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the story's the thing
I feel kind of sad for people who won't watch television, because for all the awful stuff, there is some wonderful storytelling. The Mathematician and I have a standing Friday night date for take-out Indian food and the Sci-Fi Channel, most particularly Battle Star Galactica. Which we discuss in detail. We watch House together and Lost. Recently we watched all of Firefly on DVD, and we have regular Farscape marathons, too. And out of simple solidarity, I have watched dozens and dozens of Simpsons episodes with him. I admit I laugh right along with him, though mostly I am uneasy about the Simpsons. I couldn't tell you why.
The Mathematician is fond of saying that if I fall for a show from the first episode, it's doomed. This has been the fact in the past. Homefront, Sports Night, My So Called Life -- I really adored these shows, and they were short lived. Farscape kind of fits into this pattern, as I didn't start watching until the third season.
All this lead up, and why? Because I'm watching Grey's Anatomy now, and somebody here recommended it. The Mathematician has resisted thus far. Apparently House is enough medical storytelling for him. But I love Grey's Anatomy. Or better said, I'm in the stage where I become completely enamored of the characters and want more more more. More background, more secrets, more conflict, more of everything. There are some wonderfully conflicted love stories embedded in the greater story about surgical interns, which of course is always going to make me happy.
The only fly in the ointment is the fact that ABC hasn't made the older episodes available through iTunes, as it has done for Lost. Which means I am reduced to begging friends and in some cases, friends of friends, to borrow recordings.
And here's the icing on the cake: the people who write Grey's Anatomy have a weblog called Grey Matter, and they really do let you in on the creative process. The idea for the show and the pilot were the work of Shonda Rhimes, who is now head writer and executive producer. She writes great weblog posts about what goes into her stories, which in the end is not all that different from other kinds of storytelling.
February 18, 2006 09:13 AM
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Comments
I am also a huge Grey's fan. I absolutely love the characters and the conflicts. Best show on TV (at the moment anyway)...hands down. Y'all have got to watch. Thanks so much for the blog info.
Posted by: Deb at February 18, 2006 09:37 AM
I like GA, too...but personally, there should be a moratorium on doctor shows doing stories where their own doctors, and their families, become patients. Is there ANYBODY on GA who hasn't become a patient yet? The same thing happened on ER. It's tiresome and a cheap way to generate conflict...God knows, the GA writers are talented enough to come up with stories that don't make their doctors the patients.
That said, I admit I've made Dr. Mark Sloan a patient at his hospital many times in my DIAGNOSIS MURDER scripts and books more out of convenience than anything else (if he's going to be injured during an investigation, he might as well be treated at his own hospital). Mea Culpa.
Posted by: Lee Goldberg at February 18, 2006 11:26 AM
So Lee, is this something one screenwriter can say to another? Could you mention this to Shonda if you ran into her at Starbucks, or is this kind of comment generally not considered kosher?
Just out of curiosity.
I know that if I could talk to the Stargate Atlantis writers I'd tell them to stop with the beaming up. Two weeks in a row they've used that old chestnut to get the heroes out of a jam.
Posted by: Sara Donati at February 18, 2006 02:08 PM
I think evreyone I work with is watching this show and loving it. I feel very left out and will have to rent season 1 on DVD soon. I too am addicted to BSG. So far Sara, every show you have raved about has been a big hit with myself and the DH. Keep the recommendations coming!
Posted by: Carolyn C at February 19, 2006 04:47 PM
I'm a fan of good tv, but GA has yet to come out over here in Europe. I have to second your comment on "My So-Called Life", though; I loved that show. It's also by the same people who did my favorite show of all time, "Thirtysomething". Now if they would only come out with that one on DVD...
Posted by: Elisabeth at February 20, 2006 04:59 AM
Sara, your TV viewing is disturbingly similar to mine. You really must pick up Veronica Mars on DVD when you have time. The first season is so good it makes me bouncy with joy.
I just caught up on Sports Night. So good! So short! Aaaaghhh. But now I'm all excited about Aaron Sorkin's new series next fall.
Posted by: Stephanie at February 20, 2006 06:43 AM
I would like to see ThirtySomething again. I liked it too, in part because those characters were my age at the time and I really identified. Another one for the keep-an-eye-out-for-the-dvd list.
Stephanie, I just put Veronica Mars on my netflix list. Looking forward to it.
Posted by: Sara Donati at February 20, 2006 08:20 AM
Aahhh, Homefront. That was one of my favorites. Wonder if they'll ever release it on DVD. And right now I'm in mourning for Over There. It was so very good, so very short, and now so very over.
I'm a new GA fan. I picked up the Season 1 DVD on Friday and glommed it over the weekend. I'm not sure exactly how I'll get copies of all of Season 2 to date. Either way, I'm hooked.
Posted by: Lynn M at February 21, 2006 12:46 PM
Excellent taste in TV :)
Homefront...Kyle Chandler in his pre-Early Edition days. I still hope that this will someday be released on DVD.
And SportsNight, which was Aaron Sorkin's brain child before ABC abandoned it, was one of the smartest, fastest shows I can remember ever seeing on network tv. The DVDs don't have any extras at all, but the show is still totally worth the price :)
Posted by: jmc at February 21, 2006 01:51 PM
Another GA fan stepping out of the shadows...thanks for the link to the writers' blog.
Posted by: sUsAn at February 24, 2006 05:56 PM