I spend too much time watching the few TV shows I like. I watch and rewatch the DVDs. I fall asleep to them. But the upside of this is that I know the shows very well.
Then things change. A new writer is brought in, perhaps.
The show is still funny, still has most of the qualities I liked before. But something is missing. Funny, “insider” jokes feel forced and fake. The jokes are the same length, said by the same actors, but it’s not the same.
The Spark Has Gone.
And perhaps that’s all it is. But as someone who has studied writing, it irritates me when I can’t put my finger on what that spark is. Spark is not technical enough for me.
What do I analyse? The words, the context, the pacing, the tone? They all seem fine. And maybe that’s it. They are fine. But they’re not excellent.
Is it the vision that has been lost? The plan? The story arc?
How do you put your finger on it when something has changed, yet on the surface it all feels the same?
I just think you need to go with your gut – you don’t need to understand why – sometimes you just go off something…
But the nosy researcher part of me wants to know more 🙂
Perhaps you could write a TV show that has spark? 🙂 xx Lucy #TeamIBOT
I always have ideas flitting around in my head 🙂
I think sometimes that spark is a time and a place. A moment that’s meant to be here and now. Like the Buddhist philosophy advises, change is unstoppable and everything is impermanent. Embrace the jokes while they are funny and then Ebay the box set in search for something new! 😀 Jody at Six Little Hearts
So true Jody! I think the best example of that is when we rewatch movies from our childhood – the magic has gone. But you’ve just grown up is all. It’s not bad or good, it’s just what has happened.
Sometimes I watch TV shows and I love them. I watch episodes back to back and then something happens and the spark is gone and I can’t watch it any more. That happened to me with True Blood.
It’s almost like an endorphin rush that comes and goes!
…and Dexter…
I agree. Particularly about Dexter. I felt it about Dawson’s Creek and Homeland as well. Sigh. I think just one catch in momentum and a series can totally unravel. Move on—take up The Walking Dead. That sh*t will never get old. Kx
I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Walking Dead – maybe I’ll have to look into it.
I am terrible with following through with any series, I have several that I just never bothered watching the last few episodes. I do know that feeling you have, I hate feeling like that with just general life, like something is bothering me and I get very annoyed if I can’t figure it out. #teamIBOT
That vague feeling is just one of those things that sits in the back of your head! 🙂
I feel it sometimes too and no you can’t put your finger on it. I also struggle when a character leaves. SVU hasn’t been the same since “Elliot” left 🙁
Sometimes the character chemistry was the entire appeal of the show.
Yes, it is hard to put your finger on what it is. I felt that way about Friends. I used to think it was awesome and now I wonder what I ever saw in it. The same with Homeland. I kind of have just lost that obsession I used to have with the show. I think that sometimes your taste just changes with no real reason why.
I think with Friends it’s just on the TV all the time…still!
Perhaps we are saturated with the next best new show to watch and they begin to loose their lustre. Read a book instead, your imagination will make up for that lost spark.
Good point – I haven’t been reading books very much lately! Thanks 🙂
I’m with Jodi – I stopped watching SUV as soon as Elliot went. But all good things must come to an end sadly 🙁
That’s true. Maybe shows just need to wrap up before they get to this half-assed stage.
Oh I hear you! There’s nothing worse than a show that should have ended last season, but they kept going with. You just have to know when to stop I feel.
I never watched Seinfeld when it was originally airing, but that’s the one thing I always remember people saying about the show – they knew when to end it.