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Harry and Sally -- They Fight Crime!
Jun. 13th, 2011 11:25 pmI am having an issue with television lately. I like shows with nice ensemble casts -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Leverage, Castle. However. Could we have one without the romantic tension, please? It's not obligatory! I promise, I will still like witty dialogue even if nobody is using it to talk past each other for this week's angst-creating misunderstanding!
It's the angst I can't stand, really. Makes me want to shake people. And the repetitiveness; the whole male-lead-female-lead will-they-won't-they has been done to death. As a character arc, okay, but people actually do make decisions about these things, and change over time, and when the same two characters are in the same maybe-we-will-maybe-we-won't-let's-tease-the-viewers-a-bit-and-then-go-sigh-wistfully-in-entirely-different-places-that-line-up-neatly-for-the-divided-screen-effect for months and years on end it is aggravating. Have leads who think about it and decide they won't! If this is too complex, have leads who've never even thought about it! Make them siblings if you have to! Alternatively, established, comfortable relationships are fun, too. Nick and Nora Charles, from The Thin Man -- excellent romance, flirting, no tension. Works for me.
Buffy does fairly well here, actually; there's angst, but there is also change, and nobody pines after anybody for the entire series. Wash and Zoe on Firefly are an excellent example of a good, fun, established relationship, although both Simon and Kaylee and Mal and Inara make me want to throw shoes at people. (Eh, it only got a season, maybe they'd have fixed it.)
Leverage and Castle are both seriously starting to grate. We are about to get the next season of Leverage from NetFlix, and I am getting kind of trepidacious. I was really enjoying the subtle background bits with Parker flirting with Hardison and Eliot, and then towards the end of season 2 Hardison noticed and starting... angsting. Nate and Sophie are already obnoxious enough, I do not need more romantic tension in this show. Especially with Parker, sheesh. At least it won't be the both of them doing it, even if the writers do insist on going there with Hardison.
It's the angst I can't stand, really. Makes me want to shake people. And the repetitiveness; the whole male-lead-female-lead will-they-won't-they has been done to death. As a character arc, okay, but people actually do make decisions about these things, and change over time, and when the same two characters are in the same maybe-we-will-maybe-we-won't-let's-tease-the-viewers-a-bit-and-then-go-sigh-wistfully-in-entirely-different-places-that-line-up-neatly-for-the-divided-screen-effect for months and years on end it is aggravating. Have leads who think about it and decide they won't! If this is too complex, have leads who've never even thought about it! Make them siblings if you have to! Alternatively, established, comfortable relationships are fun, too. Nick and Nora Charles, from The Thin Man -- excellent romance, flirting, no tension. Works for me.
Buffy does fairly well here, actually; there's angst, but there is also change, and nobody pines after anybody for the entire series. Wash and Zoe on Firefly are an excellent example of a good, fun, established relationship, although both Simon and Kaylee and Mal and Inara make me want to throw shoes at people. (Eh, it only got a season, maybe they'd have fixed it.)
Leverage and Castle are both seriously starting to grate. We are about to get the next season of Leverage from NetFlix, and I am getting kind of trepidacious. I was really enjoying the subtle background bits with Parker flirting with Hardison and Eliot, and then towards the end of season 2 Hardison noticed and starting... angsting. Nate and Sophie are already obnoxious enough, I do not need more romantic tension in this show. Especially with Parker, sheesh. At least it won't be the both of them doing it, even if the writers do insist on going there with Hardison.
