The Perils And Rewards Of Continuity-Rich TV

Peter J has posted a very thought-provoking entry over at The Studio Has A Few Notes, which I encourage all fans of this site to go read. He links to a list of 94 unanswered Battlestar Galactica questions (and hey, what's not to love about the number "94"?) and opens the can of worms that's on many BSG fans' minds as the final half-season of the show looms on the horizon: by the time it's over, will it have been proven to be a tightly-written masterpiece, or just a ragtag collection of "throw it against the wall and see what sticks?" notions with no real master plan behind them?

And yeah, I have my own doubts that enough really will be "tied up" in the few remaining episodes of BSG as to leave us, as well as potential future fans of the show (in DVD format), with a fully coherent tapestry in which everything meshes up perfectly. I have the same sort of doubts about Lost, but with BSG the uneasiness is stronger and the journey itself has been (somewhat) less rewarding. So why do I like both shows so much?

Well... Part of it is the journey, for sure. I'd quite honestly rather watch a TV show that strives for greatness (on a topic that I'm interested in) and comes up short than one that never attempts to do anything more than provide a forum for 12 minutes of advertisement every hour. I like "mythology" shows, for example, because (as with the serialized comic book format) they have a larger canvas upon which to compose. That hardly guarantees quality results, of course, as more often than not they come up well short of the mark (see: X-Files, to name but one example). Still, I respect the attempt, and for as long as I can hold out hope (and the creators can hold my interest), I'll give them that shot. I stuck with X-Files right up until the start of the final season, for crying out loud... but I doubt that I'll ever extend my trust that far beyond the breaking point again.

I also love science fiction stories. That shouldn't come as any surprise, given that so many of my own short stories have been within that genre. I thrill to the possibilities inherent in science fiction, despite the fact that - once again! - the results across the board have been less than impressive. I tend to think that Theodore Sturgeon had it right with his "90% of everything is crap" and have long since derived my own corollary to that: "... and our challenge is to find the other 10%." That's how I approach every new comic series I sample, every new TV show I check out, and every book I read the first several pages of. When a comic series falls into "the other 10%" category, it can be an amazing experience, worthy of many re-readings over a lifetime. And the same is true of science fiction on TV. The best Star Trek episodes, dated though they may be 40 years later, still provided social commentary, suspense, and humour that could appeal to young and old alike. In fact, one of the hallmarks of really good science fiction (and, perhaps, fiction in general) is that you can still enjoy it even if some of its subtext is "over your head", "under your radar" or just not the sort of thing that you pick up on. To some, after all, The Matrix is just a really cool, kick-ass movie with lots of gunplay and a hero who learns Kung Fu in about 5 minutes.

While I still enjoy some shows that aren't continuity-heavy (CSI, ER, Law & Order, for example), the risks they take are fewer and the rewards they provide are smaller. A really good ER episode may deliver as much of a punch as a middling installment of Lost, but a top-notch hour of Lost blows anything ER has ever done right out of the water. The advantage that those "done in one" series have, of course, is that the entry cost for new viewers is pretty close to zero. Fortunately, the advent of DVD collections has mitigated that situation somewhat. Vicki and I passed on BSG after watching the initial mini-series, but when we decided to give it a second try, it was largely thanks to the availability of each of the first two seasons on DVD (and the kindness of a couple of co-workers).

And finally, I guess I just happen to like heroic fiction. Blame that one on all of those thousands of comic books that I've read over the past 40 years. I'm just not all that interested in tales that focus on the despicable types (The Sopranos, Goodfellas) or fill the screen with unlikeable people (Seinfeld, In the Company of Men). It's just a personal taste thing, but it's also values-based. I don't think that celebrating the vices of humanity is a good way to spend what little time I'll have in this life, and so I choose not to. I'd rather spend that precious time enjoying a contest between good and evil, or an adventure in which characters overcome adversity while growing in the process. I think that fiction should entertain us and maybe even enrich our lives, not depress us or play to our (mostly-suppressed) sadistic tendencies. Shows like BSG, Lost and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles at least present the possibility for that kind of experience, although it's always a bit of a crap shoot as to whether they'll pull it off or not.

Thanks to Peter J for giving me so much to think (and blog) about on this topic!