Planting My Potato on the Couch

Television is getting to be something thing I do when I’m too tired to do anything else. My wife thinks my lack of interest is because we see so many movies that the weakness in content is magnified. I think there’s another reason. I think I’ve seen every character and script scenario that can be written so many times that I automatically think I’ve seen the program I’m watching.

Two and a Half Men seemed so familiar until I realized it ‘s a rehash of The Odd Couple. Every sitcom that involves couples is a regurgitation of The Honeymooners. Grey’s Anatomy looks like Friends without the jokes. I have no idea how many cop shows, Medical dramas and lawyer scenario’s we need to see until we exhaust the entire case files of the various professions. Although it seems people seem capable of finding new ways of violating the law in strange and humorous ways.

I feel that the reason the new TV shows fail or succeed is the characters that people like and identify with. I did not love Raymond, but it’s obvious that a lot of people did. One of the methods used successfully is to have and ensemble cast. If the viewer doesn’t attach to the major character, maybe they will be attracted to one of the others. Where would Cheers be without Norm? Try and watch Will & Grace minus Jack or Karen.

There is a new trend that is interesting and irritating. We are introduced to characters and the settings via a widely promoted opening show. They tease us with the shadows of the characters, put them in a challenging setting, play out the base premise of why they are all in this setting and than kill off one of the characters. Than they dare us not to watch next week and all of the following weeks to see what happens. But people are getting sick of Survivor.

ABC tried something similar with a show called The Nine. In The Nine we witness a botched bank holdup where a number of people are held hostage for 48 hours before they are freed. In the following episodes the audience is given more and more back ground on what actually went on in the bank during the forty eight hours they were kept hostage. In true and good dramatic form things are not always as we are lead to believe. I found this program compelling and I wish I knew what happened but evidently not enough people agreed with me because, we haven’t seen the series since before Thanksgiving. That is a long hiatus. Me thinks that the series met with the same fate as out holiday turkey.

(A check at ABC’s Website tells you that , “The next episode has not been scheduled”).

If you don’t see the Soprano’s, Lost, or 24 from the first week and each week thereafter can you stay in the story? Most people tell me no. I’m advised to wait until the entire season comes out on DVD and rent it. Maybe that’s the way to watch TV drama today. It might be better than TIVO.