liz_marcs | Does this make me a Bad Fan?

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Does this make me a Bad Fan?

Confession #1:

I'm approximately 1 gazillion times more excited about Mama Mia! opening today than I am about The Dark Knight, despite the fact that I can see The Dark Knight at no less than 2 IMAX theaters within easy driving distance.

Confession #2:

It appears that I will buy anything David Simon does because, as it turns out, he's my favorite author (for television) ever. I own the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, all 7 seasons plus television movie of Homicide: Life on the Street, the book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, the HBO series The Corner, and the first 4 seasons of The Wire (with Season 5 on order for immediate shipping when it's available next month).

I am counting down to when Generation Kill will be available on DVD (I don't get HBO) so I can get my hands on it.

In short, you know how people will buy anything Joss Whedon does (even when it's total crap) and call him a genius for it (even though it's a case of the emperor walking around completely starkers)?

This is apparently how I treat productions involving David Simon, Ed Burns, and partners.

How can I put this...long before I let any of David Simon's stuff out of my hands, I will sell both my Angel and Buffy box sets.

The hell with that. I will burn my Angel and Buffy box sets before I give up any of David Simon's stuff.

(Seriously, those of you who kept looking for meaning in the "numbered shirts" of Buffy Season 6 that actually didn't have any meaning beyond, "We found a bunch of these for cheap in thrift shops?" Try The Wire, which actually has twice the meaning and twice the mythic elements of any Angel and Buffy episode without requiring you to fanwank. Best of all? The Wire actually has continuity that puts most book series to shame. No. I'm not kidding.)

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If I may... I am your polar opposite on Confession 1 (though I didn't manage to secure IMAX tickets for this weekend, I'll be going next weekend) and basically with you on Confession 2, with the caveat that I'm new to David Simon's stuff, and haven't had time to build a collection yet.

But it's coming. Oh yes, it is coming.

The Wire is the single greatest television show I have ever seen. Bar none.

I feel that on Confession 2 I'm more forgiving of Whedon than you are, but he doesn't hold a candle to Ed Burns and David Simon. And though I love many of Joss's characters, not one of them comes close to the level of awesome that is Omar Little.

Homicide was the best show on television, ever. I still miss it. There will never ever be another character like Frank Pembleton. I used to record episodes and take them to school and show them to my high school students. I got so many lesson plans out of that show. I showed my students Hush on Halloween, but they didn't react to it the way they often would to Homicide episodes.

You dare diss Joss? Hah ha. His followers are like blind cultists. I'm not saying I don't love a lot of what he's done, but it's not the greatest stuff in the world. It's good quality, fine quality, but it's not the all the answers to everything you wanted or needed in the universe.

I never got into or understood all the fanwanking on BTVS and ATS. I just watched and enjoyed. I'm not even amused by all the fanwanking that continues. :shrugs:

I still watch the documentary about the making of that Homicide episode, "Subway" starring Vincent D'Onofrio. I still show that to my students because it shows all the work behind the scenes getting one episode made.

I must join you in the Simon-squeee. I haven't managed to get sucked in by Buffy, Firefly or pretty much anything by Joss Whedon, but I adore Simon. And that's my 11 cents.

I tried watching two episodes of The Wire and I didn't get the magic. Why is it so popular?

I was given series one of "The Wire" as a birthday present recently. I haven't watched any og it - it is on an obscure (=expensive) satellite channel over here.

But suddenly I keep reading about it - there are things in the papers about how it is the best tv series ever. For real.

I do still harbour a love of "Buffy", though. And Buffy, of course...

Oh, and I don't think that preferring "Mama Mia!" over Batman makes you a bad fan. Just a different fan to the one you thought you were, perhaps!

Didn't Whedon admit he basically sprinkled Buffy and Angel with random mysterious elements solely for the purpose of falling back on it when/if he wants a convenient plot twist at a latter date?

The hell with that. I will burn my Angel and Buffy box sets before I give up any of David Simon's stuff.

Yep. I'd do the same. Don't get me wrong, I love Buffy and Angel (well, mostly), but The Wire is on a completely different level. I really do think it's the best TV show ever made.

I've seen the first episode of Generation Kill and so far, it's quite good as well.

How far into The Wire are you now?

The Wire Season Two sits oddly with me - I find myself almost considering the docks storyline and the Barksdale gang storyline as being two totally different shows. Much as I really love both story arcs, somehow they don't work that well together and I'm unsure why.

But Season One is magnificent once you get used to the pace. I found myself watching episode after episode without quite understanding why I kept coming back until the infamous 'fuck' scene with Bunk and McNulty. Hook, line and sinker. To the extent that I've been basically squeeing all week waiting for tonight's episode of The Culture Show over here featuring David Simon talking about The Wire.

I learn amazing amounts of Buffy craziness reading your posts/comments. And I always message something about being happy I'm in the shallow end of the fandom pool as there are scary things out there in the deep end.

I'm a big lurker in the wank...happily watching the show and not even attempting to participate.

It's funny that my non-fan friends think I'm over the top. I made a single post saying people should check out Dr. Horrible on the off chance they don't know about it. The entry was on Twitter no less...mainly cause I figured LJ was covered, but my circle on twitter isn't all that fan-connected and I think it's a fun show to check out. Then people start commenting on their own streams re: the Cult of Whedon, not understanding the fascination yadda, yadda, yadda. I am so the tip of the tip of the tip of that iceberg. I like his stuff...not all his stuff, just the stuff I do happen to like. Because I tend to like his stuff, when new stuff comes out by him, I check it out (much as I do with other writers I like...Aaron Sorkin, etc.), but in no way do I assume perfection cause his name is attached. I don't think they really understand the scariness that is the Cult of Whedon if they think I'm representative of it.

Speaking of S6/S7...I own all the seasons...I have yet to watch those seasons since I got them. I can get myself through S5 and then all motivation to watch withers away. I think there are actually some episodes in those seasons that I've never seen. I just haven't found the motivation to go through them all.

As for Dr. Horrible, I'm actually more interested in the overall business model parts of this whole thing i.e. the making entertainment outside the studio system, "will this work?" of it all (sure, I'm entertained by it, but I'm more interested to see what happens next on the business level than the plot level).

To your original point...I've had The Wire recommended to me by at least one person in practically every circle of friends I have. Methinks I should finally get off my ass and Netflix the thing.

I loved Homicide Life on the streets. But I just can not get into the Wire. I should probably give it another shot.

I keep meaning to do the "rent-a-DVD-season" thing. There's a bunch of shows I want to check out, Wire and Dexter among them. Maybe when winter finally hits up here in Canada...

It's odd. While I can get irritatingly fanboi about shows, I'm not much of a *fan*. Getting involved in deep dark discussions and fanshipping wars just seems like a waste of time to me. I don't even get involved in Terry Pratchett fandom, a man for whom I would call another out onto the fields of honour with pistols at ten if said person didn't acknowledge Pterry's awesomeness.

As for Mama Mia...oy. I once was inveigled by my mother--right after a great aunt's funeral, may I add--into seeing that musical because she "didn't want to waste the ticket". Fine, it's ABBA. How bad can it be? Well, five minutes into the production I was frantically looking for the ejection seat handle. My crazed raving at intermission is still recalled with irritated amusement by my aunt. Every time I hear the movie commercial on the radio, I get the Swedish soft-rock equivalent of Nam flashbacks.

IMHO, Joss Wheedon is an excellent writer...as long as there is someone standing over his shoulder with a nail-studded Editor's Stick. Once that goes away, his stuff ranges from mildly entertaining to 'pitchfork-wielding mob' bad.

Anyone who's read 'The Astonishing X-Men' under his rule and seen what he did to Kitty understands what I mean by 'pitchfork-wielding mob'.

As for comparing his writing to Homicide, that's sort of like comparing 'Shrek 3' to 'WALL-E'. (Incidentally, for those who think WALL-E is being hypocritical, consider; the only merchandising that has come out for WALL-E that I have been able to find is a computer game. No McD or BK toys, no T-Shirts, no action figures, no NOTHING)

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