#tim minear interview

[lemotmo]

What are yours (and Ali’s if she’s shared any lol) thoughts on that Tim interview?

I don’t think it was nearly as bad as some people are making it out to be. I definitely think honestly a lot of what he says tracks with what we as a fandom picked up on for this season and explains a lot of the strangeness around some scenes.

like the Alex of it all. I think we all felt that was weird. Especially around the auction and how we all had that moment of it’s gonna be her and then it wasn’t. The strangeness with the Eddie Abigail in that kitchen scene at his house. The car thing in Mothers boy. Like all these moments that had us going uh.. to get that clarification from Tim that we weren’t crazy it was that way and that was supposed to happen but was cut is kinda nice.

That being said though *sighs* Tim what are we doing. We are going into season 10. Why are we still having such an issue with episodes. Filming so much extra for so many episodes constantly by this point is just not it. Like you’ve been doing this for years. 911 is not a new show. You should have this a lot more locked down by now. And Eddie 😭 my beloved Eddie. I don’t think Tim hates him. Or Ryan. I think he loves working with Ryan and Eddie’s character. But I think, and this just further supports it, Tim has no idea what to do with Eddie as a character. Which again going into season 10, the 9th one for Ryan, as a main cast member is bananas. Like Tim seems to have no issue with the other characters but with Eddie it’s oh uhhh well cut this scene. Cut that scene. Cut this storyline. No this won’t work let’s scrap that. Oh shit I need to actually use his character in the finale don’t I uhh well let’s just toss him in an elevator for no reason! If I didn’t love Eddie so much I’d be liek Ryan please run! Find a show that will appreciate you!

And then that brings us to the elephant in the room. Buddie. Platonically and Romantically. Just like with Ryan/Eddie above, I don’t think Tim hates Buddie. I think it’s clear he’s fond of them. And I think it’s become clear to him and the rest of them it is at this point, to unfortunately quote our least favorite fans, Buddie or bust LOL. I mean Tim literally says he can’t give them a LI or everyone will be mad. He can’t have Buck a guy someone because then they are cock blocking Eddie (insane thing to read btw lol). And yet here we are with seemingly nothing stopping us but he refuses to pull the trigger. He just keeps finding more and more nonsensical ways to delay it. He even mentions wanting to do things and being told no he can’t because it’d be queer baiting. Like Tim. My guy. What are you doing. Just make them canon already and you won’t have to worry about that. It’s time. It’s been time. It’s beyond time. We know it. He knows it. The cast and crew know it. And yet he continues to give the vibe he has no plans to actually do it any time soon. Which is again bananas.

as for platonic buddie I do find it kinda interesting to see him touch on the Ravi of it all. Everyone was so upset in the early season and saying he was being used to separate Buddie and now we have Tim saying nah it was just so Buck wasn’t alone while Eddie dealt with stuff. (Which kinda sucks for Ravi as a character because he deserves better then a Eddie placeholder) but then it’s also like… he says that Buckley Diaz Pepa scene in the hospital only got added last minute so no one would be mad at him. And it’s like what? What do you mean?? Why was it not already included to start with. It’s Buck and Eddie. They go insane over the other when they are hurt. Saying it was only there to appease angry viewers kinda feels like a disservice to their friendship. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad we got it but it only being out of so no one’s mad instead of a genuine this make sense for their characters just kinda makes it feel cheapened somewhat.

idk I didn’t mean to ramble this long 😅😅 so sorry for that. Excited for your thoughts!

Nope, it wasn't bad at all. It was just the same old thing: Tim yapping and rambling without any kind of rhyme or reason. He seems to be made up of chaotic energy and his mind keeps flitting off to different things. He has to be a difficult person to interview, because he cannot stay focused and on track. But you know... that is just how he is, so whatever. 🤷‍♀️

Also, I never quite know what or what not to believe when Tim does these kinds of interviews. He keeps saying that he just comes up with storylines on the fly and he hasn't got a clue where the season is going, but then he turns around and tells us that he had been planning this or that for this or that character for a long time. Sometimes I feel as if he is just 'pretending' to be more nonchalant than he truly is to mess with us. I don't know...

Because if he is truly this disorganised while creating such a big and costly network drama? Shouldn't he have been let go already? I can't imagine that any network would want such a loose canon to run around and make up storylines up as he goes.

Maybe it's a good thing that he has some of the other people around to 'ground' him. I know that Kristen Reidel isn't the most popular person in this fandom, but it seems to me that she is the one who is more grounded and organised, compared to Tim. So maybe it's a good thing that she is still around. Tim can be the creative mind while Kristen handles the more practical side of things and offers some smart suggestions along the way.

His answers did indeed shed some light on some of the stranger storyline choices this season, I agree. Although I have to admit that I didn't once think that Alex would be the one bidding on Eddie. They had such bad chemistry together that I was 100% convinced that they wouldn't go there. So when the auction came around, the though never entered my mind, not even once. 😆

You are right about Tim's inability to properly handle Eddie's storyline. His biggest problem is definitely that he doesn't seem to be able to make up his mind where to take Eddie's story. Eddie has been in storyline limbo for three seasons now.

I talked about this before in a post I made a couple of days ago, Eddie's storylines never got the attention they deserved, they were never 'explored' like they would have been if it had been another character and on top of that, his storylines never got a proper satisfying ending.. He has been looking for 'joy' since season 8 and everytime he gets close to it, Tim decides to back off again. But why?

Surely the road to take here is obvious. 🤷‍♀️ It is staring everyone straight in the face. Eddie needs to 'discover' something about himself and the road there could be a very interesting storyline for him. At the end of that road, there could be a new chapter in his life. A chance for him to finally find peace and happiness again with his son, his best friend (and possibly his best friend's adopted son). It could be such a game changer in a network TV drama. Imagine the publicity this would bring along?

I'm still convinced that Buddie is the end goal here, because he can't be that stupid to not want THAT kind of publicity for his show. It would be great for his career as well. Not to mention how many new viewers it would bring in. I mean... just look at season 7 and how many new viewers started watching just because of bi!Buck. Imagine the scope of new viewers that would flock over to 911 if we actually got a fully fleshed out queer romance between two long time best friends. It would be a goldmine.

All he and the writing team needs to do is actually sit down for a moment and THINK about the approach they want to take to tackle this storyline. Set up some kind of plan with a starting point and where they want to end up at the end of season 10. Then they can start planning out the steps to reach their goal.

But I guess the biggest problem will be to have Tim sit down and actually discuss this storyline for longer than half an hour, before he runs off again with crazy ideas that would be fun for an episode or two, but wouldn't contribute anything for the long run of the characters' storylines.

Now it is my turn to apologise for my looooong ramble! LOL! Look at us Nonny, rambling to each other about some Hollywood showrunner, as if we know how that world works! 😆 You've got to love fandom. 😁

Have a lovely day!

[crisshex88]

My Response to Tim Minear's Season 9 Interview - PART 2

“Mother’s Boy”

Can you tell me about filming that sequence with Eddie and Buck saving each other towards the end, and the significance of that overall? Well, shooting it, Jonathan Lawrence directed it, and did a fantastic job. He’s a guy that I grew up with, making Super 8 films with from the time we were about eight or ten. He’s now directed two episodes of the show. In terms of when I was writing it, I mean, this is what I generally try to do: I generally try not to have anyone be a damsel in distress.

Whether it’s Maddie or whoever it is, needs to aid in their own rescue. So once I sort of landed on the idea that Buck is willing to say, sacrifice himself, and “I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt him, just let him go,” they’re both kind of looking out for each other. But yeah, I try not to make those moments too complicated. First of all, you’re going to run out of time. It’s not going to be good. So you have to choreograph that very specifically on the page and really understand that there’s a couple of big moments here.

One is that she’s going to pull the gun on Eddie. Eddie’s going to disarm her. But then, the ex-husband is going to appear with a rifle, like a sniper across the way. I just made very sure to at least see the cattle prod once in the greenhouse. I think he takes it away and puts it down or something, but you remember that cattle prod, so that Buck can zap the guy with it. It was also important to me that I didn’t see Buck get out of his restraints, crawl up the hill, or something. That’s also a bit of a gamble, because people might feel like that’s a cheat, but I don’t think it plays that way at all.

When we pick back up, Buck insists that he’s fine, and Eddie’s trying to check in, see what’s going on, and make sure he’s going to therapy. Obviously, that leads us into the dependency storyline, but do you think they had a conversation about their different experiences in terms of what Buck went through and all that Eddie did to find him? They probably did, I would think. There was definitely, I don’t know what I say, like a three-or four-week time jump, so they probably did. On the other hand, they’re men, so maybe not.

***

So, I skipped the Missing Scene section because, honestly, I didn't find anything in Tim Minear's answers that made me want to comment either positively or negatively. 😅

I read it, thought "okay, fair enough," and moved on. Sometimes there simply isn't much to say.

Now, however, we arrive at what we all know is Tim's favorite episode—the one he personally handled himself. 👀

And honestly? I thought he'd have more to say about it.

Most of what he talks about are technical details, which I actually find really interesting. As someone who writes, I completely understand what he's talking about. I'm not comparing myself to him, obviously 😂, but because I'm just as obsessive about details in my own writing, I understand what it means to carefully place every piece in exactly the right position so that everything makes sense later on.

For example, when he explains having to make sure the stun baton was shown in her hand, then having her bring it into the greenhouse, then abandon it there, so that when Buck later uses it, the audience subconsciously remembers where it came from.

I get it.

I really do.

Because I do the exact same thing when I write. 😭

I make charts. I make timelines. I make notes. I constantly worry someone will read something and go, "Wait... where did that come from?"

So I try to make sure everything follows a logical sequence.

The funny thing is that when I'm the audience instead of the writer, I almost never notice those details because I'm too busy being emotionally invested in the scene itself. 😂

So part of me reads Tim explaining all of this and thinks:

"Wow, this poor man spent hours making sure everything was perfectly coherent..."

...and then I probably didn't even notice half of it.

Which honestly makes me feel guilty. 😅

So for this part I kind of just want to give him a hug and say:

"I understand exactly what you mean, and I'm sorry I probably missed all the hard work that went into making it feel seamless." ❤️

That said...

This brings me to something that's been driving me a little crazy lately—not just in 9-1-1, but in television in general.

Time.

The handling of time.

I struggle with it too in my own fanfiction.

I've been writing this giant 9-1-1 story for years now, covering almost three years of in-universe events, and it's difficult because I'm always worried that if I make a time jump without properly explaining it, readers will lose track of where the characters are emotionally.

In writing, it's easier.

You can simply write:

"Three weeks later."

"Six months later."

"A year passed."

Books give you tools to make those transitions clear.

Television doesn't really have that luxury.

Or at least not in the same way.

So this isn't really a criticism—it's more of a question.

Could there have been a better way to communicate it?

Because Tim says that between Mother's Boy and the next episode, around three or four weeks pass.

Almost a month.

And when I hear that, my immediate reaction is:

Wait.

So Buck spent an entire month dealing with the aftermath of being kidnapped...

...and we didn't see any of it? 😳

Tim even speculates that maybe Buck talked to Eddie about it during that time.

And that's exactly my problem.

Maybe he did.

But we didn't see it.

And I honestly think that's a missed opportunity.

Not just with Eddie.

With anyone.

I would have loved to see Buck processing what happened while the wounds were still fresh.

Did he have nightmares?

Did he struggle to sleep?

Did he keep replaying those moments in his head?

Did he feel angry?

Scared?

Ashamed?

How did he actually deal with it?

Because this circles back to what Tim said earlier about wanting to stop Buck's addiction before it escalated.

Okay.

That's fine.

I understand that creative choice.

But once again we're left with the same issue:

The aftermath is missing.

And the aftermath is often the most interesting part.

Tim isn't saying there were no consequences.

In fact, he seems to imply the exact opposite.

He seems to be saying those consequences existed.

That Buck and probably Eddie dealt with them.

That conversations happened.

That healing happened.

That emotional processing happened.

It just happened off-screen.

And that's where I struggle.

Because if the audience never sees those moments, then for all practical purposes they don't exist as part of the story.

A story isn't just the traumatic event and the resolution.

The story is everything in between.

The trauma.

The angst.

The recovery.

The conversations.

The vulnerability.

Those are the things that make us emotionally connect to the characters.

If you remove all of that and only show me the beginning and the end, you've removed half the story.

That's why so many people—including me—have described these storylines as rushed.

Because Tim now tells us:

"No, no, things happened in between."

Okay.

I believe you.

But if you don't show them to us, the final result still feels rushed.

It's a bit of a snake eating its own tail. 🐍

The audience says the story feels incomplete.

The response is that important developments happened off-screen.

But that's exactly why it feels incomplete.

Because we never got to experience those developments ourselves.

And honestly, that's what surprises me most.

Tim Minear isn't a rookie.

He's not inexperienced.

I've followed his work for years.

I watched his work on Angel, Dollhouse and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

He's an incredibly talented writer.

Which is exactly why some of these omissions surprise me.

Because the material he decided to leave off-screen could have generated entire episodes.

Entire character arcs.

Entire emotional journeys.

Buck's development would have carried so much more weight if we'd actually been allowed to watch him work through it.

And am I really the only one who wanted to see Buck and Eddie talk about this? 😭

Not necessarily romantically.

Just talk.

Help each other.

Support each other.

Have one of those quiet, intimate conversations built on trust and history.

The other day I rewatched the scene where Buck talks to Eddie about his panic attacks.

The scene where Eddie eventually realizes Ana might be the source of the problem.

Buck tells him:

"I thought you loved her."

And then Eddie starts trying to convince himself that Ana is good for him because she checks all the boxes.

And Buck immediately recognizes what he's doing.

Because Buck knows exactly what it's like to love someone more than they love you back.

That conversation was beautiful.

Not because it was romantic.

Because it was honest.

Because it was vulnerable.

Because it revealed something about both characters.

Those are the kinds of scenes I wish we'd gotten during those missing weeks.

Those are the conversations Ryan Murphy used to give us all the time.

And what's confusing to me is that Tim often talks about loving these characters—and especially loving Buck and Eddie's relationship—yet sometimes he seems less interested in writing those deeply emotional conversations than Ryan ever was.

Which leaves me genuinely confused. 😅

Because those are exactly the moments I miss the most. ❤️✨

[cryptidiaz]

just so y'all know. this?

this is tim minear LAUGHING in our faces! he's like what the fuck did you think i was writing? just hold on because i'm not allowed to say shit until ryan- i mean eddie shows hole- i mean. who said that? until buck and eddie kiss. :)

[gayhotpriests]

you mean to make room for all the buddie scenes

[buddieinthedesert]

No flashbacks to them all being roommates 😞

Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on the 9-1-1s, Lucifer, Chicago Fire, The Conners, Zoey's Playlist, The Resident and More

Which 9-1-1 show is ready for a flashback? Is Chicago Fire’s Severide confirmed to “suit up? What is bedeviling Lucifer’s Dan? Read on for a

[crisshex88]

My Response to Tim Minear's Season 9 Interview - PART 6

"The firefighter auction" - PART 3

Eddie wasn’t discovering that Chris was still at home until the end of act one, and I’m like, “We can’t do that. I think we have to reveal this right up front. I think it needs to be the end of the teaser,” which I think it is, because we’ve been off the air. It was a bit; it was kind of a mid-season finale, if I’m not mistaken. Everyone’s going to expect that we’re going to come back, and we’re going to be doing the Chris is missing episode, just like the Harry is missing episode, or the Maddie is missing episode, and I never wanted to do that.

So either they’re going to be really disappointed that, like, wah, wah, just kidding, he wasn’t really abducted. I think they’ll forgive it more if that card is turned over earlier. I don’t remember what I made the first act break, but as you can tell, I move things around in post all the time. It’s also been a challenge to find ways to incorporate May’s character, right? I wanted them both to be regulars, which they are. She’s wonderful, and she’s been around since the very beginning, and obviously, it’s easier to kind of get Harry into the action because I made him join the 118, which is the way to keep Athena having emotional stakes tied to the firehouse now that Bobby is no longer there. It was actually Corinne’s idea for May to pursue nursing.

She called me, and she’s like, “Here’s what I’m thinking.” She was very nervous. “What if she wanted to be a nurse and she could help people. It kind of goes back to the tsunami episode where she had to hold that woman’s neck.” I don’t know what she was expecting, but like, “I think that’s a great idea.” She’s like, “Really?” I’m like, “Yeah.” So we decided to go down that road, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of screen time on that until I kind of found a place to make a story about, what does May want to do in her future?

I’ve been trying to include Ravi more. I mean, because Eddie was busy with his Day of the Dead, Buck needed someone to have his séance scene with. I’m like, it should be Ravi, and for whatever reason, I’m like, “I think he has to show up dressed as Raggedy Andy.” Everyone in the room was just like, “What?” I’m like, “It’s just this image in my head of Buck opening the door, and there’s Ravi dressed as Raggedy Andy.” Anirudh did not want to do it.

Alayna, the costume designer, was like, “No, no, people are going to love this. It’s great.” She kind of talked him into it, and of course, you should do it, because it’s great. So I had these two characters that kind of get the short end of the stick, right? My feeling was like, I think they’d be a cute couple, and this would be a way to kind of fuel inject both of those characters by putting them together. So, that was the thinking there.

***

So we continue, because this is still part of that infamous answer about Ravi and May. 😂

And here, well, we're still talking about the fact that... this is all still tied to the scene where Chris disappears. It's still connected to the Abigail storyline, so even here he keeps explaining how this episode was probably very convoluted and how he ended up simplifying it and cleaning it up a bit.

And on that point, I actually agree with him, because when he explains how it was originally supposed to play out, it really would have been confusing. So then he explains how he fixed it.

Moving on, he finally gets to the question the interviewer had asked him what feels like an hour earlier.

So he finally gets to May and Ravi.

And he tells us that, obviously, the issue was: in the middle of all this chaos, how do I introduce May's character?

And he says that nowadays it's easier to have her interact with everyone than it was in the past because Harry is now part of the 118.

That's actually pretty interesting, because he also explains why Harry is now part of the 118. Apparently, it was created specifically so Athena could continue having a connection to the 118 without Bobby.

Otherwise, in some ways, it would have become more distant.

Sure, she knows Hen, who was her best friend, Chimney, and the others, but having her son working there creates a stronger connection.

It's a bit like when Bobby was there.

So that's apparently the real reason Harry became a firefighter, and honestly, I like that explanation.

But once again, he keeps talking about other topics because he still hasn't gotten to Ravi.

Even the fact that May ultimately pursues nursing happened because Corinne suggested it.

Corinne, I adore you. You know I love you. ❤️

At the end of the day, she's an actress, and as actors should, they suggest things that feel right for their characters.

But then it's up to you—the writers—to make it make sense.

Because you're the ones who had her spend a year at Dispatch after taking a gap year.

And then she suddenly decides to change direction.

Go back and watch Season 5 if I'm remembering correctly.

There's that conversation with Athena where it becomes clear that May chose law because Athena had studied law before becoming a police officer and never finished her degree.

But come on.

A girl who already had this desire to help people from the beginning, and who had already started realizing that during her time at Dispatch...

She doesn't throw away four years of college.

If I spent four years studying something and then went to my parents and said, "You know what? I never actually wanted to do this. I want to do something completely different," my parents would hang me from the nearest hook.

If this was something she felt from the beginning, then have her do one year of college and then say, "Mom, I'm trying, but I don't think law is for me."

Athena would probably tell her to do whatever she wants.

Maybe they didn't show that because, in my opinion, May is paying for college herself.

Athena would probably say, "You can waste as many years as you want."

But generally speaking, I find it to be wasted time.

The idea that a girl studies a subject for four years and then, after five minutes working with Gabby, suddenly realizes she doesn't like it and decides to go back to her original dream...

Considering how much Tim talks about how complicated timing was this season and how careful they had to be in telling stories properly...

This was handled terribly.

Corinne gave a good idea because she knows her character.

But it's the writers' fault that from Season 5 until now they completely forgot about May.

They kept having her study and pop up randomly every now and then without ever exploring the possibility that she might reach this realization earlier or through a different path.

So yes, Corinne was absolutely right to make that suggestion.

Because, in my opinion, she was drawing heavily from the tsunami episode that eventually led May to Dispatch.

Even back then, we understood that there was a direction there.

A path Ryan Murphy had already laid out.

Corinne remembered it.

Tim clearly didn't.

Because Ryan Murphy did an exceptional job with May Grant.

Tim Minear, meanwhile, never really considered her.

And then he tried to "fix" the character this season in a very clumsy way simply because Corinne reminded him what May's journey had always been.

Maybe it should have been done earlier.

And done better.

So yes, it was nice that they brought May back closer to her roots.

But it was done clumsily, in my opinion.

Then he says that at some point they wanted to include Ravi more because they felt this season...

And honestly, this part sounded a little stupid to me.

For example, he says that one way they included Ravi more was in the Día de los Muertos episode.

Buck was dealing with his issues, and they needed someone for the séance scene.

Okay.

So you're basically telling us Ravi is a filler character.

Whenever you need to fill a hole, you call Ravi.

I'm sorry, but that's exactly what that sounds like.

And then eventually—finally—we get there.

Guys, I got absolutely crucified.

Literally crucified.

The day after the episode aired where May and Ravi slept together.

I got destroyed when I said:

"I think this couple was thrown together because it feels like he doesn't know where to put Ravi, he doesn't know where to put May, so he puts them together and says problem solved."

Like, "I've got two characters left over. I don't know what the hell to do with either of them, so I put them together."

I got crucified for saying that.

And then in this interview, he basically says the exact same thing.

He says he had these two characters and didn't really know what to do with them.

Because he makes it very clear that if Corinne hadn't reminded him who May was and what her journey had been, he probably would have kept using her however he felt like.

At the same time, he says that he wanted Ravi to have a bigger presence this season.

And his idea of giving Ravi more presence was putting him in the séance scene with Buck so he'd have something to do.

With those two answers, Tim is basically telling us that he doesn't care about Ravi or May.

Because on one side, he needs the actress to remind him how to write her character.

And on the other side, he has a character who's been around since Season 4 and is treated like a gap-filler.

And then at some point he says, "I don't know what else to do with them."

So he puts them together.

And somehow that's supposed to be the solution.

Which is exactly what I said.

You didn't know what to do with them.

You threw them together hoping to create some hype.

Hoping something would come out of it.

Not because you genuinely wanted to build something meaningful between them.

But because you didn't know how else to make them stand out.

The only way was to create something that would make people say, "Aww, look, they're cute."

Basically, you had to rely on fanservice.

And I hate that.

If you like it, good for you.

I genuinely don't understand it.

Because if I were actually a fan of this pairing—as many people are—and if I had written fanfiction about them, as many people have because I've seen it on AO3, those people created storylines.

They created journeys.

They didn't just throw them together randomly the way he did.

So I hope those people are just as angry as I am.

I genuinely hope this becomes a couple that eventually gains some substance.

Even if I still don't like it, at least it would have a reason to exist.

Because right now it started badly, and it's hard to fix something after such a bad start.

Otherwise, I hope they don't have a future.

Because I want to see Ravi.

I want to see May.

I want to see their evolution.

I don't want to see them become relevant because they're pretending to be together.

Because objectively it feels like a couple he doesn't care about.

He gives them nothing.

There isn't a single truly deep or beautiful scene between them.

People say, "Look how sweet Ravi is. Look how supportive he is."

Yeah, because you see him sitting next to her in the hospital.

Or putting an arm around her shoulders.

But narratively speaking, that's not what I consider two people supporting each other or building something together.

Those are things that work in a show like Violetta or Il Mondo di Patty.

Not in 9-1-1.

Honestly, I find more depth, more chemistry, and more emotional development in Zed and Addison from Zombies.

And that's a movie series aimed at a younger audience.

Ravi and May shouldn't feel like a Disney Channel couple.

That's what I'm trying to say.

You expect a certain tone from Disney Channel.

You even wish there were more because you're older.

I ship Zed and Addison too. I'd love more kisses and more scenes.

But I understand the target audience doesn't allow for that.

In 9-1-1, though, finding a couple that feels equivalent to a Disney Channel pairing?

No.

Absolutely not.

It's ridiculous.

Truly ridiculous.

They built more emotional development for Zed and Addison than they did here.

And that's not normal considering the target audiences are supposed to be completely different.

Then you tell me there wasn't enough time.

Because we've understood that this is Tim's constant excuse throughout the interview:

There was never enough runtime.

Never enough minutes to properly develop certain storylines.

So many things had to be compressed.

Then don't do them.

And when I say "don't do them," I mean the expression we use in Italy:

Either do something properly or don't do it at all.

He chose to do it.

And he chose to do it badly.

You either take the time and find room for it, even if that means giving them small scenes over time.

Maybe not this season.

Maybe you slowly build them into Season 10.

Maybe that's when the relationship starts.

But no.

Because apparently the hype of Harry walking in and catching them together was too good to pass up.

Why?

Because it creates hype.

At this point, things are done because they create hype, not because they make sense or because they're well written.

No.

Take your time.

Build the relationship gradually.

Or don't do it at all.

[crisshex88]

My Response to Tim Minear's Season 9 Interview - PART 8

"Leaning on found family"

"Athena’s detective journey"

"The Diaz family"

"Looking ahead to the future"

***

So, I'm not including the entire section regarding the sections above, but honestly, you can just read what he basically says in the interview. There's nothing particularly interesting there except that he essentially says there are scenes that intentionally mirror previous moments.

For example, he mentions that scene with Eddie and Chris during the tsunami, and that he kind of recreates it here with Buck and Theo.

Okay.

And he says he creates these parallels because there's so much canon material that it's impossible not to make connections and references where people can go, "Oh look, that's a callback."

The problem is that he only does this with Buck and Theo. 🙄

Because when it comes to Buck and Theo, he remembers absolutely everything from Season 1 onward.

But when it comes to everyone else? Nope.

He forgot that May was a 9-1-1 dispatcher.

He forgot that she had an incredibly important growth arc that came directly from the traumas she experienced.

He clearly doesn't care about her at all.

In fact, this season focuses heavily on Maddie—which, for the record, I have nothing against Maddie—but other characters are completely ignored.

I found that Anne, Chimney, May, and Ravi were very, very, very ignored this season.

In some cases, their stories were outright forgotten.

May more than anyone else.

Even Maddie's promotion is unclear.

Is it permanent?

Is it temporary?

And then there's the fact that it completely jumps over Josh.

I didn't like how Josh was treated at all.

He suddenly feels like Ravi.

Characters who get thrown in whenever the writers don't know what else to do.

And yet Josh, despite always being a secondary character, was given far more importance under Ryan Murphy.

He even got a storyline of his own.

I'll never forget the storyline where he got beaten up.

He went out with a guy—if I remember correctly—and then it turned out that guy was setting up dates with gay men only to attack them because he was homophobic.

That storyline was fantastic.

And yet even a minor character like Josh received meaningful attention.

The same way Sue did.

The entire episode where Sue gets hit by a car carries emotional and narrative weight.

Meanwhile Sue's stroke here feels purely structural.

Like it only exists to suddenly elevate Maddie.

It almost feels like an excuse to get rid of an older character they were tired of dealing with. 😒

That's the terrible thing Tim does.

When canon is convenient for him, he remembers it.

When the references involve Buck, he remembers everything and puts it all in.

When they involve characters he doesn't care about, he treats them like dogs.

Then we get to another huge problem.

The interviewer asks him about Eddie's faith and whether the stabbing was meant to symbolize some kind of miracle, considering he somehow survives and recovers.

And what does Tim do?

He starts explaining that disaster episodes cost less than standalone episodes.

🤦‍♀️

I genuinely think he has concentration problems.

He cannot answer a question.

He talks about something completely different.

Apparently Ryan Murphy has basically left the show in Tim Minear's hands since Season 2.

Before that, Ryan was probably more present as a supervisor.

Because honestly, I think there was consistency up until Seasons 5 and 6.

Then it slowly started falling apart.

Which is probably why Peter Krause left.

Because Tim Minear drove him away.

And if this keeps going, I think Ryan Guzman will be next.

So.

He's asked about Eddie's faith.

And instead we get a lecture about how it's more cost-effective to spread production costs across large two- or three-episode events.

What does that have to do with the question? 🤷‍♀️

Apparently all of that was leading to the point that when Eddie was introduced in Season 2, Tim already knew exactly what he wanted him to become.

Though clearly Eddie didn't become what Tim expected.

Because Ryan Guzman probably wasn't as moldable as Tim hoped.

Eventually the interviewer has to drag him back to the original question.

She asks whether there were alternatives to putting Eddie in the elevator.

Whether another character could've been used.

Basically she's trying to redirect him and say:

"Hey, I asked about Eddie getting stabbed in a church and whether that had spiritual significance."

Only then does he sort of wake up.

And then immediately starts talking about something else again. 😂

He starts talking about the Season 7 finale when Athena and Bobby's house burned down.

He says he always found that finale disappointing because everyone had something else to do instead of helping them.

So apparently he didn't want that to happen again.

And from what I understood, that meant Eddie had to end up alone.

Because if he'd been paired with Buck—which was apparently his dream scenario—then Hen would've been the third wheel.

And that would've been awkward.

Meanwhile he'd already decided to put Ravi and May together.

Because apparently if you keep throwing them together long enough, eventually people will believe there's a reason for the relationship.

Chimney and Hen were busy saving someone.

And then Tim apparently went:

"Wait... what do I do with Eddie?"

And because he had absolutely no idea what to do with him...

He stabbed him and locked him in an elevator. 😭

I'm serious.

According to Tim, it was basically a way to give Eddie something to do on screen that wasn't what everyone else was doing.

Because realistically only two people were needed to go downstairs and shut off the power.

And honestly?

If you think about it, almost nothing happens in that episode.

Which is why the episode is bad.

And I am genuinely stunned by how much he seems to diminish his own show.

He literally says the first cut was boring.

The thing is, Tim, the final cut is boring too.

And apparently his solution was:

"Let's stab Eddie."

😐

From everything he says in this interview—and I'm not even reposting the entire thing—it's obvious that he didn't know what he wanted to do.

And it shows.

You can absolutely tell he didn't know how to write that episode.

You can tell he didn't know what story he wanted to tell.

Because none of it makes sense.

He basically gives a recap of how the episode was originally written.

It already didn't make sense.

Apparently it was even worse before.

And honestly, I think the fact that Tim writes episodes, turns them in at the last second, rewrites them at the last second, edits them at the last second, and even oversees the final cuts himself...

I genuinely don't think he knows what he wants anymore.

And that confusion—which is obvious even in the interview itself—because I read his answers and half the time I get lost and don't even understand what he's trying to say...

I think that's exactly why this season doesn't work on any level.

If anything, the interview only increased my doubts.

The entire section where he explains how Heart and Flowers was written, reworked, fixed, expanded, changed, cut, edited, and assembled...

I understood nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

I don't understand what he's saying in the article.

I don't understand what the episode ended up being.

I don't understand what it was supposed to be.

All I know is that it's a disaster. 😩

A disaster just like most of the rest of the season, in my opinion.

It also bothers me that he keeps bringing up The Buddie System podcast.

I'm happy for the girls who run the podcast.

Apparently he listens to them constantly and values their opinions a lot.

Good for them.

But I also think it's extremely unfair to the rest of the audience that three people's opinions seem to matter while everyone else's doesn't.

Because he's not writing the show for them.

He's writing it for all of us.

I also didn't like the way he talked about the actors, or the children who played young Bobby.

They're little kids.

It's normal for them to react like kids.

There was no need to talk about them the way he did.

Honestly, I had completely forgotten Eddie even had sisters.

And at this point it wouldn't even make sense to introduce them.

You can't spend nine years never mentioning them—not even a casual line like:

"My sister called me."

Or:

"Hey Chris, your cousin did this."

Something.

Anything.

If you never mention them, never reference them, never acknowledge them...

You can't suddenly pull them out of a hat. 🤨

And as for May, honestly, at this point I would've made her a paramedic instead of a nurse.

It would've made more sense.

But since that's not what happened, we'll see how this develops on the medical side of things.

Although, truthfully?

After this interview, I don't really feel like continuing to watch the show anymore.

Unfortunately. 😕

[crisshex88]

My Response to Tim Minear's Season 9 Interview - PART 7

"Character relationships: new and old"

They really do make a cute couple. They’re about the two most beautiful people I think I’ve ever seen. I think they’re both unbelievably good-looking. And, yeah, so I like them together. It suddenly makes Ravi a more interesting character, and it makes May a more interesting character. But I think it benefits Ravi more in a way because often he’s there to round out something, which is why last year when Eddie went to El Paso, I just had a lot of fun writing Buck trying to buddy up with Ravi, trying to replace Eddie with Ravi, and Ravi’s just like, “Is there a camera on? Are you trying to punk me?”

"Buck’s next chapter"

Buck is not only going to have to learn how to be a parent, but also deal with the fact that he’s stepping into the role because of the death of his friends. Why do you think that this was the right time in terms of him being ready to start navigating what it means to be a parent? Obviously, he’s always been good with kids, but throwing him into this new role is very challenging. Where are you kind of hoping to start with that process next season?

***

I mean, the first person who tells me they loved how Ravi and May became a couple this season is genuinely going to make me lose my mind, especially when Tim Minear himself writes that he thinks they're such a great couple, mainly because only after putting them together did he finally make them interesting.

Are we serious?

Because I'd like to remind everyone that May Grant is Athena Grant's daughter, and before Harry became this important—because obviously he was younger in the past—May had entire episodes centered around her, or at least partially centered around her.

I'd like to remind everyone that May Day is one of the best episodes the show has ever done, where she is essentially one of the focal points of the episode, and her character was still young.

I keep saying this because nobody seems to remember her entire time working at the 9-1-1 call center.

In my opinion, that's one of the best seasons, and it's where she not only built her relationship with Bobby—because that was the season where their father-daughter relationship was born and became one of the cornerstones of what came later—but at the same time she also built a great relationship with Eddie.

A relationship that, honestly, I would have liked to see again today.

Because I don't find it believable that two people who worked together and had such a good relationship, even confiding in each other—there's literally a scene where she cries, opens up, and Eddie listens to her—would suddenly act like strangers.

When you open up to someone like that, you don't run into them later and pretend you don't know them.

Now, let's set aside the fact that I ship them as a couple.

Even just as a human relationship, it's unbelievable that they don't have one anymore.

Just like it's unbelievable that Ravi, who's been part of the show since Season 4—he first appeared in Jinx as a probie—has never gotten an Origins episode, never gotten anything that explores him, his story, or his past.

And yet somehow these two characters only became interesting once they were put together.

Without building absolutely anything.

In Going Once, Going Twice, the episode starts, and up until that point they have never spoken, never interacted, never had any meaningful connection whatsoever.

And suddenly a person you've known forever looks at you differently one morning, and two days later you're in bed together?

Come on, Tim.

Come on. Seriously.

Tim is an idiot, but honestly, the people who keep saying he did a good job and that May and Ravi are a great couple...

No offense, but what the hell show are you watching?

What the hell story are you watching?

Then we get to the section that's basically dedicated to what is being presented as the new Buck storyline.

I'm not including the entire interview because it's actually very long, but it's essentially focused on Buck's arc.

What makes me laugh about this interview—and I've noticed I'm not the only one noticing it, which makes me happy because otherwise I feel crazy—is that Tim gets asked one thing and answers something completely different.

I'll quote at least the first question because otherwise you won't understand what I'm talking about.

The journalist asks a question that is fundamentally about Buck becoming a father.

And Tim, as usual, gets asked one thing and answers another.

In Italy we have a saying that basically means answering something completely unrelated.

I genuinely don't understand why Tim Minear has such difficulty answering a question.

I hate it in real life too.

If I ask, "Black or white?" and someone starts telling me their life story—

"Well, you see, maybe, perhaps, I think..."

No.

Just tell me: black or white?

That's it.

Tim Minear does exactly the same thing and it drives me insane.

Because here too he's asked a question about Buck's role as a parent, and what does he do?

He starts talking about absolutely everything else.

Before eventually circling back to the original question and talking about Theo.

We're told—which I don't understand how it's relevant to the question—that Angela Bassett wasn't available for many scenes, so several of her scenes had to be filmed together at the last minute.

Including the fact that Athena gets shot.

So what am I supposed to understand from that?

That Athena got shot only because the actress wasn't available and they needed a reason to put her out of commission?

Because he literally says you can put her on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and use a stand-in and nobody notices.

Okay.

That's what I understood.

Presumably because she had already started filming American Horror Story.

But setting that aside...

Even the whole shooting storyline and Athena being shot ultimately had very little to do with the actual story.

And honestly, we kind of realized that.

Because much worse things have happened to Athena over the years.

So I found it pretty absurd that this was suddenly the thing that convinced her she wanted to become a detective.

Especially because she'd already been offered that opportunity in the past and turned it down.

She was confident in her choice.

If that realization was supposed to come now, then it would've made more sense after Bobby's death, once she actively returned to work.

Or in some completely different context.

Because honestly, yes, she got shot, but paradoxically it was less severe than other things she's been through.

Like when she was assaulted and beaten, which was a far more interesting and emotionally deep storyline.

So okay, I understand that this all came together because Angela wasn't available.

But that still doesn't answer the question about Theo.

And I didn't like that either because what Tim Minear basically makes us understand is that Theo's storyline was probably filler too.

Athena wasn't available for a certain narrative arc.

And honestly you can see it.

Theo's episode feels strange because it completely interrupts the immigrant storyline.

I expected that storyline to continue episode after episode.

Instead Theo's episode pauses it, and then it resumes at the end.

Yes, it's addressed, but very quickly and poorly.

So they needed something to fill an episode.

And of all the things they could've used, I think they picked the worst possible option.

Because you can't just throw Buck's fatherhood into the story like that.

Another thing I didn't like was his explanation that Theo was inserted as Buck's love interest.

Basically he says that they're at a point where they can't give Buck either a man or a woman.

Because if they give him a man, everyone will want either Tommy or Eddie.

And obviously Tommy isn't coming back.

And he's basically making it clear that Eddie isn't happening.

But apparently they can't give him a woman either because—even though Buck is bisexual—nobody wants to see Buck seriously involved with a woman.

According to Tim, people are okay with him sleeping with a woman for one night, but nothing beyond that.

So because he doesn't want to do either option—because he wants to keep one foot in twenty-seven different shoes and make everybody happy, which is impossible when you're running a TV show—he decided that giving Buck a child would become his love interest.

Basically Buck won't have anyone else anymore.

Maybe he'll hook up with someone occasionally.

But he won't have a real partner.

And that supposedly solves everything.

Everyone is happy without actually being happy.

Because this way people can imagine Buck ending up with Eddie because he needs help raising a child.

So you create Buddie without actually creating Buddie.

Making three people happy and frustrating everyone else.

Because apparently the rest of us viewers are idiots who are forced to watch fanfiction.

I write what I want to see myself.

I'm not demanding the show give it to me.

That's why the idea that Theo only exists for that purpose is terrible.

And he killed Theo's parents because he doesn't know how to write.

That's basically Tim Minear in a nutshell.

Then there's the whole thing where he says that Theo's placement with Buck is only temporary and that Buck hasn't adopted him.

Okay, great.

You've spent years showing us through Hen and Karen how complicated foster care and adoption are.

Perfect.

You've shown that.

But the show never actually says it.

It's another example of something Tim says they thought about but never included onscreen.

This season is full of that.

The number of times Tim Minear says there were scenes explaining things that got cut is unbelievable.

But if you cut the scenes and don't replace them with anything else—not even a line of dialogue—then how are viewers supposed to know?

When the social worker comes to Buck's house and he's signing paperwork, all you needed was one line.

Just one.

"Well, Mr. Buckley, for now we'll proceed this way and I'll let you know what the next steps are regarding the placement."

Done.

Four seconds.

And I would've understood everything.

Instead there was no clarity.

So naturally everyone reacted the same way:

Wait a second.

Hen and Karen spent years going through absolute hell because of foster care and adoption.

Ryan Murphy always showed those difficulties.

And then suddenly Tim resolves it in five seconds?

Or at least makes it look that way?

Because he doesn't give us the explanation.

He says the explanation exists.

But once again it's off-screen.

And since we're not inside your head, Tim, we can't know that.

So of course people criticize you.

Just do your job.

Please.

Honestly, I hope they fire him and let someone else handle Season 10.

Because this is starting to become embarrassing.