Stabbed by a Double-Edge Sword, By Chris Derrick – Sympathy for the Devil #9
February 2, 2012 Chris Derrick 8 Comments
Two years ago the TV show that converted me from a movie fan to a TV addict ended its eight season run… Fox’s 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland as the hard-charging, always beleaguered Jack Bauer. 24 was the espionage actioner that delivered season after season; sure it got a little creaky in the final two or three seasons in the plotting, but the intensity of the drama and action was always compelling and those writers pushed it to the limit far more than they needed to and that’s why that show was so, so great. They even sparked a national debate regarding the use of torture on terror suspects to obtain actionable information.
When 24 ended, and Jack Bauer disappeared into the unwashed masses of New York City, beaten down, but not beaten, it was… it was… it sad. Yeah, I said it, I was sad. But that’s what good TV – nay — great TV is all about.
This week Kiefer is back as Martin Bohm in Tim Kring’s TOUCH… also on Fox. And this is the double-edge sword, that after watching the pilot, stabbed me but good. The Francis Lawrence directed pilot has so much promise for an interesting show of intersections or lives – which on the surface have no connection –ultimately are connected by the Golden Section.
As much as I liked the pilot, I have reservations and hesitations about the series as a whole because Tim Kring is behind his show, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from his old NBC show HEROES (which I’m sure a lot of people remember as being phenomenally huge and then tanking season after season from arguably complete mismanagement of the show and its premise). I watched every episode of and was continually frustrated and stymied and outraged for three seasons.
Outside of my passionate comic friends, most people who watched HEROES found the meandering and unfocused storylines and inane powers of new characters off-putting. While TOUCH sings so well, and “touches” all the right emotional & intellectual touchstones, I’m battling against allowing myself to get sucked in.
And yet, that’s why TV can become an addiction… shows can and do grow on you as you invite not just the actors, but the sensibilities of the creative staff into your home, into your thoughts, into your inner world.
Now what really irks me is that after this tantalizing premiere, TOUCH – The Series, doesn’t truly begin until March 19!
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TRACKBACK ON A PREVIOUS POST:
A few weeks ago, I was lamenting that SyFy doesn’t have any TV-MA LSV programming… on my post Maximum SyFy. And then two weeks ago, SyFy launches a new show on “Power Mondays” called LOST GIRL… which happens to be MA-LSV! I’ve watched a couple of episodes, and it’s fairly racy… but not on the level of THE SHIELD or SONS OF ANARCHY… which I would have wanted… maybe if it’s successful, the showrunners will push the envelop more…
Mike Gold
February 3, 2012 - 2:04 pm
I didn’t make it through the second seasons of both 24 and Heroes. 24 Season Two was just the first season plowed over again, and it was clear by the second season of Heroes that they were making it up as they went along — with short-term memory problems at that.
This isn’t Kiefer Sutherland’s fault. He’s a swell actor. But the concept and the pedigree of Touch have yet to grab me. Maybe when the actual weekly-ish series starts.
Chris Derrick
February 3, 2012 - 3:28 pm
Kiefer is the reason to watch 24. And while the show was a continual series of stopping a terrorist on America’s (and therefore) Jack’s worst day; it was a cyclical and repetitive as any long running comic book… it’s like the trick with a Batman/Joker tale is how Batman figures out how to defeat the Joker… we know it’s going to happen, but we like to watch the train wreck and see how Batman (or his allies) are affected by it. Obviously, THE KILLING JOKE was the best example of Batman/Joker story that had resonance; much like the 4 season of 24.
I give the TOUCH pilot a A-; but it irked me that I have to wait 6 weeks to see the rest of the storylines play out.
As for Heroes making it up as they went along, that’s only a quarter of the problem with that show… another was thumbing its nose at basic comic book/superhero troupes…
Mike Gold
February 3, 2012 - 6:39 pm
I agree with you about Heroes. TV shows have an advantage over comics in (at least) one sense: you can evolve each character in a linear fashion on a week-by-week basis without having the 4-D domino effect of upsetting dozens and dozens of other ongoing stories in the “universe” and, often, multiple titles featuring the same character. We can get away with constant continuity implants in comics (note I didn’t say we should) to retrofit concepts and to explain away our… mistakes. From a storytelling perspective, they really are different media.
Which is great.
You’re not the first person to tell me 24 season 4 was worthy. Sadly, they lost me half way through season 2, and I’m not likely to invest the 36 hours (give or take) to get there. Too much other teevee stuff out there.
I’d like to see Kiefer get back to movies for a spell.
Rene
February 4, 2012 - 4:16 am
The awesomeness of the first season of HEROES just made the following seasons all the more painful. It started as a very intriguing character drama/mystery/superhero deconstruction. And then it became so crappy that sometimes I think the own creators sabotaged it.
It’s interesting that HEROES got me into TV shows. I soon started watching LOST, 24 and then a buttload of other TV shows. That addiction of mine lasted for about 4 years. And then I gradually stopped. The same way I gradually stopped reading Marvel/DC.
I don’t think it applies to anybody else, but to me personally, I suppose I came to associate elaborated continuing-story TV shows (and Marvel/DC superheroes) with introversion. You dive into these fictional universes, spends a lot of time there, gets to know the characters for years, you almost live there after a while. Even when they’re good (and there is plenty of excellent TV shows and comics), it was getting a little unhealthy for me.
The way I consume fiction has changed in the last couple of years. Now I have the opposite approach. I watch lots of movies, read lots of novels, from a wide variety of genres, creators, nationalities, time periods, always trying to see a bit of everything, ideally the best regarded examples of each genre.
And there are many practical considerations. It was becoming a bother, to store all of my DVD box sets. And when my girlfriend comes to stay with me, it’s a lot nicer to watch a movie with her. If it’s a TV show, and one of us doesn’t like it, the other one will have to watch the whole thing alone later.
Chris Derrick
February 4, 2012 - 3:16 pm
Mike — you could go ahead and watch S4 of 24, without having to watch S2 and S3. Just like picking up a comic series deep into the run, the writers do a good job keeping you informed on Jack Bauer’s backstory.
Or you invest previous time in the BBC’s Sherlock.
Chris Derrick
February 5, 2012 - 3:25 am
@Rene,
It’s funny that you mention DVD box sets of TV shows… I’ve never bought a show post original airing, borrowed a few – yes (namely Buffy the Vampire Slayer), so I can’t comment on the distraction and bother that they take up.
However, I do know that any impressive TV show takes up a lot of one’s time. But that’s what they’re designed for. TV is mass distraction (so is film) in that keeps you from focusing your mind on deeper issues. Society has a lot problems, and so does each individual and jumping into the problems of fictional characters allows us to feel not so bad about our own life.
Over the last two years my time in front of the TV has definitely been unhealthy, but before that my time in the movie theater was probably a little unhealthy as well; yet for some reason that more easily justified(?).
Rene
February 5, 2012 - 5:19 pm
Chris, I’m not one to needlessly knock escapism. Did you read “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay”, by any chance? A great defense of why escapism is necessary sometimes, even noble.
But I still feel these long TV shows or comic book runs, in my own case, have reflected a sense of personal isolation. And any fiction that demands a large investiment of time will have a more restricted fandom.
I dunno, it started to get claustrophobic for me.
Mike Gold
February 5, 2012 - 6:23 pm
Chris, I’m fully invested in Sherlock. Goddamn amazing.
Rene, I think it’s a matter of perception. Here, we’re talking with one another about comics and teevee. That’s no less social than anything else online. Admittedly, I’m in the comics business (somehow) so I talk comic and teevee face to face all the time. But I see others doing the same, in public, in proportion to their audience. Turns out more people watch teevee than read comics. Or even the backs of cereal boxes.