Is TV becoming more original?

Television, Movies Games and Books Other Science Fiction
#1

I’ve been looking through the comic con program and watched a lot of the panels for both the old shows but also some of the new things comming up. And it struck me just how many new shows this fall are looking really interesting. ABC alone have three very interesting new shows in Flash Forward, V and Eastwick comming up and Fox’s new Past Life looks good as well.

I’m a sucker to any kind of tv series that contain supernatural elements, but it seems just a few years ago, outside of the Sci Fi channel there weren’t a whole lot of really good shows except for Lost and Heroes (And yes, I’m one of the few that still watch and enjoy that show).

But right now I’m not sure I have ever been more excited about an upcomming tv season. We got some pretty cool new stuff last year in Legend of the Seeker, Dollhouse, Fringe, Sanctuary, Being Human (not sure if it has aired in the US), Merlin and True Blood that has thankfully all been given another year. And this year we get the four new shows I already mentioned along with Caprica and maybe some I haven’t even noticed yet. Warehouse 13 definitely deserves a mention as well although it is a summer show. Add that to the older shows of the type, and I can really only think of Lost and Heroes that are still running, and you have one heck of a tv season.

Anything with Vampires seem to be a slam dunk hit at the moment and I know there are at least one or two new Vampire shows on the way too, but I don’t remember what they are called and where they air.

The most interesting part I think is that a lot of the mentioned shows are actually being shown on network television. ABC in particular seems to have embraced the supernatural. CBS has a whole sitcom devoted to the geek world in The Big Bang Theory.

I think for the past several years with a lot of help from Lost and BSG and the overall technological developments, it has become increasingly cool to be a geek. And now it seems like television is realising that as well and take a few more chances on other things than the usual cop or hospital show, and not just on cable. It sure makes it a little bit easier to accept that BSG is over and soon Lost will be as well when you see all these other new shows with lots of potential. I don’t see anything yet at quite the level of those two but I have faith that it will come some day not too far into the future.

#2

our kind are taking over, the ‘normies’ don’t even see us assimilating them MUWHAHAHAHAHA :smiley:

#3

Yea we just gots Being Human here just a couple weeks ago and i really enjoy it. However some of the new shows are not truly original. Flash Forward is based on a book as is True Blood. Eastwick i believe is based loosely on the movie. That being said TV is producing better television lately even if its using older material.

#4

I don’t know that I’d go so far as to say ‘more original’ (e.g., Virtuality and Defying Gravity) but the speculative fiction shows are getting a lot of play lately. Let’s just hope it doesn’t burn out like hospital shows did.

#5

The simple answer would be that tv writers get more leeway on cable tv where they cater to a niche audience, as opposed to ye syndicated tv stations of olde where they had to write down to the most common denominator which results in ridiculous amounts of censorship.

Original series Star Trek belonged to that era. More recently, I heard a recent broadcast of Top Gun had the latent homo-erotic volleyball scene cut out (according to Sean if i’m not wrong?) :cool:

#6

even if the TV writers are using older book and movies as inspiration, the only thing i have to say is…

At our house, Thanks to Torchwood COE, True Blood, Being human, Defying Gravity, Warehouse 13, and eureka , My wife has not even mentioned watching, anything like America’s got talent or any of those other “reality” shows. we do watch one pseudo-reality show on Showtime, Penn And Tellers (sorry barb) .

Not to mention some of the upcoming goodness headed our way…:):D:)

#7

I know what you mean… my DVR’s gonna fill up quick this coming year. SGU, V, The Prisoner, I don’t know what else. I watch enough TV as it is, and after coming back from CCI, now I got like 3-4 new shows I have to try. Maybe the geeks are taking over, or people’s tastes are changing… but I think casual fans are finally realizing that the best science fiction, like any other genre, explores the human condition. It’s not all about the photon torpedos.

But photon torpedos still kick ass.

#8

Resistance is futile.

#9

Times have changed, my friend.

Here’s a quote (and some food for thought) from Rob Thomas, not the Matchbox 20 singer, but the creator of Veronica Mars :

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0859432/bio

[i]Personal Quotes
[Referring to the UPN’s treatment of “Veronica Mars” (2004)]: “I think they’re really good. The network loves us and treats us so well. They don’t try to fix our show, and so often if you’re not doing numbers, the network tries to fix it for you. And they have told us, ‘You guys are doing the show we want. It’s our job to get people to watch it.’”

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