WordPlay

…Friday

Okay, really I just wanted to have a title with the word SEX in it. But hello, TV Land? The Moonlighting Curse?

Get. OVER. It.

Once upon a time, a great show with witty dialogue and sizzlingly unfulfilled romantic tension went forth into uncharted territory.

And pfffffffffft, all the air went out of it.

But you know, it shouldn’t have been any huge surprise. Because when the dynamic changes so critically, the character stakes change as well–and the writing has to be prepared for that. Not only anticipate it, but plan for it–have all the pieces in place to continue the bigger story arc, introducing new external conflicts to drive the internal issues. You know–big picture storytelling.

It really wasn’t about what they did. It was about how they did it. (Says I.)

But they did it so very resoundingly that the consequences are still being felt. Too many shows, afraid to take the plunge.

Afraid of The Curse.

Yeah, you all know why I’m writing this. I won’t name any names, but the shows start with the letter BONES and the letter CASTLE.

Both, as it happens, witty crime-solving shows. Bones has dodged the bed bullet so many times that they’ve had to send Bones and Booth to separate corners of the world to get a reboot effect. And Castle? HULLO! GO FOR IT! USE IT OR LOSE IT!

So I say to these TV Land people, go for it. It’s been done, and done well, and it can be done again. Think Farscape. Think characters who can be true to themselves and their deeply driven commitments even while being true to each other. Think external conflict, think conflicting needs and goals. Think, in written fiction, J.D. Robb.

Because there’s only so long you can toy with us before we start to lose faith in the veracity of the characters, and in the value of their feelings for one another.

Tick tick tick tick tick…

And look. I offer you a sunset. Layered, gorgeous, and replete with all sorts of metaphorical meaning. Have fun with that.