Journal of a Hesitant Television Watcher
Friday, July 11th, 2008
I admit that quite often I’m a bit too hard on new shows. If they don’t capture my attention right off the bat, I often quickly dump them. Even worse, sometimes I never give them a shot to begin with. My television watching schedule is already pretty full with the shows that I consider myself to be a fan of.
The problem with this is that quite often, I miss out on a lot of really good shows. As recently as 6 months ago, I had only watched 2 episodes of Lost. Now it ranks amongst my favorite shows on television. I didn’t get into Veronica Mars until the second season, just because it sounded…un-compelling. I missed the original television run of Firefly (Though, then again, is that such a bad thing?).
My point is that often I unfairly judge a show before I give it a fair shot. We all do it. Admit it. How many of you refuse to watch The O.C. because of your impressions of what it might be? Well, the other day I entered into an agreement with TheDoctor (Scott) to rectify two cases of pre-maturely judging a show. Well, two cases for me, and one for him. I’ve agreed to give Supernatural and Chuck a fair shot, if he would be willing to do the same for Babylon 5.
It’s a pretty sweet deal for me, because I’ve been trying to get him to watch B5 now for a while, but talking him past the first season isn’t an easy thing. Meanwhile, I have to watch two shows as well that I haven’t really given a shot. I watched the first episode of Supernatural, and decided it wasn’t the show for me. And Chuck? As appealing of a name as the show has (/sarcasm), what little I know about it has never grabbed me. But Josh Shwartz (Going back to The O.C.)? Adam Baldwin? Somehow, I’ll find a way to soldier through, I’m sure.
The deal is simple. I watch Supernatural and Chuck for a mostly unspecified amount of time (We’ll say at least into season 2 of Supernatural, and the entire season of Chuck). And Scott watches Babylon 5 at least up to "Coming of Shadows". In both cases, we should then have enough of an opinion of each show to mostly judge it for what it is. In Scott’s case, it’s a little risky, because ultimately a lot of season 1 of Babylon 5 isn’t fantastic. Personally I think there are about 3 episodes up to and including "Coming of Shadows" that are pretty fantastic. But will it be enough of a glimpse into the series of a whole to grab ahold of him? We shall see.
Which of us has the better road ahead? Who got the better deal? What show are you unfairly hesitant to watch despite the suggestions to do so? Stay tuned as I keep a running list of entries about my experiences and thoughts while I go through my half of the deal.
Holding my nose, and preparing to dive in,
Saberj
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So you got Scott to agree to watch only the bad episodes of Babylon 5? This is not going to end well.
Have you ever heard of the canadian children’s tv show The Odyssey? It’s great.
By and far i think you got the better end of this deal. Although if I remember correctly you don’t like points of suspense.. which Supernatural has done a few times.. but they do it really well.. Chuck is an absolute must see.. I enjoyed the first season.. I still haven’t gotten through the first season of B5.. maybe I’ll go back and watch it( I’ve been hitting the older TV series lately.. just finished watching Farscape up through the Peacekeeper wars.)
Rusty: They aren’t all bad. That’s why I said at least to Coming of Shadows. Of those the good ones I remember: Babylon Squared, Coming of Shadows, Signs and Portents, Chrysalis, and TKO. Ok, I was just kidding about that last one. But the way I figure it, if Scott doesn’t see anything promising about the show after watching a few of the better episodes, he probably isn’t going to like it.
thegr8merlyn: Yeah, I’m not big on suspense. Both in cases like horror movies, and mundane circumstances. Like someone cheating on someone else. Drives me bananas. But I can tolerate it at times.
Best show on tv right now… Pushing Daises.
Fact!
Surprisingly, I’m actually looking forward to starting this. Anyone who listens to Two Geeks knows how I feel about JMS as a comic writer, and my opinion of him has caused me to dismiss his television work without a giving it a chance. Everyone has been telling me how good it is, but I’ve just never had any interest. Well, this agreement I have with Randy is my chance to give show a decent shot and either I’ll hate it just like I always thought I would and now my opinion of JMS will at least be justified, or I could really like it and have a new series to enjoy and discuss. So really, it’s kind of a win/win for me.
So I will be keeping an episodic journal of my thoughts on the series so you will all see how well (or how terrible…) it’s going for me.
I’ll be the first to admit….Season One of B5….kinda rough to get thru. Michael Ohare is more than a bit stiff and dry in his acting. However the rest of the cast is pretty darn good. You really DO have to watch Season One first though. It lays the foundation for the rest of the series ENTIRE run.
If Scott want to see how good B5 CAN be and not get too spoiled for the rest of the show. I would recommend watching “The Lost Tales” that came out not all that long ago. At the time it came out I was in the midst of watching Season One again with Christina. She hadn’t watched the series before and wasn’t real thrilled with Season One, however when TLT came out, she watched it with me, and it really hooked her on the show as a whole.
@ “You really DO have to watch Season One first though. ”
I never finished it. The episodes I saw were a chore.
@Rusty: That’s a shame. You missed a few good episodes, and a lot of story building. Did you watch Babylon Squared? Really fundamental story episode. About B4.
The few episodes that deal with the fate of Babylon 4 are some of the best episodes of the show.
Once you guys are finished with this little experiment, maybe I can get you guys to watch Farscape. Before BSG came along, it was the best thing the Sci-Fi channel had going for it by far.
I’ve posted about this topic on the boards before, but I’ll say it again here. The simplest description of the show I have ever come up with is this: Farscape is Buffy the Vampire Slayer in space. I posted about this on the boards before under one of the GeekInterainment episodes, but I think it’s worth reposting here so more people can read it. Besides, it means I don’t have to rewrite all of it. ;)
If you don’t want to read (or reread) all of it, let’s just say I am of the opinion that if you like Buffy, you will most likely enjoy Farscape as well.
Original post from Sept. 2007:
“Buffy in Space”
For anyone who is a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I like to start by describing Farscape as “Buffy in Space”. That description isn’t completely accurate, but the shows do share several similarities:
-Both shows have great ensemble casts where some of the most interesting characters aren’t necessarily the main one. One of Farscape’s underlying themes is the importance of family, and the show does a good job of exploring that dynamic between the characters.
-Both shows rely heavily on story and character arcs, lasting throughout a season and through the entire series. Like Buffy, Farscape’s first season starts off in a more episodic fashion (ie. “monster of the week”), but as the story progresses, the show becomes more and more serial. As such, it is really hard to jump in the middle of the show without having seen the beginning.
-Both shows feature great characters that you invest in. This sort of goes back to the ensemble cast thing, but I decided to list it separate. For me, I became invested in characters such as Crichton, Aeryn, and D’Argo from Farscape just as much as I was ever invested in Buffy, Angel, Willow, or Xander. In the case of both shows, the actors and the writers do a great job in keeping the characters interesting and fresh throughout the series without compromising what we love about them.
-Another similarity between Buffy and Farscape is that actions have consequences. The characters are affected by their actions and by what happens to them. They change and grow as the series progresses, causing you to invest in them even more.
-Both Buffy and Farscape are “genre” shows. Although Farscape lies more in the science fiction realm, it still has several fantasy elements and magic…probably more than you think.
-Both shows have a sense of humor. Farscape’s sense of humor is quite a bit more wacky, zany, and crazy than Buffy’s, especially in a couple “alternate reality” episodes. Farscape is definitely not afraid to get a bit “out there”.
I’m sure I could come up with a few more similarities between the two shows, but I’ll stop here as I’ve gone on long enough. Farscape is a great show, but it does take a little bit to get into it. It isn’t a show where you can jump into the middle and expect to know what is going on.
Oh yeah! I also wanted to say that I love Babylon 5. I recently got caught up with Supernatural, and I have loved every second of it. Chuck was my favorite new show last year, and it is really freaking funny a lot of the time.
So from my point of view, both of you guys are in for a treat. ;)
I’ve seen a little bit of Farscape. It never really grabbed me. But then again, shows that you watch random episodes of rarely do. But still, I might be willing to give it a shot at some point. Turning over my new television leaf, and all. :)
BTW, I’ll be posting my experiences as well. I’ll probably start on Sunday, and try to finish season 1 of Chuck by Wednesday (Because I have a trip next week :) )
I totally agree with you Polygon, Babylon 5 will be a treat, so long as you look at what it does right to begin with. I really think that while season 1 is a bit slow, people over-characterize that a bit. It’s low budget, the actors aren’t into their roles quite yet, and I’m not a big Sinclair fan. But otherwise, if you start seeing how deep the plots run, and see how the characters start to grow, it can still be a good experience.
We got a friend at work to watch the series finally. He said, “I didn’t mind season 1. Until I tried to re-watch it after finishing the rest of the series.”
@ “Did you watch Babylon Squared? Really fundamental story episode. About B4.”
Is it first season? Then probably not. I remember some episode that I think was about B4 where the first captain came back and everything else that happened was spoilerz.
Well this is truly going to be interesting!
The episodes concerning Babylon 4, were my favorite of all Season 1. Since they were the first epiosdes I had watched after the pilot ep The Gathering.
Also forgot to add that Polygon_Wizard is spot on with his comparsions to Buffy and Farscape another awesome show that people should take a look at, my main interest was the peacekeeper storyline and the interaction between John Crichton (Ben Browder) and Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black), they both worked well together and it was pure joy to watch them on screen. It was interesting see them again on Stargate SG-1 and I thought they were good addtions to the cast.
@Rusty: You should consider watching Babylon Squared at some point AT LEAST. Preferably Signs and Portents as well. Actually, preferably the rest of season 1. But those 2 episodes are amongst the favorites of the series, not just season 1.
I love farscape.. I found that I strangely identify with chiana and rigel.. But the story between Aeryn and John is freaking amazing.. If you liked buffy then I believe watching farscape from the beginning will please you as well.. and Scorpius still gives me the creeps… hes so evil..
One of the things I love about Farscape (and there are many) is how much you identify with the characters that are merely “puppets”. The Henson Creature shop has certainly done a ton of work over the years, and the stuff they did on Farscape is some of the best work they’ve ever done. It still amazes me that two of the main characters of the show are done completely with animatronics and puppetry, and yet soon you completely forget about that and end up thinking of them as living beings. In fact, the puppets work so well that the couple of times they tried to use CG for Rigel (in shots that couldn’t have been done with a puppet) it just didn’t work.
Scorpius is definitely creepy, and I think he is one of the best villains in TV history. He’s bit like Benjamin Linus from Lost in that he always seems to have a plan.
I should also mention that Farscape definitely subscribes to the school of cliffhanger endings for their finales. In fact, they are some of the best season cliffhangers I’ve ever seen on TV, and by best I mean the “scream at your television, I can’t believe they just did that, I gotta know what happens next” style of cliffhanger. It’s a good thing they’re on DVD now because when we had to wait months and months for the next season, it was almost torture. Let’s just say the Sci-Fi Channel had plenty of practice in delaying shows before BSG came along. BSG is just the latest victim.
Deals like that usually turn out well. Sounds interesting. I never watched B5, so I don’t have anything to say there. I LOVE Supernatural though. It’s one of my favorite shows. You’ve got cool tunes, cars, weapons, etc… with some creepiness and great sarcasm. Not to mention the awesome story and characters! I watched Chuck but didn’t really care for it until the end of the season. I could take it or leave it.
Hmmmm, Farscape, Buffy in space eh? I watched an ep or two but didn’t care for it. Not that that matters. I watched some Stargate Atlantis eps and didn’t like it till I watched it from episode 1. I loved Ben browder and Claudia Black in SG1.
@Care: The worst that can happen with a deal like this is that you waste a lot of time. The best is that you find a new love. I think the potential for good far outweighs the potential for bad.
Thanks you your input on the shows. :)
The classic rock soundtrack is one of the things I like the most about Supernatural. It gives the show a bit of a different flavor than anything else on TV. The show definitely would be the same without it, and it also wouldn’t be the same without the ‘67 Impala. :)
Hmmm… I think it’s finally time I watch both Babylon Five and Supernatural now. *off to Netflix*
Polygon_Wizard… after reading what you posted above, and hearing a lot about FS around, [i]and[/i] since I loved CB and BB on SG1, I decided to give Farscape another shot. I checked out the dvds and the first season is $ 378.00 (CAD)!!! WTF????? So I got the first season by other means. :wink:
Yeah, the Farscape DVDs are distributed by ADV Films, a small company that mostly deals with anime. That means the Farscape DVDs are anything but cheap. I own the entire series on the first run of DVDs. They’ve now got the “Starburst” editions, but they aren’t much cheaper.
I may own the show now, but I caught up with the show (when it was in the 3rd year) by using “other means”. In fact, using “other means” is usually a great way to catch up on tv shows you may have missed or are behind on. I use these means quite often. :)