Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
That's It
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2007 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Jordan + Danny doesn't make sense. A strong, competent, funny woman is going to fall for the plainly incompetent unimaginative junkie stalker? Somehow it's okay for the senior black guy on the staff to ride roughshod over the junior black guy because they have different conceptions of their own blackness? (Like the product placement debate, this was done better and funnier on 30 Rock.) Sorry, Timothy Busfield and Nate Corddry and Amanda Peet and Matthew Perry, I'd like to watch you being funny, but it's not worth it. I didn't watch it this week, and won't. TiVo Season Pass: deleted.
House: It does not make sense for Dr. House to always win. And it gets boring. Forget having strong female characters -- how about strong non-House characters? Interpersonal game theory + one funny line per week does not equal compelling TV. "Three Stories" broke the mold, and it was great, but it's sad that there even is a mold. I didn't watch this week, and won't. TiVo Season Pass: deleted.
Comments
Kristen
15 Feb 2007, 10:39 a.m.
Jeff Atwood
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/
23 Feb 2007, 5:19 a.m.
Agree on Studio 60, it's got the Dawson's Creek problem. Who talks like this? Who acts like this? It's impossible to sustain suspension of disbelief. I stopped watching it too.
Do not agree on House. House is akin to The Badge (which, if you're not watching, is also excellent). The main character is essentially unlikeable and self-centered, and unabashedly, unapologetically so. Maybe he does win too much, but it's like letting the bad guy win. It's dirty! It's wrong! So it's interesting at least.
Jeff Atwood
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/
23 Feb 2007, 5:20 a.m.
Sorry, I meant "The Shield" (on FX). My wife and I jokingly call it "The Badge" and now I keep getting the joke name mixed up with the real one. Sadly this happens all the time, and not just for television shows..
Same here for Studio 60. I used to watch; now I don't. Sometimes I watch a bit after Heroes which I love, and I think you would enjoy a lot as well.
I totally agree with the whole Jordan and Danny thing...yeah right. She is like late 20's and gorgeous and he is 40 something or at least it seems. Unbelievable and gross.
House on the other hand I still enjoy even though I agree with you. But everybody loves a hero and they hate to see the good guy lose. Except this time House isn't a good guy, but we still like him. It's like watching a movie and the main character is bad but you like him because he is the main character and you see the story through his eyes so you want him to evade the cops after he robs the bank (i.e. Ocean's 11) even though in real life you would never root for the bad guy.
Kinda a different topic of discussion than House, but it is something I often think about when I watch movies and I want the character to do something that normally I would be totally against. Like love stories. I find myself wanting the madly in love couple to "seal the deal" even though they just met but in real life I would suggest people wait till they are married and are fully committed before they do that. Anyway, the concept is strange to me how it does that. Enough rambling.