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Inspiration - TV that is actually worth watching

Right What You No: Inspiration - TV that is actually worth watching

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Inspiration - TV that is actually worth watching

Amazingly enough I think that books and TV are compatible. If you were to ask my wife she would nod and agree as well, as she reads through most TV and enjoys the ambiance. There are some fantastic TV shows out there that not only inspire, but they are also written not unlike a novel.

Generally a movie has to take a book and cut out every second page, in anything longer than a short story they often just take the title page. In this manner they can squeeze all the wonder and joy of a novel into 90 minutes of unrelated drivel. TV doesn't run for 90 minutes, it has much longer to develop characters, story arcs, plot, and in jokes that you wonder about enough to read the director's blog to understand what the hell is going on. As a result TV and the novel can have a lot in common.

I say that TV can have a lot in common with a novel, not that it always does, as that would be assuming that a novel writer could get away with a procedural crime drama that is always solved by identifying semen left at the crime scene. So the shows that do actually rise to great heights tend to be few and far between, or they get canceled by a network executive who realises that the show may actually be interesting - yes Fox, I'm still pissed about Firefly!

So what are the good TV shows I'm talking about? Well lets go with a list shall we?

Oz:
Justified:

Read the short story that Justified is based upon here.
 
Deadwood:
The Wire:
Now I could go on and add other shows I like (Leverage, Firefly, Daria, Family Guy, The Simpsons before they sucked) but this really is enough to illustrate my point. Oz was an amazing show with such a diverse range of characters. Justified is so good that Elmore Leonard not only approved it but came on board to write some episodes. Deadwood was so good the censors felt obliged to leave in the occasional curse word used. The Wire attracted some of the best crime writers to the production team because they saw the depth and intricacy this show had.
 
So the entire point of this blog post may have been an excuse for me to write something other than my novel while I grab the next episode of Justified, but that doesn't mean that quality TV and quality novels don't have a lot in common - bloody good writers who don't get paid nearly enough. I'll leave you with two links to an interview with David Simon, the creator of The Wire. Fascinating stuff!

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4 Comments:

At March 16, 2011 at 2:21 AM , Blogger Katie Salidas said...

TV is my favorite distraction. But lately I have turned away from American broadcast. I'm loving foreign shows like Being Human (BBC), Rake (Australian), and Sherlock (BBC). Foreign TV seems to place less emphasis on glitz and glamor and refocuses you on story.

 
At March 16, 2011 at 11:17 AM , Blogger Tyson Adams said...

Sherlock was absolute gold! Stephen Moffat, the writer of Sherlock, also wrote Coupling which is quite possibly the best comedy show ever. Check it out Katie! And I agree, there is a lot of great 'foreign TV'. The Elephant, The Octopus (La Piovra), Unit One (Rejseholdet), the list goes on - all fantastic European crime shows.

One point I didn't make but I alluded to, was that all of these shows (except Justified which is only brand new) have finished. None have lasted the way rubbish like CSI, Survivor, etc have lasted. The great shows also never attracted the audience that the CSI's did.

 
At March 17, 2011 at 8:07 AM , Blogger Katie Salidas said...

I used to love Coupling! I'm a big fan of British TV.

Good shows often get overlooked for flashy or lowest common denominator style comedy. Just look at the rise of "Reality TV." There is a reality show for everything now... and I won't watch any of them.

 
At March 17, 2011 at 2:38 PM , Blogger Rex Jameson said...

The Deadwood scene is fucking priceless. It's a shame that Ian McShane didn't get a chance to headline Kings on NBC for more than 4 episodes. He deserves more limelight.

Unfortunately, we're not paying for cable right now, so I miss out on most of the good stuff. Netflix catches me up on some of them though.

 

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