Wednesday, April 29, 2015

The Era Where Our Beloved TV Characters Are No Longer Safe

Television has been around for decades. Its a piece of entertainment that probably won't be lost for a long time. Sure of late the number of viewers according to Nielson ratings has declined but that's only because there are so many different avenues to watch television now that its hard to collect accurate numbers. But still, writers and producers are doing their best to come up with the best story lines for their shows, a way to keep viewers coming and not moving on to the next show. Some think the best way to keep viewers coming is to introduce a MAJOR shock factor.


Sure every story has a conflict which is what keeps the story-line going, however what wins shows Emmys and all the other lustrous awards is that major shock factor, the conflict that no number of foreshadowing scenes could have foreseen.

Grey's Anatomy, Patrick Dempsey 

Last night a major character on a decade long show met its demise (Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd from Grey's Anatomy). A fate that audiences were not happy about. However, it isn't news that it is becoming ever more popular to kill off a major character, granted audiences may be VERY upset and writers may even lose a portion of their audience but as long as it helps boost the story in the right direction fans will stick around and come back. That is what writers hope for at least.
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The decision to kill off a character has many reasons. Sometimes the creators have a disagreement with the prospective actor and choose to release him from the show, the actor themselves feel that their character has done all it can in the show and personally want to leave, or the creators want a way to push the plot forward and feel the best way to do that is to kill of a character. The decision to do this has helped many shows which is probably why it is becoming more and more common.

Shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones have created an internet uproar with the amount of character favorites that met their fate. However, no matter how sad fans get they still come back for more week after week.

Think back to when you were taking English and were studying plots. Some of the best stories were the ones where the climax scene was one you didn't even expect, it caught you completely off guard. Emotionally it hit you hard, but that is probably why the story remains so precise in your mind.

When watching a show try to remember that it is just that, a story. A fictional portrayal of a group of characters and their lives. As long as the story makes TV sense and the plot flows in the best way there is no reason a death in a show should keep you from watching. If it does, maybe you are not grasping the art of literature and television storylines like you should.