Fall 2014 Predictions - updated

We're far enough into the fall season that a lot of the new shows are cancelled already.  The predictions post is updated with the good or bad news.

Black Sails - Hoist the Colours!!

Who doesn’t like pirates?  Until Pirates of the Carribean, there was not much in the way of a seminal pirates movie, and then we got four which grossed eleventy billion dollars.  Contemporary television has made its way through historical and fictional lore seeing what will stick (zombies? Vikings? Westerosi?).  The success of one type of show begets copycats on another network.  There’s a sliding scale of historical dramas which starts with Rome at one end, followed by lesser versions of such as The Tudors, The Borgias, DaVinci’s Demons, Reign, Spartacus and Camelot.  While there’s occasionally good television mixed in, these are mostly the function of a formula combining period drama, violence and nudity and really really ridiculously good looking people.  As the writing or acting quality goes down, expect these other elements to increase. 

In the midst of reading Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crighton, I decided to give Black Sails a try.  Expecetedly, the elements above are dialed up in the pilot to grab the viewers attention.  Look at any pilot really and see how as a result of the characters not yet being formed and the show trying to make an impression that every aspect of the show is typed in ALL CAPS. 

A show about pirates produced by Michael Bay you say?  And it’s only eight episodes?  Sign me up. 

My dad used to love wrestling.  WWF type wrestling.  And he’s explain why it was more fun to do that than a baseball game sometimes.  You go to a game, you might get a crappy game, you might lose, you might have crappy weather, whatever.  You go to wrestling and you know 100 percent going into it that you’re going to be entertained.  So if I adjust my expectations and don’t expect this show to be The West Wing and instead eat my popcorn and watch Transformers, I know I’m going to be thoroughly entertained.  

The pilot drops us in to mayham on a ship and there’s lots of scary pirates and limbs being chopped off, just as you would expect in a pilot.  Every character is at eleven because all they’ve seen is one script and a few lines within that script that relate to their character.  We’re being introduced to the command structure of the main, pirate vessel (The Walrus), as well as the fence in the Bahamas that centers the pirate commerce, as well as a rival pirate ship’s command, The Ranger.  There are other wild cards, like the prostitute in port or the new defector to the Walrus who, especially in the early episodes, drive the plot with their Ryan O’Reilly type scheming.

We know some of these characters before we meet them, whether it’s from actual history, from fictional works, or from their archetypal make up found in contemporary television.  However, as the series progresses they take the opportunity to develop more and drive the show with their personalities rather than relying on boobs and decapitations to make things interesting.

Captain Flint, the main protagonist, is known to us from Robert Louis Stevenson.  In fact, while I didn’t know this when I started watching, the whole series serves as a prequel to Treasure island, set twenty years beforehand.  It didn’t become evident until Mr. Silver’s name was revealed as John (the aforementioned pirate defector).  While he’s a conflicted, possibly morally compromised white male lead who carries a secret, the character has something that I’ve only seen done successfully on the first season of Homeland.  Like Brody, we are not entirely sure where he truly stands.  We see him in private moments, we see him interacting with different characters telling them different things.  We see him explain away suspicions but we also are privy to other third person accounts that condemn him.  We see him in action, leading men, making wise decisions and scheming crafty plans.  It’s most important for a character to be interesting.  Then we ideally would like to see competency.  He meets both these requirements but still we aren’t sure if we should trust him or root for him, and that’s one of the draws of the show.

Another element relatively unique to the show is how background characters will be brought into the fold over the course of the season as a result of their own development.  A complaint I have with some shows is how new characters are constantly introduced during and between seasons when already they have a stable of good candidates already in the cast to develop.  It sometimes results in an overcrowded cast and too complicated story.  Black Sails works in house to create drama rather than contracting outsiders as a source of conflict.

The show starts strong, begins to establish the characters, then stalls a bit as the crew is in port just a mite too long.  When they sail again, the action picks back up, peaking in episode six, which not coincidentally is the most character driven episode, and coming to a satisfying and intriguing, but not entirely earthshaking, conclusion.  Over eight episodes, it strikes a good balance of Michael Bay pirate fun and interesting characters and storylines.

Cool Pirate Things I Like

• I was a pirate at least once for Halloween.  My brother and I had hats we got at the ride in Disney World.
• In  my dorm room hung a version of Calico Jack’s jolly roger
• There are two great scoreboard sequences at PNC Park for Pittsburgh Pirate games.  One is at the games start when ships sailing opponents colors sail up the Mon, Allegheny and Ohio to attack the stadium, but the Pirates fight back in their own ships, sinking their rivals with cannons.  The other is when the home team needs some runs late in the game and Keira Knightley’s “Hoist the Colors” speech is played.  And it. Is. Awesome.

The Affair - MIdseason

The structure to The Affair is praiseworthy, not because of its novelty, but because the show uses the structure only to enhance the story, rather than allow the structure to dominate at the cost of the story.  We’ve seen flexibility so far in the order of the POVs, showing Alison’s both before and after Noah’s, as well as showing both concurrent and successive events.  The POV still is the dominate trait, but the details around it change to suit the story.

Not only that but in one episode, the POVs told successive stories rather than concurrent ones.  In the scenes that conflict, we are to see not merely that there is a difference but to understand and interpret what those differences mean.  If there’s no purpose to understanding a divergence then the writers use that other half hour to tell the story in another way that benefits the plot.

The issue with the slightly cracked door has been answered and the Lockharts are outed as drug dealers.  Noah’s anger and disappointment no doubt fuel from his bubble being burst about what Allison is.  His disenchantment with her is similar to how he’s rethinking his life with his wife when he has to sit around and eat shit all summer from her parents.

Is it possible that Oscar is the smartest guy in the room?  Being able to suss out Noah and Allison is one thing, but to play the Batman gambit to ultimately get his bowling alley permit and have a blackmail card in his back pocket is impressive.  

With the drugs and the high level of conflict within the Lockhart family, it’s possible that Scotty’s death has absolutely nothing to do with the affair and everything to do with the drug operation going pear shaped. 

The sense of entitlement that pervades the Lockharts is possibly the worst thing about them. 

Mama Lockhart is Lotso.  She pretends to not get in the middle of things, but in fact she is taking a position as a result of not taking a position.

Newsroom - Episodes 1 & 2

Newsroom
Season Three
Episodes 1 & 2

Newsroom returned for its abbreviated final season and Aaron Sorkin’s television swan song.  Not unlike Newsroom’s protagonist frustration reaching a boiling point and seeming ready to call it quits for the news business, Sorkin noted that after this fourth go around on the small screen, it’s time to turn out the lights.  I can’t help but think his frustration with not just the commentary on the show but the tone and myopia that populate that commentary at least partially mirrors Will’s frustration with the lack of ratings generated by the cautious tone ACN takes in wake of the Genoa scandal.

Boardroom

The hostile takeover hit a solid point with the “what can you buy with $3.1 billion that you can’t buy with $2.3 billion” argument.  It is exemplary of an argument that is divided by nothing less than values that define our political beliefs. Being taxed at a low rate isn’t acceptable if you can get an even lower rate.  And a lower one after that, and then find loopholes to artificially lower it even more.  At some point reasonable people realize enough is enough and don’t get particularly upset if some of their money is used for healthcare. 

“We may get into Bitcoin.” – Audible guffaw!

Don and Sloane

Let’s hope two of the most interesting characters’ relationship aren’t reduced to simply talking about their relationship.  That said, Sloane’s Leslie Knope-ish waffle fixation and their chemistry allowed some levity in an otherwise ethical dilemma filled episode.  

Tweet

The tweet about the GOP happened and was dealt with.  Either this was solely to give Jim something to do, or it is going to launch something bigger with Hayley working at a competitor and grinding an ax, as Jim predicted.  Or at least being expected to grind an ax.  It’s the sort of thing that happens to the Juan Williams of the world.

Maggie Being Terrible

Even if this was Didactic Sorkinese, you have to appreciate the arguments, legal, ethical, moral, personal, from both sides of Maggie’s eavesdropping.  The Newseum in Washington, DC has an Ethics Center were you can read about ethical dilemmas reporters have faced, make your own decisions about how to act in said situation, and read poll results from those in journalism about what they would do.  It’s more exciting than you would expect for an exhibit about ethics.

The circumstances here make Maggie into a mere tabloid and gossip shill.  The EPA official, let’s call him Toby Flenderson, isn’t saying anything that’s not obvious.  The difference is he’s giving a name and face to it.  Maggie slinking down in her chair, eavesdropping on another reporter and threatening to publish what she heard (and what she heard is technically half a story) doesn’t serve to do anything except embarrass the speaker and in the long run make Maggie look bad.  If Maggie came into some earth shattering news that actually affected the general welfare, then it may be a different ballgame.  But doing a gotcha for the sake of gossip is completely unacceptable and I can’t imagine Will or Mac would want to dedicate any airtime to it. 

Having the ethics professor conveniently sitting there was a bit much though.  Maybe someone will happen to be walking down the street with $4 billion that Leona can have.  Professor McPoyle may pop up again if he starts seeing Maggie, which means he may stop by the newsroom which means he may mix in on the leak story.  

Leak Story

While we took a bit of time rehashing the events of the previous episode, we did learn about the possible consequences from both Mac’s FBI friend, let’s call her Commander Kate Last Name Unremembered, and ACN’s favorite counsel, Rebecca Halladay.

You can compare this story to Maggie’s terribleness on the train.  On the train, Maggie came by useless information by arguably unethical or immoral, yet legal means.  In the newsroom, Neal came by earth shattering information via illegal means. 

But you have to like Will “getting some skin in the game” while he’s at the end of his rope.

·         Commander Kate classifies whistleblowers as those who decide which laws they’d like to follow. 

·         Equatorial Kundu is the country from West Wing Season Four where a genocide mirroring the Rwandan genocide takes place, leading to a foreign policy shift by President Bartlet

·         Charlie asks if you’ve ever seen a more trustworthy person than him which is exactly why Sam Waterson does financial investment commercials