This show, that show...

[selenak]

Another hotel, another expensive internet connection. (Ah, Los Angeles, where they gave me one for free...) Today I'm in Osnabrück, which is always somewhat odd to me. It's my father's and paternal grandfather's hometown, and yet I hardly know it. My grandfather who moved to Bamberg after the war because he couldn't bear the sight of bombed cities anymore and Bamberg hadn't been bombed as opposed to Osnabrück always planned to come back after his retirement, because he did love his old hometown. But in the end, he didn't; he had grown too much rooted in his new hometown. When I was a child, we used to visit since we still had family there then, but today everyone has either moved elsewhere or died. Still, when I listen to the local accents I remember my grandfather and his transplanted northerness in the south, his stories and passions for long walks during which he told those stories, and I miss him.

Considering my online time is limited, some thoughts on shows I watch but don't review nor do intend to.

Mad Men: has the rare distinction of being watchable to me despite my disliking every single male character in the cast, especially the leading man. (The women, by contrast, grew on me, and I do like them all in varying degrees.) The thing is, my appreciation for it is almost purely intellectual, and I don't connect with it on an emotional basis. You'd think with my penchant for screwed up characters (which every single one, male or female, on this show is), I would, but no. I also can't shake off my suspicion that while with the rest of the guys we're meant to see them as flawed as they are, we're not in the case of the lead, or rather regard his flaws as completely understandable and endearing. Mind you, he has one advantage over that other leading man I loathe do not much like, Jack Shephard on Lost: he's not boring. (Jack only became interesting in the last two episodes of s3 to me, though now I actually want to know how his storyline continues, very much so.) Still. I loathe Don Draper the way everyone else loathes the show's closest thing to his antagonist. Which might be why I have such trouble connecting with Mad Men on an emotional level, considering Don really is the central lead, much more than Jack Shephard is on Lost.

Pushing Daisies: is very cute. rozk recommended the pilot ages ago, and honorh reminded me the show now started, so I watched the second episode. However, it's like candy - I get the sense that one can easily overdose on the sweetness and quirkyness. In a way, it and Mad Men balance each other. All acid versus all adorability. But Mad Men ends soon and then I shall see whether I can keep up with the twee-ness without feeling the overdose.

Lastly, a link:

Heroes:

Via katemonkey, some incredibly cute icons.

Comments

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

Today I'm in Osnabrück, which is always somewhat odd to me.

Why, it's practically like you're just around the corner! (Well, as much as you could say Osnabrück is around the corner to Bremen, but relatively speaking...)

Mad Men always gets recommended to me, and it's On The List, so to speak, but I admit that what I've heard about the male characters so far has kept me from it. Of course it's laudable that they behave like men in the sixties would likely have behaved, but it's probably more easily to swallow on an intellectual level rather than an emotional one.

However, it's like candy - I get the sense that one can easily overdose on the sweetness and quirkyness. In a way, it and Mad Men balance each other. All acid versus all adorability. But Mad Men ends soon and then I shall see whether I can keep up with the twee-ness without feeling the overdose.

My problem with PD is not only the adorableness, it's the contrast between all the twee details and the cute characters and the colours and the musical numbers on the one side, and the extremely grotesque details considering death, eating disorders and horror film motives on the other. The former is just too much, and the latter, instead of giving a sharp, but levelling contrast, adds a level of weirdness to it that makes the whole world-building break apart for me. It's not only a surrealist world, it's one I find frequently creepy and disturbing, and I'm pretty sure that's not the desired effect at all.

Speaking of cute overload, those icons are to die for.

[veritykindle.livejournal.com]

I also can't shake off my suspicion that while with the rest of the guys we're meant to see them as flawed as they are, we're not in the case of the lead, or rather regard his flaws as completely understandable and endearing.

I've listened to interviews about Mad Men, and from what the show's creator said, I think we are supposed to see Don as being just as fallible and screwed up as the rest of the characters. Definitely a product of his time, mostly in bad ways, just like the rest of them.

I watched a few episodes of Mad Men after that, and I found Don somehow much more bearable when I realized that I was *supposed* to be annoyed by him. It's the writers' intentions that bother me in these situations, and not so much the characterizations themselves.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

Irony. I love Mad Men, can't wait to see the finale this week. (I've heard good things.)

I think we're supposed to find Don deplorable. If we hadn't before last week's episode, we certainly do now, because there's nothing honorable about his past or how he clawed his way into this buisness.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I only watched the first couple episodes of Mad Men, despite finding it very well made and well acted, and loving the time period that the story is about. Based on the first few, anyway, I think the lack of emotional connection is the reason. If this wasn't actually intentional on the writers' part, at the very least they intentionally deprived us of an obvious way to get at the characters' interior lives. After watching this, I suddenly understood why Six Feet Under had talking ghosts, Tony Soprano had a shrink, etc. I'm not really convinced it's possible to make a compelling television show where all the characters are so guarded and everything is so external. If this were a film or short story, or even a shortish novel, I'd probably love it, but I'm not sure it works on TV. I'll probably watch the whole thing when it's on DVD and I may develop a different opinion. (I can't comment on Don versus the rest of the characters, as I didn't really stick with it long enough to pick up on subtleties).