Flash Forward
- Thread starter schwin
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You have your timing backwards, The return to the military type crap (on Jericho) was an attempt to lure back the audience it shed with the soap opera. But even then it was laced with crap about who was boinking who. It was too late and the audience never came back. I was one of those who left the series midway through the second season because I couldn't stand "Post-Apocalyptic Payton Place". When the series was revived with a promise of more excitement i had already moved on and never saw a single episode of the final season.
Look, the best stories out there let you know how the characters relate to each other. This gives the viewer insight as to the motivation and reasons for certain actions taken by characters. But there is a fine line here. This series is about the flash forward, who caused it, why, how, and how can they catch the person or persons responsible. EVERYTHING else is superfluous. This is not to say it is not necessary to give you insight into the characters. But it does not advance the story.
My problem is not with the fact that this sub-plot exists, but the amount of time devoted to a tangential device to make you care more for characters than you otherwise might. I also have a big problem with the lack of imagination with the personal life. Great. So we have an alcoholic super-cop whose personal life is falling apart with a wife who is going to leave him. Gee, never seen THAT before. YAWN!
I know I'm getting long winded here, but stay with me...
How much time did series like Lost, Heroes, 24, X Files, etc spend on two main characters' angst over their personal relationship in the first season? The answer is less than a few minutes per episode! You were informed of the relationship, then the story moved on to advance the plot. The plot was not hinging on who was getting it on with whom and dwelling of it for ever.
I disagree. The show started with human interest including the episodes that dealt with Eric and Mary's relationship, something which a lot of the anti-interpersonal relationship fans objected to, and the conflicts between Gray and Green. The show started going south when they introduced Ravenwood. That was in Episode 8.
Again, no. The show tried to recapture its original chemistry with the reintroduction of relationship based stories, starting with the Stanley and Mimi getting engaged, but it was too little too late. The damage had already been done by the Ravenwood storyline.
I agree...this is why a lot of people tuned-out Jericho - the soap was interfering with a really good story. I get enough of this from my wife's nightly All My Children viewing.
Yes we definitely disagree on what is good vs bad story telling. That is what is great about choice. You are free to think what you like and I am free to think what I like.
As for the story telling leading to military, of course it had to go there. Wouldn't you think after the nukes were unleashed, that the left over military of the country would eventually come in to town? This is when the story got good . This lead to us finding out who was in charge of the plot to nuke our cities-the home land security director. It also lead to us finding out what governments were left and what state belonged to which: Allied States of America , United States of America and The Republic of Texas. This was the interesting part of the story. Not the soap opera plots . The last 8 shows of the series tied up all these questions and made the ending very interesting and satisfying . Texas had to choose whether to go with the ASA or the USA.
But if soap opera plots are what you like , there is a channel called the Soap Opera Channel that has nothing but soap operas. I like my sci-fi shows with less soap and more action and intrigue.
Not if they had all been wiped out. Perhaps it would have been better if the attacks were more pervasive. That would have justified Jericho remaining essentially cut-off from the outside contacts which I believe ruined the series.
Again, I disagree; this is when the story got bad. And it is also when the story departed from its original plan (see above) which is always a bad sign.
<removed stuff about the mystery story>
If I wanted to watch a mystery, I would have tuned into a mystery. I was promised a high-concept soap, and that is what they should have stuck with IMHO.
I want my character/relationship dramas set in space, or in other fantastical situations, and I want them in HD with 5.1.
I'm not going to apologize for the networks working to please me.
But I will feel bad for those folks who's interests are so rarified that the networks don't work to please them. :tux:
Bicker has an apt screen name. Too bad his interpretation of what makes a good sci-fi based drama is 180° out of phase with the way ratings of this type of series have gone. Again, see Lost, 24 and X Files as reference. SG1, SGA are two other non network examples.
This is not to say that interpersonal sub plots are unnecessary. It is just a matter of how much you make it the focus of the story.
Of course now comes the "no it isn't" comment from Bicker...
(see Monty Python's Argument Sketch)
This is not to say that interpersonal sub plots are unnecessary. It is just a matter of how much you make it the focus of the story.
Of course now comes the "no it isn't" comment from Bicker...
(see Monty Python's Argument Sketch)
What are you smoking? Haven't you ever heard of Lost? Battlestar Galactica? Didn't you know that Fringe was one of the two biggest new shows of last season? And Warehouse 13 -- the biggest premiere season ever on Syfy. MY kind of genre programming can beat the hardcore SF portion of the genre into the ground, ratings-wise.
Well when you post something as clueless as what you posted, what do you expect? :tux:
Had you actually read my post rather than automatically saying "no it isn't" you would have seen that I mentioned "lost" as the correct way to balance the personal and sci-fi aspects of a story. Too much soap drives away audience. Flash Forward had too much soap in the gravy this week.
See ya
Tony
And now for the "No it doesn't" post....
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Two things that will kill a show are Sci-Fi and Soap. So far, FlashForward is about drama, mystery and averting a potential crime of epic propotions. Bring in the Soap factor and the normal people will tune-out in droves; introduce the Sci-Fi factor as anything more than a supporting element to a good story and ABC will have to bring in Robin Williams to revive his role of Mork to inject a healthy dose of Sci-Fi humor to help attract regular viewers. There is a reason why shows like BSG and Babylon 5 are not on normal broadcast television...most people can't stand 'em.
Keep the Soap and Sci-Fi to a minimum and ABC will have a winner worth watching.
Keep the Soap and Sci-Fi to a minimum and ABC will have a winner worth watching.
Lets take a look at B5. I personally liked seasons 2-3 and was hooked for seasons 4 and 5 though they were not very good. As to huge audience, B5 isn't the best example. The nick-name "Babble-on 5" was common in season 1 which really blew. Why? Because it dealt mostly with interpersonal stories. It was a set-up for the rest of the series but B5 was struggling for audinece from the get-go, The ratings for that show started ay just okay(70% of the then TNG audience which was respectable) Then fell sharply midway through season 1. In seasons two and three they came back up slowly and never reached the level of the pilot movie. The PTEN Network crashed and burned by the end of season 3. Sci-Fi channel picked up season 4 and passed on a 5th season. TNT picked up Season 5 and a couple of awful movies.
I'll state it once again and perhaps some will read far enough to see that I am not saying to lose interpersonal stories. This is a vital part of story telling and makes us like and root for or hate and boo-hiss the characters. The point is the balance of the interpersonal stories versus the meat and potatoes of the story.
If there isn't any interpersonal definition to make us care for the characters, the series will fail.
If there FOCUS of the series is interperonal relationships with the main story arc as a backdrop to the soap, the series will fail.
Again Lost, X Files and 24 all have interpersonal stories but at NO TIME are they the main part of the story. They are the setting for the story and motivation for the characters actions in telling the story.
Flash Forward is on the brink right now. It can go either way right now. If it falls into the Sci-Soap trap, it will lose significant audience (mostly men) and fail.
Two things that will kill a show are Sci-Fi and Soap. So far, FlashForward is about drama, mystery and averting a potential crime of epic propotions. Bring in the Soap factor and the normal people will tune-out in droves; introduce the Sci-Fi factor as anything more than a supporting element to a good story and ABC will have to bring in Robin Williams to revive his role of Mork to inject a healthy dose of Sci-Fi humor to help attract regular viewers. There is a reason why shows like BSG and Babylon 5 are not on normal broadcast television...most people can't stand 'em.
Keep the Soap and Sci-Fi to a minimum and ABC will have a winner worth watching.
What he said.
BTW- B5 was on broadcast network (PTEN) for seasons 1, 2 and 3.
Not at all. I cannot explain why people who are by nature consistently pedantic chose not to find fault in programs which were ripe with opportunities for them to find fault with them. I can only explain my consistency; I cannot explain their inconsistency.
I did read your message. I did note that you mentioned Lost. I didn't see fit to ridicule your inconsistency in that regard.
Every time you post some clueless misrepresentation of my position, I will post a reply highlighting your error. :tux:
I get it. When you asked if I had ever heard of lost following my post pointing out Lost you were noting that I mentioned lost. Got it.
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