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Written by Terry Lawson, McClatchy-Tribune
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Friday, 16 March 2007 |
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I didn't need "24" to sell me on dramatic serials; I've been hooked since I was a kid, when my neighborhood theater recycled theatrical serials from the 1940s and early '50s like "Phantom Girl of the Kongo!" and "Zombies of the Stratosphere!"
But the success of "24," coupled with consumers finally catching up to the convenience of TiVo and its DVR imitators, resulted in a return to the continuing-story form that the networks, with rare exceptions, had long shunned.
Now, however, according to the show-biz trade paper Variety, serials are again out of favor. That's because for every one that built an audience ("Prison Break "), five more have driven the audiences away - some for good reason, like Fox's ridiculous "Vanished"; others after audiences found them too complicated or, maybe, too good.
My guess is, that was what happened to "Nine," which was the most intriguing show to debut last season. "Nine" was a mystery that began with the release of nine hostages from a bank robbery; from there, we moved back and forth between the aftermath and the bond that held the former hostages together, and flashbacks of what happened to the hostages during the siege.
"Nine" was obviously playing the spiritual card, the we-are-all-connected theme that floats like a mystical scold through "Babel" and "21 Grams," the films of the directing-writing team Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arriaga.
But it also contained an existential mystery - how did what happened to them, especially the daughter of a bank executive, change their lives forever? We will never know, unless the writers produce a book or something, because production ceased before the threads were unraveled and retied.
It's my theory that the new serials don't fail because they are too complicated or cosmic, but because they are too smart. A few weeks ago, after one ludicrous episode of "24," also known as televised crack, bloggers, critics and water-cooler pundits were heard complaining that the show had finally jumped the shark - TV parlance for going so far over the top that it can never be taken seriously again.
To which I replied, when didn't "24" jump the shark? I thought "24" was the shark, always moving, eating everything in its path, clueless as to its destiny. After reading the hoopla I watched two episodes of Season 1 before laughing it off my TV; it took a friend to convince me that its beauty was its absurdly drawn characters and wish-fulfillment fantasies.
With Season 2, I was ready to buy a CTU decoder ring. Much of the fun of "24," as humorist Dave Barry's ridiculous real-time blog made public, is making fun of the show as it goes along. Where did Jack get that suit? Did he visit a tailor during the soda commercial?
So, note to the networks: The serials that tanked this year? Not dumb enough. What the good serial provides is week after week of stuff so crazy we can yell back at it. I don't watch "Prison Break," but friends who are fans tell me this season's best episode was a battle of wills between an escapee and a coyote.
I say, retool "Zombies of the Stratosphere." | Only registered users can write comments.
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