What Keeps Us Watching?

 

Living in the age of DVD, DVR, YouTube, and Hulu, Jeremy Lynch--Crimespree Magazine's Entertainment Editor--recently blogged the question, "[W]hat shows are drawing us in each week[?] Are there other shows that you buy [on DVD], but do not watch live?"

I upgraded to an HDTV in December 2008, and my VCR was a casualty of the setup. I decided against a DVR cable box because I couldn't justify spending an extra $10 per month to record shows I would eventually buy on DVD. My decision means I have to be pickier about what I watch in first-run. If I decide to pass on a show, I may never catch up with it.

Despite DVR and online viewing technology, we all have to set aside time in our lives to watch the lives of fictional characters. Which characters are worth the time to me and why?

This season, FOX moved House M.D. to Mondays at 8, pitting it against NBC's spy comedy Chuck. I've written favorably about both shows in past columns, but I found myself passing them both up in favor of CBS's neither-crime-nor-mystery show, The Big Bang Theory. Why? In the long run, I couldn't believe a regular guy like Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) could fumble his way out of life-or-death espionage situations week after week. I also never thought Chuck's everyday life at the electronics store meshed very well with the spy plots. Click. See you on DVD.

I've always enjoyed Greg House's acerbic wit and Hugh Laurie's portrayal of his constant pain, but ever since David Morse guest-starred as a tough cop who tried to teach House a lesson, the challenges the brilliant doctor faces have seemed trumped up: from the disbanding of his original team, to his falling out with best friend Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), to his complicated romance with Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). Click. See you on DVD.

Last column, I briefly mentioned ABC's Castle, and I've found Nathan Fillion's portrayal of bestselling thriller writer Richard Castle observing the NYPD nicely non-heroic. If not for Castle at 10, I would probably turn in at 9, but as a mystery fan and writer myself, I'm curious enough about the portrayal to stay up for it and see how it develops.

Tuesdays at 8 for the past six years, I've tuned into NCIS. The show's mix of action, forensics, and character remains nuanced, but for a month or so, I tuned into the second season of The CW's Reaper. As much as I enjoyed Reaper's first season, about a lovable slacker (Brett Harrison) turned bounty hunter for The Devil, its premise, like Chuck's, hasn't worn well for me. Reaper's low ratings mean it will probably be canceled. Its creators have already signed to create new shows for FOX, and I know the second season will be out on DVD. No reason to watch.

Wednesdays at 9 last season, I watched NBC's "Life", about a cop exonerated from a life sentence who remains determined to find out who set him up. This season, the show's tone changed in ways that turned me off. The tough female captain from Season One was replaced by a looser, funnier captain (Donal Logue). Zen-practicing cop Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) and his partner Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi) spent much of the season apart, and finally the writers had to deal with Shahi's pregnancy.

I might catch up on DVD, but instead of "Life," I'd begun to watch "Lie to Me," starring Tim Roth as a renowned expert on body language and lying who uses his talents to help the law and private clients. Ultimately, though, I haven't found enough story or character to balance the show's niche science and keep me watching.

Thursdays at 8 are a toss-up between FOX's forensic drama "Bones" and The CW's Superman re-imagining, "Smallville." Until this season, they had been on different nights and I watched both regularly. Forced to choose, however, I've tuned into "Smallville" and watched "Bones" on Hulu. Last season "Bones" regular Eric Millegan was relegated to guest star. As a dramatic comeback from the writers strike, Millegan's character Zack Addy was apprenticed to a serial killer. This season, a rotation of quirky interns has filled in for Zack, changing the cast chemistry each week slightly but enough to make me click over to "Smallville" and indulge my longtime Superman fandom.

USA's "Burn Notice" moves to Thursdays at 9 this June. In addition to appealing, fully fleshed out characters, the show has had some of the tightest continuity I've seen. Burned spy Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) has a larger goal at the beginning of each season, and each week he makes significant progress toward that goal. If I miss an episode, I miss a crucial chapter of the action and character development.

At this point, you can tell I like well-drawn characters and real progress. Joss Whedon is known for creating both. Unfortunately, his highly-touted FOX Friday show "Dollhouse" seemed to have neither. Over the course of this season, I learned Echo's (Eliza Dushku's) "real" history, but since I first saw her as a blank slate taking on multiple personalities in one episode, her real history didn't feel any more authentic. Indeed, as I write this just before the season finale, it seems as if that "real" history may be an elaborate lie as well. This may be an intentional experiment on Whedon's part, but it's left me feeling cheated. I stopped caring what happened on the show with its second episode.

It's difficult to say what attracts different viewers to different shows week after week, but I think we all want (and will always want) a sense of consistency, a continuity the real world can't offer. We want to know we can drop what we're doing for a time each night, sit still, and be entertained.