2006, In Review: TV
I don't have much more to add on the state of the American long form narrative that is television.
You know the drill: Heroes and The Office rule, OK?
30 Rock is comedic gold and, although I hate to say it, slowly occupying that gigantic Arrested Development shaped hole in my heart. [Watch Mean Girls again while you are at it, Tina Fey is a genius.]
Mark can chastise me all he wants, but I am going to see Lost through to the end of the season. Let's hope Brian K. Vaughan can teach the producers a thing or two about narrative economy.
And while I wouldn't call Dexter my favorite show of the season, I cannot think of any other series that I more looked forward to week after week.
That's it for this round.
Actually, I need to say a word about Battlestar Galactica, possibly the most critically overrated series in the history of the medium. Which is not to say the show is bad. Far from it. But it has become so allegorically heavy handed as to sabotage the basic soap-opera dynamics that made the show such an entertaining surprise. Nor can I stomach the Mormon mythos draped in the trappings of the science fiction genre. Seriously, it makes L Ron Hubbard look subtle.
You know the drill: Heroes and The Office rule, OK?
30 Rock is comedic gold and, although I hate to say it, slowly occupying that gigantic Arrested Development shaped hole in my heart. [Watch Mean Girls again while you are at it, Tina Fey is a genius.]
Mark can chastise me all he wants, but I am going to see Lost through to the end of the season. Let's hope Brian K. Vaughan can teach the producers a thing or two about narrative economy.
And while I wouldn't call Dexter my favorite show of the season, I cannot think of any other series that I more looked forward to week after week.
That's it for this round.
Actually, I need to say a word about Battlestar Galactica, possibly the most critically overrated series in the history of the medium. Which is not to say the show is bad. Far from it. But it has become so allegorically heavy handed as to sabotage the basic soap-opera dynamics that made the show such an entertaining surprise. Nor can I stomach the Mormon mythos draped in the trappings of the science fiction genre. Seriously, it makes L Ron Hubbard look subtle.
posted by d l wright at 12/21/2006 03:41:00 PM
3 Comments:
i couldn't agree more. (i just started watching season 2 not 3 of the office, but it had me in stiches)
why are the mormon "mythos" parallels in battlestar gallactica any harder to stomach than other allegories in the science fiction genre?
i don't mean to be contrarian, and i don't know shit about the show,
i haven't seen it, but science fiction has pretty much always been laced with religion, i guess i'm curious, what makes this one different?
it seems like passing off science fiction as eternal truth would be more offensive than simply making a science fiction show.
It's a fair question.
But, I am curious as to what you mean by science fiction always being laced with religion. I am no expert on the genre, but I don't exactly see where you are drawing this from. Star Trek, probably the most notable sci-fi television series, is about as agnostic as they come.
the messiah prophet in dune, what was his name. . . paul something
the ancient egyptian gods in stargate turn out to be aliens posing as gods, then in stargate sg-1 and atlantis they've gotten obsessed with "what it means to be a god"
the matrix. . . need i exlain?
blade runner the artificially created guy confronts his creator
AI
L'Engle's whole series that spouted from A Wrinkle in Time
Asimov's The Last Question deals with a computer called Multivac that has many god-like characteristics and eventually determines the fate of the universe
The H.G. Wells one, The Sleeper Awakes, or When the Sleeper Awakes. . . deals with Messianism
most of these aren't denominationally specific, but some are, and many are Christian as opposed to simply dealing with some concept of a "higher power."
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