#tv studies

[jwood718]

"The imperial need for control is so desperate because it is unnatural...Oppression is the mask of fear."

[bazilisk]

Watching season 3 (the last season) of The Original Series right now. This is my first watch through.

I looked online a little bit at fan reactions. I saw that many fans dislike this season, because its budget was noticeably cut.

It's true, you can really see it. There's lots of reused footage. Lots of very minimal, obviously inexpensive, or reused, sets. There's a few sequences with narration, overlay, and what's clearly stock footage from CBS' library - this probably seemed lame at the time, but I loved how expressive and filmic those parts turned out.

This series is my favorite of the three, so far, because the characters are the most compelling. The writers and performers really embody the characters by now, And the lack of budget forces the plots to be more about the bridge crew, and less about the aliens, than in previous seasons.

This makes it more like an ensemble drama or comedy. It takes advantage of what TV as a medium does differently than movies: it gives you more time with the characters that the viewers enjoy.

It looks like Strange New Worlds learned this lesson from The Original Series when they wrote their stories: the most interesting part of a Star Trek show are the crew members reacting to and living through those long journeys through space. The aliens can be fascinating, but they just can't help but be less dramatically and comedically potent in the story than the main cast.

[cardassiangoodreads]

I actually really like Schreiber Theory (the idea of the screenwriter as the primary creative force) when applied to feature films, as a counter to Auteur Theory, and yet it really grinds my gears how much it is not only the prevailing but sometimes the only framework that people ever apply to television shows (where in this sense the Schreiber is specifically the head writer or “showrunner”). Especially because TV tends to be even more collaborative and less likely to be ruled by one brilliant creative mind than feature film. Even your David Simons and Matthew Weiners and so on were only really able to do what they did with their critically-acclaimed shows because of all the other talent who worked with them; if it was just them and every other role went to some generic random person in the industry (rather than people whose talents and experience were specifically tailored to those kinds of projects) that stuff would not have worked. This includes episode writers, it includes directors, it includes the music team (my eternal soapbox), it includes all the little people doing stuff like set and costume design and camera work, but also it includes actors -- who it always astounds me how little critics and fans alike value in a creative sense given that they're usually the biggest most famous names associated with a given TV show. People are happy to appreciate them as pretty faces and objects of voyeuristic fascination but so rarely give them the artistic credit they deserve -- including how much of what you see in the episode that airs is due to an actor's interpretation of a script, not just the script itself. Imagine Omar Little played by anyone else, with the same dialogue. It doesn't work, does it? That's the power of the actor.

[bishopscat]

me, submitting my very last final paper of this semester’s.....

it’s been a mad writing process, huh?

day 80

[macylea13]

I just took my TV studies final and there was an Agents of Shield question on it. Also in the same class I wrote an analysis on episode 4x15 and I used a fitzsimmons fan video to talk about aspects of fan culture. So pretty much this entire semester was me figuring out ways to fit AOS into my class work! Lol

[conspiracymediatheory]

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

I just want to get some preliminary thoughts on this show out there now that I’ve watched all eight episodes.

First, it’s true what everyone is saying about Rachel Brosnahan. She is terrific, funny, charming, and her performance as Midge is one of the best things I’ve seen in a TV show this year. But don’t overlook Alex Borstein, who has been great in so many things and overlooked and under-appreciated for so long it’s obscene. She’s soooo very good here as coffee house booker Susie Meyerson it’s ridiculous. After a career playing small roles here and there, or known primarily for MadTV and her voice work on Family Guy, it’s nice to see her have a moment to really shine and show us what she can do in a co-lead. (She was great in the HBO series Getting On, btw, alongside Laurie Metcalf, another great talent finally getting her day in the sun in Lady Bird.)

Second, I think the show does a pretty solid job of demonstrating the inside baseball world of the late 1950s comedy scene (that is admittedly still far too insular), and even if it gets some things wrong, it feels right, which in a piece of art is more important than simple historical accuracy. At its heart, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a domestic drama fairytale, and it carries with it all the trials and tribulations thereof. In the fifth episode, “Doink,” after Midge bombs repeatedly, I found myself thinking that I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a show or a film that demonstrates how often this happens - and discusses the reasons why (unprepared material, going off-script, etc.) - as thoroughly as this one hour of TV.

And one last thing before I go - alongside GLOW over on Netflix, I think this is a banner year for TV comedies anchored by women. This isn’t to say that Sherman-Palladino’s other series aren’t good, but this one seems to fit more firmly in the “comedy” category of comedy-drama than otherwise. I think we are benefitting from streaming platforms in at least one way, and it’s the proliferation of shows featuring strong women as lead characters, and anchored by their friendships, and which may feel false or alien to some men, but fuck it - the opposite has been true for nearly eighty years of broadcasting if you include radio. These aren’t the only two shows doing this work, either, but they’re my favorites, and I am enamored with each.

[academmaic-blog]

2/26/17 — just finished making some revision notes for the night :] it's a little messy but oh welllll

[jwood718]

For what-ever reason, the YouTube algorithm suggested a video, The Eagle Obsession to me, and I thought "OK, I'll give that a go."

The host/narrator, Jeffrey Morris, goes on a multi-national sojourn to find the people who, like him, were amazed and inspired by Space 1999 and its iconic transporter, the Eagle--including the efforts to build very large models, and even a full sized mock up of the whole craft.

ANYway, that's the promo.

What got my interest was when Morris and author Kevin J. Anderson are speaking about their mutual discovery of the TV show in 1975, and how it had affected their outlook on the future. Anderson says "...I'm watching Moon Base Alpha, and the Eagle, and the mixed crew of all these different cultures and races fitting together, and I wanted that future..."

I hadn't really even considered that it was a "mixed crew" until Anderson said it. Did seeing cast with a modicum of what we might today call representation affect my young mind--in a good way--way back when? I can't say for sure, but, maybe. I wanted, and still want, that future.