CT: Never Gonna Give You Up
Oh guys, I'm so sorry. I've Rick-Rolled you right there in the title of the post. It couldn't be helped. Mostly because once that popped into my head, I couldn't think of a single other title no matter what I did. But there you have it. Being a writer is hard.
The point of this post isn't to torture you, though, I promise. What I want to talk about today is those shows that you keep watching long after they've deserved it. We all have things like that, even if it's not TV. A book series, a band whose albums you keep buying even if they're terrible, movies you just have to go see.
For all of the incredible TV that Little C and I watch, we have these shows too. In fairness, mostly we watch a lot of shows that drive us creatively: Hannibal, Orphan Black, endless re-runs of The Good Wife.
But the other day I came home to Little C screaming at the TV. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU CAN'T DO THAT. YOU TAKE THAT BACK THIS INSTANT." She was filled with an animal-like rage, but the instant I walked into the room she turned off the TV. I asked (as casually as you can when your writing partner has been threatening to "burn this mother to the ground") what she was watching.
Yup. Turns out Little C has been catching up on Once Upon A Time. I'm not saying that Once Upon A Time is a bad show, or that there aren't lots of people who love it. What I'm saying is that this show makes Little C completely insane. About once a year in a fit of swearing that would make a pirate blush, she swears that she's done with it and she'll never watch another episode. Then, a few months later, she's getting caught up until something one of the characters do or says turns her back into The Hulk. And the cycle continues.
I do it, too. You could take the whole scene above, swap my role with Little C's, and change the show to the second season of True Detective and have the exact same result. I loved the first season, especially the ending (which threw a lot of the audience off). And every new thing I heard about season two made me more excited. I love the cast- literally they're all actors that I truly believe are some of the most talented of their generation. Colin Farrell was actually one of the first actors that I watched/appreciated as an aspiring director and writer.
And yet, every episode of True Detective season two made me angrier and more frustrated than the last. By the third episode, I was banging my head against the table. All that potential, all the cool things that could have been followed up on, all the wasted time as character after character stared out of a window morosely.
My point is that there's something magical about the serial format of TV. Even when you want to rip your hair out, you've committed to these characters and you're willing to follow through no matter what the writers do to you. When that combination works, it can mean years of enjoyment as you grown and learn with the characters. And even when it doesn't, even when a show makes filled with Hulk-rage, you find yourself seeking it out just to see what happens next.
One of those "with great power comes great responsibility" things, I guess.
Happy Watching!
CT
The point of this post isn't to torture you, though, I promise. What I want to talk about today is those shows that you keep watching long after they've deserved it. We all have things like that, even if it's not TV. A book series, a band whose albums you keep buying even if they're terrible, movies you just have to go see.
For all of the incredible TV that Little C and I watch, we have these shows too. In fairness, mostly we watch a lot of shows that drive us creatively: Hannibal, Orphan Black, endless re-runs of The Good Wife.
 |
| Never gonna give YOU up, Will. |
But the other day I came home to Little C screaming at the TV. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU CAN'T DO THAT. YOU TAKE THAT BACK THIS INSTANT." She was filled with an animal-like rage, but the instant I walked into the room she turned off the TV. I asked (as casually as you can when your writing partner has been threatening to "burn this mother to the ground") what she was watching.
Yup. Turns out Little C has been catching up on Once Upon A Time. I'm not saying that Once Upon A Time is a bad show, or that there aren't lots of people who love it. What I'm saying is that this show makes Little C completely insane. About once a year in a fit of swearing that would make a pirate blush, she swears that she's done with it and she'll never watch another episode. Then, a few months later, she's getting caught up until something one of the characters do or says turns her back into The Hulk. And the cycle continues.
I do it, too. You could take the whole scene above, swap my role with Little C's, and change the show to the second season of True Detective and have the exact same result. I loved the first season, especially the ending (which threw a lot of the audience off). And every new thing I heard about season two made me more excited. I love the cast- literally they're all actors that I truly believe are some of the most talented of their generation. Colin Farrell was actually one of the first actors that I watched/appreciated as an aspiring director and writer.
And yet, every episode of True Detective season two made me angrier and more frustrated than the last. By the third episode, I was banging my head against the table. All that potential, all the cool things that could have been followed up on, all the wasted time as character after character stared out of a window morosely.
 |
| For the love of God one of you DO or SAY SOMETHING. |
My point is that there's something magical about the serial format of TV. Even when you want to rip your hair out, you've committed to these characters and you're willing to follow through no matter what the writers do to you. When that combination works, it can mean years of enjoyment as you grown and learn with the characters. And even when it doesn't, even when a show makes filled with Hulk-rage, you find yourself seeking it out just to see what happens next.
One of those "with great power comes great responsibility" things, I guess.
Happy Watching!
CT
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