Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Idiot [Savant] Box


I am watching the Season 1 DVD of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and thinking about how literary television has gotten. Even this show, built on the shoulders of an action movie franchise, is imbued with a narrative structure that is driven by literary concern. There are many TV shows now that do not operate simply on a surface level but instead offer the viewer the chance to dissect layers of story and character development, creating serial films: short 45 minute bits of cinema that offer visceral and intellectual entertainment as well as the usual car explosions and ass whoopins.

Among the current and recent literary shows I like the best: Sarah Conner, Mad Men, The Wire (clearly one of the best series to ever air on television), Rescue Me, 24, and a few others.

There was a time, about ten years ago, when I rarely watched TV, with the exception of sports. I even remember not having a television for about six months once.

Now I'm thinking about buying a Tivo because the DVR my cable company gave me isn't quite cutting it.

1 comment:

Tremenda TrigueƱa said...

I can relate to the whole not watching TV back in the day. I NEVER watched it in high school, and in college I remember NY Undercover was really the only series I cared about. In recent times, stations like HBO have stepped up the literary game and created programming for adults who were looking for more than just mind numbing nonsense. Maybe it's because I could actually afford good TV in my mid-20s until now whereas I never could before?