TV: You're like Jerry Lewis

[sigma7]

Day 01 - A show that should never have been cancelled
Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching
Day 03 - Your favorite new show (aired this TV season)
Day 04 - Your favorite show ever
Day 05 - A show you hate
Day 06 - Favorite episode of one of your favorite shows
Day 07 - Least favorite episode of one of your favorite TV shows
Day 08 - A show that's had a significant effect on who you are today
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A show that disappointed you
Day 12 - An episode you've watched more than 5 times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood show
Day 14 - Favorite male character
Day 15 - Favorite female character
Day 16 - Your guilty pleasure show
Day 17 - Favorite mini series
Day 18 - Favorite title sequence
Day 19 - Best TV show cast
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite ship
Day 22 - Favorite series finale
Day 23 - Most annoying character
Day 24 - Best quote
Day 25 - A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Day 26 - OMG WTF? Season finale
Day 27 - Best pilot episode
Day 28 - First TV show obsession
Day 29 - Current TV show obsession
Day 30 - Saddest character death

Endings are difficult things. BSG's final act hit a sour note. Lost's finalé soured me so much I haven't rewatched a single episode since. Buffy hit an iceberg during the closing credits of "Tabula Rasa" and never really picked itself up again for any sustainable duration. TNG's final episodes went way the hell off the reservation, writing characters like Sergei, Ro and even Wesley into simply inexcusable choices solely for the sake of manufactured but disposable conflict. It'd be easier to list shows that didn't fumble badly at some point in their lifespan.

But I get the feeling that this isn't so much a "good show with bad moments" request as much as "good premise, bad show," and while there've been more than a few of those lately, the best possible realization of that idea has to be FlashForward. Which is sad, because you know Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Sonya Walger, Courtney B. Vance and Dominic Monaghan are good actors, and really, the first episode was a lot of fun to watch, not simply with relating the premise (the entire population of the world blacks out and has a "flash-forward" to their lives six months in the future) but with the catastrophic consequences that a global blackout would cause.

But then the showrunners -- whoever was running the show at that particular time; it went through three sets of hands during its single season -- made some very interesting choices. Some characters half-heartedly struggled against their unpleasant futures in that Twilight-Zone ironic way that just brings them ever-closer to what they were trying to elude. Some characters saw their fate approaching and obligingly waited for it, despite occasionally protesting that they didn't want it. The show played coy for weeks, hinting either that the future was inescapable and, a moment later, that it was still somehow mutable, and did this dance until one character finally had enough of the plot and killed himself to spite the future. Whoa. Awesome. Also: thank you. Now we don't have to worry about...wait, what? Turns out the universe is self-correcting. Valiant gesture of determination futile. Sorry, dude.

So then the problem becomes -- what's the damn point? If Penny sees herself in the future falling for Dr. Shoehorn, what motivation does she have to do...well, do anything? The universe will self-correct. If she kills him, it'll be someone else in her lair of naughtiness. Anything she tries to do will just push her closer to him, either because the universe somehow wants them getting cuddly or she just isn't trying hard enough (or, as I often thought, she's just irredeemably stupid). The problem with destiny is that it's not easy to be dramatic when you know where everything's going to end up, and that's just for an audience. How do you invest yourself in the choices of a character in a universe where their choices don't matter? (Demetri seems to be an exception, and honestly, by the time his 'fate' was resolved, I was pretty tired of him anyway. By then I was hoping he'd pull a Kutner and save the universe the trouble.)

There were probably a number of ways this premise could've worked for me. All I can say for certain is that this particular execution of the premise frustrated and discouraged me. And maybe that's because I like my characters to at least have the illusion of free will. I've heard of shows being ruined by spoilers before, but none worse than FlashForward.

Comments

[manekikoneko.livejournal.com]

You clearly stuck with this show way longer than I did, despite seeing its problems early enough. Ever since I learned about the Concord Fallacy and found myself so much happier not watching Heroes, I've found I lose patience with shows much more quickly than I used to.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Ditto. There are some shows I won't spend an hour to watch, but I'll follow their development via blogs and summaries and spoilers. Most are much more efficient this way.