Just What Is It With Some TV Shows?

TV watching

I’ve made the casual observation before that I find episode-by-episode reviews of some programs to be problematic. I don’t say that to gripe about any writer, format, or even those types of review in general; rather, it’s a reflection on the difficulties of discussing individual stories told against a larger, richer canvass.

Not too long back, I did a piece on BBC America’s Orphan Black. I specifically waited to do it until after I got a handful of episodes under my belt. Why? Well, the pilot was terrific, but then the 2nd and 3rd episode mired the show very quickly in some horribly predictable elements common to ‘weekly storytelling.’ (If I could see it, no doubt others could see it, too.) Episode 4 was great – the writers went back to what worked so well in the pilot … but then they’ve pretty much spent the remainder of the first season wandering through situations and characters better suited for conventional TV dramas instead of the unconventional.

In fact, some programs have a way of getting caught up in creative overkill. They go to great lengths to establish a world and its characters knowing full well that there will be future payoffs. In the short run, these shows practically antagonize their audience by making folks endure nonsense that doesn’t seem to add up to anything worth watching.

Syfy’s always found itself in some very treacherous waters so far as this phenomenon goes. Right now, they’re airing Defiance, an ambitious (and expensive!) cross-platform entertainment experiment – it’s a weekly TV program, but it’s also an online game. The easiest way to explain the story is to say that it explores Earth’s near-future wherein our planet – destroyed by a star war – is now jointly colonized by humans and several alien species left here after the battles ended. Despite a steady leak of viewers, Syfy is standing strong in their commitment to Defiance (being ‘defiant,’ one might say), already green-lighting a second season.

defiance_cast

I watched its premiere. I was only vaguely impressed, certainly not enough to pen a full review. Its characters were entirely predictable, and, while I found the future postulated interesting, I couldn’t figure out why the writers were insistent on presenting perhaps the oldest story in the book: why, it all starts with a murder! Slightly put off, I thought I’d do like I did with Orphan Black – give it a few episodes, see where it goes, and then write something.

However, I gave up on it only ten minutes into the fourth episode, and it’s no longer on my DVR.

Everything about the program was flat and dimensionless. There was some nice development of alien cultures, but it was all handled with such a “wow, isn’t this ground-breaking?” attitude that I had to wonder if the creative staff had never heard of such earlier programs as The Twilight Zone. Or Star Trek? Or All in the Family? Or M*A*S*H? Or even Keeping Up with the Kardashians?  See, clashing cultures hasn’t only been done; it’s been done to death! Throwing in alien bugs that eat human flesh doesn’t appear so much innovative as it does desperate.

By comparison, the Starz Network is trying hard to break the mold with its airing of DaVinci’s Demons, a series conceived and written by popular comics & screenwriter David S. Goyer. Although fictional, the show explores the life and times of legendary artist Leonardo DaVinci. To its credit, Demons has bitten off quite a meaty premise – far more complex (to my tastes) than Defiance – but the narrative is all over the place, making it a difficult show to sometimes follow much less review.

Da Vinci's Demons 2013

The pilot went to great lengths to demonstrate how far DaVinci was an aberration for his times. A painter. A critical thinker. A sculptor. A designer. Also, this renowned resident of Florence is shown to be at odds with both Rome (the Pope and the church) as well as the local aristocracy which just so happens to oppose the Vatican. However, the Medicis (Florence’s ruling elite) put aside their grievances and hire the visionary to build an arsenal of weapons with which to defend their city. From there, the plot expands, bringing in several secondary mysteries and even more opposing forces, and I thought much of it was weighted down in historical politics the writers very poorly explained.

Tom Riley imbues his portrayal of DaVinci as a dreamer and a man of justice, and, given Goyer’s background with superheroes, it all ends up feeling very much superhero-like (or is that ‘superhero-lite’?). DaVinci’s a bit manic, easily distracted by thoughts of even greater genius dawning on him whilst he’s in the middle of an already intelligent exploration, and that’s a vividly interesting way to present a complex character flawed by his own intellect. The trouble is, he’s also given to some very ‘carnal’ flights of fancy (this is cable, after all), and this also puts him in the Vatican’s crosshairs. They don’t know whether to burn him as a heretic or hire them to do their bidding.

For all of the programs highs, it has as many lows. Part of this is due to the fact that this first 8-episode season – like DaVinci’s fevered mind – tries to do too much too quickly, leaving a lot of the nuances of history (and real plot development) lost on the sidelines. Its best episodes thus far – so far as this reviewer is concerned – have been the ones with clear villains (a plague, a crooked judge), clear motivations (save DaVinci’s friends, save DaVinci’s life), and clear objectives (stop the plague, best the crooked judge). Hopefully, Goyer and his writers are listening.

Also, by contrast, this one will stay on my DVR for its recently announced 2nd season.

man-watching-tv

As a reviewer, I do sometimes find it difficult to sound-off on programs week-by-week. Some installments just don’t work – they seem tired or uninspired – whereas others give me a glimmer of hope, promising me that there’s more cause to tune in next time and see what happens next. It’d be great if shows could find a balance, but, in the meantime, I guess I’ll just have to choose more wisely.

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3 Comments

  1. I’m really enjoying Defiance and am not sure what you are getting at regarding the characters. It’s hard to find decent sci-fi and even harder to keep it around so I’ve got to keep supporting it. But if you don’t enjoy a show, I suppose there’s no reason to keep watching.

  2. To make this wall of text easier to read, you could add in some bold big letter quotes here and there to break it off. The title of this article told me basically nothing about what I was going to read.

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