Last week’s TV
Oct. 30th, 2006 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stakebaitI'm late, I’m lame, I'm sorry.
Heroes
Missed the first five minutes; alas, that is apparently all the Mohinder we got? Waaaah.
Claire’s dad scooping out boy’s brain – ew! Also, ew. Why am I okay with what she did and not what he did? Mostly because she didn’t see anything else she could do to stop him. Her dad, even just as an adult, had more options – as controller of creepy mind control guy, presumably, even more so. Plus what he said basically amounted to “Claire’s having a hard time with her Secret Super Powers, she doesn’t need your pesky attempted rape on top of it” as if, if she *weren’t* struggling with Secret Super Powers, the attempted rape would have been okay.
I’m not sure what I make of Claire’s apology. I think it was the right place for her to end up, or at least *a* right place for her to end up; it feels a little fast to me to be believable, but I think this may be one of those moments where I just need to go with the TV time compression for dramatic effect.
How come Isaac needs to shoot up to paint the future but Peter, when he borrows his powers, doesn’t? I wonder if that means Isaac doesn’t really need to either, he just thinks he does?
Otherwise I could see that being an enduring source of angst between them, as Peter can do without consequences what Isaac either has to give up, or pay a high price for. *And* he gets to dabble in everyone else’s powers too, even if he has none of his own.
And, of course, the Simone thing. But I’m really over that plot line. And much as I agreed with Isaac that showing up at his place under the circs took chutzpah, I’m glad Isaac has his priorities straight enough that he’s more concerned with the threat and being believed than with getting into an *ahem*-sizing contest with Peter over Simone. Though if Simone believes Peter’s bare word where she dismissed Isaac’s I will be annoyed.
Niki and Hiro’s friend whose name I forget – kind of oddly touching, that moment of connection and his good manners in spite of her natural distrust/distaste for the invasion, and her letting him down gently.
Just can’t find D.L. scary, though, in spite of the bah-bah-bah hiding moment, even before I read the latest online comic. Dunno why, except that the son doesn’t think he is and the son seems to be pretty clearsighted when it comes to grownups, mom included.
Hiro and Hiro-friend reunion – awhhhh.
Hiro making the Hiro/hero joke – it was inevitable. Just don’t do it again. But speaking of his name, does anyone know if the online comic books are considered canon? Because the reveal that he was named for Hiroshima – that was a twist I didn’t see coming, that actually made me gasp.
And..that’s all I got. Further bulletins after this evening
Studio 60
First, rumor is the show’s being cancelled? Waaaaaaaaaaah. With extra waaaaah. Don’t do it, NBC. This show has great potential; it’s got great dialogue; it’s got Sorkin. Hang in there, give it a chance!
However, that said: Why was last week’s episode so Very Special?
I heartily approve of Simon having some serious backstage interaction, not just on-stage time and group scenes, and of addressing the racial issue head-on. (Though I was boggled by the back and forth on whether it’s a diversity issue. Matt’s failure to find the funny for reasons of cluelessness and/or guilt is as much a diversity issue as hiring practices are. It’s not an affirmative action issue, but that’s different. And I have to wonder how long the new guy – who was very funny – is going to be thrilled with his new job given that Matt treats the Writer’s Room as a big, badly dressed paperweight.)
However, putting that in the same episode as "go easy on your dad, he works for a living," the comedy writer who got blacklisted and the brother in Afghanistan gave the whole thing all lightness and subtlety of a lead soufflé. There were episodes of the West Wing with less sententious political content. Were there even any jokes told by anyone on the staff, apart from Courvoisier and Coke?
Plus, the implication of "he works for a living" is "unlike you." But I don’t see why Tom’s dad works for a living any more than the cast and crew who we’ve been told work 14 hours on a short day. You could argue about whether they produce anything worthwhile – separate issue from how hard they work. Secondly, I don’t see what the father’s job had to do with rebuking the mother for her well-meaning but tactless remark. Thirdly, if she were his spokesperson, it would still have been racist, whether he works hard or not.
But okay, I can buy that Simon thinks it earns the dad more slack even if I don’t – especially if what he’s seeing in Tom is the upwardly mobile hipster embarrassed by his salt-of-the-earth folks. And Simon’s own background given later in the episode shows how much reason he has to value anyone who bootstraps themselves and then helps the next generation. So fair enough – I’m arguing with it, but I’m not arguing that Sorkin shouldn’t have had him say it, if that makes any sense.
But man did Sorkin waste another opportunity to explain why the heck the show matters so much, why we should care. Last time we had the reporter/outsider blow a great chance to show what effect the show has on the folks who are watching it. This time we’ve got a perfect set up of an insider on the defensive, being challenged as to why he chose to do what he does instead of something more overtly Important to Society. And what we get is an interminable tour of fictional architectural history.
Which is believable, and touching, in its way, the person already in love with the art failing to put into words why it matters because all his referents only matter to people who are already on the inside. But then that needed to be contrasted with something showing why it mattered. And all we got was …because Tom makes enough money to buy body armor, and Who’s On First is funny.
Come on, Sorkin. You don’t want to talk about humor in the social dialogue, puncturing the pretensions of the powerful, bringing the troops home or at least keeping them entertained and their morale up, political cartoons and satire, getting under people’s defenses and their skin and making them laugh together, it’s too cheesy, fine. Go the other way. Give Tom a crisis of conscience – maybe it’s not worth doing, maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’m just afraid. Maybe it’s all I’m good for. We can’t all be heroes. Why do I have to be, I make jokes like a factory worker makes car parts, I do my job well and entertain people, why isn’t that enough?
Or, you know, something else. Have him go home as totally unresolved as ever, and then turn it into comedy that gets through to someone else. Hit him in the face with a cream pie, I don’t know.
I just know that even with the will to love, last week’s Studio 60 felt to me like it was trying too hard, like someone was running scared and decided that the problem with the show was that Americans were turned off by its edgy politics and needed to see more heart. But they gave us heart-by-the-numbers instead of quirky heart that would ring true, and they gave us so much of it at once that even the lighter touches got swamped.
If it’s true and this show is really over, I will be sad. But not entirely surprised – and not because the show takes on controversial topics. Because these first few episodes either needed to be a confection that required no justification, or to demonstrate, not just assume, why we should give sketch comedy the kind of gravitas we gave the White House. And even to someone who’s bending over backwards to buy it, Sorkin has failed to make that case, despite the doors he keeps opening – and then failing to walk through.
Oh, and for the love of Pete, somebody put Jordan out of my misery. A stunningly gorgeous, young, talented, principled, powerful woman doesn’t have any friends? That only makes sense if a) she’s a workaholic, b) she intimidates people or c) she can’t trust anyone’s motives because they’re all sucking up to her. But wouldn’t any of those make turning employees into pals a dubious plan at best? Admittedly she annoys the heck out of *me*, so maybe the entire rest of LA agrees and she’s resorted to hanging around people who can’t tell her to buzz off if they want to get paid.
Heroes
Missed the first five minutes; alas, that is apparently all the Mohinder we got? Waaaah.
Claire’s dad scooping out boy’s brain – ew! Also, ew. Why am I okay with what she did and not what he did? Mostly because she didn’t see anything else she could do to stop him. Her dad, even just as an adult, had more options – as controller of creepy mind control guy, presumably, even more so. Plus what he said basically amounted to “Claire’s having a hard time with her Secret Super Powers, she doesn’t need your pesky attempted rape on top of it” as if, if she *weren’t* struggling with Secret Super Powers, the attempted rape would have been okay.
I’m not sure what I make of Claire’s apology. I think it was the right place for her to end up, or at least *a* right place for her to end up; it feels a little fast to me to be believable, but I think this may be one of those moments where I just need to go with the TV time compression for dramatic effect.
How come Isaac needs to shoot up to paint the future but Peter, when he borrows his powers, doesn’t? I wonder if that means Isaac doesn’t really need to either, he just thinks he does?
Otherwise I could see that being an enduring source of angst between them, as Peter can do without consequences what Isaac either has to give up, or pay a high price for. *And* he gets to dabble in everyone else’s powers too, even if he has none of his own.
And, of course, the Simone thing. But I’m really over that plot line. And much as I agreed with Isaac that showing up at his place under the circs took chutzpah, I’m glad Isaac has his priorities straight enough that he’s more concerned with the threat and being believed than with getting into an *ahem*-sizing contest with Peter over Simone. Though if Simone believes Peter’s bare word where she dismissed Isaac’s I will be annoyed.
Niki and Hiro’s friend whose name I forget – kind of oddly touching, that moment of connection and his good manners in spite of her natural distrust/distaste for the invasion, and her letting him down gently.
Just can’t find D.L. scary, though, in spite of the bah-bah-bah hiding moment, even before I read the latest online comic. Dunno why, except that the son doesn’t think he is and the son seems to be pretty clearsighted when it comes to grownups, mom included.
Hiro and Hiro-friend reunion – awhhhh.
Hiro making the Hiro/hero joke – it was inevitable. Just don’t do it again. But speaking of his name, does anyone know if the online comic books are considered canon? Because the reveal that he was named for Hiroshima – that was a twist I didn’t see coming, that actually made me gasp.
And..that’s all I got. Further bulletins after this evening
Studio 60
First, rumor is the show’s being cancelled? Waaaaaaaaaaah. With extra waaaaah. Don’t do it, NBC. This show has great potential; it’s got great dialogue; it’s got Sorkin. Hang in there, give it a chance!
However, that said: Why was last week’s episode so Very Special?
I heartily approve of Simon having some serious backstage interaction, not just on-stage time and group scenes, and of addressing the racial issue head-on. (Though I was boggled by the back and forth on whether it’s a diversity issue. Matt’s failure to find the funny for reasons of cluelessness and/or guilt is as much a diversity issue as hiring practices are. It’s not an affirmative action issue, but that’s different. And I have to wonder how long the new guy – who was very funny – is going to be thrilled with his new job given that Matt treats the Writer’s Room as a big, badly dressed paperweight.)
However, putting that in the same episode as "go easy on your dad, he works for a living," the comedy writer who got blacklisted and the brother in Afghanistan gave the whole thing all lightness and subtlety of a lead soufflé. There were episodes of the West Wing with less sententious political content. Were there even any jokes told by anyone on the staff, apart from Courvoisier and Coke?
Plus, the implication of "he works for a living" is "unlike you." But I don’t see why Tom’s dad works for a living any more than the cast and crew who we’ve been told work 14 hours on a short day. You could argue about whether they produce anything worthwhile – separate issue from how hard they work. Secondly, I don’t see what the father’s job had to do with rebuking the mother for her well-meaning but tactless remark. Thirdly, if she were his spokesperson, it would still have been racist, whether he works hard or not.
But okay, I can buy that Simon thinks it earns the dad more slack even if I don’t – especially if what he’s seeing in Tom is the upwardly mobile hipster embarrassed by his salt-of-the-earth folks. And Simon’s own background given later in the episode shows how much reason he has to value anyone who bootstraps themselves and then helps the next generation. So fair enough – I’m arguing with it, but I’m not arguing that Sorkin shouldn’t have had him say it, if that makes any sense.
But man did Sorkin waste another opportunity to explain why the heck the show matters so much, why we should care. Last time we had the reporter/outsider blow a great chance to show what effect the show has on the folks who are watching it. This time we’ve got a perfect set up of an insider on the defensive, being challenged as to why he chose to do what he does instead of something more overtly Important to Society. And what we get is an interminable tour of fictional architectural history.
Which is believable, and touching, in its way, the person already in love with the art failing to put into words why it matters because all his referents only matter to people who are already on the inside. But then that needed to be contrasted with something showing why it mattered. And all we got was …because Tom makes enough money to buy body armor, and Who’s On First is funny.
Come on, Sorkin. You don’t want to talk about humor in the social dialogue, puncturing the pretensions of the powerful, bringing the troops home or at least keeping them entertained and their morale up, political cartoons and satire, getting under people’s defenses and their skin and making them laugh together, it’s too cheesy, fine. Go the other way. Give Tom a crisis of conscience – maybe it’s not worth doing, maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’m just afraid. Maybe it’s all I’m good for. We can’t all be heroes. Why do I have to be, I make jokes like a factory worker makes car parts, I do my job well and entertain people, why isn’t that enough?
Or, you know, something else. Have him go home as totally unresolved as ever, and then turn it into comedy that gets through to someone else. Hit him in the face with a cream pie, I don’t know.
I just know that even with the will to love, last week’s Studio 60 felt to me like it was trying too hard, like someone was running scared and decided that the problem with the show was that Americans were turned off by its edgy politics and needed to see more heart. But they gave us heart-by-the-numbers instead of quirky heart that would ring true, and they gave us so much of it at once that even the lighter touches got swamped.
If it’s true and this show is really over, I will be sad. But not entirely surprised – and not because the show takes on controversial topics. Because these first few episodes either needed to be a confection that required no justification, or to demonstrate, not just assume, why we should give sketch comedy the kind of gravitas we gave the White House. And even to someone who’s bending over backwards to buy it, Sorkin has failed to make that case, despite the doors he keeps opening – and then failing to walk through.
Oh, and for the love of Pete, somebody put Jordan out of my misery. A stunningly gorgeous, young, talented, principled, powerful woman doesn’t have any friends? That only makes sense if a) she’s a workaholic, b) she intimidates people or c) she can’t trust anyone’s motives because they’re all sucking up to her. But wouldn’t any of those make turning employees into pals a dubious plan at best? Admittedly she annoys the heck out of *me*, so maybe the entire rest of LA agrees and she’s resorted to hanging around people who can’t tell her to buzz off if they want to get paid.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-30 10:35 pm (UTC)I miss you.
Me.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-30 11:17 pm (UTC)I think "he works for a living" implies work that is very hard and little paid... in contrast to the Studio 30 cast members, who presumably are paid out of all proportion to the time put in. I read it as a statement of luxury and privilege vs. necessity.
ejg25
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:10 am (UTC)I feel about that a lot the way Simon reacted to Matt pulling his punches on race-related jokes: I understand why they might feel that they don't have the right to say it, but then they should bring in someone who does, 'cause it still needs said.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-30 11:28 pm (UTC)Yes, I think that Isaac only _thinks_ he needs to shoot up to access his visions. Having seen Peter do it without drugs may be just the wake-up call he needs to make that connection. Just as I think Niki has her She-Hulk powers all the time, but can only currently access them when her other identity is in charge. They're both gonna (have to) learn better.
I didn't get the "If she wasn't developing superpowers it'd be okay" vibe. I think dealing with those powers makes Clare's teen angst MORE troubling, but it wasn't the only thing he meant. But, I could be wrong.
Re: Studio 60 -- I seemed to be in the minority from what I read last week, but I didn't think much of last week's episode either. Heavy-handed and not at all as interesting as earlier episodes. I'm hoping for better tonight (and I too hope it doesn't get canned--though if they're losing over half of the audience HEROES is delivering to them, as I've read, I fear it will be).
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-30 11:59 pm (UTC)So I think they're going to make the bad guy multi-layered.
Wheee! I am in a fandom.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:46 am (UTC)I don't know if I'm actually in this fandom yet. I'm neither reading nor writing fic, anyway. But we shall see.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-31 01:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-31 04:17 am (UTC)Yeeaaaaah. S60 wasn't on this week and I'm not really feeling a hole in my chest. Great potential, sadly unrealized, and frankly at this point I feel like I'm watching it out of obligation.
Gotta agree with TWOP's recap of last week's ep where, among other things, they said "I assume the part about Eli being a teacher at Kent State in the 70s was cut for time."
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:13 am (UTC)I love you. I don't say that enough. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-10-31 03:48 pm (UTC)sidekickfriend's name is Ando. And yeah, I kinda liked him in this one -- he did something really dumb, but kept his dignity and, as you say, his manners.I hope it's the case that Isaac doesn't need the drug, he just thinks he does -- and, as
Plus what he said basically amounted to “Claire’s having a hard time with her Secret Super Powers, she doesn’t need your pesky attempted rape on top of it” as if, if she *weren’t* struggling with Secret Super Powers, the attempted rape would have been okay.
The vibe I got there, actually, was "You are a small and unimportant insect and nothing you do can possibly matter, but you are making things difficult for Claire, who is important. I SWAT YOU NOW." Which: also creepy, but in a very different way.
What'd you think of Nathan in the last ep? (I haven't seen last night's yet, so possibly I should hold off on discussion.)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-01 01:26 am (UTC)Although that's still a different twist on where I first thought they were going with him, which was a "mutants are less than human, nor more" sort of place.
I thought Nathan was more interesting than he's been yet -- his interaction with Hiro and with the person who needed -- and got -- saving at least showed that he's not entirely monomanical, merely very preoccupied. And I thought his negotiating technique showed chutzpah and a decent grasp of psychology, though the ethics are dubious at best.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 05:59 am (UTC)We're certainly being set up to THINK he's either the big bad or at least behind the big bad, but...
One of the things i LOVE about this show is that it makes me think in these really weird twisted circles. :)