A look at Lost and The Closer for a discussion of character over plot and what makes nighttime TV worth watching. Is the hype overdone and the sleeper hit overlooked?
Are you addicted to Lost, The Closer, Gilmore Girls, The Office, ER, CSI, Numbers, Gray's Anatomy, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, Bones, What About Brian, House, Cold Case Files and other well-written shows or do shows? Why?
Good characters and strong relationships are the strength of these shows, but when these aren't there, there's nothing left. That’s why The X-Files ultimately failed: too much gimmick, not enough heart. Star Trek: The Original Series laid down the groundwork for this kind of television, and smart shows have been copying it ever since.
Lost is a masterpiece of writing, but in most episodes, it feels like the characters are secondary to whatever is going on in the plot, even with all the flashbacks and the introspective looks. Most times flashbacks are just tools to show how everything and everyone on the island is interconnected, and the fact they give us insight into the character’s personality is coincidental. Do we care any more about Desmond now that I know what happened to him when he turned the key, after an entire hour’s episode? Not particularly.
One show that does a good job of highlighting the characters over the plot is The Closer on TNT. Sadly, it is relegated to a second-rate cable station (no offense to TNT or the former WB), and many people don’t even know about it, even though it’s in its second season. With Kyra Sedgewick winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama, however, it is starting to get attention and hopefully more people will realize what a gem it is in the cesspool of crime dramas currently on TV.
