impressed with the series as a whole. For one thing, the writing is very A to B and holds no surprises. Even when it tries to be progressive all it shows is how little we've progressed since TOS or TNG.
For example, the episode with the time shifting planet and cultural contamination could have been quite interesting. The whole idea of a culture jumping forward hundreds of years with every reappearance in our reality offered all sorts of opportunities for storylines. That they chose a cultural contamination storyline was ok, as this is also a potentially interesting episode given how important (yet how often violated) this precept was in Trek. But nothing in it was surprising.
So the first officer encounters a girl on the planet and heals a minor injury by using a medical device. The officer, Kelly, is then spotted by a group of adults before she can run off. Despite being chastised by higher ups for hiding this incident, she and her captain decide that the best thing is to return to the planet when it phases back in to see what has happened. Obviously this is a terrible decision but no one seems to question it.
It turns out that she has become a god and has become the center of a religion which goes the way of many religions. Because she is horrified and guilty, she goes to a church and confronts what one assumes is the local prelate, attempting to show him she isn't divine. There is no discussion at all about what she thinks will happen next, which anyone with half a brain or any experience with religious institutions could predict. The prelate believes her and considers informing people of his new knowledge but then is promptly stabbed by an underling who realizes that obviously the institution will come apart should such heresy be proposed and all its staff will lose their power.
Even more to the point is why anyone would believe him anyway and how politically disruptive such a claim would be, but it's not like any of this is delved into. Nor, I should add does the captain or any of the other crew suggest that this is a terrible idea and even worse meddling since even if she had never appeared, a similar religion would have sprung up with someone else at its center.
When in the planet's next appearance it is clear that her previous visit did nothing to change anything, they decide to interfere YET AGAIN by sending down their artificial intelligence science officer who will spend hundreds of years on the planet until its next appearance.
At the end he returns and the now very advanced culture tell the captain and first officer that they have put their religion behind them and she shouldn't worry because what it was formed around wasn't that important. This was obviously the case from the get go but it sure does make for a convenient (and predictable) resolution so no one has to feel bad about their insane decisions.
But what really got me was the scene where she confronts the prelates. Here is a religion formed around a woman healing a female child and yet EVERYONE in that scene is a man before the crew walks in! What the ever loving hell? In any scene one should question why there aren't any women in it but here we have 2 church officials, 2 guards, and 1 boy accused of a crime. Why did no one look at that and question the writing or casting? One could also question why any of the planet seemed like a copy of ours but I could handwave this as a budgetary and time decision. But there's no excuse at all for making this planet as sexist as our own, especially since having it be more egalitarian would have changed nothing about the overall plot.
As an aside, when Kelly is asked to bless a child which ends up being a boy another crewmate suggests "that he'll never get a girl pregnant" which she repeats without any objection. Given that such a "blessing" would mean he'd never have children it was already odd but really - the future and there is still no useful birth control? Really?
This all results in either extreme eye rolling or outright boredom in the plots. But it makes me particularly irritated to suspect that all the creators are patting themselves on the back for their daring stances when it doesn't approach anything that TOS did in its time period.
3) By contrast, a movie I really enjoyed recently was Miss Sloane. I didn't remember hearing about it in 2016 and that's probably because the film didn't do well although Jessica Chastain was nominated for a Golden Globe. I suspect it would do a lot better in 2018. It's a political thriller about a lobbyist who decides to take on the gun manufacturers. I noticed that right wing sites were gleeful about its lack of success but given the nature of the movie, that's hardly surprising. Heartily recommended.
4) Officially giving up on The Gifted. There are characters I like but as it is I am sticking out the last season of AoS and just can't watch yet another Marvel show with what's already feeling like circular storytelling. I think part of the problem is that the show keeps wanting to raise the crisis stakes. But it would be nice to spend more time with the characters and give them more standalone stories with just two or three partnering in something than this massive faceoff that it's all leading up to. And the Struckers are simply all annoying and dull.
5) Vikings has provided some unexpected developments this season. At this point I don't know that I care about anyone but Lagertha anymore and I don't know as I'll continue if her character dies. But Floki's colony experiment in, I am assuming, Iceland is novel and the defeat of Ivar in this last episode was satisfying (though I'm guessing not for long).
Comments at Dreamwidth
.