Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Without a Life
Over the past few days, I've been watching the first season of Without a Trace. Well...I also redecorated my dorm room and did six loads of laundry, but I wouldn't exactly qualify the latter as noteworthy.
WaT exhibits rather strong CBSish tendencies and is pretty much by the Bruckheimer. That's not to say that it's a bad show. In fact, considering how long it takes most shows to settle in, the first season is put together amazingly well. The storylines and characters are strong and cohesive, including in the pilot. The show immediately settles in without the rough patches that almost all new shows go through as a rite of passage, not to mention those that perpetually stumble along in a disjointed and half-hearted manner.
As with almost all CBS shows, the casting is excellent, with the requisite older male authority figure, complete with the broody air and dark past and the two men (preferably handsome) and two women (preferably gorgeous) with sparkling and vibrant personalities that complete the team. It's essential that the people are good looking and cheery, since WaT is so heavy at times that I was certain that it would choke itself on self-inflicted gravitas and drama.
WaT feeds heavily on human emotions (as opposed to say...elephant emotions). Each episode recreates a person from the inside out, learning about the tragedy in his/her life (Usually abuse or drugs or any of the other depravities that CBS relishes in showing). We don't see any body parts or the omniprescent morgue that's the bread and butter of the Eye, but it's creepier, like dissecting someone's soul or mind.
The screenwriting is pretty damn good for a TV show, and the dialogue is snappy, sharp, and clever. Overall, WaT almost feels too clinical. Everything is clear cut and you just get the feeling that every element was thought over, thought over again, and fitted precisely into place. Predictability does stifle creativity, but why care when each episode is as solid as a slab of concrete.
Ultimately, I only go for the shows where the cinematography is beyond criticism and the characters are strongly appealing. That's probably why Law and Order and its billions of spin-offs have always turned me off and why CBS, with its camerawork and over-the-top humane saviors of humanity, is my bread and butter. As one critic stated, "Without a Trace is about beautiful people all sleeping with each other". Well...I believe that if they spend all day saving the world and since they're all beautiful, there's nothing wrong with a little fun thrown in the mix. It's all in a day's work.
WaT exhibits rather strong CBSish tendencies and is pretty much by the Bruckheimer. That's not to say that it's a bad show. In fact, considering how long it takes most shows to settle in, the first season is put together amazingly well. The storylines and characters are strong and cohesive, including in the pilot. The show immediately settles in without the rough patches that almost all new shows go through as a rite of passage, not to mention those that perpetually stumble along in a disjointed and half-hearted manner.
As with almost all CBS shows, the casting is excellent, with the requisite older male authority figure, complete with the broody air and dark past and the two men (preferably handsome) and two women (preferably gorgeous) with sparkling and vibrant personalities that complete the team. It's essential that the people are good looking and cheery, since WaT is so heavy at times that I was certain that it would choke itself on self-inflicted gravitas and drama.
WaT feeds heavily on human emotions (as opposed to say...elephant emotions). Each episode recreates a person from the inside out, learning about the tragedy in his/her life (Usually abuse or drugs or any of the other depravities that CBS relishes in showing). We don't see any body parts or the omniprescent morgue that's the bread and butter of the Eye, but it's creepier, like dissecting someone's soul or mind.
The screenwriting is pretty damn good for a TV show, and the dialogue is snappy, sharp, and clever. Overall, WaT almost feels too clinical. Everything is clear cut and you just get the feeling that every element was thought over, thought over again, and fitted precisely into place. Predictability does stifle creativity, but why care when each episode is as solid as a slab of concrete.
Ultimately, I only go for the shows where the cinematography is beyond criticism and the characters are strongly appealing. That's probably why Law and Order and its billions of spin-offs have always turned me off and why CBS, with its camerawork and over-the-top humane saviors of humanity, is my bread and butter. As one critic stated, "Without a Trace is about beautiful people all sleeping with each other". Well...I believe that if they spend all day saving the world and since they're all beautiful, there's nothing wrong with a little fun thrown in the mix. It's all in a day's work.
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