Hey, I’ve Got An Idea… or Three

I’m sure that you, like me, sometimes get exasperated with the decisions made by TV and studio executives, especially when they cancel series we like, make unnecessary changes to characters, write stories that most of us have no interest in, etc. Well, I came up with a few ideas that I thought might increase the likelihood of fan-satisfaction and successful productions, which I figured I’d share with you all….

1) To the writers & producers, can we please remember that your primary job is to produce good stories with good characters? It is not to push some socio-political agenda, let alone to keep pushing boundaries and put it front-and-center at every chance. I realize this is probably a futile plea, given Hollywood’s predominant leanings. But, I (like many others) just get sick-n-tired of seeing & hearing it all… the… frickin’… time.

Now, I’m not so naive to think that no important or controversial “issues” should be addressed in TV and movies. Heck, some of the best shows have done just that (e.g., “The Twilight Zone”, “Star Trek”). Obvious exceptions on the big screen would be films that are specifically about a controversial issue (e.g., Silkwood, Philadelphia). But, as I’ve mentioned before, current attempts are so in-your-face and ham-handed, that even those in favor of a particular issue will sometimes complain that it’s just too much. The two agendas that I mostly have in mind here are feminism and LGBTQ+.

One only has to look at the poor reception to movies like Ghostbusters (i.e., the all-female reboot of 2016), Captain Marvel (its star’s activism did not help the matter), and the recent Charlie’s Angels reboot, as well as “Batwoman” on the small screen. These productions have been largely panned as being anti-male, ultra-feminist, and (in at least a couple cases) with strong pro-LGBTQ+ and/or SJW elements. (“Supergirl” and the other “Arrowverse” shows all have LGBTQ+ characters and storylines, too, of course. And, I hear the upcoming Birds of Prey has a feminist emphasis.) These may be “in” with certain crowds (especially in the Hollywood echo-chamber), but apparently not with a significant portion (majority?) of the paying/viewing public.

The makers and stars of these films/shows can blame their poor performance all on “misogynists” and “bigots” and such, but they’re missing the point. Most of the public don’t want to be hammered over the head with this stuff. Strong women are fine — great, even (e.g., ‘Ripley’ or ‘Wonder Woman’) — and the occasional representation of the small percentage of LGBTQ+ in the population is even to be expected. But, please, tone it down a few notches and just write good, smart stories about interesting and enjoyable (and preferably source-accurate) characters.

If you’re still reading and haven’t stormed off, I have a couple practical ideas to supplement my semi-rantish complaint…

2) How about using the “marketing focus group” concept to form “consumer advisory councils” made up of long-time genre fans and especially those of the big franchises (e.g., Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Middle-Earth, etc.)? They would be consulted when a studio is discussing ideas for new franchise entries. Fly them in for brainstorming sessions, have Skype calls, whatever. (I’d like to volunteer….) The idea is to get the perspective of loyal fans, hear their questions and concerns, find out what are the most important elements of the source material to retain, what have they been hoping to see?, etc.

By having such “expert panelists” to talk over such things, and assuming they take the fans’ warnings and recommendations seriously, the studios should be able to avoid some of the mistakes we’ve seen in the past. Of course, I’m not just talking about the stuff I mentioned in #1 above. I’m referring more generally to plots & plot devices, themes, character personalities, costumes, relationships, etc.

3) As a viewer, it’s frustrating to see a good new series get canned after only a few episodes. I’m sure it’s also frustrating for studio heads to try to figure out what shows will be worth the money and effort to produce, while trying to avoid failures (or cut them short before losing too much money). Yet, it feels like some shows aren’t given enough time to get their sea legs and develop a following. Whereas the typical series used to be 22-24 episodes per season, many series nowadays (especially on “cable” TV) are only 8-16 episodes per season. And, yet, they still run considerable risk of spending a lot of money — particularly if many visual effects and/or location shoots are involved — on a show that bombs.

So, naive as I am about the ins-and-outs of these decisions, I thought that the anthology format might work for more than just the horror genre (e.g., “American Horror Story”). Take DC comics-based series, for instance. Rather than ramping up a full show for an untested character/team, they could instead introduce the idea in a 3-6 episode story arc. This would, of course, be followed by another 3-6 episode story arc featuring a different DC character/team. It would be like having a succession of mini-series. This way, more characters, both familiar and new, can be field-tested with a smaller commitment for each. The more popular ones can then be given another story arc the following season and even considered for a full series spinoff. This could work for other franchises, too, as well as general sci-fi/fantasy and action/adventure material.

Make sense?

That’s it. Nothing profound, just (hopefully) some common sense ideas. Tell me what you think below…