And yet, inevitably, television always gets a bad rap. I recently asked a coworker who I knew owned horses, if she had watched the premiere of Luck. Her response was “I don’t watch tv.” Granted, I’m probably too sensitive to that kind of comment, but I could swear I heard pride in her voice, as if television was something to be looked down upon. Regardless of whether I was imagining it or not, there are plenty of people out there who dismiss television as the “boob tube” or something with no intrinsic value that will only rot your brain. Those people make my heart frown because nothing could be farther from the truth.
I don’t think anyone will argue that there isn’t a significant amount of mind numbingly stupid programming on television. But that doesn’t justify lumping all of television into one category and then writing it off. In fact, more and more every day, television is becoming the hot spot for quality storytelling. Television used to be a stepping stone for actors to transition into a more prestigious career as a movie star. However, with the rise of the cable drama, it’s become less unusual to see well established movie actors taking on roles in television. More actors today are recognizing that stepping into a character that they can explore and develop over the course of years can be as challenging and satisfying, if not more so, than being a movie star.
Movies have given us some fantastic and memorable characters over the years, but in terms of exploring and developing those characters, there is simply a limitation on what movies can accomplish, even with multiple sequels. On the other hand, an episodic television show can balance plot and character in ways that movies aren’t capable of. Television shows can focus hours upon hours on developing their characters and the relationships between them, while at the same time crafting complex and intelligent stories, which can be contained within single episodes or play out over the course of a season or even an entire series.
Here’s the bottom line and what I suppose I am trying to say: I like TV and I’m looking for an outlet to write about it and discuss it. What I’m not interested in doing is writing weekly reviews of any specific show, or generally even reviewing shows at all. Rather, my goal is to start a discussion, either when something particularly interesting catches my eye, or just when I have something that I want to say. So this is what I propose; for the foreseeable future when I watch something that sparks a reaction in me, I’ll write about it. That may be once a week, it may be more, or it may be less. Hopefully people will comment, and we can create a dialogue that enhances our viewing experience. For a good idea of what I'm talking about, I highly recommend reading this article written recently by someone who's writing has helped inspired me to take this up. http://www.avclub.com/articles/did-the-sopranos-do-more-harm-than-good-hbo-and-th,69596/ If you’re interested, please check in on occasion to see what’s new, and for my part, I’ll do my best to utilize all this social media we got going for us to keep ya’ll appraised.
Until then…
