Song Lyric of the Day:
I can’t remember anything / Can’t tell if this is true or dream / Deep down inside I feel to scream
Metallica / “One”
Charlie and Claire gone
All are looking for Ethan
Charlie dead alive
I can’t believe we have to wait until January to see another new episode of Lost! Actually, I can, because I’m fully aware of how TV networks program after November sweeps and around the holidays. It’s just that last night’s episode, “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues,” was so good and it left us with a couple of cliffhangers—one small, one big. I don’t remember the last time I was this addicted to a TV show. And it’s astonishing to see how involved Rich is, since watching TV is not one of his favorite things to do. At least when Lost returns in January it will now be followed by Alias. Which means Rich and I will be glued to the TV every Wednesday night for the rest of this year’s TV season.
While I love, love, love movies as well, I guess I love TV a bit more. Why? Probably because a great TV show is like a great book. You get these wonderfully involving, multi-layered plots that unfold over the course of several episodes or a series’ entire run. You can have myriad characters, both minor and major, who can flit in and out without causing a ripple or who can turn everything on its head. You get to really know characters, see them evolve, and watch them grow, sometimes in genuinely surprising ways. And every now and then there is a reference to an earlier event/joke/episode that feels like a reward for being loyal.
Tonight I’ll be watching my two favorite dramas-which don’t quite fit the formula in that they’re not serialized-“CSI” and “Without a Trace.” While we continue to get to know and see these shows’ characters evolving, it’s not necessary to watch every episode to know what’s going on. And I think that’s why they’re so successful. Some viewers gripe about how unrealistic it is that a criminal is caught and a lost person found in one episode. While I understand where they’re coming from, it is TV. And in TV land, normal rules do not apply. Even these two shows do not always have happy endings. From the TV industry perspective of things, this non-serialized format is sheer genius. Repeats do almost as well as first-run episodes precisely because someone who hasn’t watched the show before can jump right in and know exactly what’s going on. That’s why shows like “ER” and “NYPD Blue” do badly in repeats—a new viewer is not going to have any clue as to what’s going on, since episodes start in the middle of the very long stories they’re telling. Also, in “ER”’s case, I think the continually depressing story lines have something to do with that. And why, oh, why won’t the writers let any character be happy anymore? Those are but a couple of the reasons why “WAT” is stomping “ER” in the ratings lately.
Before I get to my appointment TV viewing tonight, I have to tidy the house up some. While it’s very festively decorated for the holidays, we have yet to put away the ornament boxes and various other items involved in decorating. I need to restore order before I can kick back and relax. And relax I will.
