I deem today... unpopular fandom confessions day

[smg01]

I don't know why, but today I am in the mood to confess my unpopular tv fan opinions. So here are a few:

1. I never really liked Logan Echolls. I thought he was an interesting character, but not a likable one. The regard of so much of the fandom for "woobie Logan" made me want to tear my hair out and negatively affected my enjoyment of VM more than anything else. (I didn't actually tear my hair out though, because my hair one feature that I actually like. Mostly.)

2. I don't like Rodney McKay. I no longer despise him. My feelings have tempered to dislike and irritation, with occasional glimmers of amusement. But mostly, I could do with a whole lot less of him.

3. Unlike almost everybody I know, I don't think that the last two seasons of Buffy were awful. In fact, there's a lot about them that I like, and, I think that overall, more of the story worked than didn't work.

4. Hmm. I can't remember what number 4 was going to be. I may have to come back and edit if I remember.

What are your fandom confessions?

Comments

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I can't decide which one of these is gonna get you beat up more! ;)

*smooch*

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. I had a moment of bravery this morning. *g*

[raithen.livejournal.com]

I concur with number 3, though I saw them after much delay, because I moved to the land of No Cable and No Satellite after S5.

But I actually rewatch them and like them still.

[mediumdave.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Logan, I thought, was interesting in that he saw himself as a woobie much of the time and was only intermittently interested in shaping up. His association with Veronica did improve him for the most part, but a question worth asking is: Was all the energy she invested in him really worth it, and did she benefit very much? As I recall, Kristen Bell herself thought that it wasn't.

(I still have the series finale saved on my hard drive, and haven't watched it, which probably indicates how much I cared. :D )

Skipping #2 because I have no idea.

#3 is still a contentious issue, but in general I've come to think that the deep dislike of BtVS seasons 6-7 was confined to a vocal minority. The Amazon ratings for the S6-7 DVD's look just the same as those for earlier seasons, professional critics continued to like the series, etc. In my personal experience, my friends who weren't "plugged" into the fan community would just respond with blank stares when I mentioned some of the common fan gripes. I even said this at one point on TWoP, and ooh, they weren't happy.

That's another interesting thing... at TWoP, where the "party line" was definitely that the last two seasons sucked rocks, if you look at the more democratic episode ratings, the opinion of most forum members was out of line with that of the mods/recappers. Even supposedly dreadful episodes like LMPTM got solid "B" ratings. And "Chosen", which had the mods beside themselves with rage, had an A- last time I looked.

The reason for this discrepancy might be an interesting topic for an essay which I am way too lazy to write, I'm afraid.

I'll add my own #4: Sometimes the discussions generated by controversial television are more valuable than the actual POV of the stories.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Hey! You are alive! I was just thinking about you not too long ago. :)

I agree with your personal #4. Sometimes there are episodes (or movies) that I really don't like all that much, but I get a lot out of the discussion that springs up around them.

[mediumdave.livejournal.com]

Yep, still here. I was in Kansas over Easter weekend, but did nothing more than bum around Leavenworth and watch NCAA basketball (go KU!). Will definitely have to make it out to Lawrence again.

To expand a bit on #4, I often encounter the idea that controversial = bad storytelling, and it has never made sense to me. I tend to think of banal, cliched or unrealistic stories as "bad" and these don't usually generate controversy. Precisely because they don't speak to the things that people really care about.

[datawhorevoyeur.livejournal.com]

1. Agreed.

2. Have no recollection who Rodney McKay even is. :-)

3. Agreed.

4. Yes. :-D

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Succint and to the point. Quite admirable. :)

[jungleeyedgirl.livejournal.com]

1. I knew I shouldn't like Logan as much as I did. I felt weak. He was however far more interesting than Duncan who had very little development.

2. Word word word word oh-so-much WORD. I almost want Skiffy to greenlight the show Hewlett is developing and announce he's dropping to recurring or leave SGA entirely, just to watch the sizable Rodney fangurl portion of the fandom have a collective anyeurism.

3. I think all seasons of Buffy were better than most of the stuff on tv. I do think that S6 was their worst season with 7 second-worst.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Re: your #2. Hee!

I know I shouldn't let fandom consensuses sway influence my feelings but for better or worse, it sometimes does. (Which is actually one of the reasons that I don't go full throttle into fandoms.) Sometimes the more that a character is squeed over, the more it begins to negatively affect how I see the character. That reflects poorly on me, I know. But there you go.

There are certain elements of the Cult of Daniel that has had a little bit of that effect on me regarding SG-1. I now try to limit my excessive Jack adoration publicly, because I don't want to inadvertently have that effect on others. ;)

[heanie.livejournal.com]

I agree with the #1. I just found Logan's character so much more interesting than Duncan's, that I'm pretty sure that's what brought me in.

[aka-becker.livejournal.com]

1 - I thought Logan was an ass and Duncan was nuts and I could never understand why people wanter her with either of them. She ttally wasted her time on them. Then again, due to them and a few other thigns, like the bf who was suddenly a drug dealer spliting the country, I never understood why people thought the show had great writing. I never bothered to watch S3.

2 - I don't watch that show.

3 - S6 started out promising, but it fell apart with Wrecked. The show lost all subtlety. I hated the drug addict stuff (but it's OK to dabble) and that Amy was completely different when she came back and that Willow went evil how she did and was stopped how she did. 7 was OK, but to me felt like a group of people trying to make a show like it used to be without knowing how, so it felt shallow or something. Liek a much lesser set of writers were brought in to recreate old Buffy.It felt like it was trying to recreate magic that no longer existed. So, it wasn't awful, it was just there. I hated S6 though.

4 - I wasn't happy how the last episode of Angel ended, but I was glad the show ended when it did, on a return to decentness. S5 wasn't S1 or 2, but it was lightyears better than S4. I fear an S6 might be a return to 3 or 4 and not a continuation. Let it die back on top(ish) again. I wanted to smack certain members of the save Angel group.

[texaslawchick.livejournal.com]

My confession: Spuffy didn't bother me in the slightest, and the more people complained about it, the more I rooted it on.