very recently there were the season finale's for the shows i use to rot my brain with. 24, desperate housewives and lost. since buffy ended a few seasons ago - there's been no well written/performed on tv... these three really are examples of the best out there now (is there anything else, actually?)
24, however, is coming OFF my list of good tv... this past season was so bad for so many reasons. the only reason i watched until the last ep was because of some sort of twisted sense of loyalty to keifer sutherland (once upon a time, i had a cat named keifer - but he was named after keifer of 'the lost boys' era, which helped usher in my 'love of vampires' era). but this season of 24 was beyond disappointing. even if i look the other way over the horrific racial stereotyping and negative portrayals of people of middle eastern decent, there was the implausible 'time travel' of some characters. the producers sold us out and totally abandoned the 'day in the life of jack bauer' signature - it seemed as though characters had found some sort of worm hole to get from point a to point b in a matter of minutes.... and then there was the ominous 'cisco systems' logo EVERYWHERE. man - after watching the show all season, i feel deficient, because i don't have cisco... anyway - i'm not sure i'm going to care next season - even though they seem to be setting it up as a 'the fugitive' type thing.... *sigh*
lost, on the other hand makes me want to watch more and more and more... sure, i get frustrated with the teases and the lack of actual information that we get (still have no freaking clue as to what the 'security system' is) but overall - i want to watch more to find out more... what is going to happen to walt? how tied into the destiny of the island inhabitants is he? is he why they're all there or is hurley? is sawyer dead (please, no - he's such an interesting character)? when is charlie's survivor-intervention coming? when will shanon run out of nail polish? and will vincent kill a polar bear - feeding them all for weeks? seriously though - what was with jack's comment to kate "if we survive tonight, we're going to have a locke problem." buddy - where have you been? you've had a locke problem for quite some time now... maybe if you spent less time working on sculpting your tattoo'd arms, you'd of realized that sooner.
desperate housewives could go either way. it could continue with the promise of the first half of the season - or it could just spiral further down into the confusion and inappropriateness that was the hallmark of the second half of the season. what made the show such an instant frenzy was the 4 women together as friends mixed with a nice blend of creepy murder drama and dark wit. the later episodes became much less about an ensemble cast and more about edie interacting with them as individuals and at times it seemed as though the women never left their houses. and then there was the stupid dumbed down jokey humour (a sensational example of this was the reaction of the lawn boy when gabrielle told him that she was pregnant and that it might be his). rumour has it that the cast of women all hate each other's guts. who the fuck cares. they are paid to act and recite lines - just do your jobs and spare us the un-scripted drama (if, indeed this is the case).
side note : there is one of those "which desperate housewife are you?" quiz on the ABC site - i took it and it told me i was susan. figures, she's the character i like the least...
[music | david usher, "numb"]
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2 comments:
Hi there. Interesting thoughts on 24, although I'm not sure I agree with all of them. I think the show's producers finally wanted to do "ripped from the headlines" story, and as we sit here in 2005, terrorism carried out by radical Middle Eastern groups is that story. That's not to say that all Muslims or Middle Easterners are terrorists, and I don't think that was what this season of 24 implied at all.
In what way do you think the show demeaned those groups? I wonder, do you think The Sopranos demeans Italian-Americans?
Here's my problem with the show: Every season, there's at least one plotline that drags everything else to a screeching halt. This year, we had Driscoll and her psychotic daughter. What was the point? There was also Audrey -- poor, weepy Audrey.
I thought the final episode was good, at least good enough to tune in next season to find out how Jack comes back from exile.
Anyway . . . good blog.
thanks for the comments louis... yey! my first comment - and it's by a stranger.... :)
you bring up some good points too... in my original post, i had a rather long rant about sad audrey and 'please love me' jack, lovey-dovey tony and michelle and the in general the many inapropriate conversations between all the love torn folk running around CTU. and edgar's mom dies in the first few hours and he stays at work and yet poor michelle needs to be sent home over the whole fake tony blown to smithereens story blip. but i cut all of it out to save the post from being a novel!
as far as your question about the soprano's - believe it or not - i've never been a watcher of the show, so i'm not qualified to respond. as an aside - the only episode i ever saw was in the first season and everyone had food poisoning and were spending the episode in the bathroom making some rather obvious bodily function (misfunction?) sounds.... kinda turned me off and i didn't ever find the time to go back! maybe i should rent the boxed sets and try again....
and i agree with you, i think the producers did want to do a 'ripped from the headlines' storyline - but unfortunatley, i don't think that they were as intelligent with it as they could of been? could we not of had an arab/muslim agent at CTU or one of the other agencies to balance the storyline a little? and i think the one strange episode where jack and the arab shop owners have a shootout with an american' corporation's 'militia' was very weak and came off a little too much like a 'very special episode of 24'
anyway, thanks again and come on back!
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