Tuesday, December 8, 2009
My Thoughts On Kurt Sutter's Blog Post Why Network Scripted Drama Suck
7:27 PM | 
Posted by
Rocketman2387
If you don't know Kurt Sutter is the man behind the TV hits The Shield and Sons of Anarchy, a show I have raved about on this blog. Recently my respect for Mr. Sutter has risen even higher level due to the post he put on his blog entitled Why Most Network Scripted Dramas Suck. Basically in his post Sutter gives his two cents on the Leno debate by expressing the belief that development execs create shows based on what they think people want to see. Churning out clones of semi-successful shows or in other words looking for a hook to market instead of concerning themselves with story and character. Then Sutter goes on to praise FX for taking a chance on Sons of Anarchy by making the realization that the show's success rests on his shoulders not their own.
Kurt Sutter, the show creator that's causing a ruckus on the internet
The main thing that needs to be taken from Sutter's post for the purpose of standing up with him on a soapbox is that I whole heatedly agree with his viewpoint. This comes from the fact that I have a variety of very different types of shows in my weekly TV watching schedule from teen dramas like The Vampire Diaries to crude off the wall shows like Family Guy simply because I get bored of the repetition that exists in the form of CSI, Law and Order and all of its variations that are aired during the week. In order to better demonstrate my point I thought it might be best to give all of you my current TV watching schedule.
Monday
Heroes, Chuck, 24, Castle
Tuesday
V, Sons of Anarchy
Thursday
The Vampire Diaries, Fringe, Supernatural, 30 Rock, The Office
Friday
Smallville, Dollhouse, White Collar
Sunday
Family Guy
*Shows are not all currently showing new episodes
With this list I can see someone making an argument that Smallville and Heroes are similar to each other due to the superpowers concept. Although with something like Chuck and 24, they both focus on a secret agent but one show is a dramedy and the other one is completely serious. The bottom line with my TV schedule is that there are thousands of ways to explain how all these shows are all different from each other but what's important is that this line up keeps watching TV fresh. However with my schedule containing many fantasy based shows like V or shows off the beaten path like Chuck I run the risk of being heartbroken because these are the types of shows that Network Execs see as risky. Then again I would much rather suffer the heartbreak of TV Show cancellation than having to stomach one of David Caruso's cheezy lines he spouts off at the beginning of every formulaic episode of CSI Miami. With that being said I do have a friend who watches every form of CSI and NCIS during the week but I respect him for it because he also watches my TV schedule on top of those shows. On the other hand for those people who just center their schedule on just watching all the forms of CSI and Law and Order, you can do what you want but just know that I think you have no lives.
CSI and Law and Order, two incredibly formulaic shows
Going in the vein of Kurt Sutter's post I do feel like Network Execs need to put their faith in cutting edge shows like Sons of Anarchy instead of shows like Cold Case where every episode starts with a cardboard box being taken off a shelf to be opened and ends with a box being put on a shelf to be closed. The reason behind this is that I believe Sons of Anarchy's success can be attributed to people's desire for a good story to escape the frustrations in daily life caused by the Recession or whatever else is going on in the world. So Kurt Sutter if you happen to stumble upon this post I want you to know that I would totally be interested in writing for Sons of Anarchy after I graduate from Columbia College in May because I would much rather work on a show that will knock an audience's socks off than doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Kurt Sutter, the show creator that's causing a ruckus on the internetThe main thing that needs to be taken from Sutter's post for the purpose of standing up with him on a soapbox is that I whole heatedly agree with his viewpoint. This comes from the fact that I have a variety of very different types of shows in my weekly TV watching schedule from teen dramas like The Vampire Diaries to crude off the wall shows like Family Guy simply because I get bored of the repetition that exists in the form of CSI, Law and Order and all of its variations that are aired during the week. In order to better demonstrate my point I thought it might be best to give all of you my current TV watching schedule.
Monday
Heroes, Chuck, 24, Castle
Tuesday
V, Sons of Anarchy
Thursday
The Vampire Diaries, Fringe, Supernatural, 30 Rock, The Office
Friday
Smallville, Dollhouse, White Collar
Sunday
Family Guy
*Shows are not all currently showing new episodes
With this list I can see someone making an argument that Smallville and Heroes are similar to each other due to the superpowers concept. Although with something like Chuck and 24, they both focus on a secret agent but one show is a dramedy and the other one is completely serious. The bottom line with my TV schedule is that there are thousands of ways to explain how all these shows are all different from each other but what's important is that this line up keeps watching TV fresh. However with my schedule containing many fantasy based shows like V or shows off the beaten path like Chuck I run the risk of being heartbroken because these are the types of shows that Network Execs see as risky. Then again I would much rather suffer the heartbreak of TV Show cancellation than having to stomach one of David Caruso's cheezy lines he spouts off at the beginning of every formulaic episode of CSI Miami. With that being said I do have a friend who watches every form of CSI and NCIS during the week but I respect him for it because he also watches my TV schedule on top of those shows. On the other hand for those people who just center their schedule on just watching all the forms of CSI and Law and Order, you can do what you want but just know that I think you have no lives.
CSI and Law and Order, two incredibly formulaic shows
Going in the vein of Kurt Sutter's post I do feel like Network Execs need to put their faith in cutting edge shows like Sons of Anarchy instead of shows like Cold Case where every episode starts with a cardboard box being taken off a shelf to be opened and ends with a box being put on a shelf to be closed. The reason behind this is that I believe Sons of Anarchy's success can be attributed to people's desire for a good story to escape the frustrations in daily life caused by the Recession or whatever else is going on in the world. So Kurt Sutter if you happen to stumble upon this post I want you to know that I would totally be interested in writing for Sons of Anarchy after I graduate from Columbia College in May because I would much rather work on a show that will knock an audience's socks off than doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
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