singzeon.

27 January 2017:

Still recovering from the goodness of The Good Wife S04E14.

Throughout the past few years, I’ve not really been watching TV shows. Back when Funshion was popular (and didn’t care about copyright), I actually started watching The Big Bang Theory and Skins.

In fact, I subsequently made a list of shows that I would watch, and even downloaded them to my removable hard drive for ‘next time’. But then, my drive crashed (and all memory lost). Also, Funshion started removing many titles.

So, that resumed my TV drought, until last year. I still don’t recall what actually made me restart watching shows again, but I know that I started off with Breaking Bad. Don’t think I did a blogpost about it previously, but it was great.

Now I understand why V was so hyped up about it back in JC 1 (2013), when the show was at its finale (and its best). Sadly, I also realised how, ironically, none of my friends watched it and therefore could spazz with me about it.

(I suppose that was also how V felt back then, when he persuaded those around him to watch it. Guess I should’ve listened to his advice then, but hey at least I did watch it eventually.)

~

Two things discourage me from watching TV shows. One would be the long wait between seasons. But, of course, I fully understand – the cast and crew do need time to properly film a season, especially since it’s not soap opera.

Back when BrBa announced it was splitting its final season into two, many people were unhappy (based on reports during that time). But after watching it all, I now understand and in fact appreciate their doing so.

Fellow BrBa viewers would probably remember the episode Fly, where it was in fact panned for being way worse than its usual standard. But as Vince Gilligan later explained, this was a bottle episode.

They were suffering from budget constraints (a very real concern) and hence decided on this gamble. It did pay off – reviews were actually rather positive – though I did remember being slightly confused as well.

So back to the issue, yes, shows do need time to produce episodes, what more those with high standards. Typically, a season starts in September of one year and ends in May the next. Then, if it is renewed, production revs up again between May and September, before yet another season premiere.

However, as much as I understand the rationale, I really dislike the wait every May for the next season of a show I enjoy watching – I guess you could say that’s instant gratification. Ironically, though, my solution involves waiting till the whole show ends.

Which is, in fact, what I’m doing: I only watch shows that have fully ended (excluding spin-offs, if any). This way, the only limiting factor is me and how fast I’m watching. Theoretically, I could binge-watch the entire show from start to end.

The only exceptions so far are TBBT and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The former, because it’s a sitcom that doesn’t actually make me cry out for more each time, but can still continue smoothly whenever it premieres.

Hence, I ever watched a bulk of it (season 1 through season 5 maybe), then waited a few years till around season 8 before catching up. Somehow, it works for me. Currently again, I’m lagging on season 10, stuck at season 9 but not watching.

As for the latter, it was actually because I thought it ended, hence I started watching. Then I finished watching all three seasons (back then), and realised there was season 4! So I sucked it up and patiently waited.

The other reason why I don’t usually watch TV shows is that recently (past few years), I realised that American shows seem to do a lot of science fiction-related material, especially those with superheroes.

I don’t know why, I dislike superheroes and fantasy and sci-fi. In fact, it’s a fairly strong dislike, although I know too that it is rather irrational. Somehow, I just can’t comprehend (and much less watch) a show about ‘unreal’ people.

(Could any psychologist perhaps analyse that and tell me if this is a sign of past trauma . . .)

And yet, funnily enough, those around me like watching these shows a lot. So when they recommend such shows to me, I have no interest. And in a way, this gave me the impression that was all there was out there, so I didn’t actively find shows.

~

Anyway, I started watching BrBa. I would say that it was a fantastic choice to restart my show-watching with such a good show, giving me the ‘motivation’ to watch others as well.

After BrBa ended, I started on Dexter. I’d say that Dexter isn’t of as high a quality as BrBa, but then understandably so – BrBa was created (initially) for a niche audience. I watched three seasons of it – then stopped watching it at once.

Again, I don’t fully know why I stopped. Usually I watch them daily, but then one day I didn’t, and somehow one day became two and etc. But it’s okay, I’m still watching it.

~

At this point, I realise I am just rambling on. I guess a long absence from blogging + fatigue at the end of the day does have its effects on me. I shall now try to get back to the topic.

~

Currently I’m hooked on The Good Wife. Won’t go into what the show is about, except that it’s a legal procedural drama and I’m a sucker for it. Also, the first season was indeed very good.

As with BrBa, every time I finish an episode of TGW, I would head over the AVClub and read the episode’s review. I’d also read the comments and consider what was brought out. The good thing is there are no spoilers, which I will mention later.

So, as the title suggests, today I finished the 14th episode of season 4. And yes, after a fairly sluggish first half of season 4, this episode was pure goodness. The AVClub review thinks so too.

This time, the review was by another reviewer and it read like a literature essay. But still, nice episode and nice review. The long-time reviewer, David Sims, had done much thrashing of previous episodes this season.

This episode was no doubt back to the standard of season 1, or maybe even better, since by now there’s so much plot development to explore. I certainly hope that this will be how the rest of the season goes, fingers crossed.

~

Lastly: spoilers. I think 99% of people hate spoilers, myself included. Especially so when I take my shows seriously, since I only watch (or continue watching) those I truly like. Hence, spoilers are like a punch to the gut.

Of course, I do my fair share of avoiding them. But sadly, for people like me that watch a show after it has ended, there’s an extremely high chance of seeing spoilers unintentionally.

I still remember how I saw my first BrBa spoiler. I was watching a blooper on Youtube of season 2 (which I had finished by then). Amongst the top comments was ‘Walt ----’, which in fact spoiled the show’s ending.

Boy was I distraught. Henceforth, whenever I watched such videos, I made sure not to scroll into the comments section. I’d just watch the video and move on, not even reading the video description.

But then, even Google decided to play a trick on me. Previously, I searched for Will Gardner, a character in TGW. Thanks to Google’s search suggestions, I learnt of a shocking development two seasons prematurely.

And the annoying thing about spoilers is they diminish the reaction you get when you actually see the scene eventually. The spoiler pre-empts you and unless you forgot about it, you will never really get the element of shock.

~

Since I’m on the topic of spoilers, I wonder if there’s any tech whiz and fellow drama enthusiast out there that’s willing to create an anti-spoiler Chrome extension. Like Adblock, it will block any text that is a spoiler.

The user has to, of course, input the episode he / she has watched until. Then, the extension will identify details that happen after that episode and block them. But then here’s where the difficult part lies.

Firstly, it’s hard enough to register plot details of every episode, especially on the issue of specificity. How precise do these details have to be? One man’s clarity may be another’s vagueness.

Secondly, how does the extension detect relevant details? The same plot detail can be expressed in so many ways, or sometimes indirectly and subtly. It could certainly block outright spoilers, but beyond that, it’s hard.

But of course, who knows? Maybe one day, I’ll get to enjoy such an extension, by anyone who’s willing to take up the challenge. (Hint, hint, to anyone developer out there. I’m a willing guinea pig; I’ve got many episodes left.)

TTFN.