sigma7 | TV: two finalists with three deaths between them

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

Oh, this one is close.

If Sports Night's Dana Whitaker hadn't embarked upon her "dating plan" -- suffice it to say that it's possibly the worst and most indefensible decision I've seen an otherwise non-vegetable character make on a television show -- she'd be in contention. Taking the "plan" into account, she's third on my favorite females from that show, behind Sally (yes, Sally) and Bobbi Bernstein (played by you-know-who). I don't find any of the female characters on House particularly engaging anymore -- really, aside from Wilson, no other character on that show has room to breathe, being inevitable foils of the titular character, and the female characters just suffer from it more. About the only one who escaped long enough was Amber, who, if she'd been around a bit longer, would definitely be in contention here.

No, this is ultimately a two-car race, and pulling up just short is the iconic Laura Roslin. Much as I liked Athena and Cally, Laura's got the most compelling arc and, in the form of Mary McDonnell, the actress to pull it off. From teacher to Secretary of Education to President of the Twelve Colonies to last hope of humanity's survival -- all while very slowly dying -- few people ever bore as much weight as she did. And you were still terrified of her, even (especially?) when it didn't seem like she had any reason to keep fighting:

"No. Not now. Not ever! Do you hear me!? I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eye teeth to end you! I swear it. I'm coming for all of you!"

And she makes for excellent merchandising opportunities. Pity there's only 30,000 people left who'd potentially buy one. And maybe if the show had been Laura the Cylon Slayer (and, seriously, SyFy, why the hell not this instead of whatever prequel you're greenlighting this week and will cancel next week? At least someone should YouTube up an appropriate credits sequence for me -- well, this one's pretty close....), she might not be number two.

There's a lot to like about Buffy Summers -- what makes her so watchable isn't what makes her unique. It's not the powers that come with being her generation's chosen defender against the undead. It's that she remains who she is after enduring a life that'd make Laura Roslin cringe in empathy. Despite her unwilling calling, she's a pretty grounded and believable young woman. She doesn't become an emotionless cypher or stonehearted warrior. Closest she comes to losing her way -- season six -- it's for perfectly justifiable reasons (though I don't think it's any coincidence that this is when the series went off the rails), but she finds her footing again with the help of the core of friends she's forged by virtue of her loyalty and kindnesses.

And she screws up. A lot. As above, when her thought-dead vampire romance is returned, she fails to mention this to her friends, knowing -- justifiably -- they'd be terrified, given that he'd been terrorizing them, torturing them and even killing one of them in fits of sadistic glee. And you can empathize with -- if not agree with -- her choice. Most of the time you can generally see why Buffy acts like she does, even if you could point out in huge blinking neon arrows exactly where she went wrong. She has a mindset, even if it's not foolproof. Given a circumstance, you can anticipate, generally accurately, how she'd react to it. Even season six, which I don't enjoy watching most of anymore, has a throughline of a spiritually-fractured and grasping-at-straws identity at work, finding solace in some seriously questionable circumstances (there needed to be more kitten poker, though).

She's a girl who doesn't allow herself to be defined by her role or another person; she retains a strong sense of self despite the part she has to play. And that's more than most female characters on TV anymore, and that's just goddamn depressing.

no subject

I am beginning to suspect that this meme was written by and for people like you, who want a chance to air their clever-but-rarely-used TV-character icons. :)

I remember being completely confounded by Dana's whole second-season arc. I mean, over the first she was far from the most grounded or self-aware character, but she had seemed perfectly socially intelligent. Her "dating decision" thing just felt completely out of left field, like the producers had gone to the writers and said "Hey guys, we can't have them get together yet, or nobody's going to keep watching."

And that's so true about female characters on TV. Sigh.

Date: 2011-02-04 08:57 pm (UTC)

sigma7.livejournal.com

I just don't have enough TV icons anymore....

Dana, first season, seemed like a smart woman who made a stupid decision with regards to Gordon. Believable. At least he wasn't a vampire. But second season was just...beyond the pale. Alienating Casey was unnecessary and inconsiderate to the point of cruelty (and she still had the temerity to feel threatened by Pixley), and it severely diminished my impression of her. The whole "oh look, it's my real-life husband, I shall kees heem" bit struck me as...stupid. By that point I had no investment in Dana, and wassisname was so clearly on his way out that I didn't care. Her season-ending arc with Calvin Trager was at least engaging, but I still didn't care about her.

And seriously, why not let her and Casey get together? This isn't Moonlighting, for God's sake. Sure is more fun to watch than shoehorned relationship hurdles.

Funny thing is of Buffy characters, I think my favorite was probably Tara, fitting into that "adorable awkward dork" sense that I can relate to, but she was too often just an extension of Willow (and so obviously Fated to Die from day one) that I don't think she had the sense of ownership of self and destiny that goes into a genuine character. She just turned out to be a plot device -- albeit a relatively long-lived and entertaining plot device. And the number of female characters that are developed to the point where they can be considered legitimate effectors of action and not appendages to Real Characters is still appallingly low. A number of characters I liked crossed my mind, but none of them were as determined or as self-sufficient as either Buffy or Laura, and that's ultimately one of the most interesting and watchable parts.