(no subject)

[donutsweeper]

Have you ever watched a show because you hoped it would be good, even though it really wasn't? The kind of show that had potential in some way, either in the characters or the world building or whatever, but it just never quite gelled into the show you thought it could be yet you tune in week after week anyway?

More and more I'm finding that the show I'm watching is not the one that airing, but rather the shiny version I see it becoming (if the acting was better and the writing less flawed and the plot tighter etc etc etc) and then, as a result, being disappointed. The shows aren't grabbing my interest enough to truly be fannish about and fulfilling any of my needs that way so I'm just left watching and sighing over what might have been.

Sometimes I keep watching, other times I give up or the show is canceled or not renewed and just fades away. And every time it's just disappointing.

(I started to list all the current or recent that fit into this category for me and was so depressed by its sheer size I deleted it. *sighs*)

Comments

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

I know that most writing on TV is crap, but I'm wondering how much of our noticing it is because with fanfic, our expectations have been made a lot higher. We see how much better stories are when there is consistent characterization, actual explanations of in-plot stupidity, consequences for actions...and it really points out how much of that is lacking in prime-time TV. I wonder if we'd notice how bad it is on air if our standards hadn't been raised. It certainly seems like people who are not "fannish" (in our sense) about shows enjoy them a lot more, possibly because they see them as escapist entertainment and aren't thinking critically about them.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

That is true, I guess, fanfic lets us see a window into what the show might have been, it's a double edged sword that way.