Pun on the title of the show and its confusing storylines

Okay, you know it. LOST time. The more I think about it, the more I’m into. Yeah, there were barely any answers. Why was Walt special? Why did Claire need to raise Aaron? How did all that electromagnetic energy stuff work? Dharma? Others? Still not sure I know it all. But the more I’m thinking about it, the more it doesn’t matter.

As much as we like to argue with this truth, Lost was never about the mysteries, the plot twists, the answers. Yes, that was all fascinating and fun and enjoyable. But art is never about plot, it is a subtle character study meant to relate to the viewer, causing us to confront questions within ourselves. Art should challenge our own perceptions of the world, make us think, and be beautiful as hell. I’d say, Lost did it. Yes, with a little complex (i.e. vague), spiritual, semi-intelligent but mostly non-sensical whatever, but still good at the end of the day.

My interpretation of the end: all of the alternate reality was Jack’s (and only Jack’s, I think) “ending” (it only ends once) or afterlife or heaven or what-have-you. He had to create this to be able to let go or say goodbye. This explains why certain people were missing (Miles, Lapidus) and why everyone looked the same as they did when Jack died. Also, this explains certain dialogue (Christian’s “Some died before you, some after” and Kate’s “I’ve missed you” meaning, she’s missed him since she’s been alive years after he’s died). The brilliance of it sinks in the more I think about. Really, I just wanted them all to sit down and then Walt walks in, sort of glowing, and we find out: he was controlling everything all along! That would have been awesome and creepy.

In the end, the finale was enjoyable. And it was challenging. So, I’m a supporter. Now, I’m just excited for the wacky Lost spinoff, The Island: The Lost Years of Ben and Hurley. I mean, Hurley said to Ben, “You were a great number two.” My interpretation? Even though we don’t see it, the two spend years (hundreds, maybe thousands) taking care of the island. Now that’s what I want to see! It’s Odd Couple-esque, with silly fights over Dharma rations and the two reminiscing about the good old days. “Ben, remember when you killed Locke? And Juliet hated you? And you pretended to be Henry Gale and fooled us all? That was awesome!” “And Hurley, remember that time you never lost weight and everyone made fun of you? And Kate, Sawyer, and Jack could never quite figure it out? I wish I could have been there for the golf course... maybe we can rebuild it.” It’ll be the best spinoff since Joey.

For reals, Lost provided us with six great years of television. Engaging, intriguing, challenging while still being funny and adventure packed. Truthfully, television at its best. The theological and philosophical stuff might have fallen flat at times, but Lost has broken an important barrier. It was a cultural phenomena that made people take notice, proposing that, yeah, television is art. I will always support that.

xoxo

Watched the season finale of Gossip Girl last night with the crew. It was the first episode of the show that I’d watched in a group for ages. I distinctly remember watching the second season premiere with a big group at my friends Allie and Sarah’s house. I remember how much we FREAKED out when Marcus suddenly became royalty... and British in one of the purest examples of why that show is so awesome. Seriously, for weeks my friends and I kept repeating “I’m a Lord, I’m British” in an awesome deep British accent and laughing our heads off. But then school kicked into gear and our lives were hectic, leaving no time for group Gossip Girl. We did all want to watch the season two finale together, the huge graduation episode. But it aired the same night as our own graduation. While we joked about how we should just put that on a big screen and have the entire senior class watch it instead of actually graduating ourselves, I don’t think the school would have gone for it. Then came college, with as many changes for Blair and Serena as for me and my pals. So I was thousands of miles away, without my pals or GG watch parties. And what a travesty that was.

Because as I watched the show last night with three of my closest friends, I was reminded: this is how Gossip Girl is meant to be viewed. The series is all about the importance of relationships, of all kinds. It should be watched while surrounded by others on a comfy couch, not on a laptop in the solitude of a dorm room. Not to mention, the show’s heavy outta-nowhere surprises. It’s a lot more enjoyable to experience these in a group and jump and screech and become too invested in the lives of fictional characters with friends than all by yourself. Gossip Girl is the show of the 21st century, focused on our love of drama, surprise, and instant gratification. We like our teen soaps to be fast moving, with new drama constantly unfolding. Because, that’s what it feels like to be a teenager: constant motion. Schwartz and Savage understand this, and the show thrives on that youthful feeling, a need for drama, adventure, importance. The beginning.

These ramblings don’t even include the show’s literary merits (of which there are many, believe me). In this post, I simply want to hi-light the pure beauty that is the show’s ability to completely deconstruct any relatable high school experiences (it is a hyper-realistic story of incredibly rich, spoiled, and horrible people that have their every move monitored) while simultaneously mirroring the exact emotions of being young. Gossip Girl bares no resemblance to my life whatsoever, but I can’t take my eyes off the thing. While some profess to only like the show for it’s glossy fashion and pretty people, I know there’s more to it. Despite very similar premises (both involving glossy fashion and pretty people), 90210 and Gossip Girl receive very different quantities of fans and different levels of critical attention. Without even understanding why, people are watching Gossip Girl out of some unrealized desire to witness a warped expression of youth. An escape as way of a mirror. Not to mention, it’s aesthetically marvelous, hilarious as hell, ridiculous, and always enjoyable.

All I’m saying, the GG people do amazing work and people need to stop hating. Fin.

Late Night S'mores

Well, it’s just the week for re-hashing old drama! Which is really very fitting as it’s also finals time. In the last few days, Leno has done a horrible job at the White Houses’s Correspondent Dinner, Letterman has explained that he originally wanted Conan to join him and Jay in the infamous superbowl add, and Conan has given his first interview since the Late Night Wars of earlier this year (all three full stories can be found here. You go, Ken Tucker!)

Clearly, it’s been a very exciting time for old late night drama. Which really, is my favorite drama. But have we learned anything new? Not really.

Jay Leno still isn’t funny. Also, he’s still pretty much a jerk. Please watch the video and note that he actually says “well, this is a tough room.” False, Jay. Actually, you are just the least entertaining man ever (also note that our president is funnier).

David Letterman is still willing to sacrifice anything for a joke. To Dave, the late night wars were hilarious. He had gotten sucked into drama in the early 90s when he got “the late shift” but when the new dramadies rolled around, he was just entertained. He took glee in watching everyone mock his long time nemesis. But after it all, he wanted to put it all aside to make an awesome superbowl commercial.

Conan O’Brien is still awesome and still got totally screwed. Poor, poor Coco. He really was treated horribly. In our current television society, no one gets enough time. In the good ole’ days, a show would get a season (sometimes two) to get its footing. Network execs understood that not everything became an instant hit after the pilot (the Seinfeld pilot was so un-noteworthy that Julia Louis-Dreyfus didn’t even know that it existed until the series came out on DVD years later, and imagine where we’d be without that classic), and shows were allowed to live on quietly, slowly building a fan base. But those were the golden ages without sex predators and crappy social networking sites (I’m looking at you, new Facebook), and now we’re a society seeking instant gratification and little shows like Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show get the short end of the stick.

The point of all of this? Kids, study up. Because you aren’t going to be able to make it as a late night comedian.

Glee schmeee

So, Glee came back, like, three weeks ago. Now, I know this isn’t exactly timely. But, nothing I do with this blog is timely, apparently. For example, you might have noticed that I started the blog months ago and have yet to make another post. But of course, you didn’t notice. Because you aren’t reading the blog. Anyway, to continue with this theme of the blog, I’m going to discuss Glee’s return.

Now the return of this show is important because of the show itself, which is fun and entertaining. I don’t think it’s the second coming of television as many of my contemporaries do, but the program’s campy and funny and it’s got some sick beats. So I’m watching. But the greater importance of its return is in the show’s programming. The pilot debuted late last year, around May. It immediately caused buzz and I remember saying when I watched it, “This is going to be big.” Because I know the heartbeat of the American masses. But the pilot was just a sneak peek, and the show really began, with weekly episodes, last fall. The show ran a healthy 13 episodes, then had a big blow-out fall finale and went on hiatus for 5 months.

I was discussing Glee’s return with some of my friends, casual television viewers, and they commented how excited they were for the second season. No, I corrected them, it’s not a new season, it’s just the second half of the first. They were confused. But the show was off the air for so long? And didn’t it already come out on DVD? Seems like a new season to me. And these are significant insights. Yes, the long hiatus and DVD release did imply a new season. However, this wasn’t the truth.

The idea of a mid-season hiatus and an early DVD release aren’t new. All TV shows take hiatuses, this is the nature of stretching 22 episodes for nine months. But my friends were correct in thinking that Glee’s hiatus had been particularly long. This is a pattern that has long been followed by cable programs (Psych, Greek, etc. divide their season in two, with a lengthy break in between). Cable series have also come out on DVD in volumes (Battlestar Galactica which was released in segmented seasons). But this was a new approach for a network show to take.

Is this a step in the right direction? Yes, television needs to become less dichotomized. Why must there be a certain season for television to exist? It flourishes in the school year calendar and then disappears in the summer. There has been a movement away from this format with cable television, and it’s been a welcome change. So, yes. It’s good that Glee is questioning the traditional format of television. Like I said, it’s dead and rebirthing, ya know?

But it worries me that the television season, as a narrative structure, is losing all meaning. Whether a show has massively long seasons (like the O.C.) or teeny ones (like the UK Office), there is always that same continuity and that same pattern of an overall story being told. Because that’s what’s most fascinating about television: it is a medium that must work on many different levels. The individual episode has to tell a complete story, which is part of the larger story of the season, which is just a small segment of the overall series as a whole. This is the most fascinating aspect of television, which I believe makes it the most dynamic form of storytelling. But as the notion of the season is fragmented, do we risk losing this continuity of narrative?

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Television is dead, what should we do?

I have named this blog “TV is DEAD” not because it thematically explains the purpose of my ramblings, but because I thought it was flashy and catchy and might grab yo eye. Also, after I become an internet celebrity, I thought it’d look really good on a t-shirt. Sort of deep, but mostly just totally vague. However, since I have constructed the entirety of my blog under this name, I imagine it only make sense that I actually apply what I write to this main concept. And I do believe that television is dead. And reborn. Again and again. Phoenix much? The concept of television has been constantly evolving and changing since it first began. “I love Lucy” led to “The Dick van Dyke show” which became “All in the Family” which evolved into “McGyver” that paved a straight path to “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Seinfeld” which prepared viewers for the modern world of television today. (Telling ya, without Bev, there’d be no Josh Schwartz. And if there’d been no Seinfeld? We definitely wouldn’t be enjoying the going-ons at Paddy’s Pub.)

Television is a fluid medium. Like the majority of art forms, one movement rises to popularity, spends a few happy years ruling the world, and then a new style is developed to revolt against the contemporary style of the day. So it continues. Romanticism was replaced by Modernism which was replaced by Postmodernism, and some how all of that came from pre-historic cave paintings. See what I’m saying? This is a world of development and evolution, time moves quickly so art moves faster. Here I would insert the Ferris Bueller quote about “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around...” but this site isn’t called “Movies are DEAD” so I’m moving on. (See what I did there?)

Now that I’ve pulled some B.S. out of thin air to explain a stupid title, we can get down to the real fun. Which is us (well, just me as there is no you yet and thus no us) talking about my personal favorite medium of art, that which is the most fascinating, dynamic, and challenging. You guessed it, Harry Potter fanfiction. Nope! Gotcha! So, TV talk it is. You can expect other senseless ramblings like this in the future.

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