Because Murph Is Asking Us To Write an Entry

Let's see...what can I write about? Wait no...this is good. I don't get home till six today and I have three chapters of APES notes to do...

Time to use this time...wisely

Before we get into any research (because I only have ten minutes here), let me talk what I look for in television writing based on shows I've seen. First, let's talk about:

Is it weird that I find Hugh Laurie a dapper man?

"Okay, so every episode is essentially the same (crisis at the end of Act 1, House's ''aha!'' moment during Act 4), but the dialogue snaps, and House's arrogance occasionally reaches Shakespearean heights. The man's a boor but never a bore." -Stephen King for Entertainment Weekly

This is appropriate, seeing how it's ending in May. Now House is one of those shows that can quickly get old. It repeats the same formula for almost every show: Someone faints and/or something weird is happening to them. ER can't figure it out, go to House and his team. They think it's one thing (but never Lupus), treat it, everything seems fine then BOOM. Something terrible happens, people get emotional. Just when everything seems to point towards death, House suddenly has an epiphany in the middle of a conversation. And we have a cured patient! So you would think after 8 seasons this would get pretty old? After a while yes, but the reason why it's stayed on the air so long is not because of what happens to the patients, but what is happening to the doctors. These main characters develop after each episode, and in House's case we see this through dialogue.

Why I love House M.D. is that it's philosophical almost. While the situation may be the same, what's going on with the characters isn't. Well, some argue that House really never changes. Yes, it seems he is always angry, but we get to see different sides to why he's so angry. What I like about House is that they raise a question I ask myself sometimes: Are we unhappy because we think we deserve it? House is angry because he's in constant pain with his leg and he had some daddy issues growing up (thank goodness he isn't a stripper). Through the things he says we learn he's so mean because he lets the negative in not just in his life, but life in general, consume him. And he's accepting of that. As a result, he's cynical.

"I choose to believe that the white light people sometimes see... they're all just chemical reactions that take place when the brain shuts down.... There's no conclusive science. My choice has no practical relevance to my life, I choose the outcome I find more comforting.... I find it more comforting to believe that this isn't simply a test."

What's so genius is that even though in reality we would dread having him as our doctor, through the development penned by the writers, we have grown to love House.


Good television writing, in my opinion, has to flow. Every line has to have meaning behind even empty words...kind of like good literature right? Good example in literature would be Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. The dialogue, when read for the first time, seems pointless and you can't really understand what is going on. But read again and closely, you discover what the story, and what these two characters are going through, is really about.

But television dialogue is obviously, very different. For one, you can't read it over and over again. You have to listen to it once, and that's it (unless you like to rewind a million times *cough* DAD *cough*). You also have a voice, like, an actual voice, so the actors you choose are key here. They have to deliver the dialogue at a fair pace and they must do this well. Great example of this? Gilmore Girls. That show is based solely on what the characters are saying. They speak so fast you have to pause and let your head slow down from spinning. Right as you process one witty comment another one is thrown right back at you. Wit has to have perfect delivery, and Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel did this perfectly for seven straight years.

It's hard to come up with an interesting plot every time. Believe me, what haven't we seen in this day and age? All in the Family was huge back then because it was considered "raunchy." Believe it or not, the show marked the first time a toilet was heard flushing on television. Yeah. Flushing broke ground in the 70s. Again, if a writer can come up with a new perspective, then they are deserving of the title.

So if you have a seen-that-done-that kind of show, what makes it a hit? Why does NCIS and Nurse Jackie stand out in dozens of cop, criminal, and medical shows? One word: characters. If you have good characters, your show will become a hit. People want to see people they can connect to and, funny enough, people they can't connect to. When a writer has the difficulty of a character that viewers cannot connect to, it's the writer's job to make the viewer want to. Why do you think Star Trek was so popular?

Sure there is no one in the world who physically cannot feel emotion, but I'm  one of the most famous television figures of all time. Live long and suck it.

OF ALL TIME.

A character must grow from the beginning of a season, to the end. As a viewer, we must partake in the character's journey together. Another great example? One of my favorite shows of all time. Lost. That show is perfection. Anyway, while there was all this crazy stuff going on the island (A smoke monster! Creepy people! Numbers!) we also had to follow a dozen or so characters. The writer's decided to ease the confusion by having each episode centered around a character. That way, we learn about the character's past through flashbacks (queue the sound effects) and why they are the way they are...for now. But as the series grows, so does the characters. We see our hero, Jack Shepard, grow into a leader and solve his own issues. We see Kate slowly learn to face her problems instead of running from them. John Locke begins to accept himself. Some character's are like a roller coaster: Sayid goes from badass torturer, to sweet guy, to insane killer, to finally ending in him *SPOILER ALERT* heroically sacrificing himself to save his buddies. But the best character development on that show is the always-telling-lies Benjamin Linus. From season 2 to season 3 we see him as this creepy bug-eyed villain. But at the end of the series, he becomes one of the new Jacobs (honestly, watch the show to know what I'm talking about...it makes a lot of literary allusions). And I grew to love him. You know why? Because he didn't stay the same guy the whole time. We like our character's to be like our own character...always developing for the better. Another good example of character development? Avatar the Last Airbender. Great show...just...great...

Benjamin Linus. Trust him.

Well well well I have written for 44 minutes now and not a scrap of APES notes has been done. I get way too into this, and sometimes what I feel like I'm typing is me just trying to sound intelligent. For some people this may be the case. And ugh! I have so much more to write! Like I was watching Inside the Actor's Studio today (yes I am that cool, I DVR it) and they featured Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy as well as the other actors, and they said that they don't really improvise with the show. Now if you have ever seen Family Guy when it's 3 o'clock on a weekend night and you can't sleep, you know how weird, yet clever, that show really is. The fact that the whole thing is written down word from word, especially a show like Family Guy quite impresses me. I think you have to watch the show to see what I mean. Most comedy shows rely on improvisation these days.

Well happy Valentine's Day everyone! To celebrate, let us check out 26 True (Fictional) Lovers: Pop Culture's Best Couples

And of course: