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Post by chemikalman on Sept 7, 2008 17:58:59 GMT -5
I recently finished watching the entire series of Six Feet Under on DVD. While I liked the originality and quirkiness of the show, I came to realize that is was almost entirely character-driven. And this made me think of TS and how it is both character-driven AND story driven, perhaps to a greater degree of success than any other serial type TV show in history.
I thought about The Sopranos (I've only seen the first four seasons), but it seemed that by season 4 people were getting whacked just for the sake of it.
In the new thread about TV Guides ratings of best series pilots, I commented that I have never seen any episodes of Lost or 24. What about those shows, in terms of relative strengths of character vs. story? What about The Wire, which Dan worships? How does it stack up by that yardstick? Other shows?
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Post by Jan El Señor on Sept 7, 2008 23:14:03 GMT -5
In the new thread about TV Guides ratings of best series pilots, I commented that I have never seen any episodes of Lost or 24. What about those shows, in terms of relative strengths of character vs. story? What about The Wire, which Dan worships? How does it stack up by that yardstick? Other shows? Lost was excellent for the one season I watched it. I borrowed the first set & watched it over a weekend. I really got into the characters, but the story pacing was a little annoying. It's like they're trying to make the show last for a certain amount of time. I couldn't get back into it for Season 2. I watched like 2 episodes & just lost interest.... 24 is good on both fronts (characters & story), for the most part. It varies from season to season, since each season is mostly its own self-contained story. There are a few throw-back moments, but you can pretty much watch any season without seeing the others and get into it. However, you do have to see evey episode. I'd definitely recommend checking out Season 1. It's a top-notch set.... The Wire is more about the case at hand, and less about the characters. However, if you stick with it long enough, they do develop. Comparing The Shield to The Wire is something a lot of dorks like to do on forums, even though the two shows are completely different. The Wire is awesome, but all the comparisons with The Shield may make you expect a show firing on all cylinders out of the gate like The Shield. This one has a slow build that's definitely worth the time.
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Post by n00b on Sept 8, 2008 1:17:23 GMT -5
The combination of plot + character development reminds me a lot of my previous all-time favorite TV drama, The West Wing. Both used the plot to build the characters, and vice versa. Both had characters growing within plots of extreme tension and true life-and-death situations. The Shield is obviously grittier, more raw, and more adult. But for pure tension, while gang wars and cop-killing cops are good, scenes of POTUS standing in the Situation Room the Joint Chiefs and deciding whether to start a war is TENSION.
The other great facet of both of these shows is DIALOGUE. Both shows have incredible sharp, quick, witty, and most importantly REALISTIC dialogue. I can actually envision that a real police precinct sounds exactly like The Barn and the real White House sounds exactly like the West Wing.
Lastly, PACING and SET DIRECTION are very similar in both shows. You'll have a set of characters talking and walking past another set of characters, and then the camera abruptly switches and starts following the action/dialoge of character set #2 as they pass by. Makes for a heightened sense of action in scenes that otherwise could be stale conversation.
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Post by acc on Sept 9, 2008 18:35:39 GMT -5
I've always admired how The Shield has had its cake and eaten it, too. chem's point is a circular proposition, because the writers of The Shield create "stories"/cases/plots that *inform* their characters (and, to a degree, vice versa--certain plots are made possible by the advances of the characters, such as Vic seeing the Money Train as his ticket to security in early Season 2 as just one seemingly a million examples).
So, while a case may initially appear to be there just for some whim or the sake of violence, like the "glory hole" storyline of Sesaon 5, it's actually there to help develop a character (Julien) or more. And yet there are enough blind alleys and dead-end cases and just "day-to-day" street-work and crimes that they are able to balance out the character/plot schema of the series.
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