Twitter and the impact on TV

I have been on Twitter for under a year now, getting to it a bit late after I stubbornly thought it was a giant waste of my time. It took me a while to warm to it, at first deciding that I was not going to bother posting but would instead just follow a handful of people, this has since led to tweeting over 400 times and now following over 200 people, not what I intended but I am glad that I have embraced this social network site.
The majority of people that I follow (that I don't actually know) seem to be people in the TV and film industry including actors, writers, critics, reporters and show runners so wherever a big TV news story occurs I get a feed full of comments on this one topic, for example yesterday the big topic that Conan was going to be on cable rather than network TV featured heavily on my feed for a few hours. This factor and an article in Variety about TV show runners becoming Hollywood stars in their own right has led me to explore the notion that Twitter has enhanced the relationship between the fans and those involved in their favourite TV shows which can have both positive and negative results.
First up the negative; a comment about an episode that has just aired in the US may spoil it for a fan in another country, or for simply some one who has yet to catch up with their DVR. This happened today on my feed; Mary Lynn Rajskub who plays Chloe on 24 retweeted another comment that mentioned a major characters death in the most recent episode. This has annoyed some who live in countries where it hasn't aired prompting Rajskub to ask "I guess I have to be careful commenting on others tweets that could be spoilers... Or is it fair game tue am". I am of the opinion that if you don't want to be spoiled then avoid such places as Twitter until you have seen the episode in question as once it has aired then it is fair game to be spoken about the next day. I will say that with last seasons Dexter finale I was glad that regarding the shocking ending that most people just wrote that it was a shock, and not what the actual shock was, but I normally take my own advice and stay clear of Twitter until I am caught up on shows that can be spoiled such as Lost.
There are many positive attributes that have come from Twitter in regards to the relationships between the fans and those involved with these shows and even with the people who write about these shows. A connection that previously was not this instant now exists (this too can be bad I imagine, as it now means that a fan can vent with a lot more ease at these people as well, requiring a thick skin to handle potential abuse). This can mean that satisfaction (and the ugly side which is dissatisfaction) can be shared immediately when an episode airs. It can also mean that sneak peaks can be given, whether it is a song shared by Josh Schwartz that will feature in a new episode of Chuck or whether it is a behind the scenes picture from shows like The Vampire Diaries (look to actor Ernesto Riley who plays Alaric) or Bones (creator Hart Hanson and executive produce Stephen Nathan are regular posters).
The promotional impact of Twitter for TV shows means that the ones that might be struggling with the ratings such as Chuck can have a further voice to show that there are many that do watch and will talk about these shows, thus endorsing them on another platform. As Julie Plec executive producer on Vampire Diaries stated in the article for Variety "In my opinion, watching a Twitter feed during an episode of our show is a built-in focus group. They react to everything -- and it's fascinating because (over time) you get to witness your fan community as it builds and grows." This community consists of both regular TV watchers and those reporters and critics that get paid to write about these shows, in the Twitter world each now has a voice when it comes to opinions on these shows that can now be seen as more than just a figure for Nielsen ratings. Though the Nielsen ratings are still important in keeping shows on the air, the phrase 'Hack Nielsen' entered the Chuck fan community vocabulary a few weeks back and was seen on Twitter a lot before the last episode aired.
The impact of Twitter on TV as a whole is hard to see at this point but it must be said that for something that I thought would be inconsequential a year ago is something I now use daily. It is also something that I might have written about in my academic career as when I wrote my Masters dissertation on authorship in TV and whether it is possible in this post network era Twitter had not really exploded at this point. If it was where it is now I wonder if some of my conclusions would have been different as Twitter really has further given an identity to some of those people who are behind the shows that are big on TV now and the factor of fandom was one that was important in the construction of ideas of authorship. I look forward to seeing where this is all going and whether I will be able to get another study out regarding the state of authorship in TV in a few years time when the impact of social networking sites such as Twitter becomes more obvious.

Emmy Awards

Highlights of the awards:

-Neil Patrick Harris: After last years hosts were awful it was a welcome relief to have NPH at the reigns and he proved what a good host he was, as many of the stars (including Ricky Gervais and Jon Stewart) of the evening stated. Wish there had been more of him though, they certainly could have cut out the dance number. And even though I don’t watch How I Met Your Mother I thought it was a shame that he didn’t win.

-Michael Emerson winning: As he hadn’t won in previous years I foolishly thought he wouldn’t win this time, but he did and then gave a wonderfully understated acceptance speech.

-The guys who wrote the opening number were as funny accepting awards as they are writing opening number with Community creator Dan Harmon stating that it was ‘just the dumbest, dumbest, ugliest, least-televiseable people you could give an award to.’

-John Hodgman and his made up statements about the winners, my two favourites being:

1. When The Daily Show won best Variety Show: ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is celebrating its 76^th year on air. It began on Comedy Central Radio as Stewart-Brand Chicken-Fat All-Star Fake News Half Hour. This is their 900^th Emmy and frankly that is too much.’

2. When Michael Emerson won best supporting actor: ‘If Michael Emerson weren't on television right now, he would be in New York City, having a fancy cocktail with me. That is, until S. Epatha Merkerson walked into the room, then he'd blow me off. That's a true story.’

-Ricky Gervais being as funny as ever at these awards though I would’ve loved to have seen a Rainn Wilson reaction shot when he called him odd.

-Tina Fey burning her own network in her acceptance speech for best comedy: ‘Thank you for keeping us on air, even though we are so much more expensive than a chat show.’

-The writers of the variety/talk show category listing all the names is always amusing and inventive with Conan’s facebook rejections being my favourite this year.

-The Daily Show winning as it has had a really strong year with the election stuff and the battle with Jim Cramer.

-Mad Men winning: now I was undecided as to which show I wanted to win between Mad Men and Lost as I think both have had very strong years, but I guess they might heap the awards on Lost if the final season is as awesome as season 5. And after seeing Sunday nights episode of Mad Men it really did show what a tremendous programme it is.

Also this years Emmys made me really want to finally get around to watching Breaking Bad and Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog and to actually finish watching season 7 of 24.

Character resurrection

So to tie loosely into the Easter weekend I have decided to look at 5 shows that have characters that have been resurrected. Also, a warning that there will be spoilers within for Lost, Alias, 24, Heroes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so you have been warned:

 

1. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer): this girl has died several times, ranging from a few minutes to several months. When she first dies this brings about the calling of another slayer, which first gave us the somewhat annoying Kendra and then the super Faith so it isn’t all bad when your main character dies for a few minutes. However she will let you know through song how unhappy she was about being dragged out of ‘heaven’ when she died for real and had to climb out of her own grave. As Buffy is a show about demons and the undead there are many others that have been resurrected but none so spectacularly than Buffy herself.
2. Jack Bauer (24): Jack has technically died more times than I can remember from the time they faked his death at the end of season 4 to the countless other times that he has been tortured to death with his torturer having to resurrect him. Although the case of Tony Almeida returning this season after ‘dieing’ in season 5 is a little more unexpected, it seems a little ridiculous but even though 24 is a show that is meant to be close to reality it is expected that there will be some crazy plot twists like this one. I’m not sure how much I buy it but then again I have only seen the very start of this season so I need to watch the rest before I can properly judge this plot point.
3. Michael Vaughn (Alias): In the opening episode of season 5, Vaughn was gunned down in front of his pregnant fiancé, super spy Sydney Bristow. He wasn’t shot once but suffered a hail of bullets to the chest. Vaughn died, there was a funereal and Sydney mourned the father of her unborn child. Now this being Alias I was always a little suspicious of whether he was dead as they had a habit of ‘killing’ people and then bring them back due to the ‘doubling’ technology that existed in the world of the show. These suspicions proved to be correct when Vaughn returned soon after the birth of his daughter and the whole thing had been an elaborate ruse that Sydney and her father had been part of. This made fans very happy as there had been an internet campaign to save Vaughn after rumours starting flying that he was being ousted due to personal issues.
4. Everyone in Heroes: It would seem at one time or another that everyone in Heroes has either died or come very close to death. Obviously Claire has the ability to die and come back so it is never a surprise with her, the same can be said about Peter and Sylar who have both at points had her power. The surprise moments in Heroes are when characters are not resurrected rather than when they are. The most surprising was in season 2 when Adam Munroe who also had the power of regeneration had his power stolen by Arthur Petrelli thus killing him, I kept expecting him to come back but unfortunately this was a point when Heroes surprised me. It is hard to trust a show that often resurrects its characters; this is definitely an issue I have with this show especially when with the powers they have so many of them seem invincible. Alternatively, they will resurrect someone through the soap opera classic of another sibling, in the case of Heroes: the Ali Larter triplets, the third of which we are sure to see before the season is out.
5. John Locke (Lost): At the end of last season we learnt that it was Locke who was dead in the coffin but in true Lost style all was not as it seemed. We saw this season that it was Ben who killed Locke, staging it as suicide and stressed the importance to Jack that Locke must accompany them on the plane back to the island. On return to the island Locke is no longer in the coffin and appears to be living and breathing. This weeks episode appears to have a resurrection theme or the reverse as the title ‘Dead is Dead’ appears to suggest, nicely timed for Easter. Lost as we know has a habit of also having the dead appear to the living and it is still unclear as to the living status of characters such as Christian Shephard and Claire. A key theme in Lost is about resurrection and resolution; this is best highlighted by Charlie who was resurrected from death in season 1 and then sacrificed himself in season 3.

 

So there are my suggestions for the shows with the best resurrection plots, I’m sure I’ve missed some so if any one has any other suggestions feel free to add them in the comments below.