Previous | Memories | Tell Someone | Next
 
whiskyinmind
whiskyinmind
04 October 2005 @ 07:00 pm
*sigh*  
So with Serenity figures not being stellar (respectable doesn't bode well for a sequel) I'm now finding the good folks over at Whedonesque (of which I am one (Mara), and have been for a good long time now although I don't post all that often) are tearing down Kitchen Confidential. It's only been three episodes people and I personally think it's pretty damn good. I watched the promotional pilot weeks before it was on the air, and I watched it again when it aired (well, the day after what with me being on the other side of the Atlantic and all!) and I watched How I Met Your Mother at the same time.

I was wiping tears of laughter away whilst watching KC, I barely smiled watching HIMYM. I've now seen the first three episodes of KC and no more of HIMYM (if it shows up on a channel over here I will probably watch it, on the other hand I will definitely watch KC when it airs on Paramount). I guess it doesn't matter what the mid-20s upwards demographic thinks though, it's that all important 15-24 age bracket that really counts. And KC is not going to play well to that audience for the simple reason that 15 year olds simply don't have the life experience to 'get' it. Is the show doomed? I really hope not, it's funny, it has great performances from every single cast member and has intelligent writing. What am I saying? Of course it's doomed.

*sigh*

This on top of my ever-dwindling affection for the Star Wars Extended Universe (or at least it'll dwindle until hacks like Denning are kicked out of the playpen) makes me wonder about a bunch of things. Is it me or is it fandom?

I don't ever see myself abandoning BtVS or Firefly fandom, but then I would have said that a few years ago about SW and I barely post about it anymore - anywhere. Is fandom just a passing phase? Am I finally getting a life?

When I graduated from Uni I did so with an honours degree in media and I couldn't watch TV or films any more. All I could see whenever I watched anything was the mise-en-scene or the editing decisions, or any one of a million little cues to textual analysis. Buffy was the first thing I watched on TV after that which hooked me into the characters and stories. Yeah, sure I still did the textual analysis thing (sometimes annoyingly so if you ask the folks over at the BBB where I posted 'topics' every week after an episode aired (Yes, but what do you really think the purpose of mirrors and reflections was in the episode Afterlife..)) but it was secondary.

Now? There's not much out there that I don't tear apart the instant I watch it. Veronica Mars comes close, and Lost did (although re-watching season one and starting into season two has proven that I'm watching for things more than I did on the first watch - I'm not connecting with the characters anymore). Am I losing interest in TV or is TV (and fandom) changing?
Tags:
 
 
Current Mood: pensive
 
6 comments | Leave a comment
 
( Post a new comment )
[identity profile] thedothatgirl.livejournal.com on October 4th, 2005 11:50 am (UTC)
I don't think it is you (not that I don't want you to have a life you understand) I just think good quality TV is very thin on the ground still. It is going to take time for drama to recover the from the hell that is (pseudo)reality TV.

I have become a little disappointed with Lost already -I am viewing at Uk terrestrial pace but will see it through in the hope that what I have heard about it is true. To be honest 'Bones' is mainly eye candy. I am holding out hope that VM will be good. Apart from that (I haven't seen KC yet) there's not much else about. I love Deadwood but I don't think I would get so involved with that show as I have done with any of Joss's work.

Considering 'fandoms' (I'll stick with TV based) there has only ever been one that I really followed through from beginning to end ' Moonlighting' - very different for its time, musical episodes and Shakespeare themes, and an extremely funny male lead who am sure I once saw playing with toy dinosaurs. So that was in the 80's - and it wasn't until 1998 that I took to any other show since then and I haven't seen anything the quality of JW work since then. Is it like buses nothing for ages then 3 come along near enough altogether?

As for the folks over at Whedonesque perhaps they have become cynical with the cancellation of excellent shows such as Firefly and Angel - and pessimism tends to be the tone (just look at the response to Serenity's B.O numbers) that pervades. And whilst I sidetrack on Serenity's figures - I never expected a box office smash, sequels or not I am just glad we got the film.








(Reply) (Link)
Naol[identity profile] naol.livejournal.com on October 4th, 2005 12:09 pm (UTC)
I don't get the relation between Serenity's poor showing and the need to belittle NB's show in particular. Some form of retaliation for his remarks in the interview he gave with Bradley Cooper? If there is a connection, then some people really have serious issues to deal with :)

As a show, KC is simply funny. Very well made, excellent characters and a good group dynamic. I love all of them and just because NB is a part of the cast is not the only reason I watch it, something I was not expecting. Demographics be damned, the show is too good to pass up.

For all my own moral objections to the treatment of certain characters in Buffy and the fact that a younger audience was exposed to it, I have no problem with KC, mainly because it does not pretend to be something it isn't. The characters aren't super-perfect, squeaky-clean caricatures of normal people, they have rather glaring and comical faults and weaknesses.

Then again, because I really like it, it will be canceled. I'm finding this is something of a natural law and the reason I don't really watch TV anymore. They cancel everything that isn't a smash hit within the first two or three episodes. A brain-dead approach to the whole idea of developing a good show, but who ever said TV execs had brains?

Anyhoo, that's one of the reasons my own fan-love is waning. Oh, I don't see myself ever forgetting the characters of Buffy or Xander, and to a lesser extent any of the others (although I will actively be trying to forget Andrew *g*) but it's just a general feeling of mercenary cynicism that pervades most types of broadcast fiction nowadays (cinema included) that makes it hard to be enthusiastic about anything.

So IMO, TV and fandom IS changing, sliding downwards to pander to the common denominator and imposing the level of said denominator to boot. I'd say we're at ground-level at the moment, but that would be dismissing the talented people in Hollywood who will always be able to find new depths to which to sink :)

The life-changes thing enters into it too, though, of course. We grow older, our priorities change and so do the things we can relate to. Something we might have found to be the height of entertainment at fifteen might appear ridiculously juvenile when we're thirty. Something that speaks to you as a kid might be completely hermetic to you as a parent. People change and so do their tastes.
(Reply) (Link)
[identity profile] jgracio.livejournal.com on October 4th, 2005 12:13 pm (UTC)
I think fandom is fueled by excitement. New stories, good stories, on TV or other mediums breathes life into it. I think Buffy is still getting good stories, on fandom at least.

For KC, I hope it pulls through. It seems like an intelligent show, I like the cast and it looks like fun. Not sure if it's what people want to see in the States though.

For the losing interest, well, it's you! You suffer from something everyone suffers, knowing too much about something. Like cops who can't watch cop shows on account of all the mistakes, programmers who laugh out loud on watching movies with any sort of programming angle to it (Swordfish cracks me up), that sort of thing. You, alas, have the misfortune of knowing too much about movies. I think you'll probably never be able to shut that knowledge off, you'll always notice the little things. Sorry. :)
(Reply) (Link)
[identity profile] crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com on October 4th, 2005 01:45 pm (UTC)
I was wiping tears of laughter away whilst watching KC, I barely smiled watching HIMYM.

I'd have to agree with that, and I found myself surprised by it. Where I feel KC has it own rhythm and voice, HIMYM is obviously going, "OMG! WE'RE FUNNY!! LOOK AT US BE FUNNY!" Unliked Friends, which showed the characters' vulnerability and fleshed them out, this has just been one bit of funny to "hah?" dialogue after the next. (Although I thought licking the Liberty Bell was funny. But not as funny as KC's "Totally different totem pole.")
(Reply) (Link)
[identity profile] skipp-of-ark.livejournal.com on October 4th, 2005 06:33 pm (UTC)
Haven't been to Whedonesque in a few days, actually since before the so-called Big Damn Movie opened. Most of the activity at the time was based around posting links to positive reviews of the movie and stirring up fan fervor for the movie. The general attitude seemed to be one of genuine belief that they could guarantee (by going multiple times and bringing two or more non-fans apiece), if not a record-smashing debut, then at least a much stronger opening weekend than the BDM actually got, not to mention a new audience of won-over fans of the BDM and thus DVD sales of the series, not to mention JW himself. After all, the place is called Whedonesque, and most of the folks there seem to be hardcore devotees of the man himself.

Now I haven't seen any tearing down of KC (yet), but it's interesting to note that after the interview with BC and NB came out (in which NB says JW told him Xander was "done" by S5), overall reaction mutated from one of "ouch, poor NB" to one where everybody was scrambling six ways to Sunday to come up with ways in which NB simply misunderstood what JW actually said or meant, or that ME "obviously" changed their minds because a story direction for Xander "clearly" arose, etc. Basically, NB said something rather straight forward about his time on the show that didn't exactly paint the most glowing light on Joss (nor did it paint him in the darkest of blacks, either, as his comments were limited to Joss and his own character), and the Whedon faithful reacted with, well, denial.

(I looked up EC and CC in the archives over there, to gage reaction over the years to the deaths of Anya and Cordelia and to said actresses' comments about their departures from ME, and denial was the overall reaction to those, too. Denial that EC or CC ever had negative experiences or reasons to want to leave and not come back, denial that Joss and ME were ever less than positive or supportive of them, and an insistence that any time Joss wants to, he can and will resurrect their characters and either actress will be ready and willing to come back for said resurrection. That Joss might not ever want to resurrect either character does not seem to enter their minds.)

So, while I haven't seen this tearing down of KC at Whedonesque (yet), perhaps its an inevitable reaction to the not-so-great opening weekend of the BDM, by attacking the show of the most recent ME alum to suggest that the ME experience wasn't always puppy dogs and flowers. Especially since KC is having its own ratings troubles, while AH's not-great-show seems to be benefiting from comfortable scheduling and JM really has only made a brief cameo on Smallville thus far.
(Reply) (Link)
[identity profile] smhwpf.livejournal.com on October 5th, 2005 07:40 am (UTC)
Hmm, sounds like I should give KC a try-out. Is it on UK telly now? (Though currently no telly in my alternative accommodation).

Is fandom just a passing phase? Am I finally getting a life?

*sigh*, well, we all know what happened to Puff.

I guess I've never been really that deep into fandom - just delving in here and there for the bits I like. I think the thing about Buffy fandom, which hopefully will give it a longer lifespan, is that it is so diverse, catering to all tastes, and ages. Which reflects the show itself. I don't really know SW or any other fandom, so I don't know if the same is true of those to such an extent. But for me at least, I think it's got a good few years left in it at least. :)

Your media-studiesey topics over at BBB were never annoying! I just never pick up on that sort of detail, so it was always good to have them pointed out, give another light to see things in.
(Reply) (Link)