This time, it's:
"I wouldn't be a writer without....."
Top Five TV Series Tag
The Rules:
Post your top five influential TV Series that helped shape the kind of writer you are, or hope to be. They can be anything from sitcoms to drama, it really doesn't matter as long as they influenced you in some way!
Hey, guess what my number one is?
1. Supernatural.
Of course Supernatural! I feel like I'm going to heavily summarise all my individual episode recaps now, but first, how I even got into Supernatural, and how I almost didn't at all.
The first thing I remember, is channel surfing on a beautiful rare evening when my parents were out. I can't remember - it's in my hazy days - if this is pre- or post- Noah, pre- or post- TTP. I read the synopsis for this show on ITV2, and thought it sounded like my sort of thing. Turned it on, there's three guys camping in the woods. They get picked off, one by one. And I freaked out, and switched over, thinking I might go back to it. I never did.
Then, I saw SkyLiving (grrrrr) advertising the show. Lots of Castiel. Forgot about the time above, made a mental note to watch. My mental note got buried in a tonne of paperwork.
And then I found Mervin and co's blogs through Jenny Trouts, and they tore apart the Twilight books. And in their posts, they made heavy references to Supernatural. I learned a lot about the narrative from that blog. My friend Cat was into it. I went and bought seasons 1,2,4,5 and 6 from waterstones, and ordered 3 and 7 from amazon. I found out living were halfway through season 8. This was in September sometime, maybe late August? It took me a month to get through all the discs, having 'oh, YEAH!' moments and devouring the storyline and over thinking everything about it. I bought season 8 the second it came out on DVD, just before it stopped showing on living. Cat and I signed up for Asylum12, which takes place in May. I might have acquired a few books/tees/paraphernalia since as well.
Why do I like Supernatural so much? So many reasons. I like that they take a horror movie trope and twist it. Or they explore legends and rationalise it. I've never liked horror movies, but I liked Supernatural. Maybe because even if the evil isn't validated, the eradication of it is? But more than that, I liked that, right from the start, even though it was set in a style that ensured a different topic every week, there was an undercurrent of a bigger storyline, which has slowly dominated the narrative. I can't understand how people didn't see the organic growth, but then, I've only watched about three episodes on a per-week basis. I've not had the break. Maybe that's skewed my perceptions.
I also love the relationships within the storyline, how the brothers relate and the complexity of their relationship. The complexities of their relationships with others. I love that they're so unafraid of the destinies they're creating for themselves that they will call angels dicks when they first meet. I love how they manage not to glamourise it. I love seeing their friendships develop or wilt, because isn't that what happens in real life?
I love how they take on theology, and lore, and how they respect the cultures they portray while at the same time having a play with those cultures, skewing popular views for potential narratives. EVERYTHING is up for grabs in Supernatural. Even the fans. Even Supernatural.
I like how human Sam, Dean and Cas are, but how superhuman they are too. They have very real fears and concerns, and a sense of humour, but they know when to focus on the tasks at hand. They make mistakes and screw each other over, but always do what they can for each other, in the end. Even if it drives me crazy in the mean time. I like how they make references to the wider world, turning fears of say, chicken flu into a contaminated food chain designed to make humans little better than cattle. They made global warming a sign of the oncoming apocalypse. Everything about the show excites the writer in me, because they push boundaries and make subtle references and through it all, you know who they are and what they want in life and if anything skews that, you can see it without it being dictated to you. I like the creative ways they give exposition, so the audience can know the situation without being spoken to like they're toddlers. What's not to love? Jared, Jensen and Misha are pretty nice to look at, too. Even if they're soulless, oozing black gunk, or slicing into someone else.
I need me another Supernatural fix, just talking about this. I am going to be a nightmare come May.
2. Boy Meets World.
I know, what a contrast! A friend recently shared a picture that said That's So Raven was the best show Disney ever did, for its sense of realism … but they forgot Boy Meets World. God, I loved Boy Meets World. I loved that it was about just growing up, and the pitfalls that come with it. How something that fits so right when you're twelve is so wrong for you when you're fifteen. How you can come back from anything, how friendship and family are strong enough to see you through even the toughest of situations. Like Supernatural, the overall message seems to be that friends can be family too. That's so going to be a theme through my picks! And possibly a theme through my writing.
Boy Meets World was admirable because no one aspired to be famous. Angela aspired to be a journalist writing about political and environmental issues, but that was the closest they got. I related to Topanga so well when she was terrified of going to Yale because of what Corey meant to her. They too, had fun with the narratives, making Shaun dress as a girl to see what women go through, having the Halloween special where they're being chased by the scream, that sort of thing. and Eric, who started off average intelligence, and ended up little more than a catchphrase, though he still had such a big heart, and such great lessons to teach others. They all joined the peace corps in the end, doing something worthwhile to benefit others. Like Supernatural (I'm so bad!)
3. Malcolm In The Middle
If you couldn't tell already, I like ensemble casts. I'm writing an ensemble book, I guess, in a way?
I was a gifted kid, and I went to a gifted school, so I could somewhat relate to Malcolm, even if they had an edge of ridiculous with everything that went on. I'm from a big family too, so again, Malcolm was relatable - no one else went to a gifted school - and I enjoyed watching a show where I could put myself in the same place as the lead character. He spoke to camera all the time, which is something I do in my head.
Yeah, I was pretty much Malcolm for a part of my life. My namesake is even a celebrity, Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama. (Malcolm was named after an Indy 500 driver).
When I write Carter's family, they're pretty much a toned down version of Malcolm's, just without the psychotic wife and crazy antics. The in-fighting and lack of money though? Something I write in my story (oh, is that another "like Supernatural" moment too?) as well.
4. Sherlock
I've always loved Sherlock, since some distant relative bought me a book of short stories. I love the BBC adaptation, and the intelligence behind the scripting, the storyline, how they utilise modern methods within an old story … Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are sublime. I love the humour, the graphics, the relationship between the two of them, and just how typically British they both are, while being completely different. Amazing show!
5. The Inbetweeners.
I love this show for the humour, for how they embody what teenage boys are really like. I think everyone can relate to them a little, for whatever reasons, because everyone's been there where they've felt like an outsider and gravitated to the few people who would tolerate them. That was definitely high school for me. I wish I could write humour in the same way as their scriptwriters did. I'd like to believe I've made my characters as realistic. Certainly, they're just as whingy.
There you go, Sarah-Jane! I managed to summarise some of them! The British ones. Take from that what you will :/ I can't think of anyone to tag for this one, just anyone willing to do it!
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