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Blogocentric Formulations #937563 added July 7, 2018 at 11:27am
Restrictions: None
Three Things #7: TV Shows
I'm piggybacking on Tornado Dodger  's prompt for blog posts about "three things" in a variety of categories. I'm not sure if this is going to be a daily thing, a "post them all this weekend" thing, or a "whenever I get around to it" kind of thing, but I'm committed to blogging about everything on her list. For reference, the categories are:
Theme: Three Things
 Three things you can’t go without.
 Three celebrity crushes.
 Three favorite book characters.
 If you had to evacuate your home because of a natural disaster, what three things would you take with you?
Three pet peeves.
 Three things you’d do if you weren’t so afraid.
 Three favorite TV shows.
I might as well take these in descending order, so here are my three favorite television series. This one's really tough for me because there are so many great television series, both past and present! There are a lot of metrics to measure favorite, so the one I think I'm going to choose the three television shows that have most blown me away as stellar examples of what can be accomplished with longform storytelling.
Breaking Bad. This show is a master class in character development. It's five seasons follow a mild-mannered, terminally ill pushover of a science teacher as he starts making meth to provide financial stability for his family after he's gone... and takes him down one hell of a dark downward spiral as he becomes a legitimate drug kingpin. I could go on at length trying to make my case, but why should I do all the heavy lifting when an icon like Anthony Hopkins can make the case  for me? Seriously, if you're an actor getting a letter like that from Anthony freakin' Hopkins saying that your performance is the best acting he's ever seen... well, you're doing something right! This is a really hard show to watch at times, but if you make a concentrated effort to watch it from start to finish, you'll be treated to one of the most brilliant explorations of a complex character arc in any television show.
The West Wing OR The Newsroom. I'm combining these together because Aaron Sorkin shows are very similar in the things I like about them; namely smart characters in a work environment talking very quickly and intelligently to one another. I put The West Wing on here because it was a fascinating (albeit embellished and idealized) look behind the curtain in the White House, which is something I've always been intrigued by. The cast was outstanding and the writing was sharp and engaging. But I put The Newsroom on here because, if I'm being honest, I actually think these characters are a little more developed and the premise for the show (using year-old news as if it's actually happening live) managed to make this show feel hip and relevant. Check out either of these two shows if you want to see brilliant, fast-paced writing at its best.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Of all the comedy news shows out there, I think John Oliver managed to find the right mix of information and entertainment. I love the fact that each show features a deep-dive "feature story" about one issue in particular, and that his show does actual journalism to feel out a story. Whether he's really getting into the weeds of issues like net neutrality, exposing the corruption in FIFA, or showing how profit-focused televangelists take advantage of their congregations, he not only provides relevant information in an amusing way, he also often does some form of stunt designed to raise awareness as well. For net neutrality, he created a website sent users directly to the obscure FCC webpage where they could submit comments about the issue. For FIFA (which was a two-part episode), he created an over-the-top response video after a FIFA official responded to his first segment. And for the televangelist segment, he actually created his own religious organization to show how easy it is to use the bureaucracy to set up a questionable religious charity. This is one of my favorite shows (and the primary reason why I have HBO), because I get to laugh and learn something at the same time.
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