Never Get To The Fireworks Factory

[cassielsander]

The biggest change in television in the past decade or so is, to me, that many people have gone from wanting a show that progresses by hitting various universal notes, to one that hits the notes especially well, to one that resists the lure of the usual notes altogether, at least as far as its central elements go. In other words, to adapt Millhouse

Comments

[wolflady26]

I do find it kind of weird, though, that people are so unhappy with solid relationships. I think there are too few examples of really solid relationships on TV (which is one of the reasons why I love "Modern Family" so much). But people are already calling for Penny and Leonard on BBT to break up, and I don't get it. On-again-off-again relationships get so boring after a certain period of time, and I think BBT has reached the ultimate level of on-off-ishness with those two characters.

[cassielsander]

That IS interesting. I don't watch a lot of shows with stable relationships but it does seem like people often take sides against one half or the other (for instance Miles & Keiko O'Brien in Star Trek DS9), possibly in hopes of seeing the other side have romantic adventures (although this could also be because the relationship isn't always well-written). This is probably especially true for "pre-cooked" relationships that started offscreen; I think for ones where we saw the genesis of it the audience takes a little more ownership (like say Tom & B'Elanna in Star Trek Voyager).

The biggest exception I can think of is Marhsall & Lily on How I Met Your Mother, which seemed like a popular pairing for as long as that show was good.

[kalimac]

Well, there are shows that tease you by not delivering what you want - like Buffy - and then there are shows that annoy you by delivering what you don't want. Also like Buffy. The Buffy/Spike relationship was one of the most annoying things on a tv show that I otherwise liked better than that. It also retroactively destroyed earlier episodes in which the mere idea of Buffy and Spike as a couple was the cause of amusing "ewwww"s.

[cassielsander]

Good point. And sort of classic Whedon (& co.). Sort of like how Dawn's introduction was a brilliant parody of the Late Season Cute Kid but over time she basically became just that without the parody.