Oh, the woes of watching summer television. Yes, I know:
first world problems. Obviously, our tv watching options become extremely
limited during the summer. Beyond reality television (of which I will only
watch
So You Think You Can Dance),
only a few stations produce new episodes between May and September, mainly USA,
TNT, and ABC Family. Since I rarely watch TNT and I’d like to keep the number
of ABC Family shows I watch on the DL, let’s talk about the
USA Network.
Overall, USA has dominated summer television, producing a
number of interesting and fun concepts that work well for short runs of ten to
twelve episodes over the summer. The shows tend to involve silly but
entertaining premises – burned spies, lawyers without law degrees, snarky
criminals and/or psychics helping the police, and concierge doctors in the
sunny Hamptons. I have watched and enjoyed many of these shows over the years,
but I recently started to notice a trend in the USA shows. Over time, the shows turn darker,
more serious and more involved, switching from episodic plot lines to
season-long stories. While this narrative evolution would be a great thing for
normal television, I believe it’s the downfall of the summer series.
My favorite summer shows over the last couple years have
been
Covert Affairs and
Suits. They both started out with fairly
simple set-ups. In
Covert Affairs, a
new spy, Annie Walker, starts working with the CIA and deals with learning the
ins and outs of being a spy while trying to hide her new job from her family.
Suits begins when a hot shot lawyer, Harvey,
hires Mike, a young genius, but one without a law degree, who accidentally
ended up in the firm’s interviews while running away from cops. We follow the
progression of both Annie and Mike’s careers from the beginning, watching them solve
a case a week and enjoy the excitement and danger of their risky jobs while juggling
duel lives. Ultimately, the characters’ friendships and love lives evolve from
episode to episode, but you never had to follow any complex plot developments
and if you missed an episode here or there, no problem.
Lately, Suits
has become a little more serious. Over the last couple years, the writers
introduced season-long stories that one must follow from episode to episode.
Also, Mike left the firm at the end of last season, putting the best part of
the series, watching Mike and Harvey outsmart the opponents together, on hold. Mike’s
personal life has also fallen apart, so it’s even more depressing. However, the
show still includes some light-hearted elements, namely Donna and Louis, and it
looks like Mike and Harvey will be fighting on the same side again soon. Suits appears to be following the darkened path of earlier USA shows, like Burn
Notice, but still has time to redeem itself.
Covert Affairs,
however, has been on the air longer. While still a good show that I continue
watching, it’s not nearly as light or fun as it used to be. The previous couple
seasons have provided complex season-long stories that I barely cared about,
such as the take down of Henry. My favorite part of the show has always been
watching Annie hop from country to country on missions, and dishing about these
events to her handler, Auggie. But recently Annie’s goal changed from feisty spy craft
to revenge, living undercover, and now hiding her medical condition. I can’t
remember the last time she genuinely smiled or enjoyed her job. The only thing
that looked promising was her relationship with Auggie, which also went kaput.
I’m not sure I see a happy light at the end of this tunnel, but I keep hoping.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that television shows, like
any story, must develop over time. You can’t stay static forever. Usually I
enjoy watching characters evolve and deal with serious conflicts. Nevertheless,
when you start a show off with the promise of an exciting hour of
entertainment with little commitment, you should stick to that promise. That is
all I want during the summer. I want to watch Annie sleuth through a cocktail
party, beat up the bad guy, and then laugh about it before making out with
Auggie. I’m taking a break from Lost-style
television because in theory I have all sorts of fun summery things to do
outside instead (in theory). So please, USA Network, turn the light back on.
Hey look, I'm actually getting through my summer reading list. I finished Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah a couple days ago, appropriately leading up to our most American holiday. We are about to embark outside in our red, white, and blue to sing about freedom and celebrate independence. All good things. But Adichie's book is a useful reminder that America the beautiful will pretend our many faults don't exist on this and most other days.“The only reason you say that race was not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it was not. But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America. When you are black in America and you fall in love with a white person, race doesn’t matter when you’re alone together because it’s just you and your love. But the minute you step outside, race matters. But we don’t talk about it. We don’t even tell our white partners the small things that piss us off and the things we wish they understood better, because we’re worried they will say we’re overreacting, or we’re being too sensitive. And we don’t want them to say, Look how far we’ve come, just forty years ago it would have been illegal for us to even be a couple blah blah blah, because you know what we’re thinking when they say that? We’re thinking why the fuck should it ever have been illegal anyway? But we don’t say any of this stuff. We let it pile up inside our heads and when we come to nice liberal dinners like this, we say that race doesn’t matter because that’s what we’re supposed to say, to keep our nice liberal friends comfortable.It's true. I speak from experience."
