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Meme: February 10: My Ideal TV Show
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browngirl, Design Your Ideal TV Show
So I'm going to take "ideal" to mean a show I enjoy watching and don't feel any particular compulsion to fix, a show that is actually really good all by itself, so it probably won't match the template of anything I've ever been super fannish about.
Ahem. So. My ideal TV show.
It would be set in Detroit (Milwaukee would be a close second, but Detroit would make me happiest) and, notwithstanding being set in Detroit, it would not be about murder. It would be shot partially or wholly in Detroit, so that I could spot familiar places and keep an eye out for family members wandering through the background of street scenes.
Although it would not be about murder it would be a procedural--I love procedurals, they're so soothingly repetitive and satisfying. It could center on a City or State Police unit, or the Detroit office of the FBI. The show should have some sort of sf/fantasy element, so whatever law enforcement agency this is, our team of main characters is a semi-secret basement-office unit devoted to dealing with weird shit going down which is usually non-lethal but probably sometimes things go extra terribly wrong.
There would be a central team and a bunch of secondary support people around the team, who would be fantastically competent in various ways. The cast would be realistically diverse--for a Detroit-set show this would mean a majority of African-American characters, and also more than one Arab-American character (Dearborn, a suburb that borders Detroit to the west, has the largest Arab population of any city outside the Middle East), including at least one Muslim lady who wears a headscarf. There should also be good LGBTQ representation among the central team, secondary characters, and characters of the week. Every major character should have some sort of family background that exists and gets fleshed out over the seasons. There should be an authority figure who has the team's back no matter how weird things get (while also holding them to the highest standards in their work), and somebody on the team should have an especial surrogate-parent mentor/protege relationship with that boss.
There should be one obvious romantic pairing more or less from the outset of the show that has totally legitimate reasons for not getting together for at least the first two seasons while they grow closer through their work and pine for each other and stuff. Possibly one of them has a kid. There should also be two dudes who have a super slashy friendship who actually wind up getting together a few seasons on--helpful if at least one of them was already out as gay or bi from the beginning of the show, the other one can be a late bloomer whose changing understanding of his sexual orientation is handled in a not-faily way. (Everything is handled in a not-faily way.)
Various characters have other friendships and romantic relationships that come and go, but the focus always comes back to the central team and their regular surround of familiar secondary characters.
I think my favorite storyline would be that supernatural beings are moving into the vacant spaces in Detroit (so they're showcasing and filming in the urban prairies and abandoned buildings, but also showing them as full of mystery and possibility, not just vacancy and decay) and this unit is charged with keeping the peace among these creatures. Cases that initially seem creature-related will sometimes turn out not to be, and vice versa. The show would have variously-timed arcs dealing with these creatures and their interactions with each other--various spells/curses/etc. might be triggered at different times that have ongoing effects for several episodes even when that particular issue is not the focus, and there might be long-term conflicts between different individuals or groups among the creatures which set up season-long or longer arcs. (Any of which can supply points of conflict in team relationships and obstacles to romantic relationships getting together at the first available moment.)
Somewhere around season three or four a recurring creature character should join the team. A few human colleagues from outside the supernatural unit will get clued in/brought on board over the course of time. Creatures who are purely evil will be quite rare and not used to drive major arcs; conflicts will be driven by clashes between individuals or groups who are both/all possible to sympathize with in various ways, even if they are driven to extreme actions under specific circumstances.
Overall the worldview of the show is optimistic and slightly goofy and whimsical without being a sit-com (no embarrassment-based humor EVER). Events have genuine consequences, but we have the feeling that things are getting better, that supernatural and human life in Detroit is on an upward trend toward mutual understanding and coexistence. Group hugs, rainbows, puppies, babies, and so on.
browngirl, Design Your Ideal TV ShowSo I'm going to take "ideal" to mean a show I enjoy watching and don't feel any particular compulsion to fix, a show that is actually really good all by itself, so it probably won't match the template of anything I've ever been super fannish about.
Ahem. So. My ideal TV show.
It would be set in Detroit (Milwaukee would be a close second, but Detroit would make me happiest) and, notwithstanding being set in Detroit, it would not be about murder. It would be shot partially or wholly in Detroit, so that I could spot familiar places and keep an eye out for family members wandering through the background of street scenes.
Although it would not be about murder it would be a procedural--I love procedurals, they're so soothingly repetitive and satisfying. It could center on a City or State Police unit, or the Detroit office of the FBI. The show should have some sort of sf/fantasy element, so whatever law enforcement agency this is, our team of main characters is a semi-secret basement-office unit devoted to dealing with weird shit going down which is usually non-lethal but probably sometimes things go extra terribly wrong.
There would be a central team and a bunch of secondary support people around the team, who would be fantastically competent in various ways. The cast would be realistically diverse--for a Detroit-set show this would mean a majority of African-American characters, and also more than one Arab-American character (Dearborn, a suburb that borders Detroit to the west, has the largest Arab population of any city outside the Middle East), including at least one Muslim lady who wears a headscarf. There should also be good LGBTQ representation among the central team, secondary characters, and characters of the week. Every major character should have some sort of family background that exists and gets fleshed out over the seasons. There should be an authority figure who has the team's back no matter how weird things get (while also holding them to the highest standards in their work), and somebody on the team should have an especial surrogate-parent mentor/protege relationship with that boss.
There should be one obvious romantic pairing more or less from the outset of the show that has totally legitimate reasons for not getting together for at least the first two seasons while they grow closer through their work and pine for each other and stuff. Possibly one of them has a kid. There should also be two dudes who have a super slashy friendship who actually wind up getting together a few seasons on--helpful if at least one of them was already out as gay or bi from the beginning of the show, the other one can be a late bloomer whose changing understanding of his sexual orientation is handled in a not-faily way. (Everything is handled in a not-faily way.)
Various characters have other friendships and romantic relationships that come and go, but the focus always comes back to the central team and their regular surround of familiar secondary characters.
I think my favorite storyline would be that supernatural beings are moving into the vacant spaces in Detroit (so they're showcasing and filming in the urban prairies and abandoned buildings, but also showing them as full of mystery and possibility, not just vacancy and decay) and this unit is charged with keeping the peace among these creatures. Cases that initially seem creature-related will sometimes turn out not to be, and vice versa. The show would have variously-timed arcs dealing with these creatures and their interactions with each other--various spells/curses/etc. might be triggered at different times that have ongoing effects for several episodes even when that particular issue is not the focus, and there might be long-term conflicts between different individuals or groups among the creatures which set up season-long or longer arcs. (Any of which can supply points of conflict in team relationships and obstacles to romantic relationships getting together at the first available moment.)
Somewhere around season three or four a recurring creature character should join the team. A few human colleagues from outside the supernatural unit will get clued in/brought on board over the course of time. Creatures who are purely evil will be quite rare and not used to drive major arcs; conflicts will be driven by clashes between individuals or groups who are both/all possible to sympathize with in various ways, even if they are driven to extreme actions under specific circumstances.
Overall the worldview of the show is optimistic and slightly goofy and whimsical without being a sit-com (no embarrassment-based humor EVER). Events have genuine consequences, but we have the feeling that things are getting better, that supernatural and human life in Detroit is on an upward trend toward mutual understanding and coexistence. Group hugs, rainbows, puppies, babies, and so on.
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Right? I am PINING for it now.
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I have managed to make myself genuinely sad that it doesn't exist! Fannish problems: not like other people's problems.
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In other words, I'd watch the hell out of this. :)
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I suppose it would get in the way of our full-time jobs fixing tv shows with internet porn. :)
Still, though, I PINE for this show now. PINE.
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I will start immediately! :D
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Also this sounds just a tad like the X-Files fanfics my friends wrote in high school where Scully and Mulder set up a field office in our town and started investigating the high school band director or something. But only in the good ways.
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RIGHT? WHY IS IT NOT REAL.
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...you could really write these books, and we would read them, yes we would. ..
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I will keep it in mind! :)
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Ahahaha oh god, yeah, that thought had occurred, but I would have to do so much RESEARCH.
But, idk. Maybe someday. :)
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:D :D :D
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I didn't think I would come up with much of an answer when I first got the question, and then... this happened. :)
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Right? It is seriously making me sad that I can't go watch this right now.
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(As the grandchild of people who LOVED Detroit and postponed moving to the suburbs as long as possible, I would really love it if urban renewal was involved. Just saying.)
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I don't know exactly what you mean by urban renewal? But as someone born in Detroit with family still living there, it would definitely be showing the positive things going on now in the city.
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Ahahaha that is awesome! <3