castle and h50
Jan. 12th, 2012 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhIn which I'll start with some yammering about my icon-fixation of the last week and a half or so, and then talk a bit about television now that shows are starting up again.
Those of you who have talked to me recently will be very glad to know that the whole icon-fixation is over! I've deleted old icons, uploaded new ones, finally got DW in sync, and changed most of my icon keywords. I know it means a lot of comments and posts will revert to my default icon, but I've deleted a lot of icons over the past few years so it was happening anyway. I'll just go back and fix all the fic posts.
And this was all done so I could upload a bunch of Avengers icons; more on that when I've properly caught up on the movies. But in short: Pepper/Natasha and Clint/Coulson.
Okay let's talk about the two American crime dramas I've been watching, Hawaii Five-O and Castle.
When it started out, Hawaii Five-O was treading a careful line between USA crime show (think Psych or White Collar: centered on a bromance, some heavy issues but essentially light in tone, more about the character relationships than the MotW) and CBS procedural (think CSI or NCIS: centered on the solving of a crime with occasional character notes, some comic moments but essentially dark in tone, MotW frequently very dark/serial killer/some sort of sexual messiness). Some years back I was briefly a CSI watcher, but dropped it when it turned decidedly toward punishing women for having a sex life (every time Catherine hooked up someone died) and having character moments that never led anyplace (Nick's burial) or were handled badly (Gil/Sara being hinted at, then dropped, then just presented as an established relationship). I'd rather have an NBC procedural, where we never know anything about the characters, than this in and out business.
Well, unfortunately for this viewer, H50 seems to have decided on the CBS route. No huge surprise, given that it's on CBS, though it's not like those USA shows don't get pretty killer ratings. The problem is, like the original H50, the characters merrily ignore civil rights left right and center--which can be fine when it's paired with a comic tone, or Danny's bitching, but not so much when Steve and Danny put a hood over a guy's head and kidnap him from a parking garage. Not to mention that they ditched Jenna, who was awesome, for Lori, who has the personality of a liberty quarter. And then there's the storyline in which we lost Jenna, which looks like it's not going to actually move forward any time soon. (I was so with Steve when he slammed on the brakes and started yelling at Joe.) Look, Wo Fat is the big bad on this show and part of that is that he is always up to something and never caught, but making it into this big conspiracy thing is super not interesting.
Plus there isn't as much time spent on Danny standing around being snarky, which, let's face it, was one of the best parts of the show (along with Kono being a BAMF, Chin and his cheekbones riding a motorcycle, and Steve taking his shirt off at the drop of a hat). So I'm out! I might occasionally breeze past some fic, and I leave with great affection--that is, before I become a hater. But it feels like a good time to kick it off the DVR.
Oh Castle my Castle, I love you so. I loved Ryan and Jenny's wedding, I love that there's a film noir episode coming up (the one truly Moonlighting-like thing they've done), I love Lanie, I love Ryan-and-Esposito, I love Alexis and Martha even though they're underused, I love Castle's empty nest pangs, I love that it isn't will-they-or-won't-they so much as when-will-they (maybe third time's a charm, Castle) and the waiting is actually still fun rather than tedious, I love you even when the mystery isn't that great because the way all the characters interact will still be wonderful. I love that you get PCA's and stable ratings and will be around for a while. Keep on keeping on, Castle.
Anyone else watching these shows? Thoughts?
Next time, sitcoms, because I am watching a metric fuckton of them this year.
Those of you who have talked to me recently will be very glad to know that the whole icon-fixation is over! I've deleted old icons, uploaded new ones, finally got DW in sync, and changed most of my icon keywords. I know it means a lot of comments and posts will revert to my default icon, but I've deleted a lot of icons over the past few years so it was happening anyway. I'll just go back and fix all the fic posts.
And this was all done so I could upload a bunch of Avengers icons; more on that when I've properly caught up on the movies. But in short: Pepper/Natasha and Clint/Coulson.
Okay let's talk about the two American crime dramas I've been watching, Hawaii Five-O and Castle.
When it started out, Hawaii Five-O was treading a careful line between USA crime show (think Psych or White Collar: centered on a bromance, some heavy issues but essentially light in tone, more about the character relationships than the MotW) and CBS procedural (think CSI or NCIS: centered on the solving of a crime with occasional character notes, some comic moments but essentially dark in tone, MotW frequently very dark/serial killer/some sort of sexual messiness). Some years back I was briefly a CSI watcher, but dropped it when it turned decidedly toward punishing women for having a sex life (every time Catherine hooked up someone died) and having character moments that never led anyplace (Nick's burial) or were handled badly (Gil/Sara being hinted at, then dropped, then just presented as an established relationship). I'd rather have an NBC procedural, where we never know anything about the characters, than this in and out business.
Well, unfortunately for this viewer, H50 seems to have decided on the CBS route. No huge surprise, given that it's on CBS, though it's not like those USA shows don't get pretty killer ratings. The problem is, like the original H50, the characters merrily ignore civil rights left right and center--which can be fine when it's paired with a comic tone, or Danny's bitching, but not so much when Steve and Danny put a hood over a guy's head and kidnap him from a parking garage. Not to mention that they ditched Jenna, who was awesome, for Lori, who has the personality of a liberty quarter. And then there's the storyline in which we lost Jenna, which looks like it's not going to actually move forward any time soon. (I was so with Steve when he slammed on the brakes and started yelling at Joe.) Look, Wo Fat is the big bad on this show and part of that is that he is always up to something and never caught, but making it into this big conspiracy thing is super not interesting.
Plus there isn't as much time spent on Danny standing around being snarky, which, let's face it, was one of the best parts of the show (along with Kono being a BAMF, Chin and his cheekbones riding a motorcycle, and Steve taking his shirt off at the drop of a hat). So I'm out! I might occasionally breeze past some fic, and I leave with great affection--that is, before I become a hater. But it feels like a good time to kick it off the DVR.
Oh Castle my Castle, I love you so. I loved Ryan and Jenny's wedding, I love that there's a film noir episode coming up (the one truly Moonlighting-like thing they've done), I love Lanie, I love Ryan-and-Esposito, I love Alexis and Martha even though they're underused, I love Castle's empty nest pangs, I love that it isn't will-they-or-won't-they so much as when-will-they (maybe third time's a charm, Castle) and the waiting is actually still fun rather than tedious, I love you even when the mystery isn't that great because the way all the characters interact will still be wonderful. I love that you get PCA's and stable ratings and will be around for a while. Keep on keeping on, Castle.
Anyone else watching these shows? Thoughts?
Next time, sitcoms, because I am watching a metric fuckton of them this year.
