Y
Yorick
Guest
Or: Yorick's problem with Network TV.
There are very few things that I love more than a TV show that's totally character driven, and has an overall arc to it. While there are shows that have an arc throughout a season (Dexter has been particularly good at this), there's still a bigger picture that I like to see, too. Babylon 5 is absolutely perfection when it comes to this. Having things in mind years in advance allowed JMS to do some absolutely great foreshadowing that you can not pick up on after quite a few rewatches.
Almost a week or so, Warehouse 13 wrapped up its first season. It was recommended to me by someone that thought I would like it, and they were right. It started off feeling like a modern kind of X-Files. The male lead reminds me of Tony from NCIS, which is great, too. And there's an interesting amount of science lingo in there too.
The show is centered around this idea of America's "Attic". Which is to say, they have all kinds of gadgets that exist, and maybe be somewhat supernatural, that are stored in this warehouse to keep people safe. One example is, Edgar Allen Poe's pen and notebook, with which you can write anything down and cause it to happen. So the show follows these two Secret Service agents and their quest to find some of these artifacts.
Here's where the problems come in. The last, let's say 4 episodes of this season, basically completely rip off another show that just recently wrapped up it's first season - Dollhouse. By which I mean:
This is something that irked me, but not necessarily was that big of a deal. Yes, lots of shows have similarities, and yes I suppose it could just be a coincidence kind of thing. There are enough differences, I suppose.
But then I read this interview at If Magazine - which does contain some finale "spoilers". But what stands out is that this Executive Producer has in mind for Season 2. It seems like he actually has no idea whatsoever where the show is going, and like he's discovering the characters just as much as we are.
And having no sense of direction is something that I find worrying for a show, for fear that it becomes stagnant or just constantly contradicts itself and writes itself into a corner to the point where it has to have a gigantic cop-out (like Battlestar Galactica).
There are very few things that I love more than a TV show that's totally character driven, and has an overall arc to it. While there are shows that have an arc throughout a season (Dexter has been particularly good at this), there's still a bigger picture that I like to see, too. Babylon 5 is absolutely perfection when it comes to this. Having things in mind years in advance allowed JMS to do some absolutely great foreshadowing that you can not pick up on after quite a few rewatches.
Almost a week or so, Warehouse 13 wrapped up its first season. It was recommended to me by someone that thought I would like it, and they were right. It started off feeling like a modern kind of X-Files. The male lead reminds me of Tony from NCIS, which is great, too. And there's an interesting amount of science lingo in there too.
The show is centered around this idea of America's "Attic". Which is to say, they have all kinds of gadgets that exist, and maybe be somewhat supernatural, that are stored in this warehouse to keep people safe. One example is, Edgar Allen Poe's pen and notebook, with which you can write anything down and cause it to happen. So the show follows these two Secret Service agents and their quest to find some of these artifacts.
Here's where the problems come in. The last, let's say 4 episodes of this season, basically completely rip off another show that just recently wrapped up it's first season - Dollhouse. By which I mean:
Dollhouse: Alpha - a former member of the Dollhouse - has been tormenting the Dollhouse for quite some time using their own technology, manages to infiltrate the facility, destroy shit, steal Echo, and escape.
Warehouse 13: MacPherson - a former agent of the Warehouse - has been tormenting the Warehouse for a few episodes using their own technology, manages to infiltrate the facility, destroy it, "kill" a main character, and escape.
Warehouse 13: MacPherson - a former agent of the Warehouse - has been tormenting the Warehouse for a few episodes using their own technology, manages to infiltrate the facility, destroy it, "kill" a main character, and escape.
This is something that irked me, but not necessarily was that big of a deal. Yes, lots of shows have similarities, and yes I suppose it could just be a coincidence kind of thing. There are enough differences, I suppose.
But then I read this interview at If Magazine - which does contain some finale "spoilers". But what stands out is that this Executive Producer has in mind for Season 2. It seems like he actually has no idea whatsoever where the show is going, and like he's discovering the characters just as much as we are.
And having no sense of direction is something that I find worrying for a show, for fear that it becomes stagnant or just constantly contradicts itself and writes itself into a corner to the point where it has to have a gigantic cop-out (like Battlestar Galactica).
