The "Worked Late on a Friday" Linkspam

[next_to_normal]

* Between Much Ado and Trust Me, there are a zillion Clark Gregg interviews floating around, and he keeps getting asked about Marvel's Agents of Blah Blah, so I'mma keep linking 'em. Plus, a spoiler possibly revealing how Agent Coulson is getting resurrected.

* Joss Whedon is also talking a lot about The. Show. With. All. The. Periods. Oh, and Avengers 2, of course.

* Texts From Superheroes. What will the internet think of next?

* Another article examining the problems with Doctor Who. Having never seen Classic Who, I can't say if it was better or not, but both RTD and Moffat would benefit from having some other people involved in the process. Moffat was at his best when he was just a writer in the RTD seasons. Particularly when it comes to the season-long arcs, it'd be nice if there were a writing staff who'd say, "Dude, this makes no fucking sense."

* Here's a synopsis of Neil Gaiman's second Doctor Who episode.

* I did not know that Daniel Gillies was an indie film director, but OMG the Jesus beard is hilarious. (Also, I had no idea he was married to Rachael Leigh Cook.)

* The vampirism-as-a-viral-epidemic book trilogy The Strain is getting turned into a TV series.

* In 2013-14 TV season news, Parenthood was renewed for a fifth season. No one should be surprised that The Originals was picked up for a full season. Meanwhile, TV shows on the bubble and their chances of returning (already slightly out of date, as Parenthood is included in the list).

* A My So-Called Life reunion without Claire Danes is not a My So-Called Life reunion.

* Matt Weiner talks to NPR about Mad Men.

* Johnny Depp as the Baker in the Into the Woods movie? THERE IS NOT ENOUGH "NO" IN THE UNIVERSE.

Comments

[goldenusagi]

OMG the Jesus beard is hilarious

Isn't it though.

[next_to_normal]

It's very un-Elijah, lol.

[pocochina]

it'd be nice if there were a writing staff who'd say, "Dude, this makes no fucking sense."

This is what every show needs, IMO. A DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK person. Actually, it needs two. Like a BRO, NO Statler & Waldorf. One to say when the storyline's gotten cracky, and one to say when it's gone past Unfortunate Implications and careened right on into Fail.

[next_to_normal]

LOL YES. EXACTLY.

[rosaxx50]

No one should be surprised that The Originals was picked up for a full season.

Wow. I am surprised, because my ~vicarious watching through my f'list told me everyone hated it.

[next_to_normal]

I would imagine your flist is not representative of the TVD audience at large, lol. Interestingly, the ratings were down from the average TVD episode, but 2.2 million is (sadly) still decent for the CW.

[frayadjacent]

I read the Doctor Who article. I'd modify the writer's thesis: it's not that great television requires a partnership at the helm. Buffy is an obvious counter-example, as by all counts it was a very tight ship at least till S6 & S7 (which I love, btw, you'll never hear me argue that Martie Noxon ruined the show. She is in fact one of my favorite Buffy writers, "Wrecked" be damned.). And some of the comments named The Wire, Deadwood, and others as also having one person in charge, though I don't know much about the behind-the-scenes aspects of those shows. I'd say it's more that having one person at the helm requires someone who is strong in a number of areas crucial to good television: emotion, character development, decent plotting, a good eye for the aesthetics, etc. That's not RTD or Moffat. So in that case having multiple writers whose strengths and weaknesses compliment each other would help. But multiple mediocre writers/produces could also be a recipe for bad television.

Um, which is probably basically what you were saying. Just wordier. Heh.

[next_to_normal]

See, I would strongly disagree with Buffy as a counter-example, for two reasons.

First, Joss is incredibly good at emotion and characters but he's absolute shit at plot. He's flat-out said he doesn't care about plot or continuity details, and it shows. I mean, "The Gift" is one of my all-time favorite episodes of the show, and as an emotional climax, it's fantastic, but it hinges on a plot resolution that, while thematically resonant, does not make a lick of logical sense, lol.

And second, it's pretty clear Joss didn't do it all himself. He had an exceptionally strong writers' room, with Noxon, Espenson, Fury, Petrie, Greenberg, Goddard, etc. All you have to do is look at the S8 and S9 comics to see how terribly off the rails Joss goes when he doesn't have a writers' room or a network reining him in.

Doctor Who doesn't have a writers' room - it has a showrunner, and it has guest writers, but not a whole team who is there on a regular basis looking at every episode and fitting it into the broader continuity. In general, I don't think British TV staffs are structured the way US staffs are, but in DW's case, it probably should be.

I'd say it's more that having one person at the helm requires someone who is strong in a number of areas crucial to good television: emotion, character development, decent plotting, a good eye for the aesthetics, etc.

Agreed. I think, however, it's a rare case to get someone who is good at ALL those things (e.g. ~creative~ people tend to look at the broader picture and don't pay attention to details) which is why partnerships seem to work out so much better most of the time.

I don't think it's the showrunner partnership that's necessary, per se, so much as it's just having someone - or multiple people - there to bounce ideas off of and check the showrunner's worst instincts. Or, as Poco put it, a DUDE WHAT THE FUCK person. :)

I've never seen The Wire or Deadwood, so I don't know how those compare, but the best showrunners I know either acknowledge how important the writers' room is (Julie Plec, Vince Gilligan, Rob Thomas) or are brilliant despite glaring weaknesses (Aaron Sorkin, Joss).