Thursday, April 05, 2007

Watched Sopranos, "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh," last night, to see if I want to get back into watching the show.

I'd forgotten how unhappy that show makes me. It makes the world feel dirty.

Not saying it's not an excellent show. It just has a profoundly sick view of the world. After an episode of The Sopranos, I'm a little more afraid.

After an episode of Slings and Arrows, by contrast, I feel thrilled about love, the world, and theatre. It makes me delighted at what I'm doing for a living.

I think we'll keep The Movie Network for Slings and Arrows's sake. But I'm going to skip getting back into Tony Soprano's life. It's just not an existence I want to hang out in.

And yet, weirdly, I love Rome. I guess the difference is that the violence in Rome is part of the sweep of history. Octavian's cold-hearted clawing his way to absolute power creates the Roman Empire as we know it. (And what did the Romans ever do for us? Well, aqueducts...) I don't mind slaughter. I just want there to be a point to it.

I guess I'd rather see immoral acts committed by moral people than by immoral ones. And I want people to finish an episode with a feeling that there are more possibilities in the world than they might have guessed. (More things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio...) Rather than feeling that no matter what you achieve, someone will screw you out of it.

What feeling does your spec pilot leave your audience with?

The pilot I'm working on now is pretty dark. Or at least it is when I step back and think about it. When I'm in it, it just feels like life and metaphysics. I wonder what David Chase thinks about his creations, and if he's ready to write a musical comedy about mistaken identities?

UPDATE: Not so much. Via DMc

Labels: spec pilots, watching tv

9:51 AM

10 Comments:

Read the new Vanity Fair.

David Chase? I doubt it.

By  DMc, at 10:09 AM  

The difference, I think, is that inthe Sopranos everybody's a part of the corruption. There is no innocent person - they're all in it for greed. And while Rome has its share of those people, Pullo and Varinas did everything for the right reasons. They were both good men put in difficult situations. They made that show work.

Kind of like Vic on The Shield. His intentions are good, even if his actions are questionable.

By  Emily Blake, at 2:47 PM  

Totally with you. Feel vitalized after an episode of Rome, enervated after one of the Sopranos. Agree it's the world view. Lucius Vorenus is the moral center of Rome and he's a thoroughly honorable figure (at least in the first season; we're Netflix folk).

carrie as robin

By  Robin, at 7:31 PM  

My spec pilot It is an hour drama set in the burgeoning civilian space race. Most people aren't aware that we are entering the grandest adventure that the human race will ever undertake and I can't think of a more dramatic, engaging and exciting world to bring in front of the camera! This would show an amazing journey with a shining goal, in contrast to the usual fight against dire consequences or the good old struggle just to stay alive. Not that I have anything against saving the world from imminent disaster... and a person has to be alive to embark on the epic journey... but how about the joyous striving for a better world? Not that it is all sunshine and puppy dogs, what with a murder, deceit and subterfuge in the first hour... but sometimes you just have to bring the pain if you want to bring the drama.

Primarily though, I really want to create a show that is optimistic, oriented towards a great goal, inspiring and that leaves the viewer feeling wonderful and excited to be alive when we are. I just can't think of another drama out there like that.

By  Clint Johnson, at 6:16 PM  

I think I developed PTSD after watching three seasons back-to-back while pregnant. Stupid show to watch when emotionally sensitive, no matter how much Ben and Jerry's one consumes....yikes.

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