But at one time, there was something about Smallville that made it seem better than it was. There was this sense of destiny, that it was building towards something..what it was building towards we all knew, but it was still interesting to see how it got there.
But right now, I'm sitting here, waiting for Lost, and in the meantime watching a newer episode of Smallville (Blue, if anyone was interested), and I...I just can't even enjoy it anymore. It's not even that interesting.
The show seems, to me, to be a shadow of its former self. Each episode is still chock-full of talk about destiny and whatnot, but it all seems like lip-service. It doesn't feel as if the show is moving towards anything, stagnating. And this shines a spotlight on the poor quality of the show, making it more obvious than it was in previous years. What's worse is the increasingly prevalent reliance on gimmick episodes since Season 4's uber-popular Run - primarily using other DC heroes as guest stars (most of whom, by the way, have it a lot more together than Clark, which makes the future-Superman look a hell of a lot less super).
So when did this happen? If you ask me, it was Season 5. Season 5 seemed to be moving strongly toward a resolution, toward Clark achieving his ultimate destiny. Clark discovers the Fortress of Solitude; he experiences the loss of his father and the degradation of his friendship with Lex; the writers took great pains to put the (then) final nails in the coffin of the Clark/Lana pairing.
My understanding is that this was originally intended to be the final season - but a surge in ratings encouraged the show to overstay it's welcome. And it has - dreadfully so, and it becomes more apparent with each passing episode, each passing season.
Smallville used to be a show that I couldn't miss. Now, I can't help but go out of my way to miss it. There's nothing in it that interests me anymore, and it has tainted my enjoyment of older episodes to the point that I don't even like those anymore, either.
And that's a shame.
-M
Maybe some of you have heard about all the hooplah over at Gamespot, what with the firing and all. If you haven't, check it out over there, and some other gaming news sites. You'll stumble upon it eventually.
Not that I've been real frequent here lately, but because of this, I think that I've decided to boycott Gamespot and, by extension, all of CNet's sites - which, unforuntately, includes TV.com.
I don't like it, but it has to be done. Blatant pandering to advertisers cannot be tolerated.
-M
On a whim today, I watched an episode of Greek on ABC Family, which they were marathoning in anticipation of the show's season finale. What started out as a way to kill time quickly became the way I spent my entire day, as I was hooked from the moment I finished the second episode all the way through the season finale.
I enjoyed the show a LOT more than I expected to. Given ABC Family's previous track record with both original and recycled programming, I wasn't really hopeful for the show's chances. Instead, I found myself engaged by the characters, the writing, and even the acting.
However, a couple of characters and their arcs throughout the season really did irritate me.
Primarily, I take issue with Dale, the uber-Republican, Christian roommate of Rusty (the main protagonist of the show). The character is consistently portrayed as little more than a charicature, one who is almost always bringing God, damnation, or sin into every conversation as a means of comic relief. It's amusing at first, but by the third or fourth episode (ESPECIALLY in a row) it became very tiresome, and as a Christian myself I honestly found myself a little bit offended at his consistent single-minded portrayal (this despite the fact that the actor portraying the character did a commendable job). I was definitely happy that the writers seemed interested in adding some dimension to the character in the back end of the season, it wasn't entirely enough to balance out the portrayal in the early episodes. I'm hoping that in the next season the writers find that balance throughout the entire season.
Secondly, there's Calvin, the closeted gay character. I definitely respect that the writers went through trouble to make the character something other than the usual homosexual stereotype. However, it seemed as though the character was constantly put into situations with others who weren't aware of his sexuality, and at some point in all of those conversations there was at least one clue in the dialogue that the character was gay Endless talk of "secrets," lots of unintentional double entendres by straight male characters, ectceter. Again, hopefully there'll be a better balance next season (especially since the character is publicly outed in tonight's season finale).
These are small quibbles, overall. I really did enjoy the show, and I can't wait until next year for Season 2. I think if the writers can keep up the momentum of this season as well as address these minor problems (before they become major ones), there's no reason next season can't be fantastic.
-M
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