What I learned from watching television.

I kow the networks are gearing up for Feb, sweeps but did they have to pre-empt Criminal minds last night?  It's one of the only DVD worthy shows I watch.  Love the gory stories and the characters are so individualized.  But what did I get instead?  A bonus episode of L&O SVU.  Sorry, but once they lost Chris Meloni, they lost  me.  I don't adjust to cast changes very well.  I even had a small hissy fit when they replaced Prentiss and JJ for a season on criminal Minds. I wanted my team back. Thankfully the producers realized their error and put things right.

I'm not much of a TV junkie.  Unless you count Chopped.  There's something about baskets of fish and licorice and kelp made into an appetizer that floats my boat.  I love the creativity of the contestants.  But again, they keep adding new judges.  I like the old guard best. 

I miss the original Law & Order.  I gave them 19 years of my life - longer if you count the number of times I've watched the reruns on TNT.  For some reason the cast changes on that show worked.  Maybe because it was never about the character's personal lives - well except for 1 season but then they got back on track.  See, I told you I didn't do change well.

But my all-time fave show that has gone the way of  the dodo bird was The West Wing.  I longed for Jed Bartlett to be my real president (George W was pres back then).  I thought Aaron Sorkin and Mike Wells did an amazing job with the dialogue and pacing on that show.  As a writer, it was a great show to watch, just to see the way the various plots collided into a cohesive story.  And of course Rob Lowe was easy on the eyes.  So was Bradley Whitford.  I loved the guests as well, they always added to the show but were never intrusive to the cohesiveness of main characters.  And it had humor.  I love humor, especially snarky, dark humor.

The only show I've found interesting this season is Person of Interest.  I love the concept and the twists and turns.  Very well written and again, a great tool for a writer to see the pacing of the turning points.  A lot can be learned by watching films and television.  I actually watch the time and there's a pattern that usually emerges.  At 15 minutes, at 30 minutes, at 45 minutes and at 55 minutes.  Person of Interest does this well.  It's not so different from structuring a novel.  All books have turning points and that is illustrated beautifully in Person of  Interest.  And in Chopped. And in Criminal Minds.  Just for fun, watch a show and time out the plot twists.

A writer can learn a lot about the craft from watching television and films. Pacing, characterization, setting as a character, turning points, resolution and what I call the soft sigh - that last few minutes when the show is about over and they leave you on a high or low moment letting you know life will go on.  Even Chopped does it with the final interview of the winner.  So the learning curve isn't reserved for one-hour dramas.  Reality television does the same thing.  Time the commercial breaks and you'll see how they ratchet up the tension.

So all you writers out there - watch a few shows and learn my friends.