Movie News
Editor’s Blog: The Evolution of TV or: How I Learned to Love Battlestar Galactica
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 27, 2008
I have always been a public advocate of not watching too much television. Many who know me have heard the phrase “Watching television is unproductive” escape my lips on more than one occasion. And its true, I have always fronted as an anti-TV, pro-Cinema goon who hypocritically owns a nice HDTV and subscribes to HD cable. It is a terrible element of my life, thus I must seek some retribution.
In order to do so I must admit to you all, in a very public forum, that I do love certain television shows. I will not admit to having watched these shows during their original broadcasts though, as that would be conflicting with my core values as a TV-hater. Thanks to the advent of TV on DVD, I have been able to get my fix of great sitcoms without having to wade through commercials or fight battles of epic proportion with my consistently inoperable DVR. I have been able to watch every episode of “Seinfeld” in order (which takes months, in case you are wondering), catch the entire existence of “Arrested Development” (a show that is the closest thing we will ever see to recreating genius on the level of “Seinfeld”) and I even watched all of “Freaks and Geeks” — as you can see, I have a thing for shows that are no longer on the air.
There are some shows that I have loved that still exist today, including “The Office”, Dennis Leary’s “Rescue Me” and the hysterical “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. But as you can see, I have always been more of a sitcom guy. I have never ventured into the world of primetime drama with shows like “Lost” (which I will eventually have to go back and watch), “24″ or even “Battlestar Galactica” — until now.
On Friday evening around 8 p.m. Eastern I pulled a dusty “Battlestar Galactica: Season One” DVD box set from my collection and broke the plastic seal, a small moment in what would become an epic transition in my TV-watching life. Almost ten hours later, sometime around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, I finally put the DVD set back on the shelf and made my way to my cozy bed, having watched all but one disc of the entire BSG mini-series and season one. Though fans of the series had warned me previously I still couldn’t believe it, but I was addicted to “Battlestar Galactica”. And I am still addicted, even today, as I have penciled in a trip to Best Buy to pick up Season Two and the Razor DVDs. To some it would be sad… To me, it is all part of my evolution as a movie geek.
What I have realized in my time spent with this generation’s “Star Trek” is that television shows have come a long way in recent years, especially those niche shows on the Sci-fi Channel and FX. Back in the day, the closest thing that movie geeks had to great television that felt like a big movie was stuff like “Sliders” (May the career of Jerry O’Connell rest in peace…) and “The X-Files”. But even back then it was all geared toward the sci-fi geeks, the remainders of those who remember the heyday of Star Wars and Star Trek. Now however, there seems to be great, epic TV shows for any movie fan. “Lost” is there to satisfy your insatiable mid-week need for drama, “24″ brings you your action fix and yes, even a sitcom like “The Office” lays down comedy that rivals any Judd Apatow flick.
And yes, for the sci-fi geek, there is still plenty out there, including my new love, “Battlestar Galactica”. What began as curiosity after seeing the original 1978 pilot at the Ohio 24-Hour Sci-Fi Marathon has bloomed into a full-on affair. It is an affair that has left me changed, scarred with the realization that television has finally come around, somehow rivaling the entertainment value of films. For a movie geek, this is a win-win scenario. So this week, as I prepare to see Iron Man and get this summer movie season kicked off, I plan to be living somewhere in 2005, during season two of “BSG”, continuing my full-on transformation into a TV watcher — or at least, a DVD watcher with a lot of TV show box sets.
This brings me to the question of the weekend. We have been toying around with the notion of starting a new feature called “TV for Movie Geeks” here at FSR. This would focus on great television shows that every movie geek should be watching. Is this something that would interest you, as a reader? Let me know in the comment section below.
Read more articles by Neil Miller
22 Comments
April 27th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Welcome to the fold Neil! I did the same thing last year, marathon sessions on dvd to catch me up to the current season at the time. BSG is easily the smartest and deepest sci-fi show ever, and on top of that there’s the Boomer-inducing Grace Park… Enjoy!
April 27th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
What a coincidence. I just saw the opening mini-series for BSG and was impressed. My friends and I like to have movie tournaments as a way to decide what we are going to watch, and just last night BSG won the tournament. Today I come to FSR and see my editor was getting introduced just one day earlier.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I hope you didn’t start with the first season, but instead watched the mini-series to kick it off, it really makes the whole series! I have only recently converted to the BSG fold (having started watching just before Christmas) but I am a full blown addict also, desperate to see as much as possible and very saddened at the fact it’s getting to the end of the road.
As for a TV for movie geeks feature, what exactly is tv for movie geeks? I’d love to see this brought in, but I’d hate to try and figure out what falls into the category! What differentiates the movie geek from the geek geek? :)
April 27th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Neil is now one of us… one of us… one of us…
April 27th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Thankfully the HD-DVD (R.I.P) version came with the mini-series. So yes, I cleared through the entire mini-series and season 1 in about 24 hours.
I just started season 2.0… This may negatively impact my productivity as Exec. Editor of this site.
And the “TV for Movie Geeks” feature would be more of a “TV for Movie Lovers” type of thing. Really, its just an excuse for us to blog about our favorite TV shows on our little movie website… :P
April 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
And after season 2.0 comes season 2.5, then Razor, then season 3.
My prediction is that Neil will come out of his BSG-induced stupor only to see Iron Man 3 times this week.
Watch out, Neil. I’m going to try to get you hooked on the Stargate series next.
April 27th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Ha!! It’s inevitable… Actually it is a pretty good show and you have got to catch up so you can start watching the fourth season.. it’s not only intense, but there’s some mystery that you need to be catching up on .. welcome to the fray
April 28th, 2008 at 1:34 am
They really did an amazing job setting the tone and establishing character with the mini and first season, most of the second and all of the third season is like fan fiction.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Whoops! make that most of season 3 and all of 4…
April 28th, 2008 at 3:36 am
I just got into Battlestar Galactica too. Starting up Season 2.0 this week, after I finish Jericho Season 1 on DVD. =)
April 28th, 2008 at 5:40 am
Season 4 rocks! Only 4 episodes out but I love em & want more. What is it about Jericho, it seems to infiltrate everywhere. I’m only 9 episodes in, I don’t care much for the characters but yet I still have to keep watching. This happened with Prison Break too, though after season 1 I broke free. At least with Jericho there’s only an abridged second season to get through, so I’ll probably watch that too. (Yes, I watch too much TV)
As for a TV for movie lovers section, hell yeah! Finally, joining my two passions, TV and movies :D Of course, we’ll have to cover the girly shows just as much as the blow shit up ones, so I insist Gossip Girl gets as much coverage as 24 and Stargate ;p
April 28th, 2008 at 5:49 am
tv for movie lovers? Wire, Shield, BSg, Deadwood, Rescue Me, 30 rock :)
April 28th, 2008 at 8:22 am
I feel it’s my duty here, as a BSG fan(atic), to point out that you really ought to watch season 3 before RAZOR. RAZOR is meant as a standalone 2-ep film, in between seasons 3 and 4. Just sayin’.
Meanwhile, as a fellow cinephile-turned-TV-junkie, can I suggest a few more cinematic shows for your new feature? ROME, IN TREATMENT, UGLY BETTY, WEEDS, FARSCAPE, LA FEMME NIKITA, ALIAS, MY SO CALLED LIFE, and everything by Joss Whedon, natch. *g*
April 28th, 2008 at 9:28 am
If we do have a TV for Movie Lovers, Joss would have to get in there under two headings, Firefly and Buffy (hey, it’s a spin off from a movie… A way way way WAY better piece of drama than the movie ever was, too.) Angel could sneak in via Buffy, and then Dollhouse just looks deadly, so bring it on too.
Actually, can I just submit all my favorite shows for it? :) The West Wing! Now that is a show for movie lovers.
On the BSG track, the one and only thing that bugged me about the show were those bloody webisodes. I know they were designed to keep the fans happy, but there was nothing more frustrating than watching 40 mins of 3 and 4 min snippets, that really added up to very little. Good luck to you Neil, if you make it through them, you’ll make it through everything!
April 28th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Neil–
We’re probably at the same point. I’ve been watching fervently over the past month when I can. I’m 4 episodes in to 2.5 and DVRing season 4.
I would also submit that Lost is good for movie lovers.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Ack!! Someone mentioned Lost. The land of unanswered questions, NOT to mention a very confusing new twist in time they tossed out at us last week..
But my big question, which will haunt me until they answer it, [and it looks like they just might], is wtf is the killer smoke tendrils?? A ghost pit bull with a smoke collar? (Kind of like a smoke trailer on a stunt plane)
It’s a good thing I don’t like the show, or I’d be completely up on all the details….. *crickets* … oh crap, I am.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Welcome to the club :) I never ever thought I would get into something like Sci-Fi… I know, I know what can I say I didnt know any better… and my experience was similar to yours, it started with the excellent BSG pilot and I just couldnt stop watching, season 1 is excellent :)
Now for the TV for movie geeks feature I think it might be a good idea, one other show that had that effect on me was Veronica Mars. You might want to give it a go… :)
I sniggered and scorned, teen PI with a noir twist, honestly… then vanity got the better of me as my brother said she looked exactly like me (not true, Kristen Bell is far prettier)… my vanity aside season 1 is epic…
April 28th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hey, someone else brought up Veronica! That was cancelled before its time :( It was fantastic, seasons 1 and 2 more than season 3. As for Lost, I watch it, it kills me but I watch it. Lets take a mystery, add some more angles to it, a couple more on top of that and then maybe answer a question from a year back. Coming up next week, more mystery and half an answer!
April 29th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Michelle I agree season 3 of Veronica Mars was not that good (as Rob Thomas was experimenting with the story arcs and whatnot as you probably know :) but still it was definitely watchable.
I think season 1 and even season 2 do have a movie quality to it, albeit a very long movie :) It was completely addictive, so many storylines and twists and turns you simply had to see what happens next. For something that was promoted as a teen show by CW it was anything but… and you know Stephen King was a fan? :)
April 29th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Consider 2.5 DONE! Last night was a great evening. Chinese food, my ladyfriend, and some Battlestar. HEY! Some MSG with my BSG! YES!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Glad to see some erosion of movie-geek pretension ;). The golden age of cable has allowed for some truly interesting shows to develop.
BSG is my favorite, and in IMHO the best, but I would also recommend: 30 Rock, Deadwood, Heroes (first season, anyhow), Lost (to some extent), and Firefly.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I watched Seasons 1, 2.0 and 2.5, and 3 in one month. I felt obligated to catch up before
Season 4 had begun! It truly is an amazing show, with layers of philosophical ponders
like “Who deserves to be saved?” and “What is human/Cylon nature?” Throughout the
seasons, Ron Moore refuses to answer those questions directly, and he gives different
characters different outlets of expressing their beliefs on such question. The character
Boomer, especially, goes through many transitions throughout the show.
And yes, a TV for Movie Geeks would be much appreciated! I think so many film buffs
are snobs when it comes to TV, but Seinfeld, Firefly, BSG, Arrested Development, West
Wing, Lost, and The Office are true gems that can rival any film in themes or character
development. I don’t think the TV for Movie Geeks section should include water-cooler
topics, asking questions like “Should Kate be with Jack or Sawyer,” but should instead
have questions like “If John Locke and Jeremy Bentham were having an intellectual face-
off, who would win?”