Sarah Connor Chronicles - Week 5 of 8
For the past couple weeks this show has felt a lot like Smallville to me, in that it’s just mediocre enough to be enjoyable. That’s not necessarily a good thing, but then again it’s not really bad, either, because I’ve made a point to see every Smallville episode since day one. But while Smallville lasted this long because it’s on the CW, Fox has a much worse history of keeping weak shows around. They usually get canceled within weeks of the premiere, which is why I’m still saying there won’t be any more episodes after number 8.
It’s just that they don’t take any risks. Two of my favorite shows, Lost and Battlestar Galactica, take risks every week with their storytelling. You can tell when a show does this because when someone asks you “what is it about?” the answer is so easy, but so complicated. For example, what’s your initial reaction when someone asks you: “What is Lost about?”
Well, it’s about a group of plane crash survivors. But is that it? No, not at all. You can go on for hours with that answer. Same with Battlestar Galactica, and I’m sure a lot of other shows that I don’t know about.
Smallville and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, however, suffer from that answer being a bit too easy. “What is Smallville about?” Superman before he was Superman. But is that it? Well, uhm, for the most part… yes.
What is the Sarah Connor Chronicles about? A robot from the future sent back in time to protect John and Sarah Connor so they can stop the robots from taking over in the first place. But is that it? Well, uhm…. yes.
So far, at least. I’m aware that it might take an episode or two, or three or six, to really develop the overall mythology of the show. Lost had it from the start, with the roars, the pilot, and the polar bear. BSG had a bit of it in the beginning because we knew Sharon was a Cylon, and it really picked up later when Baltar realized he has no idea how he knew where a Cylon installation was and accepts the fact that he may be getting played by the hand of God.
The good news is that the Sarah Connor Chronicles might have shown a bit of it in last night’s episode, specifically during the last fifteen minutes, when the mysterious girl at school gets in a car with an unknown person (she’s hiding something), John shows up with Sarah’s ex (just what did he say to him?), and Cameron collecting the Terminator chip then writing a grief note at the end (who was she writing to? suicide girl? and what did she say?)
It’s also interesting that we still don’t know why the girl jumped from the school’s roof and killed herself a few episodes back. Originally I just thought it was lazy writing but I’m smacking myself in the forehead now because it obviously is connected to something. It was both creepy and cool when Cameron replayed the event for the school’s grief counselor. I’m still frustrated, though, that she’s so different from episode 1 to episode 2.
So, what do I hope the Sarah Connor Chronicles is about? A robot from the future who is sent back in time to protect John and Sarah so they can stop the robots from taking over in the first place? Sure. But maybe it will also be about Skynet’s realization that they need John and Sarah, because without John and Sarah, the first Terminator (Arnold) has no reason to go back in time and therefore serve as the inspiration for Skynet itself. Therefore, Skynet should be sending Terminators back to protect John and Sarah, and the twist should be that future John is sending back agents to kill himself so the resistance that sparks this whole mess in the first place never happens… thereby ensuring Skynet never exists.
One of those “ultimate sacrifice” stories. If that really is what this show is about, I hope Fox keeps it around after week 8.
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“The Moment of Truth”
Have you heard of this show? I saw a commercial for it a few weeks ago, and I thought the gimmick was pretty ridiculous. It’s a game show where they supposedly hook you up to a lie-detector and ask you a bunch of personal questions. Answer them truthfully, they give you cash. Answer one wrong, they take away the cash — all while your friends and family sit on the sidelines.
The commercial I saw had a guy hooked up to the machine, and the host asked, “Would you have sex with another woman if you were absolutely sure your wife would never find out?”
He hesitated… they cut to the wife (who looked sick to her stomach) and then… “Coming soon!”
I have not watched it, and will not watch it, because it’s stuff like that that gives television a bad name. I’d talk about it more, but Dr. Laura already said it better than I can. She compares it to the recent movie “Untraceable,” where a killer posts live videos of his victims as they’re being killed, torturing and killing them faster when more people log on. The symbolism is kind of obvious: ratings for these types of shows = death. Death of a person, death of a soul, death of a society… take your pick.
We really need our writers back.
The Writer’s Stike May Be Over
Toward the end of October 2007, the WGA went on strike and refused to write any new material for television or movies until they were able to be paid fairly for their work as it was seen on the internet. The strike was expected to be wrapped up quickly, but when Thanksgiving came and went, most hope was lost, especially after the AMPTP refused to come back to the negotiating table. Studios and networks started breaking the news that shows like Heroes, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica probably wouldn’t be able to finish their seasons. Heroes wrapped up already, Lost is back but with only 8 of 16 episodes scheduled, and the remaining 10 episodes of the entire Battlestar Galactica series are up in the air.
As much as I want a complete Lost season and a satisfying resolution to one of the best shows on television (Battlestar), I would gladly give both up so that the WGA could get a fair deal. I would have never complained, even if the strike took 5 years. Why? For one, because what they were asking for was completely reasonable and shocking that it wasn’t already being provided, and two, because someday, I still hope to be a part of the WGA.
The good news is that the strike may finally be over.
LOS ANGELES — Informal talks between representatives of Hollywood’s writers and production companies eliminated the major roadblocks to a new contract, opening the prospect of a tentative agreement between the parties as early as next week, according to people who were briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.
A deal would end a crippling writers strike that is now entering its fourth month.
To read more, follow this link.
*****
EDIT 2 DAYS LATER: Don’t read too much into this. Apparently the AMPTP sent out a bunch of press releases saying “the end is almost near,” in an effort to weaken the picket lines and public support. It almost worked, because I, too, thought that the end was near. It’s not. Read here and here. Just because the two sides are talking doesn’t mean they are any closer to signing a contract.
Sarah Connor Chronicles - Adam’s Little Mini-Review
“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” is a show I’ve waited almost a year for. I’ve followed it’s development since I first heard about it, and even saw the leaked pilot over the summer (the same one that aired tonight.) My initial impression a year ago remains the same: it’ll be cancelled in about eight weeks, thanks to the funny sounding name and lack of plot.
It’s not the show’s fault. I actually really liked it. It’s just that when the end of a story is everybody dying, it’s extremely difficult to give the characters any purpose.
Also, the Terminator franchise as a whole has two giant plot holes.
Plot Hole 1: If I’m a super-advanced machine from the future and need to send a robot back in time to kill the human resistance leader when he’s a child, I’m not going to risk it. I’m sending back 10. Maybe 20. With a nuclear bomb. Except in each movie, and now, in the series, they send back one robot at a time, with apparently enough advance notice for the human resistance to also send back a protector.
Plot Hole 2: If the machines actually succeed in killing John Connor when he’s a child, that presumably means there will be no human resistance. No human resistance means no Kyle Reese, who goes back in time in the first movie to protect Sarah Connor (John’s mother), and has sex with her, ultimately creating John’s existence. As Doc Brown says, this could concievably create a time paradox that could unravel the very fabric of the universe itself! (I take it to mean the machines have figured out that that wouldn’t happen.)
Worse, let’s say John and his mother succeed in taking down the first stages of the machine’s advancement before it gets out of hand. So, the machine consciousness is never made. Which means there is no machine war, no machines, nobody to go back in time and impregnate Sarah. No John. BUT, no John means nobody to fight the birth of Skynet, so there’s nothing to stand in the way of it’s birth in the first place.
Follow?
Time travel is a lose-lose situation, friends. But if you can suspend that disbelief, it’s an alright story.
The thing about making it into a series, however, is that they need to have enough of a unique story to carry it week to week.
The first Terminator movie was essentially a sci-fi love story between Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, her protector from the future (and father to John Connor.)
The second Terminator movie provided John with the father figure he needed, and was also a love story between a boy and his father-figure who died at the end. It was also about a machine’s ability to learn the concept of humanity.
The third Terminator was an apocalyptic tale, and didn’t do as well because there was no human relationships really explored. It also appears the series has ignored this movie, which I am indifferent about.
This series, then, needs human characters relating to each other to really succeed. It should be a human drama first, a sci-fi show second, and a Terminator story third. So, this time around, they have the opportunity for John and his mother to really bond (before she is inevitably killed off).
What’s more interesting, I think, is the fact that John’s new machine guardian from the future no longer looks like a big burly Austrian guy. She’s now a pretty hot girl who happens to be around his age.
If the second movie explored machines learning human values, they should continue to expand on that. I really think John and this terminator girl (Cameron) need to have something happen. That might sound sick, but, sooner or later (2050, to be exact) analysts predict we’ll all be having sex with robots anyway.
So on second thought, maybe this show is ahead of it’s time.
FUN FACT: Bear McCreary, composer of Battlestar Galactica, also composes the score for this Terminator show. I had forgotten about this until the dream sequence in the beginning, when I said, “this sounds a lot like Battlestar Galactica.” Giggity giggity. Giggity goo.
The second episode airs tomorrow… see you then!
Talk Shows Without Writers
I missed Jay Leno and David Letterman’s return on the 2nd, accidentally thinking they came back on the 3rd. Not that I missed much — Leno was so dull I quit watching after 10 minutes (no difference there), and Letterman recapped his thoughts from the previous night anyway.
I really don’t like Jay Leno. Not because he tried to side-step the WGA and turned himself into a scab… I didn’t like him before all this. I’ve tried, he’s just… not funny. And he’s annoying, with his little chin bobble that he does, and the gray hair with the one streak of black. He is a cartoon character all the time.
But I’ve always liked David Letterman. Sometime in 7th grade I started setting my VCR to tape his show at night and then I’d watch it in the morning before school. This continued pretty much until I left for college (I mean, I missed a few episodes here and there, but Dave and I were pretty tight for a while.) I’d even go as far to say he molded my sense of humor quite a bit. Anyway, I’ve kind of rediscovered how good his show is and I figured I should enjoy it while it lasts because he’s getting old and might not be hosting for much longer.
He’s also the only late night show I’ll allow myself to watch at this point, because his company was able to work out a deal with the WGA and therefore actually runs a legit show. (He also owns Craig Ferguson’s late night show, but… c’mon, it’s Craig Ferguson.) I’m not sure how cable companies track ratings (do they monitor your DVR?) so I feel like it’s better safe than sorry… I wouldn’t want to help the ratings of a non-WGA show.
So… Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert are back as of yesterday as well. I was waiting for this, even though they are also back without writers and so I probably won’t watch much more than I already have. The reason I was waiting for them to come back is because I knew they’d use their 30 minutes to do nothing but be pro-WGA, and rightfully so. If the networks want them back on the air without contracts, they should understand a political satire show will satire the shit out of them. It will be the first time the WGA’s interests are fairly represented on TV.
Jon Stewart spent the first 15 minutes of his show talking about the strike, and the last 15 talking to a labor union expert who answered good questions, such as “doesn’t what the AMPTP doing constitute anti-trust?” He led right into Stephen Colbert, who did a better job than Jon Stewart without a script, and the best part was when he introduced his show with the transitions he always uses, except there was nothing to transition to… “Welcome to the show… tonight! [pause] THEN! [pause] PLUS! [pause] Hey. … THIS, is the Colbert Report.”
I really don’t get why this strike is still going on.
Anyone see American Gladiators?
Chappelle’s Show Classics #2
See Chappelle’s Show Classics #1 for more info.
Today…
“Black Bush”
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