Imagine you're meeting someone for a first date; you don't really know this person that well, but you've heard good things from others, so you figure you'd give it a try. The date starts off well: the other person is polite, friendly, interesting, and towards the end of the date, the two of you are swapping stories over dessert when suddenly and inexplicably, your date starts yelling, complaining loudly and basically just not being a sound person. It seemed like a non-sequitur, and you feel like he/she might calm down after a bit, but you now see that this person is not actually the great person you thought he/she was. This date is not the kind, enthralling person you imagined, but a lazy, upsetting waste of your time. Sometimes that moment where the date goes off the rails doesn't come until the third or fourth date - and in the worst cases, not until marriage. A few TV shows recreated this phenomenon last year in TV. Viewers went in, having heard good things, and for a while, things seemed great, but then the show started doing something you weren't so sure of. You still stuck around for a bit to see where things were going, but it became clear that this previously pristine show had taken a turn for the worse, and only a miracle could bring it back. In spite of a generally exceptional year for TV, a few shows of generally good quality, had weak outings. Some long running shows, after spending years building a strong fan base, betrayed their audience. Elsewhere, novice shows, like Low Winter Sun and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., squandered potential by wasting talent and good source material. The new TV year is just now getting started; let's hope shows this year learn from last year's mistakes.
Joseph is a student at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, double majoring in Ancient Greek and Religious Studies. He has a deep passion for TV and consumes as much of it as possible.
