Jump the Shark
TV is a strange medium. I forget how strange until I suddenly get caught up in a TV show again (yes, it’s House M. D. Why? I don’t know. I still don’t like any of the characters, I still get frustrated by the various cliches/thematic holes, and I still know nothing about medicine. But I CAN’T STOP WATCHING. Diana, this is all your fault!!!)
(Interjection: but you know what else is stranger? The fact that Hollywood keeps making picture books into movies. WHY??? Yes, I love Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, too, but brilliant 32-page picture book =/= brilliant 90-minute feature film. Anyhow.)
First of all, I’m not used to having my stories open-ended. In a movie or a book (yes, even a series), there is a final scene or chapter in sight. The storyteller’s goal is to get to that final scene, not to extend the plot indefinitely into the future as long as he or she possibly can. Second (which is sort of tied to the first), I’m addicted to spoilers. No, like addicted addicted. I tell myself I won’t look; I erase all the relevant links from my bookmarks and reset my Internet history. And then somehow the next day I find myself typing “house md spoilers season 5” into Google’s search box.
This happened to me over The X Files, too. And I had the same problem then that I have now: spoilers are actually more fun than TV shows.
Here’s why.
Spoilers are necessarily vague. Nobody leaks entire scripts; even when you get complete scenarios, they’re usually something along the lines of “House gets shot and has hallucinations” rather than:
HOUSE: I am shot!
WILSON: Are you having hallucinations?
HOUSE: Yes! [something witty but mean].
More often, though, they’re something along the lines of “a character dies in the season finale” or “in episode X, two characters kiss for the first time” or “someone has a mental breakdown – but it’s not who you think!”.
Now, that last one touches on the reason spoilers are more fun than TV shows. It actually is always who you think. It’s just never who you hope.
What do I mean? Here’s an example: the main character on House, M. D. is House, and the two most important supporting characters are Wilson and Cuddy, because they are the ones with whom the protagonist has the strongest and/or most emphasized relationships and who serve to structure the world of the show by helping to shape his motivations. If a character on House were to die, it would be most interesting if it were one of those three, because that would be like knocking out a load-bearing pillar. Half the show would come crumbling down, and so, consequentially, would half the characters.
But for that exact reason, fans can almost be certain that House, Wilson, and Cuddy will all live to a ripe old age. (Boy, is my face gonna be red if it turns out they do kill House, Wilson, or Cuddy by the end of this season.) Because TV writers and producers are stuck with this Catch-22: the most exciting turn for a story to take is one that drastically changes its shape and means nothing can ever be the same again. But a turn that drastically changes the shape of a TV and means nothing can ever be the same again usually means the story has to end and the show is over.
This isn’t a problem for stories that actually end: sure, having Harry kill Voldemort and marry Ginny will change the entire feel of the series. But that’s OK, because J. K. Rowling only planned seven books. The series doesn’t have far to go after Voldie croaks*.
But when you have a medium like a TV show, especially a wildly popular one, the whole idea is to keep the story going as long as possible. Sure, you want interesting things to happen, but you don’t want to change the story too much, or else you’ll lose your audience. Look at what happens when TV shows change important things because they’re forced to (when an actor quits/moves on/gets pregnant/etc.): if the writers aren’t extremely, preternaturally, miraculously clever, the show loses audience. (*cough*likewhenDuchovnyquittheXfiles*cough*)
This is why, no matter what the spoilers say, you can be pretty sure that everything will keep chugging along in a business-per-usual fashion, unless it’s public knowledge that this is the final season of the show. This is also why it really sucks to be a TV-show shipper who’s into the main characters.
No matter how much you want those protagonists to lock lips or make out or get married and buy a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and 2.5 children**, once you see it happen for realsies on the small screen, it will be B-O-R-I-N-G.
Why? Because the fun of romance is the build-up. Let’s be honest: when Mulder and Scully finally kissed on The X Files, it wasn’t a very exciting scene. What was exciting was the six and a half seasons that led up to it, with their banter-y dance around each other and the times one was about to die and the other was too chickensh*t to say their true feelings and other characters like Diana Fowley and that dude with the tattoo running interference. But the lovey-dovey emails in season eight? The schmoopy movie II romance? Enh, who cares?
So shipper-y spoilers are always awful. On one hand, you don’t want the pairing you hate to happen, because, uh, you hate it (no offense, Mulder/Krycek fans). On the other, you don’t want the pairing you like to happen, because, uh, the show will suck after a handful more episodes. (Again, unless the writers are extremely clever and give you the trappings of romantic endings – kissing, hooking up, etc. – without the emotional part that actually makes it an ending. Or by writing really interesting non-romantic plots so the romance becomes an acceptable background subplot.)
The reason I give the show a “handful” more episodes is because you can always make a romance interesting by manipulating the plot so the characters want to be together but can’t, a la Romeo and Juliet. The reason this is a “handful” more episodes and not an indefinite series is because plots like this quickly get annoying and boring even on otherwise interesting shows. Especially if the reason the characters can’t be together is because they keep playing mental games with each other (“Now we’re together! Now we’re broken up! Now I want to be together again, but I don’t know if you do! Now we had a one-night stand! Now we might be together! Now we’re broken up again!”).
Books and movies don’t have this problem, because you can always have characters hook up right before the end of the story. Howl and Sophie? Admit their feelings a couple pages before the back cover. Now instead of having an awkward anticlimactic relationship that’s boring as watching paint dry, we can just sum up what happens next with “happily ever after” and leave it to the readers’ imagination. Benedick and Beatrice? Go through hilarious contortions throughout the play in order to figure out their relationship, but only really kiss in the last scene. The curtain falls.
Non-series books, movies, and plays can’t jump the shark, because there’s no shark to jump. Even if something that completely changes the story happens, it doesn’t matter. The ground’s allowed to suddenly shift under your feet and send you on a break-neck run downhill because you can feel the back cover with your other hand, and you know the ride’s just going to take you to the end of the run faster. But with a TV series, suddenly you’re hurtling down the side of Everest with no bottom in sight. And even the coolest, awesomest ski run (bear with me as I extend this metaphor past its breaking point) gets boring after years and years of it.
Maybe this is the reason I don’t watch much TV.
Or ski.
* Totally not a spoiler, because did anyone seriously think the Death Eaters were going to win this thing? Really?
** The children come with the house. Little-known fact.
Okay:
1. How can you not like Wilson???
2. Although House sticks to a “solve the medical conundrum” formula, I do think it has evolved more than most TV shows, which is precisely why I like it. After season 3 all of House’s diagnostic team were relegated to minor roles and a whole new team was taken on, which I thought was pretty balsy of the writers, considering they had a working hit TV show on their hands.
3. House can and has worked without Cuddy and Wilson. Did you miss the half a season where House got a new best friend? The show did not collapse. And it could have kept going like that. When House doesn’t have Wilson and Cuddy to bounce ideas off, he tends to pick random people for the role, whether they like it or not. So the show keeps going.
I’m surprised you don’t like the characters, as I like everyone but Kuttner (who is a little too stereotypish) immensely. Mostly because they do stupid, unlikeable, human things all the time, and they’re not all essentially good people, like characters in every other American TV show. To me, House seems to tackle the question of whether its always better to be the “nice and good” guy. Whether comfortable beliefs and standard social habits are better than being rationalism and clear thinking. Its a topic that isn’t really considered on American TV.
Also, House is bloody funny.
Foreman: I think your argument is specious.
House: I think your tie is ugly.
Diana! You’re still alive on teh Internets! :) How are you? How are things? I am going to respond to your comment instead of writing my term paper thing that’s due Monday! EVERYBODY WINS!
… also, you may have opened a can of worms, because, as you’ve likely noticed, I REALLY like to talk about House lately, but no one else here watches it/is willing to put up with my craziness :( (Well, my mom watches it, but… she likes things like when they mention the names of pharmaceuticals she knows.) It’s my new Harry Potter!
But first… did you see the promo for the new ep? I lol’d – “There are some episodes… for which there are no words” = “There are some episodes we want you to watch, really, really badly. For the love of G-d, please watch next week. Here are some images of every actor with a title credit looking distraughtly into the distance, while the announcer says something like, ‘Everything is going to change’. See? SRS BSNS!!!”)
1. Hmmm… Actually, of all the characters, I like Wilson least, and I’m not sure why. I think because he does all sorts of “bad”/dumb things with the best of intentions… (like at the end of the last ep…seriously, how could you not know that saying that would make things turn out badly?). I’m sure if I met someone like him in real life, I’d probably like them, and I enjoy watching his interactions with House, but I don’t find him a very interesting character.
Strangely (as in, it’s strange that I’m even considering this), I think I’d like him much better if the show were a novel and he were a first-person narrator, like Watson or Archie Goodwin… Maybe because if I only got his POV, I wouldn’t be able to take that step back that makes me go, “Wait a minute… do you not realize how bad/dumb that is?”
2. That’s true – I’m definitely being arbitrary about what constitutes “really changing” a TV show. I guess I didn’t watch enough of the earlier stuff to care about the first three team members, and though the latest ones are interesting, I wouldn’t care if they got replaced unless it was by more boring ones. But I *would* care if House, Wilson, or Cuddy got switched out, even if it was for a character who was just as intriguing. (Actually, I’ve been tooling around House forums – don’t judge me! – and I’ve been intrigued to notice that some people feel that the writers should have been *ballsier* and dropped Chase, Cameron, and Foreman from the show entirely.)
3. Fair enough… I guess it depends on what one feels the interesting part of the show is. For me, there’s a difference between a character leaving and a character dying (well, unless it’s the X Files, because there’s no such thing as dead on that show :P) – like, it’s fun to watch House flounder without Wilson to find a new best friend in the PI guy when you know Wilson will probably be back sometime in the next part of the season, but it’s different if the show *kills* him, kills him, shuts down that option. Like the difference between someone going on vacation and dying? I dunno.
I really have no idea why I don’t like the characters. Part of me suspects it has something to do with the way the TV show treats them/what the “story” is telling about their worth and not their personalities at all. Actually, the characters I come closest to liking the way one ordinarily likes characters are Taub and Kutner. The character I like *most* is probably Cuddy, although because of that, I also hate her most when she suddenly becomes incompetent/maudlin/a doormat etc. for the sake of making the plot work. What happened to the no-nonsense way she was at the beginning of the first season? This totally happened to Scully, too! (At least Lisa Edelstein and Gillian Anderson are both really awesome, expressive actresses.)
Anyway, I certainly agree that House is amusing and interesting, and he’s my favourite character to see onscreen, but he still makes me want to punch him, and I *know* with him it’s because of the way the show presents a lot of his behaviour as “oh, um, yeah, it’s, uh, wrong, really wrong to do that, kids… but so TOTALLY worth it”, rather than anything to do with the man himself. Sort of like Dumbledore.
What do you think of Hadley and Foreman? Personally, I find them kind of like ciphers… like, okay, I don’t *dislike* you, but please can you be moving out of the way now so a more amusing character can come onscreen?
“To me, House seems to tackle the question of whether its always better to be the “nice and good” guy. Whether comfortable beliefs and standard social habits are better than being rationalism and clear thinking.”
Reading your comment over, it strikes me that this may be precisely why the show gets under my skin so much. I like the idea of examining these things, too, and occasionally I *am* genuinely disturbed because the show’s made me reconsider my beliefs (a good thing), but other times, the way they do it seems so… I dunno, philosophically naive? Like their understanding of “rational” or “social convention” isn’t really a robust one. Or they present, “well, there’s either this position or that position – which is better? Or can they be combined???” and the academic inside me screams, “But that’s an artificial dichotomy in the first place! Essential tension! Hermeneutics!!! POST-MODERNISM TO THE RESCUE!!!”
… okay, I still don’t know what I think about House, but I think we can both agree that the last bit of that ought to be the title of my next term paper.
PS. I miss you! Let’s e-hang out more often!
Also, I really do honest-to-G-d I TOTALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME intend to visit at some point this summer. Is there a particular time that would be bad or good for you?
Unfortunately I haven’t seen the promos, as I live in Japan :P. TV here is pretty much bizarre game shows and documentaries on 200 year old women who still tend their own rice paddies. Honestly, I once watched a TV show of two men yelling at a rice cooker for half an hour.
Anyways, back to House….I actually preferred the first team because
a/Chase was nice to look at
b/Cameron went from nice sweet thing to more confident doctor
c/Foreman was slowly turning into House, and it scared the crap out of him
Now it’s:
a/I had an affair. I feel guilty.
b/I have Huntington’s.
c/Oops, I blew up the patient again.
Okay, I actually like Hadley’s story line quite a bit, and Taub is BEGINNING to grow on me. But Kutner is still boring as hell.
I actually think Foreman is the most interesting character on the show, because he’s in this awkward, horrible situation where he admires House as a doctor but reviles him as a person. He has to consider whether being an excellent doctor means shutting down emotionally.
(Come to think of it…House actually reminds me of Van Allen. I liked Van Allen, I admired Van Allen, it would be interesting to work with him, but it would be hellish to establish a human, normalesque relationship with him.)
I think Foreman basically personifies the choice between “good person” and “great doctor.” And I stress “great” doctor. Clearly, it’s possible to be a good doctor and be socially adjusted and have “feelings”. Cuddy, Wilson, Cameron…they all seem pretty adept at their jobs. But from what I can tell House seems to be great at his job because he doubts sincerity in everyone, is obsessive as hell, doesn’t think of patients as people, but puzzles, and he doesn’t (can’t?) drop this at the hospital door. Not exactly things that help when trying to get someone’s number.
I think that by starting a relationship with Hadley the writers are trying to set up Foreman in situations where he’ll have to choose between saving her and keeping his medical integrity. And it doubly asks the question “What makes a good doctor?” Compassion? Smarts? Witty banter?
Anyways….
Liz is visiting this summer from mid June to mid July. So maybe not then, only because our apartment might be a bit squished with 4 people. I have Aug. 6-19 off. Jason and I don’t have any definite plans, but we were thinking of climbing Mt. Fuji. So if you don’t mind possibly travelling with us, that would be great to. Anytime is good really. I only work 30 hours a week after all. :D
Lol… I am obsessive enough that I have been watching the promos on Youtube, as I don’t have cable in residence. The one thing I can predict for tomorrow’s episode – without any recourse to spoilers or scene analysis – is that it will definitely be the one with the rumoured-to-be-upcoming sex scene. Why? Because it’s the only one I’ll be watching with my mom. You know it.
Anyhow, my family wants to go visit cemeteries now (yippee! I *love* holidays, don’t you??!), so I’ve got to cut this short, but I shall respond further soon! Also I’m writing a letter and will probably email you re: visiting times/dates once I finish my %*^&* last term paper! ALSO, Happy Easter!
(But before I go, intriguing comparison b/w House and PVA! I thought along similar lines, but I reached a different conclusion… I think. More on this later. <- words I have probably made you learn to dread...)
Oh my goodness, Sarah, I just read this blog entry AND your comments above. I should be sleeping right now so I’ll just make this brief.
You are SO hooked on House, it’s funny.
I’m like your friend Diana, I liked the original cast better. But I think that cast was safer, with all the characters so different, there would be explosions even if no interesting scenarios happened. I guess the “new” cast is more difficult to work with because they are so normal.
Interestingly, I like Kutner because he looked so normal but seemed to me that there was something under the surface. I guess with last week’s episode it kind of, well, cancels out our need to consider him in the character list.
But Sarah– Wilson! Maybe I’m biased because it’s Robert Sean Leonard playing him and I’ve well admired him since Dead Poets Society, but he’s got honest troubles dealing with a friend like House. I especially liked “Social Contracts” (the one with the patient who lost his capacity for self-censorship) because it highlighted that. But well… I like House when he “cheats” the system.
If I remember to come back I’ll add more. But are you really going to Japan? Then you’ll be just 6 hours away from you-know-where!
Grace
P.S.: Of course that “email address” is bogus. Don’t use it ;)
@Diana
Re: first team:
a/ Agreed. Except now all of his hair looks like Cary Elwes’s gross little ponytail in “The Princess Bride”. (They do sort of resemble one another, IMO. I think they should do a special episode where we learn Chase is actually the Dread Pirate Roberts.)
b & c/ Enh, I guess those plotlines didn’t engage me as much. Fair enough. I think maybe the choice between “good person” and “great doctor” doesn’t do it for me because the show hasn’t completely convinced me that such a distinction necessarily exists. To be fair, Deb and some of my colleagues argue these medical philosophy questions with a passion, so it’s probably hard for me to fictionalize it.
Actually, I think my problem is generally what I say in the above entry: I get hooked on stories that don’t end, but I don’t actually like stories that don’t end. I’d be perfectly happy if the season finale this May turned out to be the series finale, because I just want to know what happens to the characters I care about (and I do care about them, even if I don’t like them). I don’t want to have to keep tuning in to find out – I want the story to finish so I can play with them in my imagination in peace.
… that sounded wrong.
Anyway, I thought I had more to say, but luckily(?) for you I seem to have written most of it out. Are you still in Japan in the fall?
TTYS!
@Grace
Don’t worry (or do worry?), I fully intend to make that “6 hours away” into “0 hours away” on my way to or from Japan :) Is there a time that would be good or bad for *you*?
I have to admit, I liked Kutner best because he reminded me most of people I know – and he referenced Harry Potter (even if he did interpret the Sorting Hat’s remark to Harry wrong ;) )
It’s not that I *dislike* Wilson – he’s still one of the three characters I watch for, if that makes sense. It’s more that the reason I find him interesting is because House does interesting things around him, which to me is not a reason to like him himself. Maybe part of why I have trouble sympathizing with him is because I feel like I’ve also been in the position of being friends with difficult people, and the way he deals isn’t the way I would/did. (Or, hey, maybe the real problem is that it’s *too much* like the way I dealt, and I don’t like seeing that part of myself?) In the end, I guess I can’t pinpoint why he just doesn’t jump off the screen for me, but he doesn’t. (Though, like I said above, I can see myself liking him a lot if he were a first-person narrator, so maybe part of that is the story structure. Which is kind of cool.)
Actually, for some reason, I’ve firmly associated Wilson with Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II from “Watchmen”, and I’m not quite sure why… (Does that make House Rorschach? lol)
Your “fake” email address is awesome :)