Un-reality TV, from 'Lost' to 'Desperate'

[Dover]

Un-reality TV, from 'Lost' to 'Desperate'


By Noel Holston
Staff Writer

December 3, 2004, 6:41 PM EST


How about this fall TV season we're having? Unreal, huh? And I mean that literally.

All the buzz has been about the re-emergence of the scripted dramatic series at a time when unscripted, though heavily manipulated, "reality" shows appeared to be on the verge of taking over prime time. But it's the nature of most of the new scripted hours, particularly the breakout hits "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," that's really interesting. They're highly stylized and basically preposterous. They take place in alternative universes that are sort of like ours -- and sort of not. They depend on viewers freely buying into their peculiar logic, suspending disbelief.

Now, it's arguable that all TV entertainment series fit this definition. But it's also fair and reasonable to say that "NYPD Blue" more accurately reflects police work than "Lost" does the aftermath of a jetliner crash.

Ah, "Lost." It's the most creative and engaging new show of the fall (Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC 7), a dependable source of surprises, but its premise is patently ridiculous. Salon.com's "Ask the Pilot" columnist, Patrick Smith, recently deconstructed the show at length, expertly correcting absurdities ranging from the implausible depiction of an L-1011's midair breakup to the convenient absence of "burned corpses and heaps of unidentifiable body parts" on the tropical coastline where its pieces and 48 surviving passengers fell to Earth. Smith gave an especially loud horse laugh to the scene in the opening episode in which a survivor is sucked into a detached but still running jet engine, which exploded on impact into a giant fireball.

The most talked-about of "Lost's" character-revelation flashbacks so far -- that Mr. Locke (Terry O'Quinn), the survival expert who quickly became the castaways' designated hunter, was confined to a wheelchair until the crash restored his ability to walk -- is pure hokum if subjected to the most cursory reality check. Even if smacking into the beach somehow repaired Locke's injury instead of killing him, years of atrophy would have left his legs too weak to carry him without months of physical therapy...cont'd

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/nyc-unrealtv1204,0,633686.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-tv

[Malikshah]

1. I bet this "reality check" person in the article likes

to talk to childern about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny too.

Maybe he also explains about the physics behind rainbows as well...

God what a fart in a space suit this guy is... ;)

[TheDebbieDee]

2. LOL! That writer definitely needs to get a life.

[jackelope72]

3. Wet, meet blanket.

I put this guy into the same category as those "serious film critics" who diss movies like "Charlie's Angels" and "Van Helsing" for being "escapist" and "lacking in any serious depth".

I mean, come on! If I wanted to come home from work and see reality, I'd just skip coming home and go sit at the bus station or truck stop. Plenty of human drama there. Yes, it's important to keep yourself abreast of the world situation and take an interest in the problems and plight of the people you share the world with.

But there is also a place for sheer escapism. I think shows like "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" (which are about the only t.v. shows I watch, btw) and movies like "Van Helsing" and "National Treasure" do well because it's nice, every now and then, to check your problems at the door and just get caught up in something that DOESN'T remind you of your personal problems or your job.

My stepfather is one of those people who has serious problems in the suspension of disbelief area. He watches "Lost" every week, but rather than acknowledging the show's better-than-average writing and often brilliant plotting and great acting, he has focused on one thing: the axe. "How did the axe get there?" he asks. "What need would there be for an axe on a plane? Who would have checked an axe in as luggage?" To which I always reply something along the lines of, "And this was Robert H--- with the Big Picture."

[GrrrlRomeo]

4. I like fantasy and sci-fi myself

I hate reality shows. They tend to show the worst of human nature, and I think that sucks. I'd rather watch South Park where the worst of human nature is a big fat joke. LOL