Esquire published an interview with Lost showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the brain trust* that had a hand in developing the show and took the reigns from JJ Abrams through "The End". It coincides with the tenth anniversary of the series premiere.*
* Rare occasion I'm not using "brain trust" facetiously
** What should be the starting point whence we count such anniversaries? Because we're seeing the stuff about the tenth anniversary of Friends, counted from the series finale.
In the last year I read two books which had significant portions focus on Lost. Battle of the Networks*, which focused on the development of the series, and The Revolution was Televised, which touched on the development but focused more on the series as it was on, the creative influences, and how it affected the contemporary state of television. So it was interesting seeing Darlton speak about the series candidly with that information in mind.
* The voice of "Previously, on Lost..." is Lloyd Braun, ousted television executive who is essentially the reason Lost got on the air.
Some of the big knocks on Lost (it doesn't know where it's going, it's making it up as it goes, it's not answering questions) stem from both the viewers desire for closure in every possible form, and the fact that the point of television is not to make the best show but to make the most money. The most significant thing Lost did was negotiate an end date...three years out. It allowed more planning in storytelling and was a case where ABC decided to run six solid(er) seasons rather than milk ten with mediocre viewership. ABC understood that the draw was the mystery, which has a beginning middle and end, and without providing the end to the creatives in charge, they were going to lose the viewers anyways if they didn't agree to an end date.
I've talked before about Lost's end date, and the ebb and flow of the series in relation to the end date's announcement. Darlton discuss their worst and favorite episodes, and it's not surprsiing the worst one, which we can probably agree, is "Stranger in a Strange Land" (Jack's tattoos in Thailand) which was pre-end date announcement*, but toward the end of the show running out of ideas for flashbacks and Darlton was treading water desperately while they negotiated the end date.
* In the article Lindelof teases the last five minutes of the Season Three finale, which was when we learned it was a FlashForward. You can tell the negotiations allowed them to make this change in Season Three and prepare for the end in a few years.
The other big knock I mentioned is how many of its own questions Lost answered. They raise the point in the interview of how can you really answer the the macro questions (good vs evil, science vs faith) when those answers don't actually exist. And we saw what happens in "Stranger" when they try to answer a question that's too small. All they can do is show how the song played out for the characters. So they gave us as much closure as possible.
I've talked about how a series can always go farther, meaning there are always unanswered questions about the next step after a finale for a character. The example I use is (Breaking Bad finale spoiler still recent enough and off the original topic enough that I'm tagging it....). Jesse speeding out of his meth lab prison at the end of the episode. Does he get away? Do the police catch up with him? Even Gillian acknowledges the dude's prints are all over that lab. But with Lost, they talk about how they show all the character's deaths and then they go a step further and show what happens after they are dead! Even if you don't like the execution, one cannot argue that you can't go much furtehr than that.
With "Stranger" being the Britta of the series, I was pleased to see they agree with one of my favorites, "The Constant". Personally, my enjoyment was augmented by the influence one of my favorite books Slaughterhouse Five, had on the episode.
* Because gmail keeps everything, here's the gchat I got first thing in the morning after "The Constant" - "LOST was fucking great!"
Anyways, both Cuse and Lindelof have new shows starting soon. Cuse is working on The Strain on FX and Lindelof is at Home Box Office working on The Leftovers
Showing posts with label Lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost. Show all posts
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Monday, December 23, 2013
The Book was Better! - Part 2
Part two of my 2013 reading list of television-adjacent books. Part one is posted here.
Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV
by Brian Stelter
Never having watched morning television before, or even been aware of much of the drama at the Today Show, I started from zero on this. In the way The War for Late Night integrates the stories of all the late night hosts, including cable, Top of the Morning tells the stories of different mornign shows including the history of Today, Good Morning American, CBS This Morning, and Morning Joe.
The Revolution was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever
by Alan Sepinwall
Full disclosure: I skipped chapters on Buffy and Battlestar Gallactica. Having never seen those shows, I wanted to remain spoiler free in case I ever want to enjoy them.
Sepinwall is the dean of television bloggers. He practically invented the sport. From the timing and title of the book, you can probably guess it covers the original obvious greats of the current era, The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire and The Shield. But it also pays homage to their forerunners, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Homicide, Cheers, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks.
Combining the background of the showrunners, the development history of the shows, and the creative reasoning behind the shows, Sepinwall provides insight that is incredibly interesting for fans of these shows, and that should be required reading for critics of Lost*.
* Even the most loyal Lost fans like myself acknowledge the show lost its way mid second season and into the third until the ramp up to the third season finale "Through the Looking Glass". Earlier that year, ABC announced and end date (several years down the line) for Lost. The re-discovery of how good Lost could be and the end date announcement have a positive correlation and the chapter on Lost here confirms why*.
* Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof were a hot second from walking unless they could focus their creative efforts. And they couldn't focus their creative direction without an end date.
Raylan
by Elmore Leonard
Raylan is one of the last books by Elmore Leonard and picks up with Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens after the events of Pronto and Riding the Rap. Shorter than a novel but longer than short stories, the book is divided into three sections about 100 pages each.
It takes an interesting approach of original material and material inspired by or taken directly from the show. Some was drawn from episodes of Justified, and some of the material showed up in Justified after the book was published, so it does not exactly align with a canon timeline of the show, but exists in some parallel universe with a version of Raylan who is about ten years older than Timothy Olyphant. There's not much more that can be said about the great Elmore Leonard, except to say if you like Out of Sight or Justified or any of his books, Raylan is written directly in that vein.
UPDATE - 1/13
52 Pickup
by Elmore Leonard
Leonard is the opposite of GRRM, he's able to tell a story using a very small main cast. Nonetheless, he's still able to give color and life to the one off characters throughout the novel. 52 Pickup is about a factory owner who is blackmailed for having an affair. Rather than pay off the (not too smart) blackmailers, he fights back by being honest with his wife and indignant towards the blackmailers. Everything about it screams Leonard, but it in no way seems repetitive from other novels. I read Swag the year before and plan on reading another this year.
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live
by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller
One of the things I like about the oral histories is you learn just as much from the tone and storytelling of a subject when they speak as you do when others are speaking about that particular person.
A few years ago I read the history of ESPN, also by James Andrew Miller. That book was a bit disorganized, but the nature of this, focusing on a single show, allowed it to tell a better and more easily followed story.
I think the book is sold on the basis of talking about drugs and drinking and death from those, but I enjoy it more because it talks about the workplace dynamic of SNL. I'm less concerned with the fact that Garret Morris freebased in his office* so much that the cleaning staff at 30 Rock were afraid to enter, and more with the fact that Lorne Michaels is incredibly conflict averse and the effects that has on decisions, personnel, and the relationships between people at SNL.
* Not to say the drug parts aren't funny/interesting. Particularly about how Dan Akroyd came up with "Coneheads"
Dick Ebersol, the third* executive producer of SNL is one of the most interesting characters. There's a lot of respect paid to him from nearly everyone involved and a lot of color added in those descriptions. He's a television professional who produced an acceptable if not good show (pulling it up from arguable its worst time in history) but without having a comedy background had a lower ceiling on how "great" the show could be.
* Between a woman referred to as "Ayatollah" Doumanian which should tell you all you need to know, and the second Lorne Michaels run
Anyways, if you're taking a holiday break and looking for something to read, try one of these.
Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV
by Brian Stelter
Never having watched morning television before, or even been aware of much of the drama at the Today Show, I started from zero on this. In the way The War for Late Night integrates the stories of all the late night hosts, including cable, Top of the Morning tells the stories of different mornign shows including the history of Today, Good Morning American, CBS This Morning, and Morning Joe.
The Revolution was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever
by Alan Sepinwall
Full disclosure: I skipped chapters on Buffy and Battlestar Gallactica. Having never seen those shows, I wanted to remain spoiler free in case I ever want to enjoy them.
Sepinwall is the dean of television bloggers. He practically invented the sport. From the timing and title of the book, you can probably guess it covers the original obvious greats of the current era, The Sopranos, Deadwood, The Wire and The Shield. But it also pays homage to their forerunners, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Homicide, Cheers, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks.
Combining the background of the showrunners, the development history of the shows, and the creative reasoning behind the shows, Sepinwall provides insight that is incredibly interesting for fans of these shows, and that should be required reading for critics of Lost*.
* Even the most loyal Lost fans like myself acknowledge the show lost its way mid second season and into the third until the ramp up to the third season finale "Through the Looking Glass". Earlier that year, ABC announced and end date (several years down the line) for Lost. The re-discovery of how good Lost could be and the end date announcement have a positive correlation and the chapter on Lost here confirms why*.
* Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof were a hot second from walking unless they could focus their creative efforts. And they couldn't focus their creative direction without an end date.
Raylan
by Elmore Leonard
Raylan is one of the last books by Elmore Leonard and picks up with Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens after the events of Pronto and Riding the Rap. Shorter than a novel but longer than short stories, the book is divided into three sections about 100 pages each.
It takes an interesting approach of original material and material inspired by or taken directly from the show. Some was drawn from episodes of Justified, and some of the material showed up in Justified after the book was published, so it does not exactly align with a canon timeline of the show, but exists in some parallel universe with a version of Raylan who is about ten years older than Timothy Olyphant. There's not much more that can be said about the great Elmore Leonard, except to say if you like Out of Sight or Justified or any of his books, Raylan is written directly in that vein.
UPDATE - 1/13
52 Pickup
by Elmore Leonard
Leonard is the opposite of GRRM, he's able to tell a story using a very small main cast. Nonetheless, he's still able to give color and life to the one off characters throughout the novel. 52 Pickup is about a factory owner who is blackmailed for having an affair. Rather than pay off the (not too smart) blackmailers, he fights back by being honest with his wife and indignant towards the blackmailers. Everything about it screams Leonard, but it in no way seems repetitive from other novels. I read Swag the year before and plan on reading another this year.
Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live
by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller
One of the things I like about the oral histories is you learn just as much from the tone and storytelling of a subject when they speak as you do when others are speaking about that particular person.
A few years ago I read the history of ESPN, also by James Andrew Miller. That book was a bit disorganized, but the nature of this, focusing on a single show, allowed it to tell a better and more easily followed story.
I think the book is sold on the basis of talking about drugs and drinking and death from those, but I enjoy it more because it talks about the workplace dynamic of SNL. I'm less concerned with the fact that Garret Morris freebased in his office* so much that the cleaning staff at 30 Rock were afraid to enter, and more with the fact that Lorne Michaels is incredibly conflict averse and the effects that has on decisions, personnel, and the relationships between people at SNL.
* Not to say the drug parts aren't funny/interesting. Particularly about how Dan Akroyd came up with "Coneheads"
Dick Ebersol, the third* executive producer of SNL is one of the most interesting characters. There's a lot of respect paid to him from nearly everyone involved and a lot of color added in those descriptions. He's a television professional who produced an acceptable if not good show (pulling it up from arguable its worst time in history) but without having a comedy background had a lower ceiling on how "great" the show could be.
* Between a woman referred to as "Ayatollah" Doumanian which should tell you all you need to know, and the second Lorne Michaels run
Anyways, if you're taking a holiday break and looking for something to read, try one of these.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
The Book was Better! - Part 1
Believe it or not, I don't spend ALL my time watching television. I read about it too. Here is part one of a two part post covering a few television-adjacent books I read in 2013.
A Song of Ice and Fire: Books 1-5
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
by George R.R. Martin
I started reading these almost by accident. Having watched the first two seasons, I awaited the third. In January I was on an excruciating bus commute home when I finished the hard copy book I had with me. Desperate for distraction, I bought and downloaded A Game of Thrones to my Kindle app. Within 60 seconds I had the book on my phone because we live in the future. Originally, I planned to read one, maybe two books, and catch the rest on television. But I found I didn't want to stop. While reading Storm of Swords, I was watching Season Three and was shocked at the episode when Jamie gets his hand cut off. The next day I realized the next chapter that awaited me was the first one where Jaime is short his sword hand. From then on I was ahead on the books, but it didn't diminish the show for me.
I finished A Dance with Dragons around the time Season Three concluded. The best element was that I no longer had to worry about spoilers. I avoided most commentary on the show for fear of being spoiled. Comments gave away key plot points. Writers who read the books loved to (not as slyly as they thought) imply things, almost as if they were bragging they new something the Unsullied television viewers didn't.* Even the titles of Youtube videos were dangerous. It opened a door to read a lot more analysis out there without fear of spoilerdom.**
* I know something you don't know! Congratulations, you're literate.
** The Meereneese Blot is an excellent blog and shed a lot of light on the events of Dragons for me. Looking at all of Dany's chapters a different way, viewing characters as having different intentions enhances the series a great deal. The author raises that the characters are purposefully misguided, but that GRRM withholds confirmation of that. It is basically a much better execution of the Brody-Carrie dynamic in that Brody and Carrie are purposefully made to look like idiots while Dany in Dragons is (we think) purposefully made to look to be working against her own ideals.
I do not understand the complaints about adapting the story from one medium to a differerent one. Of course there will be concessions. Plots will be cut, characters will be composited. * Two things Benioff and Weiss have state are important. First, they are creating their interpretation of the story, not merely transcribing the books to video. Second, they are adapting ASOIAF to multiple seasons of television, rather than strictly adapting Book One to Season One, etc. **
* Game of Thrones still has the largest cast in television.
** How they plot this will be most interesting in Season Four, where they have about 300-400 pages remaining of Swords before they run into the simultaneous events of Crows and Dragons. Mostly, I'm excited about the casting of Oberyn Martell.
Obviously the difference in medium allow for different strengths and weaknesses between the books and movies. The most Stark* examples are the explanations of the geopolitical makeup of Westeros via background and history. Also, nakedtime! **
* Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
** Link takes you to standup comedy, not nudity.
The Late Shift
by Bill Carter
Last fall I read The War for Late Night which recounted the Conan-Leno saga. This is the forerunner to that, by the same author, recounting the Leno-Letterman fiasco. It includes the infamous Leno-closet-spy-session and an East Coast/West Coast war at NBC. As someone who grew up only knowing Letterman on CBS and Leno as host of The Tonight Show, it was interesting to read the prequel.
Similar to The War for Late Night, Late Shift sheds light on the executive decisions that led to the current state of late night television. Carter tells the behind the scenes story as well as the back story of the main characters.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Between watching Sherlock last fall and then becoming invested as I am in Elementary, this was a logical step. Added bonus for preparing for the upcoming Sherlock episodes in January and spotting Conan canon Easter Eggs. Each of these include about a dozen short stories. As someone who devoured Encyclopedia Brown books to the point where I opened my own detective agency at seven years old, I find is somewhat shameful it took me nearly 30 years to read these.
I Remember Me
by Carl Reiner
Our generation knows Carl Reiner as Saul from the Ocean's 11, 12, 13 movies where he plays an respected, old school con man who invented the game they're all playing. In real life, Carl Reiner went from WWII veteran to a writer and director for television, stage and film, setting precedents and breaking new ground in those industries. The memoir tells his personal stories about his time in the army, courting his wife, and his friendship with Mel Brooks, as well as his professional life including Your Show of Shows (Sid Caesar) where he was a writer and performer, and his creation of The Dick Van Dyke Show (including the discovery of Mary Tyler Moore).
Maybe the most interesting chapter is where Reiner discusses the Red Scare and being investigated by the feds. Two g-men came to his house, questioning him about known and possible Communists . It's a heavy story relative to the rest of the book but still Reiner is able to inject humor in a way that shows how he's been in his business for seven decades.
Part two manana..........
A Song of Ice and Fire: Books 1-5
A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
by George R.R. Martin
I started reading these almost by accident. Having watched the first two seasons, I awaited the third. In January I was on an excruciating bus commute home when I finished the hard copy book I had with me. Desperate for distraction, I bought and downloaded A Game of Thrones to my Kindle app. Within 60 seconds I had the book on my phone because we live in the future. Originally, I planned to read one, maybe two books, and catch the rest on television. But I found I didn't want to stop. While reading Storm of Swords, I was watching Season Three and was shocked at the episode when Jamie gets his hand cut off. The next day I realized the next chapter that awaited me was the first one where Jaime is short his sword hand. From then on I was ahead on the books, but it didn't diminish the show for me.
I finished A Dance with Dragons around the time Season Three concluded. The best element was that I no longer had to worry about spoilers. I avoided most commentary on the show for fear of being spoiled. Comments gave away key plot points. Writers who read the books loved to (not as slyly as they thought) imply things, almost as if they were bragging they new something the Unsullied television viewers didn't.* Even the titles of Youtube videos were dangerous. It opened a door to read a lot more analysis out there without fear of spoilerdom.**
* I know something you don't know! Congratulations, you're literate.
** The Meereneese Blot is an excellent blog and shed a lot of light on the events of Dragons for me. Looking at all of Dany's chapters a different way, viewing characters as having different intentions enhances the series a great deal. The author raises that the characters are purposefully misguided, but that GRRM withholds confirmation of that. It is basically a much better execution of the Brody-Carrie dynamic in that Brody and Carrie are purposefully made to look like idiots while Dany in Dragons is (we think) purposefully made to look to be working against her own ideals.
I do not understand the complaints about adapting the story from one medium to a differerent one. Of course there will be concessions. Plots will be cut, characters will be composited. * Two things Benioff and Weiss have state are important. First, they are creating their interpretation of the story, not merely transcribing the books to video. Second, they are adapting ASOIAF to multiple seasons of television, rather than strictly adapting Book One to Season One, etc. **
* Game of Thrones still has the largest cast in television.
** How they plot this will be most interesting in Season Four, where they have about 300-400 pages remaining of Swords before they run into the simultaneous events of Crows and Dragons. Mostly, I'm excited about the casting of Oberyn Martell.
Obviously the difference in medium allow for different strengths and weaknesses between the books and movies. The most Stark* examples are the explanations of the geopolitical makeup of Westeros via background and history. Also, nakedtime! **
* Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
** Link takes you to standup comedy, not nudity.
The Late Shift
by Bill Carter
Last fall I read The War for Late Night which recounted the Conan-Leno saga. This is the forerunner to that, by the same author, recounting the Leno-Letterman fiasco. It includes the infamous Leno-closet-spy-session and an East Coast/West Coast war at NBC. As someone who grew up only knowing Letterman on CBS and Leno as host of The Tonight Show, it was interesting to read the prequel.
Similar to The War for Late Night, Late Shift sheds light on the executive decisions that led to the current state of late night television. Carter tells the behind the scenes story as well as the back story of the main characters.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Between watching Sherlock last fall and then becoming invested as I am in Elementary, this was a logical step. Added bonus for preparing for the upcoming Sherlock episodes in January and spotting Conan canon Easter Eggs. Each of these include about a dozen short stories. As someone who devoured Encyclopedia Brown books to the point where I opened my own detective agency at seven years old, I find is somewhat shameful it took me nearly 30 years to read these.
I Remember Me
by Carl Reiner
Our generation knows Carl Reiner as Saul from the Ocean's 11, 12, 13 movies where he plays an respected, old school con man who invented the game they're all playing. In real life, Carl Reiner went from WWII veteran to a writer and director for television, stage and film, setting precedents and breaking new ground in those industries. The memoir tells his personal stories about his time in the army, courting his wife, and his friendship with Mel Brooks, as well as his professional life including Your Show of Shows (Sid Caesar) where he was a writer and performer, and his creation of The Dick Van Dyke Show (including the discovery of Mary Tyler Moore).
Maybe the most interesting chapter is where Reiner discusses the Red Scare and being investigated by the feds. Two g-men came to his house, questioning him about known and possible Communists . It's a heavy story relative to the rest of the book but still Reiner is able to inject humor in a way that shows how he's been in his business for seven decades.
Part two manana..........
Monday, October 28, 2013
The Yoga Play - HL
Homeland episode 3-05 "The Yoga Play"
Written by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, Homeland executive producers
Directed by Clark Johnson. Here's a scene from his Homicide days where he encounters Luther Mahoney/Brody's heroin-inducing doctor. He gives a speech that Mike Erhmantraut fans will appreciate.
After going full Nellie Bly and rotting in a nuthouse for a while, all in the name of what a great spy she is, Carrie decides things are going too well and does her best to undo all the progress made so far. The op is still too small to have an inner circle, but Saul does expand their inner line segment to an inner triangle by bringing in Peter Quinn. Because if you are going to pick teams, Peter Quinn is your first pick. In fact, you can have the next nine if I can pick first. Then I'll pick Mike Erhmantraut because you wouldn't have picked him due to him being old, and I'll win with just those guys.
Quinn and Saul both admonish Carrie for her behavior, risking the op, and they aren't even aware they flushed her meds. Oh yeah, Carries off her meds again, hooray. So we can look forward to a lot more crazy-eyed shrillness in the coming episodes I guess. Her yo-yoing from sanity to insanity is so incredibly tiresome and uninteresting. Rescue Me was at its best when Tommy was going on long stretches of sobriety or drunkeness, rather than going into recovery every other week. Right now, Carrie is at the same level of annoying as Elizabeth and Phillips' hot/cold relationship on The Americans.
So Carrie jeopardizes everything on a whim. The kicker is Dana comes home through no action of Carrie's. Her FBI guy's reaction is not unreasonable considering the actions taken to date, the most likely reason for the runaway and the fact that it is not their problem.
The titular yoga play she uses to nag the FBI guy is a cool bit of spycraft but has little effect except to possible make Javadi doubt Carrie's position.
Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, Saul begins the first verse of a country song. He is invited to hang out with the cool kids and do dumb stuff that seems cool to the cool kids for what is ostensibly a reason to feel Saul out for the full time director gig, specifically questioned by Senator Keith Olbermann (SKO) from the hearings earlier this season. Unfortunately the Red Viper is not in sight. Saul feels good and deigns to take a drink when offered.
They camouflage themselves and await the enemy because that is their only method of survival. Oh wait, they are waterfowl hunting and not WWII Japanese soldiers. Let me start over...they sit in a hut and wait to shoot unsuspecting birds which they most likely will not clean and eat themselves while a dog fetches their corpses because they don't want to give away their position to the birds, or get off their butts.
Pretty soon, SKO goes full mean girl on Saul revealing that it is he who shall be nominated! SKO is sure to do so only after being fake nice to Saul and after Saul implicates himself as to his far differing views and how he will not fit well in the new SKO CIA regime.
The crux of Saul's disagreement is that he believes human intelligence (HUMINT) is far better than anything technology can bring about, despite all of HUMINT's inherent vulnerabilities (specifically Brody). Saul trusts his officers to act as needed in their situations, in which they are half blind, working off script and trying to discern good information from bad, all in a completely unrealistic timeframe. SKO has made a career throwing stones at the agency he means to head, but now he's going to have to work with those same people he criticizes and realize once he gets in the weeds, he's not going to be able to sit on high from drones (OR HUNTING HUTS) and take care of business from afar.
Basically, SKO is every politician and appointee ever.
Saul, drinking upon having this news, gives a toast to SKO's nomination saying as much as he said previously to SKO, but he does it in front of everyone, then drops the mic and heads home a day earlier to find his wife and a dude, pre-bang (but barely pre). So verse two of the country song starts. Ugh what a night. Plus he has to deal with Carrie's nonsense and possibility she blew the op..
Good news though, she's kidnapped!
Carrie is making decisions on the fly that make no sense but speak to Saul's point of trusting HUMIT rather than shooting ducks from a hiding spot.
- No matter how much you try, you cannot shoot the dog
- I don't think that being averse to conflict is a quality one would want in a chief of staff. What a wimp.
- "555" telephone numbers are the worst and most jarring thing shows do to take viewers out of them.
- When Turk changed his number on Scrubs to 916-CALL-TUR(K) they actually purchased the 916-CALL-TUR and viewers could call to get a real voice message
- It doesnt work now, I just tried it
- And Lost had multiple DHARMA-related numbers viewers could call
- Unclear who is surveying whom. Is it the Javadi people surveiling Carrie? And CIA surveilling them? And Quinn surveilling them all? It seems to be so because Saul is so pleased when her surveillers/kindnappers re-appear. Not sure if the CIA from say, Dar Adal's unit is watching her too. I'm unclear who Quinn blocked in his car, if that was CIA or Javadi.
- Pretty soon with enough coats of paint this room is going to be two inches smaller
- I think it is Carrie < Javadi < Quinn but I am not positive
- Javadi strolls in via the politically uninteresting but super important in practice Canadian border
- I assume Abu Nazir took this route in Season Two. "Oh so unrealistic!!!!!!!!"
- Javadi drops ketchup on himself and makes a stain. On Lost we'd all be like "WHAT DOES THE KETCHUP MEAN?!"
- Unclear if his burger was Halal. I hope it was Five Guys.
- Dana is not a stupid girl. She wisens up and dumps Bad News.
- "K4" (as I heard it) is not K4/K-Four but KFOR, Kosovo Force
And so begins the second movement....
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Raw Data: Felina - Part 3
The most recent television event comparable to Breaking Bad was the Lost finale, which had about 13.5 million viewers. Breaking Bad garnered 10.3 million, which is incredible considering it airs on a cable network not found on every provider. Not only that but Breaking Bad airs at a time when more viewers (particularly of cable dramas...like Breaking Bad...) watch television via other platforms like dvds, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon and AppleTV, network websites, and iTunes. The finale was probably the first time a lot of these viewers watched Breaking Bad at its appointed night and time.
Another aspect reminded me of Lost, compared to Jack sacrificing himself to save the island and his friends, Walt goes into Uncle Jack's lair planning to blow them all away, while being perfectly fine with himself going out as well.
And both shows end with the main character expiring.
Another aspect reminded me of Lost, compared to Jack sacrificing himself to save the island and his friends, Walt goes into Uncle Jack's lair planning to blow them all away, while being perfectly fine with himself going out as well.
And both shows end with the main character expiring.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Take a Page from 24
On demand television watching, like Orange is the New Black from Netflix, and marathon DVD sessions are re-shaping how people watch television, providing a format for serialized television not previously available.
Networks shouldn't give up on dramas though, just re-think them. I think cable is also going to have to re-think how they do things in a few years when the market becomes oversaturated with serialized (especially gritty ones, an overused term if there was one) dramas* as every network not only gets in the game, but gets in the game enough to consistently air a show year-round. How to make your show stand out? And how do you give viewers impetus to finally turn on your show when they have the convenience of doing so whenever they damn well please?
* Already evident by some shows being a poor man's version of other successful shows. Some flash with a red alarm as being Very. Important. and discussing Real. Issues. While there's no cap on the number of anti-heroes there can be, all the anti-heroes are not created equally.
One way ABC re-thought Lost was to air episodes consecutively. Season One, with 24 episodes, aired from late September to late May, a traditional television schedule spanning about 32 weeks. This of course means repeats and pre-emptions which could push viewers away when they start missing episodes or watching them out of order.
So they played with the model. Season Three aired episodes six consecutive weeks in the fall and picked up again a few months later, airing the remaining 17 episodes consecutively. Following the negotiation of a series end date * the only case of episodes not airing in consecutive weeks was due to the writers' strike **.
* An incredibly contentious issue that nearly resulted in the producers leaving. They wanted an date, the network did not, which hamstrung a lot of their creative efforts.
** Season Four in eight and six week blocks, and Seasons Five and Six in 16 and 17 week blocks, respectively.
No doubt Lost was a tough show to get into due to the serialization, and not made easy to hang onto due to scheduling. Even the pilot which seems like an obvious two hour long premier aired over two separate weeks. Adaptation allowed them to keep loyal viewers though.
It is easier to keep watching a show than it is to start a new one. Despite pleas from friends and offers of DVD boxes, show recommendations are most often met with, "yeah I gotta get into that." And if it doesn't take after the first episode, those pleas are often followed with "but you gotta wait a few episodes before it takes off."
After a certain age it's easy to stop wanting to make friends. Why should I, you may think. I already have my friends. Why bother putting in the enormous effort to meet new people. Why spend the time over several weeks of one episode at at time to meet Ray Donovan* when when I'm already buds with Jessie Pinkman and Roger Sterling, and have several seasons of Raylan Givens sitting there if I ever decide to move back home?
* Even with all the television I watch, this is the only new show I've 100 percent bought into in 2013. One more has potential. Gotta watch episode two. I just wish I could hear Elmore Leonard's thoughts on it.
If simultaneous release is not an option for cable and broadcast networks, I propose mini-events where they air, say, the first three or four episodes in a single night or over a weekend. Three may work best with the 8-11 prime time slots (or 9-12 if they are worried about airing certain content any earlier*). Three episodes would also work with a three act structure and may benefit how the writers plot the season. Instead of a (largely) stand alone pilot, they could do more with three hours of television.
* Networks are working on that. Cable networks pretty much work at their own discretion. I'm reminded of an quote from an incredulous Dan on SportsNight "We have ACTUAL standards and practices?!"
Three episodes would more quickly get viewers invested in the characters. It would also remove some of the pilot-y things that make pilots pilots. Writers would not have to cram so much introductory stuff about characters into a single hour. They could be more subtle. Viewers could record and watch a meatier section of the season together, or at their convenience throughout the week, as is more often their preference.
24 did this in Season Four and it became their highest rated season. While not necessarily causal, I imagine it didn't hurt. I figure if viewers are going to tune out after the first hour they will do so whether it is weekly or in a single night. But for the population who is going to like the show and is willing to invest, this is a way to make a show more appealing to start. You may have a list of shows already existing that you want to start watching. How do you establish priority, and how does a network make theirs the most appealing to prioritize. It is a way to capture those viewers and bring them into the fold when there are so many other sources competing for their attention and ultimately get them to watch as the show airs from that point on (and maybe buy the DVDs too).
Networks shouldn't give up on dramas though, just re-think them. I think cable is also going to have to re-think how they do things in a few years when the market becomes oversaturated with serialized (especially gritty ones, an overused term if there was one) dramas* as every network not only gets in the game, but gets in the game enough to consistently air a show year-round. How to make your show stand out? And how do you give viewers impetus to finally turn on your show when they have the convenience of doing so whenever they damn well please?
* Already evident by some shows being a poor man's version of other successful shows. Some flash with a red alarm as being Very. Important. and discussing Real. Issues. While there's no cap on the number of anti-heroes there can be, all the anti-heroes are not created equally.
One way ABC re-thought Lost was to air episodes consecutively. Season One, with 24 episodes, aired from late September to late May, a traditional television schedule spanning about 32 weeks. This of course means repeats and pre-emptions which could push viewers away when they start missing episodes or watching them out of order.
So they played with the model. Season Three aired episodes six consecutive weeks in the fall and picked up again a few months later, airing the remaining 17 episodes consecutively. Following the negotiation of a series end date * the only case of episodes not airing in consecutive weeks was due to the writers' strike **.
* An incredibly contentious issue that nearly resulted in the producers leaving. They wanted an date, the network did not, which hamstrung a lot of their creative efforts.
** Season Four in eight and six week blocks, and Seasons Five and Six in 16 and 17 week blocks, respectively.
No doubt Lost was a tough show to get into due to the serialization, and not made easy to hang onto due to scheduling. Even the pilot which seems like an obvious two hour long premier aired over two separate weeks. Adaptation allowed them to keep loyal viewers though.
It is easier to keep watching a show than it is to start a new one. Despite pleas from friends and offers of DVD boxes, show recommendations are most often met with, "yeah I gotta get into that." And if it doesn't take after the first episode, those pleas are often followed with "but you gotta wait a few episodes before it takes off."
After a certain age it's easy to stop wanting to make friends. Why should I, you may think. I already have my friends. Why bother putting in the enormous effort to meet new people. Why spend the time over several weeks of one episode at at time to meet Ray Donovan* when when I'm already buds with Jessie Pinkman and Roger Sterling, and have several seasons of Raylan Givens sitting there if I ever decide to move back home?
* Even with all the television I watch, this is the only new show I've 100 percent bought into in 2013. One more has potential. Gotta watch episode two. I just wish I could hear Elmore Leonard's thoughts on it.
If simultaneous release is not an option for cable and broadcast networks, I propose mini-events where they air, say, the first three or four episodes in a single night or over a weekend. Three may work best with the 8-11 prime time slots (or 9-12 if they are worried about airing certain content any earlier*). Three episodes would also work with a three act structure and may benefit how the writers plot the season. Instead of a (largely) stand alone pilot, they could do more with three hours of television.
* Networks are working on that. Cable networks pretty much work at their own discretion. I'm reminded of an quote from an incredulous Dan on SportsNight "We have ACTUAL standards and practices?!"
Three episodes would more quickly get viewers invested in the characters. It would also remove some of the pilot-y things that make pilots pilots. Writers would not have to cram so much introductory stuff about characters into a single hour. They could be more subtle. Viewers could record and watch a meatier section of the season together, or at their convenience throughout the week, as is more often their preference.
24 did this in Season Four and it became their highest rated season. While not necessarily causal, I imagine it didn't hurt. I figure if viewers are going to tune out after the first hour they will do so whether it is weekly or in a single night. But for the population who is going to like the show and is willing to invest, this is a way to make a show more appealing to start. You may have a list of shows already existing that you want to start watching. How do you establish priority, and how does a network make theirs the most appealing to prioritize. It is a way to capture those viewers and bring them into the fold when there are so many other sources competing for their attention and ultimately get them to watch as the show airs from that point on (and maybe buy the DVDs too).
Monday, July 15, 2013
Hill Street Blues was a Network Show - Part 2
Part I - Hill Street Blues was a Network Show
The thing about network shows is they are simply so much more watched than cable. While watching television is done much less often by watching television than it has in the past, and even more less often at the appointed times on channels seen by most, the best way for a lot of people to watch a single program is on the networks.
As ubiquitous as ESPN is, there is a reason Monday Night Football Ratings dropped when they moved from ABC to ESPN, and Sunday Night Football became the most watched show on television after moving to NBC. Part of the fun of watching shows is talking about them the next day and the way we watch television now does not lend ourselves to doing that.
The last network event was the Lost series finale in 2010 was somewhat tame compared to the big ones like Seinfeld or Friends. But still, you could not avoid running into the accompanying media coverage. Series finales of classic shows like that always draw huge audiences and there is a reason M*A*S*H finale remains and will remain the most watched program in the United States.
The Office had a finale of similar nature. It turned in a solid ratings boost for the finale, though by no means was a ratings boon. In the retrospective for that very show, the actors interview about how the show began as a ratings (and critical) disaster, but it was saved by iTunes, being the number one show on that service.
The point is The Office finale was one of the rare shared viewing experiences that people can talk about, whether it be friends, co-workers or mere acquaintances. Most conversations about television now go something like this:
Do you watch Breaking Bad?
Yes, but I just started, so don't tell me anything.
or
How far are you?
Season two.
Oh man, just wait until season three!
or
This isn't a spoiler but...[spoiler!]
With the release of House of Cards, critics began more broadly using a term for an action that had already been going on for years: binge watching. This is something any West Wing fan who received Bravo on their cable system was already familiar with (every Monday in the mid-2000s!).
While the convenience of a la carte/on-demand viewing cannot be beat, there is something to be said for a shared viewing experience, taking a show one week at a time with a whole lot of other people at the same time. The Internets do allow for us to read articles from and talk with a lot of people we don't know about shows currently airing, so maybe the point is moot.
More outlets for writers and actors to work on*, and more choices for viewers are indisputably a good thing. More flexibility for viewers on when to watch whatever they want is indisputably a good thing.
But that doesn't have to mean there are so few quality options on the networks. And it doesn't mean that networks can't produce quality television because they can't say "god damn."
Maybe one approach is re-thinking up-fronts. There's no doubt that would cause an up-rising among advertisers, but if they coupled it with a smarter ratings system and showed them why it would stretch their ad dollars farther, maybe some wouldn't object. Surely there has to be a better way than rolling out a host of new shows each year with the hopes of one or two sticking, while axing the rest by October.
Keep at it ABC.
* Cable seasons, generally 13 episodes, also give actors the rest of the year to work on other stuff. Two very popular movies from this past year were boons for actors you recognize from outstanding cable shows: Argo and Lincoln.
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