The Categories of Great Television
It's no secret that television stations are famous for destroying great television shows, either through cancellation or through inner destruction by ruining them on screen. A good example is the classic example of the original Star Trek. This was a show way ahead of its time, and it was taken off the air before its time. Then put back on the air, and then shut down for good. (well, until it was reinvented decades later as a brand new set of franchises that served to fall down again before reinventing itself in movies again). But that being said, television networks constantly destroy great shows, and we're the victims each time, and there's really nothing we can do about it.
But I thought I'd talk about some of the great shows, and to do so I'd like to point out some of the categories I've created for how I like to distinguish television shows.
1. Great Television Series
1b. Good TV Series, But Not Great
2. Good Series That Were Destroyed By the Networks
3. Great Shows That Wore Themselves Out
4. One Season Wonders That Destroyed Themselves
5. One Season Wonders That Networks Cut Off Life Support in Their Infancy
6. Fun Shows That Were Good At Times But Didn't Always Do It
6. Everything Else That Sucks
Great Television Series
There are some great shows that fit into this category, and unlike a lot of critics, I will argue that the actual listings that fit in here vary from person to person. But for me, I would have to say that there are some brilliant shows that have existed and were done so well that they will forever be the ones to be compared to. Here are some examples.

LOST: One of the few shows that has been strong from start to finish. It even had a mid series few seasons that people said they didn't like, but after rewatching those shows, you realize how important those particular seasons were. People didn't know enough to realize what was being done during those seasons, and now on its own, the whole series is probably the one to compare to forever. We're about 7 episodes from a series completion, and the show has never been as strong as it is now.
Battlestar Galactica (the remake): They took a hokey 70s show and turned it into something powerful, ground-breaking and so dramatic that normal television dramas don't even hold a candle to it. Sure, there were a few hit and miss episodes, but the writings was brilliant, and the acting was dead-on. Unlike LOST, it suffered from its closing up of the series, but that's because it seemed like they were making it up as they went along, not realizing how they were going to tie up all of the loose ends. LOST never seems to have had that problem as everything (or practically everything) tied itself into the final season.
Babylon 5: The series was designed from start to finish to play out exactly as it did. Sure, there were a few episodes that were hit and miss, but it went over a 5 year period. The last season was a bit weaker as it didn't have the overarching nemesis of the Shadows to act as the enemy, but it was still done very well. Their attempt to spin off a new series after it (Crusade) failed miserably, but fortunately that other series doesn't have to be looked at as a condemnation of the original material.
M*A*S*H: One of the few non-science fiction series to reach the top point of television presentation. A comedy, it was different from other shows because it also had some of the most powerful dramatic moments in television history (including the first usage of swear words in a TV series; Alan Alda called someone "a son of a bitch", which back then was HUGE). Later generations tend to see the show as more of an old show that isn't that funny but for its time, it was ground-breaking, and it served as a direct condemnation of the Vietnam War, even though it was really about the Korean War. It's somewhat ironic that the show ran longer than Korean War by several times.Get Smart: Another great old comedy with Don Adams as the clueless Maxwell Smart (later played by Steve Carrell in the latest movie adaptation). Most people don't realize the show was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, two of the greatest comedic geniuses of the 20th century.
These are just a few of the great shows that existed. Here's a list of others I think belong here, although not always were they as spot-on as the previous few I mentioned.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Hillstreet Blues
Monk
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Deadwood
Stargate SG1
Again, as previously mentioned, there are many others that others might want to include with their lists. But this brings me to a secondary category, and that's where things start to fall apart for television. There are a lot of shows that were really good, but they didn't always produce great episodes. A lot of times they were hit and miss, even if their shows ended on a great note (and some haven't ended yet), like:
The Sopranos
Weeds
The Tudors
Dr. Who (the new one)
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate Universe
V (the new one...the old one was atrociously bad)
Magnum, PI (great fun, very hit and miss)
Ghost Whisperer
Roswell
Smallville
Veronica Mars
Again, there are probably a dozen more, but it's hard to remember them all.
But that brings us to another category, and that's the shows that wore themselves out. We all know the "jumping the shark" reference that comes from Happy Days when Fonzie jumped a shark with his motorcycle. For bad journalists, what this serves is as a vehicle to say that a show has hit a moment where it is no longer the show it used to be. But that just shows that most of them lost touch with the metaphor, because what was happening to Happy Days at that time was that it was once a great show, but people stopped watching it. So this HUGE media event was created where it was advertised day and night that Fonzie was going to be jumping a shark on Happy Days. THAT was the "jumping the shark" moment. The network was so desperate to get its fan base back that it overhyped an event that was really stupid. THAT is jumping the shark. Anyway.
Other shows that started out great but died out were like Heroes, which had a great first season, and then it has been nothing but an attempt to appear relevant again. It's not. The show sucks now. It's never coming back.
Part of the problem with these types of shows is specifically in the vision and in the writing. The writers fall in love with themselves, and they think they're being really hip and cool, but they're being corny and cliched. They do stupid writing techniques (like the old writing cliche of writing a serial story where you always end with the hero falling into an endless pit and then start the next episode with him "leaping out of the pit"). The vision of the story suffers here as well, as the producers and directors want to make the show seem visually relevant and hip, but it ends up being worthless a trite. An example of this is with a show that was never hip to begin with, and that's Flashforward. They started with a great visual premise, but had nothing to add to it. So the show was on autopilot until they decided to "pull a LOST" and take the show off for half a season and then come back like they were planning the hiatus all along. People aren't going to watch a show when you do that, and you didn't hook them the first time.
One season wonders are caused by two problems. One problem is the show itself, as in it really has nowhere to go after its first season. Like Heroes. The other problem is when the studio has no confidence in the show and makes attempts to pull it off the air because of ratings. Quite often, the show doesn't last (or just disappears). A good example of a great show that could have continued but suffered from network ailment was Jericho. The show had great promise, but the studio pulled it, then allowed it to continue for a bit, then pulled it. So it ended, but it seemed really forced, turning a great first season into a hurried finish through half of a second season. They're doing that with a lot of other shows as well. People like conclusions, but it really needs to make sense. Otherwise, the show dies a stupid death.
The last category is unfortunately the norm for most television shows. There are so many bad shows on the air that actually do better than the good shows that people just don't watch them anymore. Grey's Anatomy is a good example. I wanted to like the show because I was a Katherine Heigl fan (from Roswell). I stopped being a fan after Grey's Anatomy. What a bad show. I tried watching it but it tried so hard to be Scrubs with relevance. An ER with a laugh track (or needing a laugh track). It was a horrible show. Please let it die.
Other shows are just as bad. Reality shows are even worse. I understand that people will do anything for their few minutes of fame and don't want to actually work for a real living but be famous for being famous. I don't care. I don't want to watch them. I won't watch them. I don't care that some girl got a boob job because she wants to be seen as relevant in the real world of her reality show existence that no one cares about except her and a few thousand of her wannabe Facebook friends. Reality shows have completely destroyed television. For every good American Idol (which I don't personally watch, but recognize its relevance and good attributes) there are so many crappy reality shows that are essentially attempts to popularize bad social science with spot assessments of little merit. I don't care how many times people think the world will turn into a Hobbesian dystopia once controls are removed, I don't buy it, and I still think the only reason people become such assholes is because there's a money pay off at the end of those shows. Man, those shows bug the crap out of me.
Anyway, that's my quick assessment on television that everyone has been waiting for. Okay, just my stuffed animals were waiting. Okay, even they didn't want it. But it's my blog, dammit!
Labels: Television
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