And today is both.
The weekend ended up being quite long. I got a lot done on Saturday, so I can't complain, but Sunday ended up sucking the life out of me. It was a long, stressful, emotional day, and I was pretty glad to see it all over.
Of course...it's the Holidays! "Stressful" and "emotional' are part and parcel.
Also, talking with some friends about the end of Joss Whedon's latest attempt at television, Dollhouse. I actually put together an e-mail that pretty clearly summed up how I feel about Joss, so I thought I might share a re-edited version;
Can we just come to the understanding that Joss Whedon is not a mainstream talent? The general public does not care for his material, he's had plenty of opportunities to prove that they could be enticed to his work, and truly succeeded only once...with Buffy, which managed to tap into the "90210 mindset" (which, I'd wager was the main draw with your "civilian" viewer) while also playing with a deeper pool.
Angel...limped to an early end.
Firefly...(which I love with a white-hot fire) didn't register with the general public at all.
Serenity....see above.
Dr. Horrible...a hit, but in micro terms.
Dollhouse....See Angel.
His audience is rabid, but it's much, much smaller than anyone wants to admit. I have to be honest here, never watched Dollhouse, never wanted to, it didn't spark me, in concept, visuals, or the people involved. I actively HATE every bit of Buffy I've ever been exposed to. Angel...didn't care because of the Buffy connections. Ken had to FORCE Firefly on me...Dr. Horrible does gangbusters in a market where 1/1,000 of a television audience is considered pretty amazing.
Firefly does awesome on DVD, or did...but how much of that was Browncoats buying it, over and over, for people they knew? How many people actually watched, and additionally liked the thing? CByrd and I gave that set out A LOT, and had good luck, but I read people on line who gave the set to EVERYONE they knew, no matter if they had a remote interest, or not. I mean, these are the same people buying out entire movie theatres to give away tickets....And this is the Whedon property that I, personally, think is most accessable. Certainly the characters are.
I can say this...
Every damn time I watch a Buffy episode, I get this "oh, you REALLLY think you're so clever" response, and it turns me off to the entire product.
Firefly worked for me because the cast sold that stuff FAR better. Even at that, I've watched people stare blankly at it and wonder what the hell I made them watch this.
I certainly don't believe him to be a hack, or anything, but I just find it funny that everyone always expects the next show/movie/whatever to be THE THING that's going to really take off. Certainly, anyone who created the crew of Serenity has my ever-lasting gratitude and respect as a talent. Still, it's becoming a bit of a "abusive relationship" type of thing. The same set-up, and we keep expecting different results.
I wish you well, Joss, like I said giving me 16 hours of Mal Reynolds and crew buys you a second glance at anything you ever come up with. I'm just sorry Dollhouse didn't pull me in either.
Well, as a rabid Buffy fan, I have to say that Dollhouse didn't pull me in either. I watched the pilot episode and lost interest after just that one viewing. I was really hoping to like it, because ever since the end of Buffy and Angel there has never been another TV show that had the ability to pull me in. Not one. Plus these days niche shows that have small but fervent cult followings aren't given the chance to flourish; unless they produce huge numbers right out of the gate they're canceled immediately. In the mid 90's it was doable, but not in today's market.
ReplyDeleteI feel more badly for Eliza Dushku than for Joss over this cancellation....
Personally, I don't get Whedon at all. You know how some people can't see the color green? Yeah, I'm Whedon-impared.
ReplyDeleteDonaldson