My relationships with television shows.

[timepiececlock]

Avatar: The Last Airbender - I've basically dumped everyone for you. (except Scrubs) Are you happy? Cause I am.

Battlestar Galactica - I feel we're growing apart. It could have to do with the fact that I haven't seen you since you picked up the crazy pilot and tried to kill Adama. Again. AGAIN! Why does that man not have a bodyguard?

Veronica Mars - You're like my t.v. fuckbuddy. I tend to wait and see you in large bursts, but I will always come back in the end. Please don't kill off my ship!

Naruto - I've started reading you again, I've heard your animated twin will be laying off the filler someday soon, and my new non-canon ship is all I read of your fanfic now. Basically it's just like last year, except the guilty new ship.

House M.D.: I've sort of informally dumped you though you might not know it yet. How sad is it that right now one of my favorite shows on tv is a cable kids-to-teen fantasy series, and that said show has a better understanding of archetypes, parallels, symbolism, cross-season story arcs, character development, philosophy, and continuity than a big-budget, star-driven, hour-long network drama? It's a sick sad world.

Grey's Anatomy: I've seen most of season 2 and most of the current season, and for some reason I'm still watching you even though I never really liked you all that much, and even though Derek Sheppard still hasn't been eaten by a bear. Why is that? Oh well-- as soon as I'm not living with my parents anymore I won't be sucked into your twisted universe of irresponsible co-dependent whiners. P.S. Christina should go postal on the entire rest of the cast.

Scrubs: I'm working my way through your fourth season reruns, and you continue to be a joy in my life. You are weird and wacky and funny and I love you.

Doctor Who: I haven't seen your Christmas Special, but I'll probably watch it in the next two weeks. I'm still in mourning over how you lovingly reaffirmed my OTP, left dialogue clues for enough babyfics and alternate universe fics to fill a cookie jar, and then cruelly tore my OTP apart. I've forgiven you, but I'm still not sure if I've healed yet.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip: You and me were kinda killing time together because we're both madly crushing on Bradley Whitford. This doesn't make for a lasting relationship, but for now it's decent enough.

Lost: I'm like a season and a half behind, and I'm perfectly okay with that. Maybe I'll watch it four years from now when it ends. And after the entire audience bitches that it never made any sense or went anywhere, I will laugh at you. I will laugh loudly.

Heroes: The first half of season 1 didn't thrill me, but you're the kind of show that I think could be really good if only someone else were writing it. Your pacing sucks and you have no dramatic tension. But you have POTENTIAL. I wish you would use it! If only they'd invite Joss Whedon to pen a few episodes. Then it could be love.

The Office: You're that boyfriend whose socially embarassing but has the brilliance and charm of a warm, shiny, sparkly thing. I love you though sometimes I can't look directly at you.

Comments

Re: surfing the friendsfriends list

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Let me stop you right there: DBZ was not deep. It just wasn't. I loved it too once upon a time, but "deep" is never one of the descriptors I'd choose for that show. There was only one character on that series who got any real character development or depth, and even he didn't get as much as he could have.

Ranma 1/2 was fun and interesting and INSANE, but it wasn't particularly deep either. It had characters that never ever changed. Which is a good thing, because it's basically a sitcom anime and characters didn't need to change. It didn't have a plot, it had a situation.

I haven't watched Bleach or Case Closed for more than an episode or two.

InuYasha tries for depth, and Naruto actually succeeds at it, and FMA is one of the most deeply moving animated shows I've ever seen.

I think what you mean by depth is different from what I mean. I don't think having rounded cahracters or a plotline or even themes gives something "depth." To have depth a series has to have multiple themes that cross episodes and seasons, it has to have dynamic characters that grow and change over time, it has to resonate emotionally or philosophically wiht its audience, it has to have a storyline that grows and changes over time, and it has to have something to say to the world in its overall meaning.

I usually like that in dramatic series like FMA or ATLA, but I don't think its necessary for sitcoms like Ranma 1/2.

Re: surfing the friendsfriends list

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

I believe Dragonball Z had that depth you're talking about. Flawed? As hell. DBGT? Canon rape to the extreme. However, what it does, it does very well. And how is there only one character with development. O_o. I mean, Goku was often a static device (but so are other main characters in a lot of series it see, Naruto himself, as much as I love him) but pretty much the rest of the cast has wonderful development.

I'll agree with you on Ranma 1/2, although I enjoyed it in the manga. But I'll disagree with you on Inuyahsa, even if the manga is dragging like hell. I found I loved the anime and found it well-rounded, even if sometimes Kagome/Inuyasha moments were written wrong.

FMA anime was powerful and moving, plot holes aside.

Bleach and Case Closed are awesome, well, at least the Bleah manga is awesome.

Another one I forgot to mention was One Piece, which is probably one of the best stories ever told. And then there is Princess Tutu, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, FCLC, Samurai Champloo, and Samurai X, all of which are good series (even if I don't like Cowboy Bebop, I can see how it's still a good story.)

All these animes do have flaws, but I also think Avatar does. And while anime often pales in comparison to the corresponding manga, I get the feeling they're trying to tell a story instead of being mostly cheap laughs.

Re: surfing the friendsfriends list

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

DBZ was so repetitive and often boring that it eventually made me stop caring and stop watching. I didn't notice any of the characters going through particularly meaningful persnality changes except Vegita, and he was a supporting character, not even the main character. The characters got physically older, but with the exception of Vegita their personalities didn't change or grow, really, because they were rarely ever pulled out of the familiar set-up.

PT: yes yes
CB: yes
OS: sort of
FLCL: yes yes
SC: sort of
SX: dunno

And while anime often pales in comparison to the corresponding manga, I get the feeling they're trying to tell a story instead of being mostly cheap laughs.

Like I said, anime often goes for drama whereas western cartoons go for comedy. In both categories you get cheap stuff and you get stuff with depth.

Re: surfing the friendsfriends list

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

And I've read enough bad manga to know that it's usually fifty/fifty when comparing manga to anime, not a majority.