Hanging Tales

Popculture Vulture
By ELIZABETH TAI
Originally published in The Star on May 6, 2011.

We need a revolution in TV land! So that we aren’t left with painful cliffhangers after we’ve invested our time and emotions in a show.

IT is June, and the American TV schedule is littered with corpses: the family of superheroes in No Ordinary Family will no longer wield their amazing powers, we’ll never find out what the “visitors” plan next for humanity in V, nor will we know just what The Event will be.

A pity, really. I liked No Ordinary Family’s quirky charm and V improved in its second season – though the cheap special effects never did it any favours. The Event had an intriguing, if feet-dragging plot, though I had long worried for its longevity, seeing how its ratings floundered from the beginning.

I’ve learned over the years not to get too invested in American TV shows. I’d try to choose winners but can’t help be drawn in by excellent, unique shows that often end up cancelled – Firefly, Dollhouse and Rome, to name a few. Shows that succeed ratings-wise – and they aren’t always excellent shows per se – are renewed and tend to go on for many seasons, ratings willing. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Unless they have some very good writers, some end up going on for so long that the characters and plot become stale, and whatever joy to be had is sucked out. Some stories just need to die at their appointed time. (Someone put House out of his misery, please.) Read More

Not easy to film fantasy

Popculture Vulture
By ELIZABETH TAI
Originally published in The Star on April 10, 2011.

The difficulty of making fantasy shows is well-acknowledged but there’s hope  yet.

Major release: The upcoming Game Of Thrones, starring Sean Bean as honourable warrior Eddard Stark, looks expensive and impressive.

IT is a costly, risky affair to bring fantasy to the screen.

For one, it requires special effects – magic and mythical creatures are characteristic of the genre – and that usually translates into high production costs.

It doesn’t help that fantasy shows are often not well-received. Viewers used to more general fare often think that the genre is too “out there” for their tastes. And fewer viewers mean lower ratings and ticket sales, and consequently, a less attractive bottom line.

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Heroes’ downfall

Popculture Vulture
By ELIZABETH TAI
Orginally published in The Star on May 23, 2010.

So what went wrong with the series that started out heroically with tremendous buzz and promise?

Peter (Milo Ventimiglia, left) and Sylar (Zachary Quinto) tried to break down the wall of viewer indifference. Alas, it didn’t work.

SO, NBC has cancelled Heroes. Alas, Heroes. I barely knew ye.

No, actually, I knew you too much. Unlike some of the millions who abandoned its creaky decks in its second season and in greater numbers in the third season, I actually stayed on to watch.

I took in every ridiculous plot, wince-inducing dialogue (“Save the cheerleader, save the world”) and every character assassination, with my fists clenched at my side and my face twisted in despair.

What has become of my beloved show? The same show which prompted my bunch of Heroes-worshipping friends to organise a “wrap-up party” to watch the first season finale, cheering Peter on as he faced Sylar? But I still watched the train wreck, and kept hoping that it’d return to its glory days.

Well, no such luck now.

When it debuted in 2006 on the American network NBC, it attracted 14 million viewers. In its final season – its fourth – only five million tuned in. What’s more tragic, news of its cancellation was greeted mostly with sighs of relief. Tragic, for a show that started so well.

Just what did Heroes do wrong?

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