I became a big TV fan back in 1953 when my parents got our first set. I have watched TV ever since, eagerly anticipating the new shows debuting each year on the fall line-up.Sadly, it's become apparent I've finally become jaded by so many formulaic TV shows. Why must they all be so much alike?
There is inevitably a hot-shot guy, a pretty blond woman, the newbie (either gender), the stern boss, the comic or generally annoying type, and the good buddy. Just add some ethnic variety to the mix and you have every TV cast of nearly every show.
I silently moan whenever the generic "hottie" shows up and pretends to be an actress. There are so many wonderful actresses out of work, yet the only new show that has managed to employ one is NCIS-LA. The delightful Linda Hunt has a regular role.
On the new show Mercy, Michelle Trachtenberg plays a pretty blond nurse with two sidekicks: a pretty, pouty young newbie and a pretty black hottie. The veteran actress Kate Mulgrew is relegated to playing her boozy mother.
Then there's Trauma, another perfect example... But I rant too much.
There's no longer any money in new ideas. The Networks are scared to death of creativity. The demographics (by which they make money on advertising) dictate that there must be hotties and hunks. So we suffer through yet another season of dreary offerings.
3 comments:
BREAD AND CIRCUSES, MY DEAR!!!
Over two thousand years, and it's the same durn thing over and over!!!
I have found the new programs on a cable station is often copied on a national station. And, one show was jerked off national TV stations and became hugely popular on cable. Hence, ABC, NBC and CBS are never my 1st channels of choice. But as my mother knows, SyFy is and always will be !!!
I have tried to watch a couple of new shows that were written up positively by the critics. The comedy is painful and the drama is so sensationalized I can't watch it, despite having two actors I really like. It almost makes me wonder how much the critics were paid off.
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