Random TV Thoughts

Thanks to the beauty of the internet, I've been able to catch up on a few television series I never got into while they were originally on TV. Here's a smattering:

Veronica Mars: As I once described it, it's about this teenage girl who's a private investigator of sorts...but cooler than it sounds. The first season involved a season long story arc that provided for much of the drama and suspense. I'm curious to see how the show will play out now that that arc has been resolved. But the acting and the dialog are both engaging enough to keep me watching even without a major mystery that needs to be solved.

Firefly: Despite hearing all the good things about it from everyone I knew, I never caught this while it was on the air. Then, I saw the "Serenity" movie trailer - the movie that is based on the TV show and realized that if the show had half the humor the trailer hinted the movie had, I would enjoy it. And indeed I have. I've downloaded most of the episodes and when I couldn't download them fast enough, I rented the DVD's from Netflix. The show's bizarre combination of Chinese and the Old West creates a fantastical world that is just familiar enough to work. All the main characters have histories that are only hinted at, but you just know they are fascinating and worthy of exploration. I only hope the movie explains a lot that was left unexplained by the show.

Battlestar Galactica: While I am now watching this show on Sci-Fi, I missed out on the whole first season. Never remotely a fan of the original series, this reimagining of the old 70's TV show just blew my mind. The characters were all so strong and yet so full of human weakness and frailty that even though the show is wholly unrealistic, you feel so much for the people involved you can completely suspend disbelief. Even though the show has taken on a religious bent that I'm not 100% sure of, I can't stop watching it with hungry eyes.

The basic thing I've realized about all of these shows is the amount I actually care about the characters; when they are in danger, my pulse quickens; when they're happy and joking and laughing, I find myself laughing as well. Television shows can be interesting, suspenseful, funny, and all other adjectives that would describe a good program, but without that need to know where the characters are concerned, the show never achieves true greatness.