The TV I don’t watch
Friday, July 20th, 2007CSI anything, Criminal Intent, Law and Order SVU etc… I really don’t like these forensic/psychological investigation shows. Every episode seems to open with these incredibly judgemental pricks standing over the corpse of someone who’s just been killed in an unusual way, and making the most terrible unfunny jokes at the victim’s expense. Heaven forbid if you’re transexual or a performance artist and you get murdered in New York or Miami…
Medium, Ghost Whisperer… Oh how I hate these with a passion. So so awful. How many times can they refer to their "gift" in a single episode? Did Sarah Michelle Gellar ever speak reverently of her "gift"…? The answer is no, because Buffy was never intended to be taken seriously by a credulous public. And Patricia Arquette’s monotonous falsetto is worse than nails on a blackboard… arggg!
Men in Trees, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy… hurrrrkk! So very very painful, so full of manly men with stubble who inexplicably appear to enjoy the hyperactive banter of insecure, overachieving women with intimacy issues. Far too many meaningful looks, and painfully self-conscious comic relief.
The New Adventures of Old Christine, The War at Home, How I Met Your Mother, My Wife and Kids… I suspect this stuff is just junk we buy cheap to fill air time, because no one in their right mind could ever describe themselves as a fan of one of these shows. These are like the death rattle of the American sitcom.
July 20th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I make an occasional exception for Medium, simply because I find the casting of Arquette to be actually quite interesting. She was an inscrutable siren in Lost Highway, and this made her compelling — even the monotone. Seeing her play “cheesy psychic mum” creates an interesting friction.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Hmmm, I think you’ve articulated nicely the problem with that awful unending tide of investigative/forensic crime shows, which I have also always hated. I think it’s got a lot to do with this new core of mean-spiritedness that’s been seeping into the popular culture for some while.
This realisation allows me some satisfaction with my current shameless obsession with 24 (six seasons in two months… egads!). While it may contribute to some undesirable politics (torture is justifiable, naive liberal do-gooders always get in the way of the real heroes, etc), at least at its core it’s still about trying to save people, rather than just sniggering over their corpses.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
in reality, isn’t it reasonable for homicide detectives to have a coping mechanism? i don’t think i can empathise handling that job on a daily basis. btw, i haven’t seen any of those shows, so can’t comment on them.
July 21st, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Michael, you would understand I think if you had seen these shows. I have no problem with the idea of someone objectifying the dead as a coping strategy, but making assumptions about their lifestyle choices along (and demonstrating their own unbelievably narrow view of normality) seems wrong.
If anything I would expect a jaded homicide detective to have has his preconceptions swept away by his work, rather than reinforced. Death is after all the great equalizer :)
July 21st, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I’ve hardly watched Criminal Intent, but detective Goran’s little thing of always turning his head sideways to indicate his unique perspective when studying a crime scene is just a tad overdone.
I wish they’d include a scene in which he is relaxing at home, and we find that every picture on every wall is mounted sideways, his TV is perched on its side, etc…
Or maybe just a few scenes that show him continually having to visit the chiropractor.