Boob Tubes and Other Musings

I took an informal poll of a choice between two possible topics.

This came out ahead by one. Out of a survey sample of like, two people.

What can I say, I give the people what they want!

I miss television. Don't get me wrong - I watch tv. I even sometimes enjoy it. Most of my viewing is in fits and spurts, however, because the shows I watch are often on BBC America, and those seasons are truncated and split up so that there are long periods in between that are basically a wasteland of reality shows and insidious "comedies" that, frankly, just aren't funny.

I know a lot of people enjoy Big Bang Theory, but I find the characters annoying and the jokes are just endless poking fun of the generalizations people assign to "nerds." Personally, I don't enjoy anything predicated on a stereotype.  I don't think making anyone the butt of a long-running joke makes for good storytelling. This is what disappoints me about shows like Mike and Molly, as another example. The show is an endless fat joke.  There's so little narrative thread beyond the "Haha, fat people are always on a diet but still eat too much and have a difficult time navigating a thin-is-the-thing culture...blah blah elastic waistbands...yadda yadda...it's just so, sooo funny." No. No, it's not funny. I don't care if the actors are okay with the premise of the show, I don't care that they're supposedly "in" on the joke.

The joke is old and outmoded. It's stale. The template is crap and the mold that is being used needs to be scrapped. And trying for painfully funny at someone's expense isn't my idea of humor. I also don't enjoy my comedy over-sexualized. This is why Two and a Half Men turns my gut. There are only so many quips about penises and sexual dysfunction I can take, you know? Generally, I stopped caring about reality television when it became abundantly clear that there is nothing real about any of it. If you're going to script it, just make it a show and cast actors instead of scheming everymen (and everywomen) looking for their shot at insta-fame or has-beens and never-was third tier "celebrities" grasping for what's left of the limelight and willing to do anything to get it. No thanks, I'll pass.

So what does that leave me? What would I watch, given the choice? Well, to be honest, right now my main choices are Doctor Who and Firefly reruns. Because I'm a nerd. No, I'm not some emotionally stunted, socially awkward (well, not too awkward) savant with an annoying catch-phrase. You only find those in primetime. The recent Browncoat Reunion  (video!) is sitting on my DVR waiting for a good time to curl up with a drink and a blanket and indulge in some "boy wouldn't it be nice if this show was still on" wishful thinking.

WAAAAAAASH! 

(Link to the original high-res image!)

But I look back with a certain amount of nostalgia to the television of my youth. Meaning the 1990s specifically. These were magical times for television. I can remember with fondness enjoying shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Quantum Leap, Twin Peaks and especially The X-Files. This was, to me, a thinking person's tv lineup. They were shows that influenced my sense of what good fiction and great storytelling can be when the focus is on a higher level of entertainment beyond laugh tracks and predictable jokes that fall flat. There was plot, pacing, dramatic tension and character development in these shows. They complimented and enhanced my already burgeoning love of science fiction and the bizarre.

The 90s had its fair share of stupid situational comedies, of course. I may have even watched any number of them. But they didn't leave a lasting impression the way that Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and their other fictional cohorts did. I'm still waiting to find my next Special Agent Dale Cooper. And Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey Horne remains rather iconic. When you do a Google search for her name, results come up that show people also search for the primary actors on Twin Peaks, which just last year celebrated 20 years of being the kind of program that grabs you by the throat and never quite lets go. I would love to experience that again, but so far haven't found a lot of options that pull me into the world of the characters with as much atmosphere and sense of impending dread. Maybe the magic really is gone.

As far as what's on tv now, I'm a dedicated Whovian, no matter how deep the silly and ridiculous goes. A new Companion premiering with this upcoming Christmas episode (SPOILERS, sweetie!), and another Neil Gaiman-penned script, this time featuring Cybermen. I hear American Horror Story might be good, and I want to watch The Walking Dead (and have, although so far skipped the most recent seasons and just read recaps to keep up with the basic plot), but I'm not looking for scary. I'm looking for drama with a certain subtle, almost indescribable factor to it. There are characters and plotlines in the BBC America program Copper that have potential, and I believe in the spring BBCA also premiers a period drama centering around the aftermath of the Jack the Ripper case, called Ripper Street. It will star Matthew Macfadyen. Some of you may know him as...MR. DARCY!