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Another White Collar comment
I knew there was something else I'd meant to say in the other post.
(I SWEAR I AM GETTING STUFF DONE. :P Actually, the bedroom closet looks amazing. There is a floor! There are dangly organizers! I should take a picture ...)
Anyway. I hadn't really thought about it 'til recently, but the first five minutes of the White Collar pilot does a really impressive job of providing little set-pieces to introduce us to each of the protagonists, in their element and doing all of the things they're best at.
We see Neal being an ultra-sneaky master of cunning disguise, con-artistry, and escape, and pretty much smarter and cooler than everyone around him. We see Peter being smart and detectivey and snarky and mathy; also brave -- he's the one who runs in and drags out the guy who was next to the vault door when it blew. Basically, in five minutes we've spent about two and a half minutes with each character and we've already seen both of them do most of the things they're good at.
Then in the next few minutes, they run through the other part of their repertoire. We see Peter and Neal interact with each other (with their peculiarly affectionate/playful vibe); we meet Kate and Elizabeth; we even get a glimpse of Peter's snarky attitude towards authority (he's awfully happy about upsetting the Canadians ...), and we find out Neal doesn't like guns.
In the first ten minutes of the show, we've essentially been introduced to everything important about the main characters -- their major character traits, their relationship with each other and with most of the other main people in their lives -- as well as seeing cons, counter-cons, escapes and counter-escapes. The next four seasons is just expanding upon what we've already seen. All in ten minutes. And it's graceful, entertaining and not crowded.
It's really an amazing piece of TV writing. I don't think I'd ever appreciated it in that light before.
(I SWEAR I AM GETTING STUFF DONE. :P Actually, the bedroom closet looks amazing. There is a floor! There are dangly organizers! I should take a picture ...)
Anyway. I hadn't really thought about it 'til recently, but the first five minutes of the White Collar pilot does a really impressive job of providing little set-pieces to introduce us to each of the protagonists, in their element and doing all of the things they're best at.
We see Neal being an ultra-sneaky master of cunning disguise, con-artistry, and escape, and pretty much smarter and cooler than everyone around him. We see Peter being smart and detectivey and snarky and mathy; also brave -- he's the one who runs in and drags out the guy who was next to the vault door when it blew. Basically, in five minutes we've spent about two and a half minutes with each character and we've already seen both of them do most of the things they're good at.
Then in the next few minutes, they run through the other part of their repertoire. We see Peter and Neal interact with each other (with their peculiarly affectionate/playful vibe); we meet Kate and Elizabeth; we even get a glimpse of Peter's snarky attitude towards authority (he's awfully happy about upsetting the Canadians ...), and we find out Neal doesn't like guns.
In the first ten minutes of the show, we've essentially been introduced to everything important about the main characters -- their major character traits, their relationship with each other and with most of the other main people in their lives -- as well as seeing cons, counter-cons, escapes and counter-escapes. The next four seasons is just expanding upon what we've already seen. All in ten minutes. And it's graceful, entertaining and not crowded.
It's really an amazing piece of TV writing. I don't think I'd ever appreciated it in that light before.