I'm going to go off my usual theme here and express my disappointment with a new TV show. God knows I want more scripted TV shows and more work for actors so I'm not one to hammer away at anyone who actually gets through the snarl of production and has a product on the air, but I watched a show with my 13 yr old daughter the other night and it bothered me.
My daughter chose the show. It's a new drama with a pretty girl who is a mediator. The bothersome thing isn't that the show is merely a rehash of every other law based show, but that it fell to LCD (lowest common demoniator) behaviour to exhibit it's freshness.
Yikes.
The lead girl is in heels that no former lawyer turned mediator would ever wear, ever. Especially one that races around SF every day, all day, tending to the many miracles that only she can mediate. Ever. Well, not one that wants to be taken seriously. Yes, I know, this is TV! It has to be provocative! It doesn't have to have any truth to it! She's sexy in those heels!
Then came the scene with her ex-husband where she looks him in the eye and says, "You're still a dick" or "don't be a dick" or something close to that.
What's so egregious about this is that the grownups who run and write shows in our industry, use their talent to get something on the air and the result of their best effort is… profanity? Really? That's, uhh…that's you're edgy/ fresh element? Beside the fact that there was no real need to use the word, it amplifies the effort made to divert attention away from the rehashed story ideas, characters, and plot lines with; "but this time, she's got the mouth of a sailor when she needs it!" And, of course, she didn't need it. It was just for effect.
Not every new TV show has to be shockingly original to have value, but relying of a sprinkling of foul words from a sweet faced mediator that's dressed for a cocktail party all day, everyday, is like admitting you were hoping your reality show got picked up, but instead the network bought your scripted series, so you just melded the two together.
Don't cop out TV writers. Elevate. Anyone can write using bad language. You're supposed to be the cream.