In features as well as television, the trend these days seems to be genre mixing. Most shows and movies aren't just detective, horror, comedy, drama, action, or romance. They are usually hybrids like the horror-comedy, the action-romance, the detective-horror etc. That's actually an exciting trend because with genre expansion, stories can be varied and intriguing.The downside is the weaknesses of both or more genres have to be addressed in order for the story to really work well. In television, gone for the most part, are stand-alone episodes where each story is solved during the run-time of a single show. Their still may be a major crime or issue resolved at the end of the time but there are other story threads that bleed over into next week or the weeks to come. Marketing-wise, this soap-opera approach is viable because it can keep audiences coming back if the stories strike a chord. When the writing is exceptional (JUSTIFIED, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, THE GOOD WIFE) the show is firing on all cylinders. When the writing is not so wonderful but the characters have appeal, the shows also maintain favor. When the writing doesn't connect then the show crashes and burns. I'm not a big fan of the serialized thing because it's so easy to venture into melodrama and unless it's satiric, melodrama doesn't float my boat. However, melodrama does float many other people's boats. This is why soaps and soap opera style is popular. Just caught DRACULA last night and I was intrigued on one hand by the re-interpretation of the myth but on the other hand I was put off by the soapy melodrama. Dracula as sex-symbol isn't new; Frank Langella did it well on Broadway and in the 1979 film. This new Dracula is not only sexy but he's got an axe to grind with fiends more fiendish than himself----a centuries-old cabal of dirty, wealthy businessmen who happened to off his wife a few centuries in the past. So the bad-boy villian is made sympathetic by pitting him against evil capitalists. Even Van Helsing, who's been his antagonists in the traditional lore, is now an ally. So Dracky and VH take on big business. Original in a way and also kooky but...okay. But does it have to be so psuedo-Shakespearean with all the royal angst and declarations of vengeance? DRACULA is actually REVENGE and BETRAYL set in the 1800's with some demonic shenanigans mixed with the sex and blood. I'll watch 2 more episodes before I decide whether to put a stake in it or not but I'm not too optimistic. GRIMM, which premiered it's current season, before Drac, is a much better bet. It's a supernatural-action show with a good dose of comedy thrown in. I watch it primarily for the Big Bad Wolf. He's hysterical, and like the show, doesn't take himself so seriously. It's all in the tone.
In features as well as television, the trend these days seems to be genre mixing. Most shows and movies aren't just detective, horror, comedy, drama, action, or romance. They are usually hybrids like the horror-comedy, the action-romance, the detective-horror etc. That's actually an exciting trend because with genre expansion, stories can be varied and intriguing.The downside is the weaknesses of both or more genres have to be addressed in order for the story to really work well. In television, gone for the most part, are stand-alone episodes where each story is solved during the run-time of a single show. Their still may be a major crime or issue resolved at the end of the time but there are other story threads that bleed over into next week or the weeks to come. Marketing-wise, this soap-opera approach is viable because it can keep audiences coming back if the stories strike a chord. When the writing is exceptional (JUSTIFIED, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, THE GOOD WIFE) the show is firing on all cylinders. When the writing is not so wonderful but the characters have appeal, the shows also maintain favor. When the writing doesn't connect then the show crashes and burns. I'm not a big fan of the serialized thing because it's so easy to venture into melodrama and unless it's satiric, melodrama doesn't float my boat. However, melodrama does float many other people's boats. This is why soaps and soap opera style is popular. Just caught DRACULA last night and I was intrigued on one hand by the re-interpretation of the myth but on the other hand I was put off by the soapy melodrama. Dracula as sex-symbol isn't new; Frank Langella did it well on Broadway and in the 1979 film. This new Dracula is not only sexy but he's got an axe to grind with fiends more fiendish than himself----a centuries-old cabal of dirty, wealthy businessmen who happened to off his wife a few centuries in the past. So the bad-boy villian is made sympathetic by pitting him against evil capitalists. Even Van Helsing, who's been his antagonists in the traditional lore, is now an ally. So Dracky and VH take on big business. Original in a way and also kooky but...okay. But does it have to be so psuedo-Shakespearean with all the royal angst and declarations of vengeance? DRACULA is actually REVENGE and BETRAYL set in the 1800's with some demonic shenanigans mixed with the sex and blood. I'll watch 2 more episodes before I decide whether to put a stake in it or not but I'm not too optimistic. GRIMM, which premiered it's current season, before Drac, is a much better bet. It's a supernatural-action show with a good dose of comedy thrown in. I watch it primarily for the Big Bad Wolf. He's hysterical, and like the show, doesn't take himself so seriously. It's all in the tone.
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