I should explain a few things. One is that I follow a lot of Whedony people - that is, people who have worked with Joss Whedon. The other is that while I like a lot of them, very few of them bowl me over when they're out of Whedon's sphere of influence. The ones I do like (really, really like) seemed to have gravitated over to Amy Sherman-Palladino's Gilmore Girls - those being Jane Espenson and Rebecca Rand Kirshner.
Marti Noxon is, notably, not one of those people. A little background on Noxon's contribution to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: she penned the episode I hate. I hate one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and my reasons for hating it are similar to my reasons for hating, in no particular order, Faith (the character), Yo-Saf-Bridge, and Tennessee Williams plays. That is season 3's The Wish.
Noxon was also the co-creator of Point Pleasant, and one of the writers. Which was... just not a good show.
And I'm a bit concerned about the overall premise of this show, and I'm going to quote Jessica Valenti in order to demonstrate why:
But here's something that made me cringe a bit: Executive producer Dawn Parouse said of the show, "There seems to be a new evolution of what women are sexually. Women are acting more like men sexually."
Acting like men? Really? This is a line that anti-feminists use when decrying "hook up culture" and the evils of feminism. Also, women liking sex isn't "acting like men" - it's acting like women who like sex. Just saying.
At the same time, it could be good. It has friggin' Diane Keaton. It is about a feminist, a Gloria Steinem kind of feminist! I love Gloria Steinem! I love Diane Keaton!
And I want to believe that Marti Noxon can make something I will love. Because The Wish is a really well written episode I just can't enjoy. Because I think she got unfairly maligned when she took over Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its UPN years.
But mostly, it's because I want a show where the lead is unequivocally feminist, where that isn't a bad thing. Where it is even a good thing. I want a show where Diane Keaton can kick ass and take names. In short, I really, really want this to be good.
2 comments:
(grumble) Why is Marti getting an HBO series, but Joss is still stuck getting his work ripped to shreds by Fox executives? (/grumble)
I'm also lukewarm on Marti, although in my case the episode I hate is "Wrecked," a much more predictable choice than yours. But maybe this show is where her lightning will strike; even a talented person can spend years not quite clicking until she finds the right project.
I'm also kind of worried about what she sees as feminist because I thought some of her episodes -- especially "Into The Woods," where the script seemed to believe that Riley was visiting and murdering vampire prostitutes not because he was a creepy misogynist, but because Buffy hadn't been a good enough girlfriend to him -- were not exactly what I want a feminist TV show to be.
Still, like you said, it would be wonderful if it were good.
(grumble) Why is Marti getting an HBO series, but Joss is still stuck getting his work ripped to shreds by Fox executives? (/grumble)
I know!!!
I'm also kind of worried about what she sees as feminist because I thought some of her episodes -- especially "Into The Woods," where the script seemed to believe that Riley was visiting and murdering vampire prostitutes not because he was a creepy misogynist, but because Buffy hadn't been a good enough girlfriend to him -- were not exactly what I want a feminist TV show to be.
Exactly. I was going to mention how a lot of the themes of season 6 were less than feministy, but then I got distracted.
I feel exactly the same way about Into the Woods, though. Everything, the cheating, the leaving, the crappy ultimatum, just adds up to not the best message ever.
It doesn't help that I really hated Riley and felt like he didn't get Buffy from the start, though.
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