Lazy Writers

TV is like chocolate.  I know that it’s not good for me, but I indulge in it anyway.  I can forgive myself when I watch the History Channel or the Discovery Channel, although they both show the same programs over and over again.  But I also watch a lot of crime crap, and Star Gate Atlantis.

Now, there was always something that bothered me about Star Gate Atlantis and I just figured out what it was.  Here they were, trapped in a broken down mine on another planet, to which they’d traveled through a wormhole, and the two girls are talking, just to pass the time.  So, says the one, “George Clooney or Brad Pitt?”  Now, this show has wormholes, interstellar spacecraft, aliens up the wazoo.  What century is this supposed to be?

They didn't get out of the cockadoody car!

I guess, actually, it’s supposed to be the late 20th.  They wear American flag patches and carry assault rifles, even though laser blasters also, apparently exist.  So, I don’t know.  Either the writers are incredibly lazy – you can’t make up a couple of names for 23rd century sex symbols? – or it’s an incredibly stupid premise.  That is, that aliens are all around us, elite military units are traveling off to other planets and defeating civilizations which have a several thousand year edge on us technologically, and nobody has a clue.  Also, even though there are several aliens working together with the earth crew, the earthlings are definitely in charge.  Yeah, right.  If we suddenly get invited to that party, we are not going to be the hosts.

Then there’s Criminal Minds, which I rather enjoy, except for that creepy agent Hotchner.  I like the Penelope Garcia character, but her computer skills are something that don’t exist in real life, I’m pretty sure.  Anyway, the other night they were investigating a rash of suicides in a small town, which wound up being linked to some game on the internet.  All of the deaths were in one small town.  But they were caused by the internet.  Ghost Whisperer has pulled the same shit.

Now, everybody knows that the internet is not limited by geographical boundaries.  That’s kind of the whole point.  But the heroes need to be able to rush to the scene, sirens wailing and guns blazing, so there you have it.

I know, it’s all just for entertainment and I shouldn’t be so picky about details, but it’s bullshit and it bothers me.  In the immortal words of Kathy Bates “they didn’t get out of the cockadoody car!”