TV Week on the blog
I have a bunch of posts that I wanted to write about TV shows and race and gender and I had this silly idea of spreading them out over the summer as I completed them. This pipe dream did not come true. And since the Fall TV season is approaching faster than the actual season of Fall, I should probably buckle down and write these things. So, starting later today until Friday or Saturday, there will be nothing but a bunch of posts about TV here on the ABW blog. Tread carefully, for there may be spoilers. Also, if there’s a show you watch and want to have a discussion about, let me know in the comments. If I watch that show, I’ll try to say something about it. If i don’t watch that show, you can say something about it! It’s a TV open thread :)
Do you watch Battlestar Galactica? Have you already blogged on it and I missed it? (if so, my apologies!)
Do you watch Battlestar Galactica?
Have you already blogged on it and I missed it? (if so, my apologies!)
Sorry for duplicate, WordPress really really does not like me. :(
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Big Love (talk about a white world!) or Heroes.
I just rewatched the third season of LOST and have lots of things to say about it – do you?
I’d be very interested to hear what you think of it.
Damn Sci-Fi Channel canceled The Dresden Files. Heroes is not there yet. Dear god, *why* am I watching Kyle XY?
I’d love to hear about shows (especially SF ones) that you think do a good job in the race/gender arena.
Have you watched Eureka at all? It’s the rare SF channel show that has a black female lead AND another major black character (Henry). It’s a goofy show– it spoofs all the tropes of SF, using classic plots from Star Trek, The X-Files, Buffy, the Twilight Zone, etc.
Have you ever seen Big Brother? Love to hear your take on that circus. By the way great blog.
therealpotato:
I love that show! Have you also noticed that main romatic connections are interracial? The only thing that bothers me is that unfortunately, the only openly gay character is pretty stereotypical. And, since I’m not familiar with people with autism, I’m not sure how accurately they’re portraying that angle.
Also, will Carter and Ally just make-out already?!?!!
Ever watch Big Brother? Would love to hear your take on that circus. Great blog by the way.
Angel:
Good question! I don’t know enough about autism to know either. But I was also impressed by the way that (realistically or not) everybody in Eureka pretty much accepts the female characters’ authority without question: Allison, Jo, that psychiatrist/spy whose name I can’t remember. But yeah, you’re totally right on the interracial romances. I think they’re trying to do it in a ‘colorblind’ way– nobody ever actually talks about race, which is annoying. But then Eureka is this deliberately unrealistic sort of nerd-Utopia, so maybe that’s their little homage to Gene Roddenberry?
They should totally just make out already. I mean, they got married and were having a baby in alternate-memory-world!
Okay, one more thing. After seeing Stardust and re-watching the Firefly series last week, I have this beef: Fantasy worlds where there is a large market place filled with all sorts and shades of people, for ONE SCENE, and then most or all of the POC disappear and it’s business as usual.
That’s not about contemporary TV though, but it’s nearly relevant.
For what it’s worth, Gina Torres is Cuban American and Morena Baccarin is Brazilian. One of the things I love about Firefly is the kickass women of color.
Therealpotato,
I also love that about Firefly (a show that ended too quickly, IMO). Personally, I am in love with Gina Torres. I really liked her as the Sydney Bristow’s nemesis on Alias.
Another show that I believe has good minority characters is Stargate Atlantis. IMO, they are fair and balanced. Teyla and Ronin are good guys. Aiden is a rogue team member who became a bad guy. I don’t think that they can be more balanced.
Oh yeah, so as to prevent her from becoming jealous of Gina Torres, I should probably say that I am also in love with the actress who plays Teyla. ;-)
Oops. I just realized that I mistakenly said that Gina Torres played Sydney Bristow’s nemesis on Alias. That’s not right. I knew that I remembered her as the villain on one of my favorite shows. Actually, she played Glory on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sorry for the mistake.
Wasn’t that Clare Kramer?
So far a few folks have asked me about shows I don’t watch. here’s the list:
Big Brother (not into reality shows in general)
Big Love
Battlestar Galactica (for the reasons outlined in my Why is the Universe So White? post)
third season of LOST (they lost me in the second episode and I just don’t care enough to catch up – plus, that show turned into “White Men and their Angst” in the middle)
Firefly
Obviously I cannot comment on these shows because I haven’t watched them. But folks are free to talk about them here if they want!
Also, who is the gay character in Eureka? is it Vincent? I wasn’t sure if he was meant to be gay or just fabulous in a metrosexual way.
Gina Torres played Sydney’s nemesis, Anna something, on Alias and she played Jasmine on Angel.
Wright,
You’re right, Gina Torres DID play Anna Espinosa. Or rather, I should say that I was right. I said that she played her initially, but then I incorrectly corrected myself and said that she didn’t play her. I now remember the reason for my confusion. Initially, Gina Torres was Anna Espinosa. But then, they did that lame transformation where she had her face and body changed to look like Sydney’s best friend. From that point on, a different actress played Anna Espinosa.
I think you are right that she played Jasmine on Angel. I said that she played Glorificus (Glory) on Buffy, but now that I think about it, I believe you are right, it was Jasmine on Angel. I always get those all-powerful, evil villain characters mixed up. Sorry.
ABW,
A few thoughts for what they’re worth:
1) Battlestar Galactica really is a good show. If you can get past the lack of minorities issue that you have voiced, I think you’d like it.
2) Like you, I had given up on Lost. But in the middle of Season 3, something strange happened. It was like the creators realized that they were losing their audience, so they fired the whole writing team and brought in new writers. Suddenly the show got really good again. It would probably be worth it for you to buy Season 3 when it comes out on DVD. You’ll see what I mean. It starts out as the same confusing, meandering show that it was in Season 2, but then halfway through the season it totally changes and becomes an amazing show again.
3) Do you watch The 4400? I’d love to hear what you think about that show. Not so much from the standpoint of the racial makeup of the cast, but rather from the standpoint of it’s merits as a great sci-fi show. Have you ever seen it? Do you like it?
Also, I’ve seen you mention Doctor Who elsewhere — how about that for TV week?