Under the Dome: We Deserve Better

Movies and Television

I tweet TV all the time, figured it was due a little blog love. Or at least, this crappy list post.

Summer Ratings are Easy

Or something like that. My point is there’s not much new by way of TV fare so it’s not hard for a big network with deep pockets to produce a relatively low-budget show and win big.

Under the Dome, perverted from the mind of Stephen King, is exactly such a show. No big names or huge salaries, little need for fancy sets or whiz bang effects. Just Hollywood attractive people, acting like idiots and doing nothing but talking at each other.

Somehow I’ve made it to episode 9 of Under the Dome, in which everyone has had a lobotomy and TPTB tried to pull a fucking LOST with a goddamned Nikki who has been there the whole time, unseen by anyone but free to roam and spy as she pleases. Except she’s named Maxine. And don’t get me started on the horrific Junior extreme hero makeover storyline; that shit is repugnant.

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I’ll admit it. Mike Vogel is hella hot as McGuyver meets GI Joe super soldier, Mr. Mary Sue “Barbie” © 2013 CBS

Since Under the Dome is in the sci-fi, even action/fantasy milieu – and TVCzar is right, so NOT deserving of LOST comparison – I started thinking of better shows that should have seen this kind of buzz and/or ratings love.

In no particular order, shows better than Under the Dome yet cancelled because viewers prefer shitty television:

  • Jake 2.0. Action, attractive lead, a story-based explanation on why he’s Mr. Mary Sue superagent.
  • Fringe. Plenty has been written about it; it lasted a few seasons but FOX done it wrong with the Friday time slot of death treatment.
  • Dollhouse. Firefly. Different and flawed Joss Whedon products. Both better, both more creative and in hindsight, a hundred times smarter. See also, FOX and their bullshit.
  • Last Resort. Traveler. Flash Forward. More action but certainly some mystical or WTH?! element to them. Barely made it out of the gate. Now ABC was right to kill Zero Hour – that was as dumb as a box of hair – but these deserved a better fate.
  • Ringer. This was soapy, campy, crazy town craziness – it’d be great escapist summer fun, IQ points to spare by comparison.

I’ve been typing for a while, barely started this list and have already named seven, eight shows? The vastly improved Nikita will bow out this year after a mini-series send-off; Under the Dome, renewed. There’s something here, a decent concept covered in weaksauce.

Final Snark: I don’t get it. I get the $$$ and CBS is making it, that seems to be all that counts. Don’t get the buzz, the ratings – are we really that desperate for something new that’s not some faux contest fame whoring bullshit?

 

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