Dear brilliant minds of television,
I'd like for you to consider this statement: you're not as brilliant as you think. Thanks to Netflix I've been catching up on a lot of TV that I didn't catch the first time around, and without commercials no less! But here is one major issue I've noticed when watching these shows without the ads: they don't hold together! Now I know all about editing and all of that, but you'd be amazed how many inconsistencies people will notice if you condense the time they're watching these shows. The biggest editing problems I've seen so far are these:
1. when headed into a commercial or the end up an episode it's day time and upon return from the break or the start of the next show it's suddenly nighttime (or vice versa) even though the action was supposed to be continuous
2. time sequencing fails all together. Just because you put someone in a change of clothes does not automatically mean it's a new day. Furthermore, you will often have winter followed by summer and the change occurs in only two episodes. You should also allow enough of a lag between action to allow your characters to sleep. You don't have to film them doing it.....but we should get the idea that they're human!
3. editors will cut some scenes but them include them in the "previously seen on" section. Annoying.
4. you often have one character in shorts and no shirt while another appears in a sweater......and everyone is sweating. If it's so hot, remove the sweater!
Now I realize that were I to watch the episodes with commercials and a week in between them, I wouldn't catch all of this.....but it's 2011 people! You need to spend less money on catering and more on editing!
Another problem I see is the inability to plan ahead. I realize that you basically have three episodes to make an impression and shows get canceled after the pilot or at the end of a season without warning, but don't write yourself into a corner! Here are some major problems I've noticed:
1. you use all of your good story lines in the first season and then have nothing to fall back on in the second.
2. you've run out of story lines so you start recycling them......just in a different city. (Prison Break anyone?)
3. you've completed all possible story lines that fit the characters and title.....so you just add more characters. There should never be a show where there are so many characters that you can't name them on two hands and two feet. (Lost anyone?)
4. you end a season with a huge cliff hanger than then get canceled over the summer. Of course every show wants to be renewed....but if there's possibility for cancelation there should always be a way of tying everything up, (My So Called Life anyone?)
Having said all of these things, I think you should hire me to preview your TV shows and I'll tell you if you've got a winner. I happen to have a knack for judging TV I think. I can also tell you if you're headed down a bad road. You never want people to say, "Wow season 1 was so good, but it went downhill from there" (Hello, Lost). Yes you have to start with a bang, but you've got to save a little for the future! And if you get canceled, at least you've got the idea for the next show!
Finally, I'd like to close by saying this: please stop featuring male characters who never use their real voice and instead use that stupid half whisper, half grunt that's supposed to be sexy. It's fine for five minutes and then it just gets annoying. All I can think about is that the poor man was born with a faulty voice box and why hasn't he had surgery to repair the problem yet?! Oh, and if a character flip flops sides of a battle more than once just get rid of him.
Sincerely,
Jessica
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