On Television

[tiggymalvern]

Slasher friends have been trying to convince me for a long time to watch Supernatural. I had seen a couple of episodes of Supernatural, and left with the impression that it was a boring monster of the week show, and no thank you.

More recently, some of the SO's geek friends began telling him he should watch Supernatural. I said no, it's crap. The SO's friends insisted that it gets good. So we equipped ourselves with the first season of Supernatural, and a carefully hand-picked-by-the-geeks list of the episodes that were worth watching, because they were good, or related to the arc plot. Over the last couple of weeks, we watched 11 episodes of Supernatural's first season.

Conclusions: A 'good' episode of Supernatural is like a mediocre episode of the X-Files. After one particular episode, I remarked to the SO that it was like watching the Persuaders, only in the Persuaders the fact that they're incompetent is a joke, and in Supernatural we're supposed to take these morons seriously. The plots are utterly predictable, and vary from dull to annoying. The dialogue is trite.

The SO and I are unanimous: we're not prepared to sit through any more of this drivel just because the arc plot might get interesting round about season four. We were willing to stare through a few bad episodes of Spartacus: Blood and Sand with the assurance that it got interesting at ep 4 or 5, and were very glad we did. But writers - if it takes three series for your show to become bearable, sorry, we're long gone.


In stark contrast, last night we caught up with episode 3.10 of Breaking Bad (while watching Supernatural, we got a couple of weeks behind). It's a bottle story, in which two people talk about the long term plot and try to kill a fly. And it's mesmerising. It's awe-inspiring, how tense and involving that incredibly simple piece of television is. This was a series that grabbed me by the soul in episode one, just like The Wire or Pushing Daisies did, and they don't let go. Forget Supernatural, we're about to give Treme a whirl, with high hopes. And people - if you know any other series, new or old, as good as Breaking Bad or Pushing Daisies, you'll be telling me, right?

Comments

[tameiki.livejournal.com]

Supernatural, in its first three seasons was just good, mindless fun with an interesting plot hovering in the background. This last season and a half have really stretched my endurance for this show. Now, it's like watching a multi-vehicle car wreck where you just can't turn away. You have to stay and watch to see what's going to happen next. XD

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I'm all in favour of good, mindless fun - I'm just as enthusiastic a consumer of mindless trash as I am of the genuine quality stuff - but I just wasn't getting 'fun' from Supernatural. I was too bored by the predictability and irritated by the lazy writing to find any entertainment in there. If the series had aimed to be trash, it would have worked a lot better for me, but sadly the creators seemed to be labouring under the impression they were creating something deep and genuinely suspenseful :-(

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I suspect it might have worked better for you if you were American, because some of the interesting bits called on American 'road' mythology and urban myths in ways that might not appeal in the same way to you.

Edited to change icon.

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, that's a really good point. Yeah, the entire premise of the show is, like, the wet dream of America, with ONE MAN (two, but who's counting?) taking on EVIL while listening to cock rock and cruising chicks in a hot car. Cross-country. Plus guns.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

And they did a lot of stuff riffing on urban legends in the early days. (But we will not speak of the racist truck.)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

There's nothing better than Breaking Bad on right now, I'm afraid, except maybe Treme, which I haven't seen. Did you ever see the Generation Kill miniseries?

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we watched GK. It was good, but it wasn't subject material I could engage with as well as The Wire. We have episodes of Treme accumulated - I'm really hoping it doesn't disappoint!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I still haven't tackled The Wire. We're finishing up Twin Peaks first!

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I think The Wire is the best television I have ever seen. No conditions. Stop putting it off!

Though Twin Peaks was fun, as I recall from far too many years ago...

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

The thing about Supernatural is that it's hilarious. It's a collection of tropes thrown together and delivered deadpan with the knowledge that the writers are laughing their asses off backstage. It's not a show you watch for the plot, or the mystery, or the slash or the anything else. It's like bad fic - if you aren't laughing, then don't waste your time. Me personally, I've been laughing my ass off at it since the first season, but I like ridiculous shit like this.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I think I'd have to be more drunk to find it bad-funny. A lot more drunk.

I really hope the writers are laughing their assess off, either that or knocking them out in a day with one eye on the pay and the mortgage. It would be sad if they think they're doing good work!

[andmydog.livejournal.com]

No, they have no illusions about the quality of work they're putting out. I mean, they joke around about the incest so many of the rabid fans think is there, they do episodes spoofing classic television, they have a character who writes slash fiction of the two (who, by the way, are actually the stars of a line of pulp novels written by a drunk)... nothing about this show is serious.

Which is why the fandom cracks me up so hard. They take it so seriously, and it's really not intended to be taken seriously. It's on the CW, for christ's sake.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

See, that sounds like a lot more fun. Apart from the storylines that get in the way lol

[teaforme.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I'm intrigued about Breaking Bad.

Speaking of recs, I recently watched an anime called Moyashimon. It's a dorky, silly show about a guy who can see microbes and bacteria, and his adventures as a freshman at an agricultural university. I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this show. It's only 11 eps, so no huge commitment.

Also, go get the first 3 (of 4) eps of the Darker than Black OVA if you haven't already. :-)

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Breaking Bad is awesome, I have plugged it here before.

Oooh, thanks for the DtB reminder, much appreciated :-) And thanks for the rec!

[teaforme.livejournal.com]

You can pick up both from the same place. :-)

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to like BSS :-)