The 100th episode airs on Thursday night in the USA and from what I've read with regards to articles, reviews and critics pleas to fans and praise pieces, it's going to be a art at its very best; on tv.
Truth Be Told
Now I love game changers, I have to admit that. I've loved good television since I was a little lighty absolutely hooked on Alias where week in and week out, I would be sitting on the edge of my seat watching the story unfold and be left absolutely shocked, surprised, happy or frustrated and most likely screaming blue murder at J.J Abrams and his dream team of writers. Why would I always be on the verge of heart failure week in and out you may ask? The answer is simple: spoiler-free.
I stayed spoiler-free not because of choice but because of my late arrival to technology and internet adoption in my household. By the time I had even figured out about spoiler sites and destroying some of my favourite shows; Alias or Gilmore Girls it wasn't worth it and definitely not worth the dial-up frustration...
Then in 2005 I picked up on a really enjoyable show aka Bones. Somewhere along the way - after being happy with just getting an episode from a friend - it got to a point that we needed the episode (I blame season 2's greatness) and where it is today, is quite sad. I HAVE-TO-HAVE the episode. I'm blaming spoilers for this problem and well... the internet - and maybe my need to control things.
Maybe it's cause I'm a little too emotionally invested in the storyline and it's characters... so shoot me. Maybe it's cause it's absolutely brilliant storytelling and like every book I am hooked on; I need to turn the next page to find out more (being the new episodes) or maybe I'm a little sadistic in being able to 'drop hints' to my poor friends who are spoiler-free but here's my point:
Truth Takes Time
I'm starting to think that being a spoiler-whore may be ruining the experience of watching television shows and allowing the story to unfold week-to-week as intended but with information at my fingertips, dedicated websites to spoilers on shows or having the ability to either scream with frustration to the creator of the series via twitter or say how brilliant the episode was, it's just to easy and very hard to avoid spoilers about the show. That and I most-likely have no willpower anymore when there is up-to-date access to information via my iPhone or laptop where I spend majority of my time on.
This is probably why...
It's pretty upsetting if I think about it and especially after the mess that happened about 2 weeks ago with a 'critic' posting an article on a pretty big website totally disregarding 'spoiler' warnings that should be an option in an article of that nature. Shouldn't a fan have the choice to read about events that have major impact on the storyline or at least not be shit scared to click on a link about the show that may be of interest to them? Unfortunately, quite a number of fans did read that article and a lot of critics and reporters whom I follow were pretty shocked and disgusted that an article like that was written. One that can totally destroy any type of viewing pleasure when it's basically spoiled the entire episode and future plots. Motivators TV blog had a plea from one of their writers to avoid the spoilers which was brilliantly written and most likely sums up the point of TV, great storytelling and it being another art-form to enjoy
Image: Screen Rant
But maybe that's it, the game is changing. The way we view television is changing from being able to watch an episode and chat with it's stars on twitter (read Annie Stammel's article on Twitter and TV) asking them questions about the episode or being able to completely spoil future episodes by needing to know everything that will happen. It's all down to choice. The choice on how you want to experience the show whether it's to stay spoiler-free - which for me will be highly unlikely even after this post - OR to interact, dig, discuss, build conspiracies and opinions, having that real-time information, instantly at your fingertips even before it has been filmed or aired, will be the way you shape your viewing experience.
For a great explanation on why these things called spoilers exist and most likely why they will never ever disappear - unlike your friends or the online communities that you can just delete - read Annie Stammel's (@Stamos on Twitter) article on the Huffington Post called Lost, Bones, Whatever: Why Not Spoiler-Free TV?
Let me know if I'm not alone... or if I am; maybe leave me a word of encouragement or the nearest clinic
4 comments:
Not alone... not even the slightest. I've only discovered, or allowed myself to discover spoiler sites in the last eight months... there's an upside and a downside. When there's a two month or four month hiatus between new episodes, there's a spoiler-rich community out there to help you get through it. However, then you can learn too much.
However, as one of the unfortunate clickers on that article you spoke of for #Bones100th episode, and having finally seen the episode, no one could spoil television that good. Thank goodness. But I've been avoiding all the blogs and spoiler sites since I saw that article. Sigh... conundrum.
Thanks for the comment
Yeah totally. I also clicked on it not knowing what it was about and just read. About to watch the 100th so let's hope that those spoilers don't ruin good tv as you said :)
Lovely post and so kind of you to recommend my articles! Good luck staying spoiler-free! Enjoy the 100th!
More chance of becoming President of the USA then staying spoiler-free but I can say that it was my favourite episode of Bones and in my other fav shows. I'm actually happy about the way it turned out.
There is so much they can do now
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