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Saturday, September 21, 2002

Whew. Back again, after a week of having my ass well and comprehensively kicked by the chest crud. (That conjures up an odd visual, I'll admit.)

So I watched Firefly last night; I went in with low expectations, not for the show itself, but for my likelihood of enjoying it, since I'm not into either western or SF as genres, and ensemble shows are generally a harder sell for me (Homicide being the notable exception). There were, in fact, a number of things I was quite taken by, and I'll probably tune in again. I liked Jayne, the hardass-cynic guy; I liked the mixing-up of the visual and physical trappings of past and future. I like the fact that Joss is dealing with all adults here (well, except for spooky mumbling girl, but I'm ignoring her), many of whom clearly have complex pasts.

What I was most struck by, though, once again, was the visceral intensity of my distaste for the conventional action-adventure TV episode externally-imposed plot-machinery. My idea of a perfect pilot for a show like this would be simply an ordinary day in the lives of the central characters. Doing their work, eating lunch, talking, hanging out, whatever. We got a bit of that, in the first half, and I was digging it, and then all of a sudden, kablooie, some stupid train-robbery caper shows up, and I had to pry my fingers off the remote, because all I could think was "Jeezus, here we go, it'll be all action! and perilous hoisting of mystery boxes! and something of course will go wrong! and it'll be Heroes in Peril! and then some kind of Daring Rescue! and gunplay! and this is me sitting here NOT GIVING A DAMN!"

I realize, of course, that this is just me. There's no arguing with the fact that the viewers who will plunk down the dollars to watch Indiana Jones rather ringingly outnumber those who'll pony up for, say, My Dinner with Andre. And I'm not saying that good dialogue and character development can't happen in the midst of action-adventure plottiness, just that it seldom seems to.

When I think back on the most memorable moments from shows I've loved, it's never the wham-bam stuff; it's Mulder and Scully sitting on that rock in Quagmire and talking; or Fraser and Ray in the car at the end of Ladies Man; or Tim and Frank bickering. Those interstitial moments between all the chases and shootouts and suspense, when it's just the characters, being who they are together.

[Edit] Since writing this, I've read in several places that the two-hour episode Joss intended to use as the pilot did in fact have more character development, but that Fox decreed he move that one back and air this one first, which, if so, once again supports my belief that Network Execs Are Dumbasses. I'll keep watching the show, at least for a while, in hopes that character development does ensue, because they seem like intriguing characters; but my continued viewing will be in spite of, not due to, whatever it is the execs think make people tune in.

Posted @ 07:33 AM CST [Link]7 comments