Thursday, July 21, 2005

Watched the first two eps of Northern Exposure last night, and they knocked my socks off. Naked Josh has been compared to NX before, and I see why -- similar main character, but also the sense of place and the comic dramatic tone.

NX surprised me because it seems to prefigure some of the big shows on cable now. It has a looser sense of story than most shows did then. Joel, the main character, is involved with various things going on in the town. Sometimes they connect, sometimes they don't. The show feels free to take a moment here and there to introduce us to members of the town without Joel's point of view.

The shows felt to me as if they had a sort of '70's Altman-esque feel. The characters were distinct but introduced themselves in mostly low key ways. The only one who begins as a cliche, the town landowner/booster/redneck/big man, immediately begins to deconstruct himself -- he's looking for love, it turns out, towards the end of the pilot.

Like Gilmore Girls, the show doesn't always go for the button or the big act out. (I'd love to one day ask Amy Sherman-Palladino what she looks for in an out.)

I think I'm going to watch the rest of that DVD...

I'm liking Rescue Me, too. But bear in mind, if you're trying to understand four act structure, loosey-goosey shows on cable may not be the best place to start. It's hard to tell exactly how those shows work. For a beginner, might be better to watch basic procedural shows like Medium or old Buffy's to see how act outs work.

UPDATE: Warren asks "where have all the warm hearted dramadies gone?" Dude! I created one!

8:48 AM

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