It's Story Time (Part II)

This is the second part of my five part series involving story telling mediums and why I love them.

Why I love TV shows...
TV shows are similar to movies. The things I love about movies for the most part carry over to what I love about shows. The biggest and most obvious difference is that the story is told over a much longer period of time. Even shows that only broadcast a handful of episodes get more time to story tell than most movies. This gives us as viewers a lot more time to understand the characters and get immersed in a more intricate story.

Like I said about movies, pace is a big factor in a good show. A single episode as well an entire season and the whole series as a whole should be paced well. I originally had this whole rant about how the show Heroes sucked, but I decided to tone it down a little. I just want to say, the first season sucked cause it was horribly paced. The first season of Prison Break is a great example of good pace. The season ends with a cliffhanger, but it's a great build up to that point. Every episode leaves you with just enough and gives you just enough.

I would consider the character development more important in shows than in movies. One of my favorite shows is The Office. Many people have a hard time getting into The Office now a day. Let me just say, you have to grow up with the characters from season one (maybe season two). If you like The Office, you'll probably understand it when I say you feel like part of the family if you were there from the beginning or at least close to it. Understanding each character's personality is critical in a lot of the situational humor which The Office thrives on. Another show I absolutely find "mind blowing" is Friday Night Lights. There are so many time my heart went out to a hurt fictional character living in Dillion Texas and so many times when I danced a celebratory dance in my room by myself for wins like when (SPOILER ALERT) the Panthers win the state champ behind their freshman QB Matt Seracen or when the East Dillion Lions defeated the West Dillion Panthers.

This is a little apart from the story telling aspect of shows, but I'm a huge fan of watching an entire season in a short period of time. I often find myself watching entire seasons either online or watching DVD/Bluray box sets. I'll tell myself I'll watch an episode before class or something and then I'll end up skipping all my classes for the day cause I can't help but watch the next episode and then the next and then the next and so on. If you've ever done this, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Hopefully none of my old coworkers find out, but one time I watched 10 episodes of Friday Night Lights from 8am almost nonstop to 5pm during work. Getting paid to watch Hulu is the everyone's dream job. I just get so caught up in the story I can't walk away.

I want to suggest everyone reading to at least watch one good show, get absorbed into the characters and the story, gain enemies and friends, fall in love and get your heart broken, BUT getting into a show is probably similar to getting addicted to crack cocaine or slot machines. It's ridiculously addicting and can seriously mess up your life. I credit TV shows to my placement on academic probation my sophomore year in college. If you're up to it, do it but be warned...