gripe of the day
I've got a bone to pick with the writers, producers, whatever of some of my favorite TV shows.
What is with these intense, high-impact, high-emotion season enders that suck us in...& then the so-so, blase season premieres that let us down?
This week, I watched the season openers of CSI & NCIS, & both left me thinking, Huh? Not that they weren't good, but they simply didn't give me what I'd been expecting & hoping for based on the previous episodes.
On CSI, last season ended with Nick Stokes being abducted & buried alive, rescued just before a bomb went off & fire ants ate him alive. On NCIS, Kate was shot & killed by a terrorist. So what did I expect from the season openers? Well, a little bit of emotion might have been nice. Not to mention some follow-up to a series of very traumatic incidents. I'd have liked to see the other agents reacting to Kate's death more than they did. Abby's was the only reaction I really believed. And on CSI, it wouldn't have hurt for Nick to still have a few welts from those ant bites, for him to maybe still be on medical leave, for us to see that spending twelve hours buried alive & thinking he was going to die had an impact on him. (Yes, I realize the shows will probably sprinkle these reactions & reminders throughout the season, but I wanted more from the very first episode after the fact.)
Am I being too picky? Is the writer in me rearing its head to point out all the things I'd have done differently? Probably. But, still, viewers get emotionally involved in these programs, we get attached to the characters. I was on pins & needles, begging the other CSIs to get to Nick in time. I knew someone on NCIS was going to die & was completely riveted, waiting to see who it would be. And when Kate took that bullet, I wept.
So all I'm asking for is a little bit of payoff for the time & energy I invested in these shows.
Will I stop watching because the season premieres were disappointing? Of course not. But I will say I'm not entirely happy with these first shows of the season that I waited all summer to see.
