quarterlife Part 1
Since the internet is slowly becoming more and more my place
of choice for entertainment. Movies, blah! Television, so 1950s.
Today premiered the web show Quarterlife on MySpace. It's from
the creators of 'My So-Called Life,' which I've mentioned on this blog
before. I thought I would take a break from talking about politics and
review the new web show.
As I've grown older I've realized how exceptional writing makes
or breaks a show. This is definitely well-written. A little too
well-written. If you look at the people posting their spontaneous
ramblings on Youtube they usually don't have the depth the main
character (Dylan), who is a writer and blogger, of this show has.
So it just doesn't come off realistic.
Ok, now on to the plot. As a twenty-something I like the plot of
recent college graduates trying to find careers, love, and lasting
friendships. They are all struggling with something. However,
you can already see the underpinnings of a complicated love triangle.
I'm getting exhausted of these triangles. It reminds me of the tired
plot of the teen drama 'Dawson Creek.' Dawson loves Joey but they're
just friends. Dawson and Joey finally get together after much chatter.
Then Joey dumps Dawson because she just loves him too much. She
then dates his best friend, Pacey. Well, in the second episode of Quarterlife
we can already see an inevitable love triangle between Jed, Debra, and
Danny. I wouldn't be surprised if they dragged that plot line to the very
conclusion of the show. I hate being dragged. Also, do writers really think
that every young person secretly has feelings for their best friend's love
interest? I don't think most people in real life are as conniving as that, even
young people.
And what would a drama be without someone with a serious issue.
That is where Lisa comes in. She's an alcoholic. How do I know that?
Because in the first episode we are blatantly told by the main character,
"She drinks too much." Studies have shown that alcoholism is a serious
problem facing college aged people. It will be interesting to see how they
deal with this plot line. I don't have much hopes though. How much depth
can you give to such a complicated and hard societal ailment in a short
web show when most of the time is going to be spent on a love triangle?
I know I've been pretty negative so far but I did enjoy the show and will
probably watch it again. I just hope the writers don't continue to go for
the plot lines we often see on television. This is the web, baby. You can get
as creative as you want! Think outside the box and not inside television box.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I hadn't thought about it, but you're absolutely right about the posting style of the main character. They've made it artistic, similar to "Sex and the City", as opposed to the drab, straight-forward, nobody-else-involved-in-thev-video-other-than-the-speaker video that's the normal fare of these youtubeish hosting sites.
I also agree that I don't want this triangle storyline to be drawn out. It's been put on the table, so let's see some action and get over it. Same thing with the "loose" alcoholic chick. Let's see her get help or go to therapy or accept it and live with herself, but let's not have this go on and on where she thinks nobody's seeing what she does.
I'm more interested in 'Quarterlife' for it's technical merits and seeing how a crossover from television does on the net. I'll definitely be watching in the coming weeks. :)
I'm not surprised about the rise of alcoholism among young people. Everyone I know, talks about how hammered they got last night. And someone will have to explain how I should want to spend my birthday (20 now, 21 in June) getting trashed beyond belief. What's wrong with just liking a glass of wine now and then?
Post a Comment