Battlestar Galactica
Why I Watch American Idol: An Overly Serious/Sentimental Look at TV in 2008
Feb 21st
As we’ve been hearing for months, this season of American Idol brings with it the most solid top 24 in years – if not ever. Their performances this week do not reflect that. If they were outstanding, it was only in their ability to not completely suck. Mediocrity is nothing to strive for, but with all but five of the contestants, that’s what we’re getting. Results shows at this point are boring in their predictability. There are no surprises as to who will go home before the top 12, and even if there were, it’s impossible to already be invested enough to care. But every hour of live Idol is required viewing for me. Not for entertainment, not for suspense but for the sheer fact that American Idol is the only show that makes me feel like I’m not the only one watching.
Earlier this week, NBC announced that it was officially killing the regular TV season. They will be running a 52-week schedule starting this fall. It isn’t far off from what we’ve gotten used to in the past decade, with the upswing of original and admirable content during the summer season, but this official nail in the coffin doesn’t come without stirring up a bit of wistfulness in my TV-loving heart. You see, the tube, as it was when I was growing up, is gone. The writing has been on the wall for years… and most recently in The New York Times. Their Fall 2007 TV preview included a piece about the way people are defined by the shows they love. It’s the medium’s golden age, and people are taking advantage of this on their own terms. This is not a bad thing. As a TV fan, obsessive and aspiring scholar, nothing is more intriguing to me than the notion of seeing yourself reflected in your set. But with this new lack of structure and focus on independence, the once communal culture of TV barely extends beyond small factions of rabid fans. Nielson can talk ratings all he wants, but as I see it, the collective TV experience is on its way out.
So this is why I watch American Idol. For me, it offers something that none of my scripted favorites can. It is event television in a time when event television (save award shows, sporting events and national disasters) is gone. Sure, Lost, Entourage and Weeds are all good for the water cooler, but do your parents know what’s happening on them? Are their moments dissected or mocked on every talk show and local news broadcast? When something even remotely unexpected takes place, can you not get away with watching them a few days late and remain spoiler free? The answer to all of these questions is “no.” American Idol owns this type of attention (in my opinion, Dancing With The Stars still isn’t there), and offers me my only means to bond with TV-watching America. It’s the only thing we do together.
Just a couple weeks ago I was lamenting with a friend over the state of music videos – how they hold no interest to me any longer and how I’m not even sure if any of my favorite bands actually produce them. We talked about how their premieres used to be events. Everyone wanted to see who would make cameos in Michael Jackson’s clips and how he’d stretch 3:48 of song into a ten-minute feature. They’d air them on network TV – an idea that seems so foreign now it’s hard to reconcile that it was ever real. I was reminded of this tonight during the filler-heavy Idol results show when they premiered Paula Abdul’s attempt to reignite her music career. It’s beyond bizarre that their screening of “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” was the first music video I’ve seen outside of YouTube in well over a year. If someone as immersed in television as myself can claim this, I can’t imagine how many other (less fervent) viewers shared my experience. However many there were, no show but American Idol could have sparked the question.
When someone asks me what television shows I like, which someone inevitably does on an almost daily basis, I skew my answer for the person asking. In most instances, I pick the most popular or recognizable series in my roster – like Idol. If I were to tell one of my parents’ friends, for example, that I love Battlestar Galactica, they would be confused and possibly uncomfortable. I, in turn, would be angry that my declaration was met with glassy eyes and an ignorance to the fact that it is one of the smartest and most relevant programs of the last decade. But by holding my favorites close to my heart, and only discussing them in my writing and among like-minded friends, I realize I am a part of the diaspora.
In the end, my nostalgia for family time in front of a tube free of DVR, DVDs and divisive or elitist programming is a moot point. I wouldn’t trade my TV lifestyle or my favorite dramas for the widest flat screen you could dream of. If connecting with my countrymen means only watching shows as agreeable American Idol, I’d prefer to be on my own. But I’ll enjoy the happy medium I have right now while I still can. The TV experience isn’t what it used to be, and what’s left of it is fading fast.
#2 of 2007: Battlestar Galactica
Dec 30th
Had last season’s allusions to the American occupation of Iraq and that “duh” moment of realization that the cylons are, in fact, no worse than the old US of A actually fallen in ’07… Battlestar Galactica would have most certainly nabbed the number one spot. The beginning of last season was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen on TV. 2007 was a little different though. The year brought a few too many of their cringeworthy filler episodes followed by a hefty hiatus – BSG was off my radar for the majority of the TV-watching year! But looking back, 2007 was also the year of “Rapture,” of “Maelstrom, “of “Crossroads Part II” and of last month’s rockin’ “Razor!” Sure, Battlestar Galactica occasionally falls short. It’s also capable of a deeply involved allegoric intelligence the likes of which you almost never get. Seeing a fitting end to this awesome series in its final season is my number one reason for wishing this damned writers’ strike would end already.
Razor: Waiting For April Officially Impossible
Nov 22nd
Oh Kara Thrace and her damn, increasingly special, special destiny! It confuses us more than any of the loose-ends on Lost! More than the many dropped plot twists of Veronica Mars! More than the actual religious myths and icons her sordid tale is referencing! If you’re hoping that this Saturday’s Battlestar Galactica movie Razor is going to do anything to clear up last season’s giant “wtf?!” of a cliffhanger, you are unfortunately out of luck (and clearly very silly). But if you’re looking for two hours of surprising back story, eerie foreboding and funny-lookin’ robots, get ready to remember why you love this show so frakkin’ much. For those of you not concerned with a few mild spoilers…
Eureka: Not The Andy Griffith Show
Jul 11th
Eureka is a poorly marketed show. It isn’t a surprise considering it airs on Sci Fi, the network more concerned with promoting its comical made-for-TV movies than its acclaimed series. It would be easy for anyone who’s seen an ad for Eureka to assume that it’s just an updated version of The Andy Griffith Show with a tongue-in-cheek supernatural twist. No offense intended, but that’s hardly an enticing pitch for me.
Despite those reservations, and Sci Fi’s general buffoonery, they did get me to tune in last night – if only to catch the first promo for Battlestar Galactica’s TV-movie/pseudo-season premiere, Razor (more on that in a moment). As for Eureka, it turns out that it’s neither overly campy nor an hour of high jinks focused on laser-guns and levitation. It’s kind of like a more whimsical version of the X-Files, except everything happens in one town and most everyone is dealing with soapy romantic pickles. Apparently last season’s finale set up this run to be much darker and emotionally charged than it had been previously. And if the little tease at the end of last night’s premiere was any indication, they’re staying on course. My interest is officially piqued.
Ok, down to business: I wasn’t expecting much from last night’s sneak peak at the forthcoming Battlestar flick (read: long, non-linear episode), and not much is what I got. With just 30 seconds worth of clips, at least 10 of which I believe were from previous episodes, Ron Moore & co reaffirm what we already know: the film will focus on the Battlestar Pegasus in the wake of the cylon attack, Admiral Cain will be back and she will still be grumpy and possibly even more of a lesbian. If that didn’t sum it up enough for you, here it is…
Bob Dylan: Singer, Songwriter, Cylon?
Mar 26th
(Everything that pops up after the jump is laden with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen last night’s BSG finale, consider yourself warned…)
For the last few weeks TV critics fortunate enough to obtain screeners of last night’s Battlestar Galactica season finale, “Crossroads Part II,” have been promising that the last 10 minutes of the episode would more than make up for the relatively spotty season. Those kind enough not to spoil, but too cruel to leave well enough alone, teased that the final words uttered before the credits rolled, in particular, would blow our frakking minds. And that they did. But right now, with so many new questions raised, I’m more concerned with the five words said after the show ended: “Battlestar Galactica returns in 2008.”
More >
Battlestar Galactica: Rapture
Jan 22nd
As a recent convert of Battlestar Galactica, the gap between the first and second halves of the third season was the first time I had to wait more than a few days to resolve any cliffhangers. With new questions raised and so many old ones on the verge of being answered, I was sure that the month and a half hiatus was going to be unbearable. Fortunately the Sci Fi Channel was there to loosen the tension by showing the least exciting preview ever.
With a generic emo-ballad throbbing in the background, Apollo’s mousey, uninteresting wife trudges through the familiar washed-out desert while her voiceover complains about having to risk her life to save her husband’s mistress. Nobody can really blame her for being upset, but nobody really cares either. The looming threat of nuclear holocaust for half of the cast at the hands of their own leader, yet another Cylon standoff and a sun on the verge of exploding over all of them go completely unmentioned. They do know why people are watching, right?
Though the folks at NBC-Universal marketing clearly don’t, the show’s creators remain perfectly synced with the fans. This week’s return may not have shown the Galactic crew the yellow-brick-road to Earth, but with one longstanding conflict finally concluding, a newer one wrapping up surprisingly soon and the uninteresting love quadrangle taking a backseat to the action, it’s hard to imagine anyone was at all unsatisfied at the end of the hour.
In one of the most Sharon-centric episodes of the series yet, she forces Helo to shoot her, sending her back to the Cylon fleet for the first time since defecting in the first season so that she can find her baby. Her confusing devotion to Galactica and humanity remain in tact as she (alongside a curiously helpful Caprica Six) navigates the Base Star and once again confronts her evil twin of sorts, Boomer. After Sharon’s Cylon-status turned out to be the big reveal at the end of the miniseries, excitement soon turned to frustration as Boomer Sharon’s extremely slow realization and ensuing shame-spiral played out like an after school special about a girl embarrassed over her first period. When the other Sharon, who knew she was a Cylon the entire time, slowly grew to realize there was more humanity in her than she thought, the character (though a different incarnation) was once again captivating. That is why it is so satisfying to see her almost completely take over the role and so fun to see Number Six snap Boomer’s neck; villainous Sharon and deeply conflicted Sharon are useless.
We know Boomer isn’t gone. Though we may not see it, she’s popping up in the Cylon hot tub in a brand new identical body. It’s hard to kill off a character when that character has an unknown number of copies and each one is essentially immortal – but apparently it’s not impossible. Lucy Lawless’s tenure as D’Anna, the self-righteous, power-hungry and “ultimately flawed” Cylon came to an end just as soon as she was enlightened to the identity of the final five models. Finally as annoyed by her as I’ve been, the other Cylons decided D’Anna was just too much of a loose cannon and put every copy of her in cold storage before she had the chance to fill us in on which Galactica crewmember is our secret-Cylon.
Dee does find her way to Starbuck, doing an impressive job of fixing the wrecked ship by fiddling with a few wires. The rest of the crew on the algae planet capture Baltar in the temple, and overzealous editing finds everyone safely back on Galactica, just in time for the ship to jump away as the Supernova engulfs the stage of the last three episodes. The ambiguous “Eye of Jupiter” sort of points the way to Earth and definitely points to something strange about Starbuck.
The rest of the third season is making lofty promises with at least one mystery Cylon finally coming out of the closet, Baltar and Six both aboard Galactica, Starbuck’s rumored/confirmed departure potentially changing the nature of the program completely and almost no chance of having to endure another threesome involving Lucy Lawless (please, no flashbacks!). And if Sci Fi would ditch the schmaltzy melodramatic commercials, I might be looking forward to it a little more.