Smart People
I happened to catch a few episodes of House on Sunday. Seems like a good show, but then most of the procedurals on TV seem to be these days if you go for that sort of thing. What tends to suck me into to House episodes though is the man himself. His world view and his way of relating to people is both humorous and painful to watch. It doesn't often help that people, normally the patients, act pretty horribly on a number of the shows. What's interesting to me is his observations on human behavior and the leaps in the logic he is then able to make.
Has this sort of character become common on TV lately and if so why? Psych, Monk, The Mentalist, and likely a few others shows I've never seen all seem to deal with amazingly bright people using their power of observation for good. Sure most of them are a bit wacky, but that's TV for ya. Is this a new thing? I can't think of another time when we had this many characters like this on TV. Is it a side effect of the procedurals getting so popular? Maybe. You need someone smart making the leaps in logic to keep the show moving along. If we could all figure it out ahead of time it would be boring. I'm just wondering if this sort of thing is having any larger effect. I know personally I'm trying to be more observant about people and their behaviors, mostly after watching Psych. I think I just like the fact that smart people on TV are the heroes lately.
Thoughts?
3 Comments:
What exactly is the definition of procedural? I'm sure I could wikipedia this, but I'd rather have it defined here just for discussion purposes. And it's because this is what I do to Chad all the time. ;)
Prior to looking it up I would have avoided defining it and just given examples, the big ones being the CSIs and Law and Order.
Here is the definition from Wikipedia:
"A Procedural is a cross-genre type of literature, film, or television program involving a sequence of technical detail. A documentary film may be written in a procedural style to heighten narrative interest."
"Television - Fiction - In television, "procedural" specifically refers to a genre of programs in which a problem is introduced, investigated and solved all within the same episode. These shows tend to be hour-long dramas, and are often (though not always) police or crime related."
Might be helpful to just read the page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_(genre)
nice observation. i've become a huge fan of house recently, but think of it more as a classic who-dun-it with a very interesting, character-driven twist. every sickness, and nearly every proposed diagnosis/treatment, is a naked metaphor. also, hugh laurie is awesome.
back to your point: yes, nerds are the new heroes
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