Jay Sosa said:
Well I guess we heavily disagree then(this season was fucking horrible, except one or two episodes), when I turn on the TV I want to be entertained and don't give a fuck about character development on a comedy show..
The Office suddenly focused too much on the life outside of the office, the relationship between the characters and lots of people only watched it because they want to laugh and don't wanna watch a character study. Or maybe that's just me. I don't wanna watch ASIP and see Charlie and Mac having a conversation about Sartre while Dee reflects on her past.
Anyway back to Dexter, I have to say you do have a point with all your complaints (especially the lack of focus on the main antagonist, but that's mainly due to the fact that he was after a group of people, can't say they didn't try to change something) but I don't see how anyone can like the 4 previous season and hate this one. It just sounds like the typical internet overreaction. Sure it wasn't as good as the first one, but come on..
It's just that for my taste there are already too many shows trying to find a balance between action and "deep stuff" (for the lack of a better term, something that the Sopranos for instance almost did perfectly) and horribly fail.
Haha, you're acting like character development and comedy are mutually exclusive. When actually, character development drives most comedy. Yeah, Dwight talking about his beets is funny. But would it be funny if Michael randomly walked into the office and started talking about beets? No. Dwight has been established as that farmer character, as the one with stubborn and strange methods of doing things. Without that foundation for his character, none of that comedy would work.
The Office isn't a character study. I see that as a much stronger phrase than "character development." Development is just the progression of the character over the course of the show, while a character study aims to dissect and analyze a character.
And what the hell at IASIP and Sartre and reflecting on past? Is that what character development means to you? Because that would be fucking awfully boring.
Not trying to be all pretentious, but it truly seems that your problem is a bad grip of what character development means. Character development is the fact that Michael in the Office has become a little less selfish and a little more grounded. It's the fact that he's beginning to handle his emotions in different (but equally funny) ways. It's the fact that Dwight slowly has learned the value in other people.
It's these developments that drive the actions of the characters and it's those actions that make us laugh. Your post acts as if the perfect comedy would be a nonsensical string of actions, and that's just not true.
A side note, I don't know what you're on about with season 7 being bad. From The Office topic and from conversations with other people I know and from critical reviews, Season 7 has been a huge upwards swing in the quality of the show after season 6. I don't think there are many that disagreed in finding season 6 extremely under-whelming.
Now to Dexter. There are so many ways you could love the previous four seasons and not love this one. They aren't even in the slightest consistent. First of all, Season 1 had so much mystery surrounding Dexter that it sets it apart. Season 2 has payoff between characters and pivotal choices in Dexters life. Season 3 has him trying to find out if he's stuck being who he is or if he can change. Season 4 has him trying to find balance. Season 5 does almost nothing with him. The central relationship of the season is based on him NOT changing. Which was slightly compelling, but by the end of the season very little was concluded on what it all meant for him. The season seemed to disregard previous events in the series, and then in its finale reset it so that we were back in a pre-season 5 state.
Now that'd be fine if the action was compelling, but the fact that it's not and that the entire opposition group is marginalized is a big problem.
And lastly, I have no idea what you're saying about too many shows trying to balance drama and action. Too many shows today are just going for the action and putting up the appearance of drama when they don't have a lot of substance.
I just finished
Eastbound and Down season 2. Series is so good. It takes a while to warm up to it, but once you're acclimated nearly everything that comes out of Danny McBrides mouth is gut-busting.
