What were this year's worst?
It’s officially the end of the year and that means it’s time for one of my favorite things: lists! I’ll be blogging a few lists in the next couple of days – it’s a fitting way for a list-lover like me to finish up 2008.
While I spend the next couple of days compiling those (in between ski trips), here’s one from St. Petersburg Times’ media critic (one of a dying but noble breed), Eric Deggans, on the worst media moments of the year. I appreciated this round-up and I’m not sure I could have come up with it myself. I don’t have that good of a memory.
Two points he makes that I think are worth discussing: the creative implosion of Heroes and Grey’s Anatomy. I’m of differing views on these two. I just watched the last six episodes of Heroes yesterday (while paying bills and doing laundry and cooking dinner so I wasn’t a total vegetable) and I don’t think the show has gone off the rails as much as everyone – fans and critics alike – says it has. While I do think many of the characters were too quick to change from good to evil and back again – Sylar and Nathan in particular – I think that this show really makes an effort to offer interesting plots and storylines. You have to actually watch the show to keep up, but if you do watch, there’s a payoff. Like X-Men, the characters are essentially comic-book superheroes who seem to shift with the demands of the plot. I’m not sure the regular rules of humanity apply. And in the end, everyone ultimately went back to their original selves. As Sylar tells Elle before mercilessly killing her, “no one really changes,” and then he stops fighting all together and gives in completely to the monster that he really is.
Grey’s Anatomy, on the other hand, has become completely unwatchable and silly. The characters’ choices make no sense, they seem to be attracted to whoever walks past them in that moment, and the pit-pattery and repetitive dialogue grows ever more annoying. In the beginning, what I felt made the show great was how the writers interwove complicated relationships and funny dialogue with compelling medical dramas. Something was at stake every episode. Now, everything feels flimsy and pointless. However, Grey’s remains TV’s top-rated show among adults 18-49. The same cannot be said for Heroes.
What were your worst media moments of 2008? And what shows do you think started great but then fell apart creatively?
Jussara commented:
Hi! Mine were about 2 months when I got them. I spent the first week with them, and then the next week with them lkcoed in their shed while I was away and let out frequently (every few hours), and then started leaving them alone in the yard. But they still cry every morning with the sunrise, and shriek when they hear my voice or see me in the window .. apparently they are now atuned to the sound of my car engine. My neighbors say they're quiet when I'm at work but the second my car comes up the hill they start bleating. My secret weapon is alfalfa. I give them alfalfa before I leave them alone and they love it some much they pig out on it and I can sneak away. They give a little sad croak but then go back to eating, so it's been my saving grace. At this rate they'll probably end up obese, but its the only cure to silence them.I also highly recommend giving your neighbors small bags of chocolate treats and a note thanking them for their patience. Then they feel like they *can't* complain! I'll check out your blog too! Thanks for reading.
Iyan commented:
i'm kindof fekerad out by the fact that when i read that this was david and chrissy's wedding before the picture even loaded on my computer (super. slow. internet.) i knew exactly which wedding this was oh yeah that freaking awesome couple with the amazing rainbow picture the one with the dude who looks like one BAMF and the beautiful chica with fabulous taste in men, wedding dress, and photographer and then the picture loaded. and it was them. sorry i'm not sorry for being a devoted blog stalker.