7.28.2010

Mindless Entertainment Consumption

Lately I've been wondering what it is I look for in a television show. I've loyally followed so many over the years--from Power Rangers to Alias to The OC to Grey's Anatomy to Glee--and I figured I should take a step back and think a little about why I commit myself to hours of mindless entertainment consumption. I came up with three things:


A good TV show, first of all, has wit. Wit gives TV its character, and what would be the point of watching a show that's got no character? Of course the best manifestation of wit is in the script, in the conversation among the characters. Sitcoms like FRIENDS and How I Met Your Mother are by definition witty, but even more serious shows like House (which is a medical drama, for goodness' sakes) or NCIS (which is a crime drama series) or Heroes manage/d to do it. It's all about good writers who can create character chemistry with the clack of a keyboard.

Great TV shows also have themes, and by this I mean a feature that distinguishes a program from the hundreds of others already in existence. And the newer the show, the more interesting this feature has to be, just because everything else has already been done. For instance, Gossip Girl spiced up the traditional teenage drama (a-la Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill) by moving the setting from small-town America to Upper East Side Manhattan, and throwing in a mystery online gossip correspondent for good measure. How I Met took the FRIENDS genre and made its plot revolve around the concept of meeting the love of one's life. Glee basically brought Broadway to the small screen. Supernatural put together mythology and monsters and dysfunctional families and crime investigation all in one go. Big Bang Theory elevated geekdom.

But while witty conversation and a good solid theme already automatically make great television for me (and by "great" I mean I'd spend hours marathon-ing the shit out of it) there does remain a third and equally important factor: hotness. 


Let's face it: would we all really be that interested in GG if it weren't for Chace Crawford? Would Desperate Housewives, despite all its scandalous story lines, be as successful without Eva Longoria? And Prison Break without Wentworth Miller, The OC without Mischa Barton, FRIENDS without Jennifer Aniston, Smallville without Tom Welling/Kristin Kreuk, Grey's Anatomy without Patrick Dempsey and that McSteamy guy, 24 without Elisha Cuthbert, Supernatural without Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles, Big Bang Theory without Kaley Cuoco, True Blood with a different cast... I could go on forever. 

Point is, it's all about being interesting, unique, and beautiful on TV shows, whether it's comedy, drama, crime, and everything above, below, and in between. It's why we love TV--because it imitates and exaggerates and condenses real life, all in the name of mindless entertainment consumption. 

*BOW* 

11 comments:

  1. FRIENDS tagal na nyan ah.. I feel old even though im not

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  2. likes this. (facebook style hehe)

    doesn't this theory apply to radio as well?

    Magic 89.9's Top 5 at 5

    1. Theme: Top 5 music in the land
    2 & 3. Wit and Hotness: Andi-9 and Jessica (both factors apply to both girls) :)

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  3. Jessica Mendoza! I miss you! Hahaha
    I don't see any hot people in How I Met though... Maybe it's an isolated case... or... overabundance of wit is enough.

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  4. haha I thought of that too, but I got tamad na to put that in. :D miss you too, Sasha!!!

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  5. I miss watching Power Rangers. :)

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  6. I agree with Sasha that HIMYM is an isolated case. I think that the reason why HIMYM doesn't feature hot people is that it wants to present (at least in my perspective) the fact that an "ordinary" life can be very very interesting. We just need to take a close look at it.

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  7. I agree. Now I can figure out why I'm so gaga over those TV shows too! Nice blog, by the way. :)

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  8. Hey, for the record, Robin's pretty hot. :)) Despite her switching between thin, chubby and then thin again.

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  9. FRIENDS and How I Met Your Mother are verry funny. now i know why i love watching TV series. thanks Jessica!! love your blog. I always watch Ateneo games on tv just to watch you reporting even though i am routing for La Salle hehe^^. I'm one of your new fans. Goodluck Jessica! more power! :)

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  10. a-men!!!! you just hit the nail on the coffin especially with that third one. galeng

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  11. nice jessica, didn't realize you're a tv show addict too.. i recommend you to watch Psych - this shows got a lot of wit and you'll never get tired of if :))

    PS: power rangers.. hahaha

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