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It's Aloha Friday.
Losing Focus
It's that time of year when I eagerly await each new TV series. However, because of technology problems (I can only tape two channels at a time), I frequently have to choose between shows. Last night, for example, I wanted to tape the new series "Terra Nova". But I also wanted to tape "Pawn Stars" (one of my guilty pleasures). And I also wanted to go to bed and sleep. So I taped my two shows, but I had to forgo either watching or taping "Hawaii 5-0". I suddenly realized that wasn't a very difficult decision to make. "Hawaii 5-0", like many other series, has lost its focus.
I've noticed this happening all too often over the years. A new TV series comes along, bright and fresh and entertaining. And then, after a year or two, the writers run out of ideas. The original focus is lost and the series latches on to one or two main themes . . . and beats them to death. In the case of "Hawaii 5-0" every show now seems to revolve around the efforts of the team to find that arch-villain Wo Fat. Humor is gone. Serious drama is all. Character development is replaced with surprising plot twists; all centering around the hunt for Wo Fat.
Another show that was once a favorite of mine has also fallen prey to this loss of focus, this single-minded approach. The Science Fiction show "Supernatural" was so good that first season it was on the air. The two Winchester brothers hunted down every sort of monster I'd ever read about. You never knew what they were going to run into next. In one of their best episodes they even had to deal with some human monsters. Those are often the best kind of monsters. Then, it felt like the writers exhausted their list of monsters. So the writers moved on to having the brothers deal with angels and demons (maybe the writers finally got around to reading Dan Brown's book). Now for well over a year the show hasn't really dealt with the Supernatural; it's dealt with God and Lucifer and the whole question of where is God these days when so much evil is abroad in our land. It's a pity. That first season was so enjoyable as the Winchester boys hunted down witches and ghouls and all sorts of things that go bump in the night.
Some few series manage to keep things fresh and alive for a long time. Unfortunately most keep going long after they should have been pulled off the TV landscape.
Got any favorites that you see heading for the dustbin? Did you have any that got cancelled too soon; while they were still bright and wonderful?
Well, there's always next year.
Much aloha.
check out Michael's website at http://www.michaelherr.com/ buy all six books for only $18
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