The Medium is the Message

Posted by Maggie April 25th, 2006 at 09:13pm In All Things TV Buffy Gilmore Girls House Jack Bauer

So, I don’t really know what that post title means, and I’m not going to pretend. I do know it’s Marshall McLuhan, so I could totally buzz in correctly in Jeopardy (which is all that really matters), but all it really means to me is Annie Hall:

Woody: You know nothing about Marshall McLuhan.

Man in movie theatre line: I happen to teach a class at Columbia called “TV Media and Culture,” so I think that my insights into Mr. McLuhan have a great deal of validity.

Woody: Well, that’s funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here.

Marshall McLuhan: I heard what you were saying. You know nothing about my work… how you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing.

I’m going to do a continuation link to the rest of this post (a rarity around here) because I am self-aware enough to know when I’m being slightly pompous. Now, aren’t you curious about what I’m being pompous about? Come on, you know you want to. There are several funny pictures at the end, too.

So I’m trying to talk about television. As a medium. That’s my connection; sorry. As always, there’s great stuff over at the AV Club Blog. This post talks about the problems shows face because of the demands of serialization. The idea is that because of the grind of having to produce 22 episodes a year, longer storylines are often botched, which is further proof that television is not The Greatest of All Entertainment Media.

I tend to completely disagree, not just because I believe that television is The Greatest, but also because the chief draw of television is the fact that it’s serialized. Like Kyle’s said before, there’s so much more you can do with characters, with plots, with slowing evolving storylines, when you have at least twenty hours to do so. In addition, I think the pressure to create a show on a tight schedule and limited budget forces its creators to do things that are interesting and new. (On the flipside, it also explains why there are three CSIs and multiple Law and Orders — once you have a good format, it can be easy to just fill in the blanks. But I’m talking about original shows, here.)

The AV Club post was prompted by the fact that Amy Sherman-Palladino and husband are leaving Gilmore Girls at the end of the year. She’s the creator, he’s an exec producer, they both write and/or direct a lot of the episodes. I can’t imagine this will be good for the show, so that’s sad. But maybe the new people will inject Rory with some common sense. Which could be interesting.

And frankly, I’m getting sick of the idea that when a show changes, it’s automatically the end of the world. This is partly prompted by the anti-Buffy-seasons-5-7 sentiments that some of the commenters express on AV Club post. Sure, the show changes in tone. But the characters are older; they’ve experienced more, and we’ve experienced it with them. A dynamic show can’t keep repeating itself over and over again, even when that formula seemed to be working pretty well. I always prefer change and surprise.

And now, here are a few pictures of television stars before they were super famous.

That’s Hugh Laurie on the left.

That’s Sarah Michelle Gellar in a Burger King commercial.

That’s Kiefer!