January 17, 2007

telly update

Posted by dogpossum on January 17, 2007 2:20 PM in the category television | Comments (4)

I need to get you all up to date with the telly I'm watching.

As you know, I'm a big fat Smallville fan, and cannot justify this passion with any sensible reason. I don't find the protagonist (or anyone else in the program) particularly hawt (though Lana's real-life athletic ability blows my brain. I LOVE that she's far more athletic and body-aware than Clark's actor). I don't much care about the story (though I do like the idea of a pre-superman Clarky, and have speculated at length about his eventual superhero/secret identity split, not to mention the relationship between Clark and Lex as possible motivation for their falling out - slash-gone-wrong!).
I think it's a combination of speculative fiction-ness + bright colours + teen telly + serial narrative.

We are still waiting on season 3 of Deadwood. Now that's the fushizzle.

We have just finished season 5 (or is it 4?) of The Sopranos, and while I'd really like to see the next season(s), I do find it a bit dark and distressing.

We have given up on rewatching Buffy and Angel, but you know.

Forced to the point of desperation, I decided to start on Supernatural. Browsing my local video shop, it was either that or Party of Five (goddess forbid). It's ok, I like it. It looks good (though there are some dodgy moments - don't pay too much attention to where the window frame is when the boys are talking while driving in their car), the characters are hawt (Lana's boyfriend is here, as Dean - and much better cast), we keep running into people from Angel (Angel's son, Fred and - most fabulously - Darla, in a top episode about faith healing) and there's a big fat muscle car that would make Glen weep.

It's the big fat muscle car that kind of set up my viewing for me, really.

Does anyone else remember Good Guys Bad Guys? I think, more importantly, does anyone remember a) the car? and b) Marcus Graham, gay man extrordinaire? Watching Supernatural, all I can think of is that excellent Aussie drama, particularly when the boys slip into their eternally-shiny muscle car.

Maybe it's just that I'm geared towards romantic comedies with a supernatural twist, but I need to see a little unrequited lust action. As with Lex and Clark, I just know that Dean and Sam are suppressing deep, reciprocated, yet repressed desires. The whole being brothers thing? Ah, we all know it's a sham, a cover up. And I'm sure I'm not the only one noticing this relationship - the doods are continually checking into cheap motel rooms together. And remember that episode Bugs, where they were mistaken for a couple investing in a property on a new housing estate (not once but a few times)?

I don't really know what I like about this program. I'm easily scared, and get a good scaring each episode (sad but true). I get a bit annoyed by the excessive contrast - too much dark. Too much blue light. I know that's the point and that this is a semi-horror show, but...
I'm also a bit annoyed by the sloooow meta-arc (is that the term - you know, the overarching story arc that links all the episodes in the season together). These are in part problems resulting from my binge-viewing (man, who watches telly one episode at a time any more? That's crazy talk!), but perhaps also part of the first-season problems that happen with most of these programs. I'm also a bit yeah-yeah, monster of the week, but that could improve - look where buffy went from there.

I'm also a bit unsure of the gender stuff. So far (I'm only part way through season one), girls are to be ogled (usually by Dean, though surreptitiously by Sam on occasion... though he spends far more time looking at Dean), saved and then left behind. Except for that hitchhiking wicca chick. But I just figure, this whole program is so mega-masculinity it kind of topples over under its own weight, crumbling into delicious homoerotic subtext. No one does uber-macho like a gay man.

But if you're looking for beautiful fannish stuff (and we are, of course), then you have to check out the Supernatural action on Misplaced Moments. If you're a Buffy, Firefly of other supernatural fan, you'll find plenty of other lovely things on that site.

And beyond Supernatural, we've also gotten hold of the first eight episodes of Heroes, which we're... hm. I want to say enjoying. But goddamn, that's some gorey shit. I don't much like guts, and Heroes is riddled with it. I'd definitely not let a kid watch it, so I'm not sure what Channel 7 (or is 9?) are thinking with their advertising. I'm not sure about the gender stuff there yet, either. All fairly traditional stuff, and the writing is a bit ordinary (at episode 3), so I'm not expecting anything particularly subersive. I've also noticed a few too many continuity errors, which does not please me. But I need some good, solid telly action, on DVD so I don't have to fool with ad breaks and not seeing the whole thing all at once.

Shameless, however, rocks the free world.

[EDIT: I had to add that pic of the Heroes doods because I'm a bit fascinated by the whole 'ensemble cast' thing in these sorts of telly shows. I remember Joss Whedon explaining that Firefly wouldn't have really worked long term because the cast was too small - too few major characters to sustain a program over a long period of time. This is an interesting thought, and makes me wonder if it's a marker of nowen days telly. Did programs like ...um, name blank. That 70s cop drama with the two women cops. Anyway, did it have a big ensemble cast? Is it a drama thing, because shows like Raymond (gag) manage with a small cast. If you have too small a cast, do you end up in monster-of-the-week territory (poor Sam and Dean. Destined to travel the deep south scuffling with monsters til someone discovers they need a few more characters. Sigh)?

2nd EDIT: I forgot to mention. The thing that I REALLY hate about Supernatural is the way the supernatural stuff is always really evil. There's no sitting down at a poker table to gamble for kittens with these doods.

3rd EDIT: Link to official Supernatural via Glenn's interesting post. I am so five minutes ago.]

Posted by dogpossum on January 17, 2007 2:20 PM in the category television