[ Post a Response | EVEN DeepER Blurting! ]
Posted by Crow T. Robot
on 7/14/2008, 6:11 pm, in reply to "How was Jericho scifi?!"
Jericho is sci-fi for the same reason that movies like JAW-4 are sci-fi, they are cheap and nobody else wanted them. 
--Previous Message--
: I was searching around for some sign that ABC
: might rerun "Pushing Daisies",
: since it's rerun "Ugly Betty" and
: "Eli Stone" (and probably others).
: So far, no sign of it. Booooooo! But anyway.
:
: I came across the news item that TSNWSRN had
: picked up two season of CBS's cancelled
: series "Jericho". And all I could
: think was, "How was Jericho
: scifi"? It's fictional drama, to be
: sure. So are a lot of things. It doesn't
: make it science fiction just because a WW3
: happened in the story.
:
: My understanding of scifi was that it was a
: story situation a bit removed from present
: day by time (usually decades or centuries),
: location (usually on another world), or by
: technology (AI robots are common, or
: something). Jericho is supposedly not in
: the future, takes place in the USA, and
: conventional technology is only present. The
: only thing vaguely scifi about it is, that
: obviously such a nation altering event
: hasn't taken place. So are we supposed to be
: looking at an alternative earth? There's not
: clue that this is another
: "Sliders" world. Like majority of
: people are left handed, or red means go and
: green means stop. If the producers had
: dropped such hints, then it would have to
: deal with the fall out from it later. But as
: far as I can tell, this more like some
: political intrigue drama. Rather than scifi.
: It would be like calling the series
: "24" scifi.
:
: Way too much is being labeled scifi simply
: because it sells better that way. Even
: ridiculous comedies like "Meet
: Dave" will probably be called scifi,
: just because Dave is an alien spaceship. But
: come on, I'd more accept Woody Allen's
: "Sleeper" as scifi. And I'm a long
: term fan of "Red Dwarf", as a
: scifi comedy, because it was well written
: and produced. But hard to believe, it had a
: difficult time being accepted as scifi,
: because it was so funny. Now, the
: "scifi" label is up for grabs.
:
: Anyway. It's my belief TSNWSRN picked up
: Jericho not because it was scifi, but
: because the network is owned by
: NBC/Universal and did this deal with
: CBS/Paramount, for various properties. And
: they got stuck with Jericho as part of a
: package deal. Or they were so desperate for
: something about the apocalypse of earth,
: that they grabbed at this drama, that
: fizzled out on CBS. Well at least it's not
: WRESTLING! Which apparently they've
: programmed too.
:
: Critics of TSNWSRN are complaining that
: there just isn't much that's good any more
: on this network. And picking up such
: questionable castoffs from other networks,
: isn't going to improve its image. I suppose
: gone are the days of original series like
: MST3k, and edgy ones like "Lex".
: And why is nothing in scifi ever positive
: anymore, about the future? It's always,
: "we're heading for doom", or
: "the evil doers will eventually
: win". No one's making lemonade in scifi
: stories, since Joel did. I got really bored
: by Jericho's never-ending story of
: "things can get worse, and will"
: storyline.
:
: I suspect it got some of its ideas from
: "Damnation Alley". Only that had a
: tipped earth, large desert scorpions, and
: weird weather, to make it scifish. And at
: least it had a happy ending, and earth got
: better. But Tv series can't have any of
: that, because the it would kill the main
: premise for its existance. So
: earth/USA/civilization never recovers. But
: it seems like a raw deal just to keep a
: series alive. Even "Gilligan's
: Island" had its happy ending, without
: ever getting rescued (during its 3 season
: run). And "Lost in Space" had
: happier endings without ever returning to
: earth. I don't who why today's producers and
: network execs abhor the happy ending in
: dramas. Most of the Star Trek episodes had
: them too (both TOS & TNG).
:
: So when something like "Pushing
: Daisies" comes along and is hugely
: popular with the viewers, the execs are
: dumbfounded as to why? Fortunately shows
: such as this and "Eli Stone" are
: turning things around. Hopefully, this trend
: won't die off too quickly. No more strikes,
: please!
: -Dex-
:
:
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