So, in the last week or so I have re-read the latest book in the Vorkosigan series and read the latest book in the Temeraire series and enjoyed them both despite some minor Sources of Reader Annoyance. This is the eighth Temeraire, and it was certainly not in the top two or three. It’s the fifteenth (depending on how you count) Vorkosigan, and while it’s not in the top two or three, it’s surely in the top ten. So that’s all right.
But it made me think. Lately, I have been really enjoying series novels—by lately I think I mean, over the last ten years or so. The Vorkosigans, the Temeraires, the Mary Russells, the Bayerns, the other ones I’m not remembering right now. They’re not all I read, of course, but there are a bunch of them that I am really enjoying.
And what is Your Humble Blogger not enjoying? YHB is not enjoying the thing that is currently where it’s at, popculturally speaking: long-form television series. It’s just not my thing—I have tried a few of them, but it turns out I have very little patience for the form. If I am not enjoying the first two or three episodes, I won’t want to keep going, even if I have been told that it gets really good in Season Four.
My patience for all television is down, just now, really. I watched the Downton series, and mostly sorta enjoyed it, but unlike in previous years, I am not impatient for the next series to start. I didn’t actually watch the last Sherlock movie, tho’ I expect I will at some point. I did finally watch Firefly, which was… fine. I enjoyed it, but again, I am fine with there not being any more of it, and I was mostly irritated by its attempt at being long-form rather than episodic. What else? I watched a couple of seasons of Lark Rise to Candleford. Two episodes of Dirk Gently. I did get as far as the fifth episode of Game of Thrones, I think. Four episodes of Deadwood. Meh. And really, the idea of watching The Wire or Walking Dead just fills me with weariness.
In contrast, my patience for series novels is just fine. When I was in my teens, I liked short stories best of all, but I hardly read them now. When I do, I often feel a bit cheated, wondering is that all there is and so forth. I don’t insist on novels being risibly oversized, tho’ I do like me some Dickens, I do. But I find what I really enjoy is that combination of familiarity and novelty you get with series novels. I could easily pick up another series or three, if y’all Gentle Readers want to point me to them. And if you tell me that the series really picks up in the third book, well, the odds are much better that I’ll get that far than that I’ll get to the third season of a television show. I assume that much of what I enjoy about series novels is much of what most everybody these days enjoys about long-form television, so I think I ought to like it. But I don’t.
It’s a bit frustrating for me, actually—long-form television is where it’s at, culturally speaking, right now. Not movies or sitcoms or—the Divine knows—books. Well, video games, yes, that’s probably more where it’s at than long-form television, but fine, I am OK with being out of the loop on those, because oldnessosity and lawn-off-getting. But most of my friends and conversation-mates are watching and enjoying one or another of those shows, and many if not most of the top writers and actors are working in the medium and I … got… nuttin’. Ah, well.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.
The time investment seems much higher for television, though I suppose that depends on how quickly one reads. I don’t usually spend 15 hours on a single novel in a series, but it’s hard to watch a television season more quickly (assuming you’ve already eliminated the commercials). On the other hand, it’s easy to multitask while watching television, whereas I’ve never been able to multitask at all while reading a novel. On the third hand, television can be a social activity, and when it is I find it falls into an entirely other category than watching alone (or as background while Lisa and I are doing other things).
At least tell me you’ve exposed yourself to The West Wing. It’s more episodic than long-form (as is Firefly, to my mind), and I think you’d very much enjoy the dialogue.
Not having watched a television show in about a decade and not having seen a new movie in seven years, it’s easy for me to appreciate the lack of interest long-form television stirs in you. I am at least passingly curious, though–if long-form television is where it’s at, culturally speaking, where is that? What qualities, what visions, are inspiring people to make and view this art?
Michael—You are quite correct about the time business, and it has been pointed out to me that it is much easier to skim the dull parts of a novel than a television show.
Jim—I watched an episode (or maybe two?) of West Wing and didn’t like it. That show, though, has other Sources of Viewer Irritation.
Chris—I think a lot of it is where the money is. HBO and A&E and Showtime and a handful of others are able to spend big money on these things which are exclusive to them. It’s a reasonable reaction to the trouble with movies and pirating and so forth, and once the money was there, the prestige followed, and then the corporate willingness to take risks and support creators. Just a guess, though. I have seen some essays on why long-form TV is the Bestest Thing Around, but I can’t remember where just now.
Thanks,
-V.