Confession: I Heart Liberally [Was: Jenny and Dana?!?!?]

[Tulgey Wood]

They don't let us close enough to these people.

Never enough time. The entire thing seems to be a synopsis, really.

Exactly. A synopsis. That's what I meant about not letting us in. They
should *not* be writing in synopsis form! <g>

Agreed, but to expand the stories, they'd need far more eps per season
than are being produced currently. Either that, or to hire really
really brilliant writers who are so dazzlingly brilliant they either
don't exist or would demand such outrageous terms and salaries that the
show would go bankrupt before the ink was dry on the contracts.

[Tulgey Wood]

On Fri, 26 Mar 2004 21:45:35 -0600, Tulgey Wood

(which begs the question, why is he letting her stay there?)

He enjoys being spied with Jenny's little eye, the pervert. Actually, I
wondered the same thing. It's never explained how one night turned into
an indefinite period--maybe out of pity for her situation, maybe because
they're married and he's honoring his vows to the extent he's able.
Maybe it's just a huge continuity glitch for which I'm more than happy
to supply all manner of explanatory scenarios as I'm drifting off to
sleep.

Didn't she tell Dana during their scene together in Jenny's place that
she's paying Tim rent? Wouldn't that be why she's staying there?

Yeah, she's paying, but that's not *why* she's living in his tool shed.
If she weren't living in Tim's tool shed, writing her interfering in his
life would be too problematic.

[Tulgey Wood]

And what was up with "I've only slept with
new-boy 5 times, so it has to be old-boy?" [...] See, it's lines like
that that just make me wonder WTF they're thinking when they write this
stuff.

They don't know how it works, really? (Nah, that couldn't be it....)

I should go find a post from the message board written by a woman who
was totally perturbed by the artifical insemenation/ovulation
stick/total baby thing. They got *everything* wrong.
But as to the line above I have no explanation. Do you? It's dialog
like that that hits my ear like a trashcan lid falling.

------------
Alice: The thing is, though, you guys, I've...I've only slept
with him, what, like five times, so if I'm late...

Dana: You're late?

Alice: For my period? I'm sure you learned--in fifth grade--that
that's part of your reproductive cycle.

Shane: Whoa, whoa. So, what are you saying, then?

Alice: I'm saying, if I'm late, it wouldn't be Andrew's.

Shane: Well, would it be Lisa's?

Dana: Wow. We'll, he'd be the first lesbo in history to pull that one
off.

Shane: Shit.
------------

Either:

1. The writers didn't think anyone would notice they had skipped fifth
grade, or

2. they thought we would infer that Alice, Dana, and Shane had skipped
fifth grade but were all too embarrassed to admit it to each other, or

3. they thought we would infer that Alice meant she had slept with
Andrew five times yesterday or the day before, or

4. huh. Someone flunked Human Sexuality 101 and is now writing for
television.

[l***@large]

Post by Tulgey Wood

And what was up with "I've only slept with
new-boy 5 times, so it has to be old-boy?" [...] See, it's lines like
that that just make me wonder WTF they're thinking when they write this
stuff.

They don't know how it works, really? (Nah, that couldn't be it....)

I should go find a post from the message board written by a woman who
was totally perturbed by the artifical insemenation/ovulation
stick/total baby thing. They got *everything* wrong.
But as to the line above I have no explanation. Do you? It's dialog
like that that hits my ear like a trashcan lid falling.

------------
Alice: The thing is, though, you guys, I've...I've only slept
with him, what, like five times, so if I'm late...
Dana: You're late?
Alice: For my period? I'm sure you learned--in fifth grade--that
that's part of your reproductive cycle.
Shane: Whoa, whoa. So, what are you saying, then?
Alice: I'm saying, if I'm late, it wouldn't be Andrew's.
Shane: Well, would it be Lisa's?
Dana: Wow. We'll, he'd be the first lesbo in history to pull that one
off.
Shane: Shit.
------------
1. The writers didn't think anyone would notice they had skipped fifth
grade, or
2. they thought we would infer that Alice, Dana, and Shane had skipped
fifth grade but were all too embarrassed to admit it to each other, or
3. they thought we would infer that Alice meant she had slept with
Andrew five times yesterday or the day before, or
4. huh. Someone flunked Human Sexuality 101 and is now writing for
television.

And there you have it... written by your own little hand. ;)

***@large

[Tulgey Wood]

<snip>

Post by l***@large

Post by Tulgey Wood
1. The writers didn't think anyone would notice they had skipped fifth
grade, or
2. they thought we would infer that Alice, Dana, and Shane had skipped
fifth grade but were all too embarrassed to admit it to each other, or
3. they thought we would infer that Alice meant she had slept with
Andrew five times yesterday or the day before, or
4. huh. Someone flunked Human Sexuality 101 and is now writing for
television.

And there you have it... written by your own little hand. ;)

Either:

1. Automatic writing, or

2. I tried really hard and set my mouth just so, and the words just
flowed.

[l***@large]

Post by Tulgey Wood

They don't let us close enough to these people.

Never enough time. The entire thing seems to be a synopsis, really.

Exactly. A synopsis. That's what I meant about not letting us in. They
should *not* be writing in synopsis form! <g>

Agreed, but to expand the stories, they'd need far more eps per season
than are being produced currently. Either that, or to hire really
really brilliant writers who are so dazzlingly brilliant they either
don't exist or would demand such outrageous terms and salaries that the
show would go bankrupt before the ink was dry on the contracts.

What they need to do is narrow the field of vision to the core
characters and keep the stories wound tight around them, revealing
more of who they are with each event. Then part of telling the story
would be letting us in on the characters' personal interactions and
reactions. All extraneous storylines/characters would be cut for now.
We don't even *know* our main characters yet and we're hit with
Lisamen, and blind dates, and old street kids from Shane's past, and
people's ex's from therapy groups and on and on.

If (as you contend) they don't have time to tell each story
effectively, maybe they have too many storylines going on and are
sacrificing quality for quantity. IAC they waste a lot of screen time
on stuff we don't care about, and when they show stuff we DO care
about, they often miss showing us what we want to see, to show us the
peripherals of it. I don't see it as a "there's too much to show in
the allotted time" problem at all.

[Tulgey Wood]

Post by l***@large

Post by Tulgey Wood

They don't let us close enough to these people.

Never enough time. The entire thing seems to be a synopsis, really.

Exactly. A synopsis. That's what I meant about not letting us in. They
should *not* be writing in synopsis form! <g>

Agreed, but to expand the stories, they'd need far more eps per season
than are being produced currently. Either that, or to hire really
really brilliant writers who are so dazzlingly brilliant they either
don't exist or would demand such outrageous terms and salaries that the
show would go bankrupt before the ink was dry on the contracts.

What they need to do is narrow the field of vision to the core
characters and keep the stories wound tight around them, revealing
more of who they are with each event. Then part of telling the story
would be letting us in on the characters' personal interactions and
reactions. All extraneous storylines/characters would be cut for now.
We don't even *know* our main characters yet and we're hit with
Lisamen, and blind dates, and old street kids from Shane's past, and
people's ex's from therapy groups and on and on.

Agreed. Apparently, the current writing team don't have the skills
necessary to accomplish this.

Post by l***@large
If (as you contend) they don't have time to tell each story
effectively,

They don't have time to tell each story effectively given the way they
write the stories. Either change the writing techniques, or change the
writing team.

Post by l***@large
maybe they have too many storylines going on and are
sacrificing quality for quantity.

That would follow, yes.

Post by l***@large
IAC they waste a lot of screen time
on stuff we don't care about, and when they show stuff we DO care
about, they often miss showing us what we want to see, to show us the
peripherals of it. I don't see it as a "there's too much to show in
the allotted time" problem at all.

That *is* the problem, IMO, but your solution would eliminate it.