There was a time that I had decided that all television was dumb and that only books were worth my time. I hated the vacuous sit-coms and the laugh tracks that told viewers how to react. I was fifteen then.
Perhaps at that time, in the mid eighties, the quality of many shows were sub-par. True or not, it is harder for me to say now that all television is dumb.
There are many shows, even sit-coms, in which the dialogue is thoughtful and clever, such as How I Met Your Mother, The Office, andBig Bang Theory. Interesting, well developed characters drive the stories and create viewer sympathy.
The serious dramas have also climbed in quality As an avid science fiction fan, I spent one summer mesmerized with Battlestar Galactica and enjoyed it as much as any book. I mourned the death of The Dollhouse, created by Joss Whedon. Both are well written dramas that explore serious themes, such as the abuses of technology and how hard it can be to identify enemies.
As a writer myself, I watch the shows I like not only for the stories, but for the devices that make those shows successful. That is, I watch them as if I were reading them in a book. Lately I been studying two in particular, Mad Men and True Blood.
These shows have practically nothing in common. Mad Menfeatures men – and woman – caught up in changing advertising culture of the fifties and sixties. True Blood, set in the deep south, depicts a society in which vampires have been integrated into society as a minority struggling for acceptance.
Because I watch both shows on Netflix, they often arrive in my mailbox together. Watching them side by side has revealed fascinating insights into their different approaches to drama.
True Blood is all about adrenaline. There is conflict in almost every scene, but sometimes it is clumsily handled. In the absence of a larger, more meaningful dispute, characters are often reduced to yelling at each other over trifles. Every character, even the sympathetic ones, are quick tempered “spit-fires.”
Mad Men is different. The characters sometimes yell at each other, but more often they hurt each other with innuendo. The tension lies mostly beneath the surface, and breaks out in short bursts, only to quickly go back into hiding, so that life resumes as normal.
In True Blood, all of the drama is fueled by anger – or sex. Characters are either spitting mad at each other, or they are having sex, and sometimes they are having sex becausethey are angry.
In Madmen, too, there is no shortage of sex, but it furthers the drama by showing the infidelity of its male characters, particularly that of the tormented Donald Draper. The consequences of these affairs are always slow to come, letting tension stretch to a breaking point through the anxious expectations of the viewer.
This is, I think, the chief difference between the two shows: Madmen leaves more to the imagination that True Blood does. Like any good work of fiction, Madman gives the viewer more work to do in creatingthe dramatic tension.
In True Blood there is never any doubt about which characters hate each other. They yell and threaten. They attack and draw blood.
In Madmen, it is less clear who the villains are. In a recent episode, a desperate main character forges a signature and embezzles a lot of money from the advertising agency. For several episodes, there are no consequences, and it seems that the character may get away from his crime.
When it is finally discovered, Donald Draper gives him what amounts to a slap on the back of the wrist; he lets him go, but does not tell anyone or press charges.
When the embezzler is found hanging in his old office, the impact is all the more forceful because of the preceding dramatic silence.
In True Blood serial killers go on sprees; vampires hiss at other vampires; witches call down powerful spirits. Consequences quickly follow actions.
Madmen is quieter, with conflict hiding beneath the surface of everyday activities.
Of the two, I prefer the Madmen approach. It is more difficult, but more powerful and artistic because it invites the viewer to create drama in the empty spaces between major events. However, True Blood is pulp fiction at its best.
As Madmen whispers, True Blood screams. Both can speak; both are dangerous.