(no subject)

[stoopbeck]

I'm really very irritated with my father. He thinks that it would be a wonderful world if all that was on television was reality TV, because then nobody would watch TV and everyone would go back to reading books like they should. I disagree. I think television is important. Good television, like NCIS and SGA and Chuck and so on.

It's not that I'm against reading. I'm not. I'm like the poster child for book-reading. I read a couple of books each week. I've got three bookshelves in my room, and several boxes of the books I can't fit on the shelves. Yay for books.

But just because someone enjoys watching television does not mean that they don't read. They may not sit down in an overstuffed armchair, wrap themselves in a flannel blanket, sip some tea and read Pride and Prejudice (not that I ever ever do that, no), but they're probably reading nonetheless.

Many people who don't read books read fanfic. Many avowed book-haters will rush to check their mail to see if their favorite fic has updated. Would they be reading that fanfic if there were no shows to inspire them? No.

Of course, don't get my father started on fanfic. We were talking about it at dinner tonight and his two cents was, "Well, you know, that's illegal in Europe." He wouldn't listen to me when I said that I read fics by many people from England.

Gah.

Comments

[theemdash]

A lot of people who are in fandom are actually quite literate and more likely to read books (and that's why they write fanfic). I think people who watch good TV like good stories. People who watch reality television exclusively, though . . . are probably shallow and kind of stupid.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

I agree! There are some amazing people out there, and to dismiss them because they enjoy watching television is just silly.

He's not a fan of any kind of TV. And even getting him to watch movies is an uphill struggle.

He also feels that fanfiction is patently ridiculous. :P

[skroberts]

I love your dad, but... I hate him. :P

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

GAAAH.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Also, it makes me happy to watch my shows. How can he say that's bad? I could be running around doing crack! Or selling myself on the street! He should be glad my main vice is television. :|

[skroberts]

Exactly! Instead of being out in the world doing stupid stuff, we're in the house, using our imaginations. And while it's not good to always stay in, you needing TV is getting off easy.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

[thelasttoknow03.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle. I could just as easily watch a TV show as read a book.

The majority of reality shows, in my opinion, are horrible and trashy and not worth five minutes of my time. But I will admit to liking a few. Project Runway has become my new must-see show since the writers' strike mostly likely ended the Grey's Anatomy season last week.

Honestly, I agree with your father about fanfic. I admire the talent and ideas that people have and their drive to write about something they enjoy. I guess it's a way to satisfy those fans who aren't happy with the direction the writers are taking the show, but I don't know. Do people do this with books when they don't like the ending of a chapter or a particular romantic pairing?

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

I love them both. I just think he discounts television a little too much.

I have no real problem with reality television. I watch Dirty Jobs and Food Network and other random things.

Ha. They totally do. What about Scarlett? Where she and Rhett totally get back together? Or all those books based on Jane Austen's books? Or the book in which the patriarch of the March family of Little Women fame goes around raping and pillaging in the war? Or the entire series of Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fford.

And fanfic to me isn't just about rewriting, but about continuing the adventure, about showing what's going on outside the episodes. The best fanfic, to me, is the fic that could pass as an episode of the show. Of course, I'm not the most impartial judge... ;]

[skroberts]

I agree that fic is an extension of a show, not necessarily there because something needs to be fixed about it.

Also, there's fanfic for the Bible, FCOL. And that's all I'm gonna say...

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

That's right! I forgot about that!

[thelasttoknow03.livejournal.com]

Seriously? Seems rather sacrilegious to me. But who cares what I think? :)

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

http://www.fanfiction.net/book/Bible/

And that's not even counting Milton...

[skroberts]

Milton was such a fanboy! *g*

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

He totally was! Just think of what he would have done with a computer...

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Also, yes on the sacrilegious-ness...

[thelasttoknow03.livejournal.com]

Point taken re: book fanfic.

Or the book in which the patriarch of the March family of Little Women fame goes around raping and pillaging in the war?

WHAT?!

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_%28novel%29

I was thinking about buying it, because dude, Little Women, but flipping through it made me realize it probably wasn't the book for me.

[thelasttoknow03.livejournal.com]

Crazy. I'll have to look for that when I'm at work this week. I have seen some, ahem, interesting books while cleaning/organizing/shelving/etc.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I bet you have!

[skroberts]

Sarah: IMHO, TV is just books in another form. It's all story-telling.
Alex: I agree!
Alex: And if it's good storytelling, it should be appreciated as such.
Sarah: No matter its form.
Alex: Definitely.
Alex: My dad severely dislikes TV. And most of the shows I watch.
Alex: I don't understand it.
Sarah Roberts: Some people just can't accept different things.
Sarah: But he should realize you do.
Alex: He's been really irritating with the whole writer's strike, too. I'd like to keep a positive outlook, and he's so negative about it all. He supports the writers, but he thinks that everything will be cancelled forever.
Sarah: That won't happen.
Sarah: No more TV ever, that is.
Alex: He also thinks people who need television shows are silly. Um, I need my shows. A whole lot.
Sarah: I need TV, too.
Sarah: Real people are often mean and unfeeling and... scary in real life.
Alex: No, he thinks the shows that are on now are dead. They'll come up with new ones, but the ones I watch will be gone forever.
Alex: Oh, yes!
Sarah: TV people, you can fall in love with, talk to (though they may not talk back), and enjoy being around without the risk of such real life issues.
Sarah: Most of the shows you watch now are made of awesome and have too much left in them to leave forever. Perhaps some may take a bit to come back, but if the fans want it, they can't be stopped.
Alex: And the television shows I love are all about people making their own families, and relying upon each other, and being genuinely good in ways that real people seldom are.
Sarah: Indeed. And shows that don't do something like that, I stop watching (if I ever watched in the first place).
Alex: Exactly.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Thank you! A lot of that wasn't in my YIM window. :P Like the two things you said after I said, "Oh, yes!"

Which are kind of important. :]

[skroberts]

;)

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

See, the problem with that logic is that if it was all reality TV, a ton of people would STILL watch it. THOSE people aren't the book readers.

People who watch smart TV are the readers.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. GAH. I've been fuming all night. :| They're not going to stop watching their American Gladiator or their Survivor or whatever.

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

Honestly, there are still a lot of people who don't realize there's a strike going on.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE

I can see how that would be possible, actually, because I've had that conversation with people, but one would think that they'd, I don't know, have picked up something about it by now.

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

We only knew about it as early as we did because we're so internet/fandom savy. But there are plenty of people who work, come home at night and turn on the TV. Not lot of "news" getting to them on it.

Sad but true.

When I did my movie review for my hometown paper last week, I (less than subtly) worked in a reference to the strike just to get the info out there.

[scifigirl.livejournal.com]

Clearly television is the devil. *eyeroll*

I watched alot of television when I was younger. This was partially because I was fat and had no friends. It never really bothered my parents though because I devoured books and wasn't watching tv instead of reading. I was doing both.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

I used to get in trouble all the time when I was younger because I read to the exclusion of everything else: chores, homework, personal hygiene. I'm getting everything done now, and I'm reading a couple of books a week, and I'm paying rent and cleaning house and keeping my brother from blowing up things and taking care of the pets but apparently the television is bad for me.

I'm not sure why my father has suddenly become an Old Testament prophet about TV. :\

[mei-chan1029.livejournal.com]

I heard about the writers' strike and fear it might disrupt our beloved Chuck!! :(

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Seriously! The shows that are really going to hurt from all this are the new shows, and stupid me, I picked up four new ones this season. :[ At least the established shows have ratings behind them, and adamant fans, and stuff.

I'm all for the strike. The entertainment industry is clearly in the wrong, and even though it's hurting me where I watch TV, their striking is going to be beneficial for all of us, especially us writers. They're out there proving that writing is a job, dagnabbit, and that writers deserve respect.

At the same time, though... Chuck... :\

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

Well, they did give Chuck a full season order (the strike was still going on, and they probably thought it would be solved by now). But that's a good sign for Chuck, so I wouldn't be too worried.

[mei-chan1029.livejournal.com]

oh, I hadn't heard what it was even about, but yeah, of course writing is a real job! Good work now that will hopefully help me later when I want to do more with my writing.

[stoopbeck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you should check out the WGA's website, they do a pretty good job of stating their demands. They don't get paid when people watch their stuff online, or when they buy DVDs, while the corporations definitely do, and are making armfuls of cash, and the writers would like to have their hard work appreciated. And the studios disagree.

[mei-chan1029.livejournal.com]

that is ridiculous. yeah, they deserve to get paid!