Which is a pretty accurate but perhaps terse review of the launch of this season.
Something fairly odd seems to have happened to TV over the last few decades.
The name producers, who are VERY successful men, and VERY powerful in their industry, seemed to have been the first to understand that modern viewers have the approximate attention span of a fruitfly, and therefore you must constantly "twist the knife" (continually come up with new plot devices) to keep their loyalty.
Or, at least, that is what they THINK. Whether this is really true, we may never know, because every major show is heading down this slippery slope.
Most of TV this year (review written - 2014) seems to have been caught up in this "race" to capture viewer imagination. In my other reviews for the IMDb, I have provided color commentary while JUSTFIED threw all their carefully and lovingly created characters under the bus simply to have a "WHO KILLED JR?" finale; LONGMIRE, ditto; ARROW waded so deep into flashback territory that (seriously!) it is now impossible within the body of an episode to tell where real time ends and flashback time begins; AGENTS OF SHIELD, not content to have been the first TV show in history that "synced" in real time to a feature film, could not resist the temptation to burn their organization to the ground and force everyone to start over; and now, here, we have WHAT USED TO BE the one lone holdout in the group, a show that, UNTIL THIS SEASON, was a model of restraint, literally throwing the kitchen sink into their opening episode presumably to rekindle ratings...?
Which means that the only quality show still on TV that has stayed true to its humble beginnings is American Restoration. (Yes, I know, that is a reality show, so it probably doesn't count, and, beside, I think Rick raised his rates.)
Anyway, very disappointed to report, I agree with Nick's dialog, above, a very disappointing start. And to have to bring back a character, and bring back a "curse" with her -- again! -- also a disappointment.
Word to the wise -- when the writers of a successful series run out of ideas and have to rely on tormenting the main character to get traction, well, that's usually not a good sign.
Something fairly odd seems to have happened to TV over the last few decades.
The name producers, who are VERY successful men, and VERY powerful in their industry, seemed to have been the first to understand that modern viewers have the approximate attention span of a fruitfly, and therefore you must constantly "twist the knife" (continually come up with new plot devices) to keep their loyalty.
Or, at least, that is what they THINK. Whether this is really true, we may never know, because every major show is heading down this slippery slope.
Most of TV this year (review written - 2014) seems to have been caught up in this "race" to capture viewer imagination. In my other reviews for the IMDb, I have provided color commentary while JUSTFIED threw all their carefully and lovingly created characters under the bus simply to have a "WHO KILLED JR?" finale; LONGMIRE, ditto; ARROW waded so deep into flashback territory that (seriously!) it is now impossible within the body of an episode to tell where real time ends and flashback time begins; AGENTS OF SHIELD, not content to have been the first TV show in history that "synced" in real time to a feature film, could not resist the temptation to burn their organization to the ground and force everyone to start over; and now, here, we have WHAT USED TO BE the one lone holdout in the group, a show that, UNTIL THIS SEASON, was a model of restraint, literally throwing the kitchen sink into their opening episode presumably to rekindle ratings...?
Which means that the only quality show still on TV that has stayed true to its humble beginnings is American Restoration. (Yes, I know, that is a reality show, so it probably doesn't count, and, beside, I think Rick raised his rates.)
Anyway, very disappointed to report, I agree with Nick's dialog, above, a very disappointing start. And to have to bring back a character, and bring back a "curse" with her -- again! -- also a disappointment.
Word to the wise -- when the writers of a successful series run out of ideas and have to rely on tormenting the main character to get traction, well, that's usually not a good sign.
