I may be a little premature in saying this, but television may be getting over it's addiction to reality shows and getting back to telling an interesting story. I do mourn for the days when Hill Street Blues, Cheers, MASH, and other story based programming was hot, but all of a sudden, I find myself watching network TV again. And I like what I see.
My view towards reality shows are fairly well spelled out in my previous post "A Powerful Weapon", so I won't go into detail on why I think it is a symptom of the fall of Western civilization.
I guess I saw the rise of reality TV coming. I remember when they canceled my beloved Firefly, and I remember watching the first season of Survivor. I did happen to enjoy The Mole while it was on, but even reality shows can fall under the ax too (was the Mole too cerebral, or was Celebrity Mole too much for anyone to bear?) I have been a rampant fan of Food Network, and was devastated when TechTV was purchased and dismantled by Comcast/G4 (and those are reality TV, too, when you think about it). It was the more violent and nasty reality shows that took over after Cheers, Seinfeld, and Friends left the airwaves. I had stopped watching network TV altogether at that point, retreating to the specialty cable channels like Bravo, Discovery, Food, Comedy Central, and Spike.
It looks like maybe the profit of these reality shows is bottoming out for the networks, or they see for themselves how formulaic the programming must be to be able to spawn shows that were an outright mockery of the format (Average Joe, Drawn Together, The Gottis). Or maybe the major networks collectively grew a conscience. They were responsible for some pretty disgusting things in the past, like making a bigger deal than necessary out of Anna Nicole Smith, Kellie Osbourne, and Paris Hilton. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention The Surreal Life, and the fact that reality show contestants were getting "star" status in the media. Hollywood specifically, and entertainment in general, was a mess.
I am watching 3 shows religiously right now, but I hope the networks see the light and make more of these gritty shows that can hold our attention week to week. I am watching Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Unit. I see there is a new show out now called 3 lbs. Of the shows that I am watching, I am pleased to report that there is only one big name in all the actors (Matthew Perry in Studio 60), taking a page from Hill Street Blues in casting unknown quality actors and letting the story be the star.
The Story as the Star. What a concept. No one knew who Ted Danson was before Cheers. Or Jason Alexander before Seinfeld. Maybe we need a moratorium on how long fame should last. If you haven't been on a weekly show for 3 years, you should sell the house in Malibu and return to dinner theater in Des Moines. Nah, it would never work, but maybe the bankability of stars has to be examined, that just because you fill a cast with Oscar and Emmy winners doesn't mean the show will be any good.
But I don't want to get negative with this post. I wanted to congratulate Hollywood on these 3 programs, and any others I may be missing or haven't aired yet. I can honestly say, with irony rather than sarcasm in my voice, I WILL be watching.
