#showrunning tips

[thefirsthogokage]

(link in post didn't seem to work for me, but here)

(link to 11 Laws Nice Version)

(link in the post)

(link in the post)

(link to the book)

(link to audible)

(link to Children of Tendu)

(link to OKBJGM.com)

As someone who would love to make some of their show ideas a reality, this might be helpful for me and people like me. And I trust John Rogers with things like this.

[kim-ruzek]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I read somewhere that you aren't a fan of Upstead. Can I ask why? Do you prefer Linstead over Upstead?

You are most definitely not wrong, I am indeed not a fan of upstead! And of course you can ask why.

First of all, the linstead over upstead question is technically a little complicated but the short answer is yes, because I have actually shipped Linstead and I've never shipped upstead (except once in season five sdfgbjk). And before I get into everything, I thought I should answer this briefly first then expand later.

The short answer for why I'm not a fan of upstead boils down to they bore me, they don't inspire any of those eee ship feels in me and, for me, the writing. But that doesn't really go into depth so I will for you now;

So when I first watched, they just never captivated me. For starters, Jay is pretty low on my list of faves (I could happily watch tons of episodes without him in it) and Hailey just never interested me. I watched a little out of order because I watch for burzek, so she did interest me when I finally watched her introduction but that spark never got carried on. I just don't think they ultilised her well. And I hate Eid, and his showrunning, so unfortunately I think I was just doomed to not really gel to her since it's too late now. Like one of the main reasons I have affection for Hailey is because of Tracy-- not (just) because of her acting, but because she's adorable and so I love Hailey because the affection displaces onto her.

So not having much liking for the characters in the ship doesn't exactly bode well for liking it! But this is only the tip of the iceberg.

The next factor is I don't actually think they built it up well? Like I know it was building, you can see that, because that's narratively where it was going, and I understand that, but yeah. It just didn't envoke any of those ship feels and I would've been perfectly fine to see them never getting together/ just being strong partners. Yet again, this is another problem with Eid's showrunning, because the unit and the writing, it just didn't have the same strong effects, AND he had no idea really what he wanted out of Hailey which meant she changed every season and Jay became different and it just didn't help me connect to them or care.

And the whole upzek mess kinda soured things too. Just because that's not really like how I like relationships being built up and honestly I think they should've done a few more tropes in this building tensions stage of their relationship.

Another thing (which does also go into some feelings I have about Linstead too but in a different way) is that I hate how everything revolves around them. Character development is only really about them and even then-- they didn't actually develop!! Which just annoys and bores me and I just wanted them off my screen.

BUT regardless of this, I still had the attitude of, going into season eight, I just want them to be happy so if they get together yay. I mean I still have this attitude but before I'd say I was neutral and now I'm not a fan.

I'll admit, I did actually want to ship them. I knew I'd never write fic or be about them the same I am about my other oc ships, but I did want to ship them. And the build up already failed at that, but I wanted the relationship to draw me in. But it's safe to say it did not. In fact all my previous problems was just even more amplified. Their relationship was botched and frankly, imo, not well done. And they're so isolated from the rest of them team, didn't tell anyone (and the reasons for why wasn't ever discussed! Like Linstead, burzek and even upzek had reasons!) which just added to the disconnect... Especially when they got engaged.

Just this, in my mind, is not great story telling -- especially with how the show markets itself. In another set up, it would, but not what had been previously established. And that just creates a disconnect.

And any hope I had to ship them was taken when they got married. For the reasons I've said and more, but mainly because that was not what I wanted out of cpd's first wedding. It was lacklustre, and just continued to add to the disconnect. I don't have a problem with them getting married because I wanted burzek to be the first or whatever -- it's literally because how it happened. Family is a whole vibe of the show, and they didn't even have an a la dawsey style wedding with everyone there informally? It's just not what the first wedding should be like and that just ruined things for me. Especially because it just stank of Eid hurrying everything up before he left so he could have his ship married and honestly it's just a great example of how much Eid ruined things. And now we have sigan, it's still ruined for me, because she's already showing markings of being better, but this has happened now and no matter how good she is this mars it for me.

And finally: the fans-- or rather the stans. Stans can very rarely make me no longer ship something I originally did, but they can make me never have any chance to ship it if I didn't before. And this happened here. And so honestly it killed any chance for me to be a fan. PLUS y'know, when you see posts you've made torn apart and completely mocked for how you write it kinda stains things (especially if then things you say are taken out of context and sent to others and then you're sent their responses as, idk, a gotcha even though they didn't get the context) and just makes you never want to interact with their fans.

Now to touch onto linstead:

So I initially got interested in the show because of Erin. I'm a huge fan of Sophia Bush so seeing her in this made me go oh? I ended up watching for Burzek, but she was my intial draw in. So I was kinda predisposed to like Linstead. And honestly the first episode? Jay going to fight those guys for Her Honour,,, it got me. Not like burzek, or stellaride but those eeee ship feelings? The ones upstead doesn't give me? They appeared.

And honestly until I watched more of the later seasons, and when upstead was made canon, I genuinely thought I'd be the kind of writer who for long fix it fics would just always just have linstead in the background even if it doesn't get any focus. I have a lot of affection for Erin, and for the lingess friendship.

BUT I will say that Linstead irritates me sooooo much when I rewatch. I hate hate hate the focus, I had so much stuff about it, and I hate how Kim is treated and just. I do get infuriated and I do think if Erin stayed I would've ended up hating her/disliking her.

In December I wanted to do a whole rewatch of the show and now, the final day of march, I STILL haven't because I told myself I can't skip anything and God I just really don't want to sit through everything. I'm a burzek girl.

So technically I don't prefer one over the other. There's things I like about linstead that I don't about upstead and there's things about upstead I prefer over linstead. But I also think if old burzek coincided with upstead, I would've liked it better and same with if new burzek coincided with linstead.

If upstead was done better I'd say I probably would prefer them but they haven't been sooo. But honestly I'm a fan of *Erin* and a big part of me doesn't think Jay deserves her so that's a factor why I can't say I prefer linstead.

But I probably am more affectionate for them than most, and some of my fic ideas did actually double as a fix-it for Linstead too. They don't so much anymore (mainly because it brings a lot of hate to your door and I'm not emotionally strong enough to cope with that when it comes to my writing) but I still do think it'd be nice to write it like I originally intended. And honestly I might be I'm very much a if burzek is set in 1-4, then linstead is the side ship and if it's 5+ it's upstead because I don't ship one more than the other so I just go with canon. Like Linstead splitting up doesn't kill me, but upstead never being together doesn't kill me either.

Although I've never not cried at season four's ending/the beginning of season five.

Anyway! I've rambled enough so I'll end it here!!!

Thank you for sending me this!!! ❤️

[what-do-1000-swords-look-like]

Them: Do Hellers and found family/later season fans really think they're the majority? The show ended the way it did because the real fans were the real majority.

Translation:

Dabb: 'Only 30% out of 100% of the viewers are gonna like it'

Jared: 'Only 3 out of 10 people are going to enjoy it.'

Dabb: To the 70% aka the mathematical majority: 'Y'all gonna be pissed.'

GoT Finale:

Petition To Remake GoT Season 8

Emilia Didn't Like the Ending But Is Thankful For Her Time On the Show

Showrunners Knew The Majority Wouldn't Like It

(food for thought: critics picked up on the sidelining of women in the finale)

Season 1 callbacks in Dany's death scene that didn't make sense

Jon held Dany as she died

Dany's death happened in the destroyed throne room, with Drogon coming in right after aka a fantastical creature

Next content GoT-related to be released is you guessed it: House Of the Dragon that is being co-showrun/exec produced by one of GoT's main seasons 5-8 directors/season 8 exec producers, Miguel Sapochnik

SPN Finale:

Petition To Remake SPN Finale

Jensen Initially (aka Instinctually) Didn't Like the Ending

Showrunners Knew The Majority Wouldn't Like It

(food for thought: finale undid all progressive story development and sidelined all of the women characters as well as the found family)

Season 1 callbacks in Dean's death scene that didn't make sense (this does include the villain they chose to go with)

Sam was supposed to hold Dean as he died until Jensen changed it and wanted Dean to die on his feet

Dean's death happened inside a barn, surrounded by vampmimes aka fantastical creatures

Next content to be released post-SPN is you guessed it: Walker, that is being exec produced by/starred in by one of SPN's main actors, Jared Padelecki (and as if the recent announcement of Kansas playing at a Walker festival in the episode that Jensen directed doesn't illustrate this point even more, though to be fair this was most likely something Jared suggested and the showrunner ended up agreeing to - obviously back in 2020 no one knew about this little tip of the hat to the supposed real SPN finale they were going to shoot pre-COVID would happen and on another show of all places)

Bonus:

SPN has referenced GoT a couple of times in their universe: "That Joffrey is a dick" "So, how about the Game of Thrones ending. Pretty great, right?" (this last one said by Chuck in the last season, when he was the villain and the whole theme for him was that he didn't know how to write a great ending or even what it would look like without his narcissistic involvement)

David Nutter worked on both shows as director and exec producer, the latter being GoT (he returned for the final season and still kept professional touch with Jensen and the crew, he even offered for Jensen to have a cameo at one point which Jensen politely declined)

GoT broke the 4th wall (8x06 & who could forget Ed Sheeran performing in Westeros...as Ed Sheeran!) and SPN did that themselves quite a few times (The French Mistake, Fan Fiction, etc)

Double Bonus:

Walker setup inside the finale: (x) - where Sam hears a phone buzzing in Dean's desk; we see all of his law enforcement phones and the only one Sam picks up as a first try is state patrol (Walker is a Texas Ranger); the next one is Dean's other other phone and the number is from Austin, Texas; Sam picks up and the caller calls him Agent Bon Jovi, tells him that they have a few bodies down there without hearts (not only has Dean just died in the episode, but Walker recently lost his wife when pilot happens, and one of the promos of Walker focuses on his grief & "letting go" and "moving on" - aka loss of heart); Sam says he's on his way and he shuts down the bunker before leaving with Miracle in tow (aka saying goodbye to SPN)

CW has done backdoor pilots before like this on their other shows in a similar manner (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and The Green Arrow and The Canaries for three prime examples), even two inside SPN's own universe (Bloodlines, Wayward Sisters).

So...

.

.

.

Who's gonna tell 'em?

[duchessofostergotlands]

Thanks for the tip about the book, I'll look that up. Though I just found out that Shonda Rhimes is showrunning a new Netflix series based on a series of Regency romances so I've been reading that. Semi-related to the previous post, Shonda's been, as is her wont (Private Practice aside), radically inclusive in the casting; Queen Charlotte is being played by Golda Rosheuvel and the hero by Regé-Jean Page. And it's got Clare from Derry Girls as one of the characters, so looking forward to that.

No worries :) It’s a quick read, very engaging. Because there isn’t much information on what life was like for them in reality, she has a page or two at the start of each chapter (each chapter is for a different person) where she writes a fictional piece imagining how they might have thought and felt. 

Ah see I’m so fussy about my historical dramas. The regency period has just never appealed to me for some reason. Other than Blackadder, I have never really liked regency things. But I do love Clare and I love How to Get Away With Murder haha

[neven-ebrez]

Onto 11x06. I’d forgotten just how saturated S11 was with the sex abuse illustrations/mirrors around Amara, despite writing a whole ass meta on the subject. They really should have traded some of these mirrors for Amara speaking her truth. Honestly this is just as tough to watch as the S9 season long rape metaphor. I honestly don’t miss Carver era and all the allegory at all. Anyway. Cas staying in the bunker watching tv and terrified to leave hit me harder than I remember (with bonus 10x22 flashback, something I’m trying never to rewatch). His trauma mainly focuses on his relationship with Dean, the violence around them, while there’s only one thought to how he continues to let Heaven down by killing his kind to protect the Winchesters. It’s a reflection on what he’s done and what he’s gotten in return. There’s a lot of honesty here, a paralyzing exchange of violence, something that permeates everything in Cas’ life, what he gives and what is given, something he can’t escape from. Having a supporting, gentle and loving relationship with anyone is beyond him, no matter what he does. And he blames Metatron for a good portion of this, which I feel is part why he can finally leave once he gets a lead on him.

At this point, Cas has made his choice about where he belongs and without putting it into the words of S12, here we see just how desperate Cas is to bring Dean wins, to start tipping the scales against a relationship coated in violence and into one that maybe also including tenderness, warm love, something to make everything feel worthwhile. We’ll later see how this directly leads into Cas’ S12 crisis and his decision to protect Jack, then later, the tragedy of Jack being unable to love Cas because of his loss of soul and how Cas loses his new hope at a relationship not so haunted by long years of violence, a confession Jack gives Cas in 14x20. For now tho, Cas is hopelessly coping with the reality of his situation, which leads easily into his choice to say YES to Lucifer several episodes from now. Wrapped in possession Castiel can avoid his reality much more easily.

I wish there was more to say on Sam here but the only S11 storyline he really has in the beginning is him being used as a means to refocus the show’s morality lens. Exorcisms come back, a focus on saving the meatsuit, or more specifically, the meatsuit’s soul. This follows through on Amara’s infections and demonic possession alike. There’s a real focus back to “saving people”. You can really see how desperate Carver era is to try and make the Winchesters back into heroes of strangers, instead of people that sacrifice/lose their closest friends to every effort to save one another. S11 draws a line. Cas gets heavy focus for this (as a person severely effected by association with the Winchesters and their issues), as he says YES to Lucifer to avoid his own pain, of course, but textually he does it to stop Amara first and foremost. Amara is something that was brought about directly by Dean when he decided to take the MOC without warning labels and everything around that decision came about through Dean’s inability to be alone.

There’s a lot I don’t like about Carver era, but I do like how organic and intricate all these interpersonal relationships are: how Dean and Sam’s relationship effects Dean and Cas’ and so on and so forth. There’s no real disconnect in the showrunning switch but the shift of values (along with the viewing lens) is as clear as night and day. Where Carver era sought to destroy, Dabb era opts to built. It never manages not to honor the characters it still must sacrifice in the name of these two core relationships that make up the majority of the show’s structural storytelling effort. Just look at how Rowena deals with Crowley’s death upon his departure or how Mary’s death prompts the changing of such an iconic image, MW carved alongside Sam and Dean’s initials on the bunker table. Carver era never honored death in such a way, opting more often than not to just allow for man pain and little else. That much is painfully, painfully obvious just from rewatching these few episodes after so many years.

In this same style complaint vein, in this episode Dean warns Cas about binge watching shows such as Game of Thrones and The Wire. It’s funny these are the two shows mentioned by episode writer Bob Berens. Following the fan hated exit of Game of Thrones this year this editorial piece was written highlighting just where GOT went wrong in the structural shift of being a sociological narrative into a psychological one and it was probably my favorite piece written following the show’s exit. Equally interesting was Beren’s social media comments on how GOT and SPN are inherently very different shows on almost every level. Sociological narratives require a show to focus on plot (a world) over character, with favs easily and frequently replaced. Obviously this doesn’t work with the general model of fandom, even though sociological narratives can have strong fan followings. The Walking Dead is experiencing a similar (fandom) decline in viewerships as favs are departing, the show’s delve into the sociological being compounded and continuous (but not always by first choice design).

Fandom functions on the psychological love of certain characters for maximum show support longevity. In Carver era the show slowly began a quasi shift into the sociological, with the hunting cycle being blamed for a lot of pain. This is decidedly abstract. Dabb era brings the Winchester trauma dramatic focus back to individuals, namely John, Mary, Lucifer, and God, pulling the narrative out of the dip into the sociological (world narrative) and back into the psychological (personal narrative) and GOOD LORD is it such a better story imo. So yeah. I find it funny that Dean warns against sociological narratives here, where characters are killed left and right with absolutely no regard and still the story moves on. It’s a storytelling method a two lead show can never hope to “””kinda””” utilize and Carver era looks stupid for even trying where it did. This is only an opinion I can have in retrospect.

[neil-gaiman]

I know a big tip you have for writers is to finish things, but if you find you can’t give the right ideas or knowledge that a work calls for does taking a break from a that work have a place?

Sure. You can go and learn how to write something. You can learn about the subject you’re writing about. You can investigate. You can work on your craft.

And you can get stuck, and not know what happens next, and wait until you do.

And you can discover that showrunning a tv show you’ve written takes all of your time, and put the novel you’ve been writing to sleep knowing that you won’t be waking it up and carrying on with chapter four until about 20 months have passed.

There aren’t any rules. I wrote a first draft of a first chapter of The Graveyard Book when I was 24, in 1985, and wrote the book between 2004 and the end of 2007. I started Coraline in 1990ish, stopped when I moved to the US in 1992, and finished it in 2000.

[e-clv]

I’m dying at these comments like. they hired a Rick & Morty alum to showrun this but the LOGO is what’s tipping people off to the fact that this might not be game of thrones?

[smilingformoney]

America’s Most Eligible 3 Diamond Scene: Celebrate Privately with Jen

You smirk at Jen, drawing close and pressing a hand against her chest… You: Just lead the way. You and Jen rush into each other’s arms, kissing each other warmly passionately. You smirk as you kiss her jaw, making her shiver. You: This is our last chance to totally ruin this guest house. Jen: That is, until you visit me on set next season… You: Naughty. I like it. Jen slinks her hand around the small of your back, kissing, sucking, and nibbling the sensitive skin of your neck. Jen: Yeah? Tell me what else you like. You: Long walks on the beach, beautiful sunsets, being naked with you… Jen: I think we can hit all three before the night’s done. Starting with the last one of couse. Jen’s hands continue to roam and map every inch of your body. You breathe in her sweet perfume as she whispers in your ear… Jen: Tell me what you want, Jamie.

You: I want… -You to strip. Now.

Jen’s lips crash down onto yours as she quickly finds the zipper on her dress. Before you know it, her gown is crumpled on the floor. You: Damn, you’re gorgeous. With a playful smirk, Jen tosses her flower crown to the floor… before crashing her lips to yours, her near-naked body pressed against you. You: There’s no better feeling in the world than having your new wife pressed up against you in her underwear. Jen: Really? Because I can think of a few things that might feel better. Jen tugs at your wedding outfit and dons a fake pout. Jen: Is this thing superglued to you or something? You laugh, then take off your outfit, letting it slowly pool around your ankles. Jen runs her hands over your newly exposed skin, and trails kisses across your collarbone. You: You’re right, this is better.

-You to tear my clothes off.

Jen: Is that all? Piece of cake. Jen finds your zipper with ease, then carefully lowers your outfit. You step out of it, then she places it thoughtfully over the back of a chair. You: Really, with the chair? Jen: You have no idea how many wrinkles an HD camera picks up. We can’t be too careful. You: What if I don’t want to be careful? Jen: Then I’d say it’s about time I had an AME scandal. Jen smirks at you, and you quickly lift Jen’s dress up over her head, tossing it to the floor. Jen: Whatever will America think of me when they see my dress suspiciously wrinkled mid-wedding? You: That you’re about to have the time of your life on our honeymoon.

Jen: You know, we haven’t done a great job of christening this place… and this is our last shot… Jen: Where should we move this party to?

You: Let’s take it… -To the bed.

Jen: Your wish is my command. Jen takes your hand and playfully leads you over to the bedroom. You: We haven’t shown this bed nearly enough love. Jen: However could we fix that? Jen reclines down onto the bed, and your eyes roam hungrily over her body. You lower yourself on top of her as the heat from your bodies rises. Jen whispers in your ear…

-To the couch.

Jen: I like the way you think. Jen playfully pushes you down on the couch before slinking toward you and straddling your lap. You: This is exactly what I had in mind. Jen whispers in your ear…

-To the floor.

Jen: Really? The floor? You: I can’t wait any longer. I want you right here, right now. Jen: Well, when you put it that way… Jen drapes her body across the floor, and tugs at your arm to come down with her. You press down on top of her and savour the heat rising from your bodies. Jen whispers in your ear…

Jen: What do you want, Jamie?

You: All I want is… -To savour this moment.

You: Being together, right here. It’s all I want. It’s all I’ll ever need. Jen: I wish I could promise that we’ll have all the time in the world to enjoy these quiet moments together… but we both lead pretty busy lives. You: Borderline chaotic. Jen: Exactly. All I want is to be with you too. You kiss the top of Jen’s forehead, then smooth a strand of hair behind her ear. You: I’ll never take these moments for granted. Jen: Good, because now that we’re married, we’re gonna have a lot of them. Jen captures your lips in a slow, but passionate kiss. You feel the love and trust emanating from her in every touch and caress. For a long, blissful moment, you allow yourself to stay lost in her arms.

-You. Right now.

Jen: I was hoping you’d say that. You up for something adventurous? You: With you? Always. Jen kisses you passionately, then holds a finger up. She repositions herself on top of you so her head hovers over the space between your legs… and your head hovers below hers. Jen: Just do what I do. You feel Jen’s tongue and fingers flick and move against you expertly, as you kiss her inner thighs… Jen: Yes… You touch, kiss, and caress one another in sync, giving and receiving equally. Instinctually, your rhythms increase in tempo simultaneously… Jen moans in tandem with your moans, and you quickly feel a wave of pleasure building within you, threatening to crash at any moment… You: Jen! Jen: Oh, Jamie! I’m gonna-- Before either of you can say anything more, waves of pleasure course through you, and you both lose yourselves to a moment of pure ecstasy.

A short while later… You and Jen are snuggled up in bed, enjoying the warmth of your bodies pressed together. She hums thoughtfully. You: Penny for your thoughts? Jen: I was just thinking… what’s the first thing we should do as a married couple? Jen: I mean, after all of this is over. When we’re back to our normal lives. You: We could do anything we want. The world is our oyster. But if you ask me…

You: First, we should… -Take some time to ourselves. +100

You: We deserve time to enjoy our time as newlyweds together. Especially after AME. You: Even if it’s just for one day, let’s shut ourselves in and pretend like the world doesn’t exist for 24 hours. Plan? Jen: A whole day without any distractions? Interruptions? Work? Jen: A whole day with my gorgeous wife? That sounds like a dream come true. You: It’s a date, then.

-Make a plan for adjusting. +100

You: Things work for us right now, but things will change once I leave the show. We need a plan to keep our schedules lined up. Jen: That’s actually a great idea. Our world as we know it is about to completely change. Jen: I’ll be showrunning, and you’ll be off camera for the first time in our entire relationship. You: Exactly. We can let things be different around us. We just need to find a way to stay in sync while things change. Jen: Practical and romantic. How did I get so lucky?

Jen giggles and kisses the tip of your nose. You: That’s it. We’re officially couple goals. Jen: As if that was ever in doubt. I wish we could stay like this forever… You: But we have a reception to get to. You and Jen hurry to get dressed again, then head to your reception to greet your friends.

[ariesbilly]

in the halloween episode, betty looking uncomfortable with flice getting cozy is a whole mood. if it doesn't foreshadow the incest family not lasting then what's the point?

i know trying to apply logic to this show is fucking useless but like.... flice is not lasting through a season 5. like ive been sayin from the start of this bullshit in season 2 that theyd get the obligatory one season of being actually together before something happens

do i put it past ras to have a bughead x flice double wedding? absolutely not. but i cannot imagine a world where bughead shippers are gonna sit back and allow that lmao (and those of you who ship both.... get ya heads checked. nasty)

but like... either you get the double wedding, flice breaks up ras realizes you cannot have those two ships exist at once its fucking weird dude! its fucking weird!, or jughead actually dies flices gets married and bettys standing next to her mom as a bridesmaid like “damn i shouldve been marrying my new stepdads son but i killed him :/” unfortunately with this show all 3 of these options are equally possible

like if youre gonna go through with this at least do what dynastys doing with the jeff x alexis marriage and have everyone call out how fucking weird it is (fallon being fake supportive and telling them this only happens in nebraska... how did hiram and hermione not tell that to flice at thanksgiving... who is writing this shit show). not to go on a “riverdale is trash” tangent but riverdale is trash because everything goes unacknowledged and where you could make something kitschy and funny it just becomes fucking gross because we’re supposed to act like its all normal and its just not... self aware... at all... 

ras please take showrunning tips from josh schwartz and stephanie savage they know what theyre doing they have many soapy shows to back it up

[folerdetdufoler]

lmao as someone who is really hating meg's acting, i loved lisa as eva! i do think she had the advantage of having better writing (and maybe less pressure?), but i definitely felt empathetic immediately towards her. like, i'm more interested in just about everyone else in skam austin more than meg, and i only think jo (and maaaybe shay and tyler) are actually good actors at this point. so for me, meg is just that bad. but hey, glad other people enjoy her!

yo you know what would be incredible fucking pressure? to be a fan of skam and admire what julie created and then find yourself sitting across from her taking her direction and trying not to SHIT YOURSELF. i mean i have no idea if that is/was the situation, but i imagine it’s pretty close, and how do you escape the ice age that is your entire body when julie andem is right there?! i couldn’t! and then i’d shit myself and be frozen in a pile of poo. DAMN. ms. rocha is definitely under some wild pressure to carry a legacy (and its fandom) to a brand new audience, mere inches away from a showrunning legend.

anyway there are just so many factors that tip the scales, as well as how subjective connecting with a character is.

i still haven’t gotten over tyler’s spongebob meme voice from the first clip so i couldn’t evaluate that dude as an actor even if i tried.

[talistheintrovert]

(1/4) so I send you an ask a while ago about how I was freaking out about the 100 ending because this is the longest show I've ever watched year by year and it's been with me through all of uni. I've kinda stepped away from the show and the fandom for a while, obsessed over other shows for a bit (cxg, dark, good girls) and I've procastinated watching the first episodes. I just watched the first ep of this season though and it's such a weird feeling but it feels a lot better than I expected.

(2/4) I still love these characters a lot and I'm still anxious that they'll kill a bunch of them off or turn them against each other or leave them all unhappy by the end of the show - but it feels like the stakes are much lower (not in the show but for me watching I guess). I think after the transition to sanctum, I already sort of mourned the loss of the show and the dynamics that had drawn me in originally (absolutely adore the deliquent vibes in the earlier seasons)

(3/4) I guess I'm pretty optimistic when it comes to my experience with the show going forward (and I have low expectations) and it's great. I'll probably still be frustrated with the show but I think it'll be easier to step away. I've also really come to appreciate fic as a refuge that preserves these characters and their relationships and develops them far beyond what the show has ever done. Those stories will always be there for us to come back to, regardless of what happens in the show.

(4/4) Also I've stopped waiting for the show to acknowledge that Bell and Clarke love each other. I know they do. They've shown us in the show and it's been explored beautifully in so many fics and I don't need more than that. I assume most people have figured this out before I did but it's just a show and I get to choose how meanigful it is to me. Thank you for your tips on dealing with the end of the show ♥️ (I just wanted to share this with you, you totally don't need to answer this)

OH GOD. 

OH GOD ANON I REMEMBER YOU AND I’M SO SORRY .

Both for not answering this sooner, and also for the absolute fucking train wreck that the final season ended up being. 

I wish, for your sake and mine and everyone else’s that watched the show, that things were different, that the writing was better, that we got the ending we deserved, but all I can offer you now is emotional support in the form of gifsets of other shows on your dash and maybe updates on my old bellarke fics before I finally step away from the fandom. 

And maybe eventually I’ll showrun a show that won’t shit all over its audience before driving the train into a wall. 

[johnlawton]

#Repost @maytimber with @get_repost ・・・ First training on the actual Firefighter Combat Challenge track! 😃 . My mentor @the_blonde_double giving me some valuable tips on techniques!!! 🙏 Biggest issue is not surprisingly the Kaiser... 😣 . Friday: Showrun-relay Saturday: Single start Sunday: Tandem ladies with @the_blonde_double and tandem mix with @lassevadla 💪😁

[neven-ebrez]

Hi! Do you really feel that this season is not very deep or "tip of the iceberg" as far as meta material (i.e. your tags about carver era being tip of the iceberg)? Cause as far as what's on my dash, it's been meta after meta after meta, and it all looks diverse and substantial. I was just wondering, what is it that feels different to you? I mean i guess it just depends on personal outlook, i've just been seeing LOADS of stuff.

Pretty much, yeah.  The difference in Dabb era and Carver era is night and day.  And whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing is entirely subjective but it most definitely is A THING.  

Season 9, in particular, represents a stark structural contrast to the hot thematic mess of season 12.  In season 9 one theme informed the other, which reflected another, which was given several beautiful visual short-hands, which all unfolded like flower in the morning sun.  I may not have *enjoyed* the smell of said flower (because I’m a bitter Cas fan that is also 1000% done with the Dean tragedy narrative), but to say that it wasn’t a work of art would be an understatement.  Season 12 on the other hand… it feels like season 5 trying to be like season 1 or something.  Going back to Carver era, Amara, visually and symbolically, stood for something in the structure: Dean becoming an adult too fast and the collateral damage the Dean/Sam relationship produces when you only truly care about one person, among other things…  The British Men of Letters?  Lucifer in season 12?  They really don’t symbolize into anything concrete as outlined by the narrative.  They aren’t painting a greater picture of a conflict within our characters (like how S9 dealt with Angels and illustrating Cas’ journey through Hannah into S10).  They are simply there because the story needs some kinda of conflict.  Sam and Dean aren’t currently being given any tension or “problems” with each other, so the antagonists are just *there* reflecting nothing deeper at all.  Sam doesn’t have a plot.  Cas doesn’t have a plot (we can’t even count Lucifer here because the honor of dispatching him went to Sam, who hasn’t had a B plot  with him since 11x09).  Much like Cas, Crowley is vaguely just there, not really worried about Hell, despite it still being shown that demons don’t see him as in charge anymore.  In fact, Dean is the only one with a B plot to another character, that character being Mary.  Sam and Cas are instead regaled to being support for this plot.

Conversely, everyone had their own B plot in season 9.  We saw Cas struggling with his place and that was informed by Dean kicking him out of the bunker due to how we are shown Dean will always put Sam’s life first, regardless of how it damages himself.  Crowley’s arc fed the greater addiction arc and also how Cas struggles with being in the between as well.  All this also reflected the civil wars that went on in Heaven and Hell.  See what I mean?  Every theme and character informs the next, a funhouse of mirrors.  Season 12 has none of that.  The only person driving the story is, well… Mary.  She gives Dean a B plot (but not Sam for some reason) and the theme of “questionable parenting” is the only theme that is really present in all of the 8 episodes thus far.  Lady Toni is given a child and we see her caring side wrapped up in her cold and dignified ruthlessness.  We see the split in her priorities, and she chooses the job first and foremost, otherwise she’d be at home.  We see the John Winchester mirror from 12x03, yet we do not see Mary face this reality in her own sons, the results of such parenting.  Mary then leaves and we see bad parenting again for 12x04 (it is here that you’ll have to forgive me because I really haven’t been paying attention to names this season since noticing the difference in structure).  This time it’s a mirror for the damage done to Sam, a psychic child.  The narrative again hangs John Winchester out to dry but doesn’t make Mary face reality.  How can it with her offscreen?  The next episode also deals in bloodlines and carrying evil.  A descendant of Hitler is needed to bring Hilter back (and omg I was so distracted by the horrible back and forth sway to the camera in several key scenes that I honestly can’t remember what most of this episode detailed, sorry).  At minimum, there’s something about a fate bound by blood that you don’t want there.  So that’s one bad parenting theme for Dean and two for Sam.  We then get to 12x06 and see twins born into the hunting life.  Their father is now dead but they now have the opportunity to bond with a new female family member, one who hated the hunting life but came to respect its calling.  Mary is both in this episode and and present throughout in its themes.  Even when she left the life, she didn’t leave.  She learned to make a life anyway and that it eventually landed in her death, leaving behind two children who become hunters.  This all serves into Dean’s worry over Mary as well.  Dean is worried that Mary will die, as the episode reminds us that all hunters are eventually killed by the life and that even when some learn to have happiness while still hunting, they are all still doomed to this fate.  The title for most well structured episode in Dabb era goes to 12x06 by a mile.  Then we move onto 12x07 and the theme is dropped, unless you want to count Lucifer talking about God’s parenting for a few seconds.  The Lucifer plot, from what I can see up to this point, only exists to explaining the contractual absence of Misha and Mark.  Lucifer is doing stuff just to be doing stuff and it really doesn’t fit anywhere for any good reason.  Then we move onto 12x08 and he finally fits back in as we are back to the parenting plot.  Lucifer, to keep his cover as president and instead of simply giving his assistant implanted sex memories, rapes said assistant and fathers a nephilim with her.  This in itself doesn’t really fit into Mary or John’s parenting history, but it does run along the theme of parenting in general.   And throughout all of this Mary does not once, NOT ONCE, textually confront how John’s parenting messed up Sam or Dean.  Thus, the theme goes literally nowhere and seemingly only exists to tell us what we already know about John.  This might change?  I don’t know?  But so far the season is mostly just a structural wash with its one and only B plot not coming to a head at all.  I’m honestly at a loss.  To be fair, the season ain’t even halfway through yet so my opinion on the structure could easily improve.  It’s just you normally shift beats midseason, text or no text, and Dabb seems to definitely be moving at a different showrunning pace than his predecessors. 

Now… can you write meta on any of the material from this season?  Sure, if you wanna beat the dead “John Winchester sucks” (and the hunting life sucks) horse some more.  Can you write meaningful flowing structural meta on it?   Nah, bruh.  There’s no compound structural foreshadowing that you can write on it at all.  I could not have told you the outcome of 12x08 if I tried this year, not like I called the midseason of S9 from several episodes back.  I suppose there might be a disconnect here with me also for what gets the term “meta”.  I actually can’t tell you the last time I saw or read a honest to Chuck meta essay on the show (because I’m old school meta community and don’t count discussion pieces).  Those to me are simply meandering discussions.  "Meta" to me is essay writing: choosing a solid topic and exploring the topic - writing about its different angles and having some sort of cohesiveness about it that stands on its own.  What a lot of people call “meta” these days doesn’t pass as meta by my understanding of the term when I entered into fandom.  And there’s certainly no one writing structural meta that I’ve seen.  Fluttie wrote season 7 structural meta, Sarah wrote season 8, and I wrote season 9.  I don’t know if anyone wrote anything on seasons 10 or 11 ( @dustydreamsanddirtyscars maybe?  I know Jenny’s wrote a lot of smaller meta pieces on Carver era as a whole), but a piece could be wrote on it… unlike with season 12.  That could change, however, if the parenting theme is brought into text, with Mary confronting and acknowledging John’s bad parenting (and her own unintended absent in facilitating said outcome or guilt therein) in a way that informs Dean’s repression in particular, but as things currently stand I wouldn’t count on it.  The mirrors are too weak and don’t tackle the central issue, just kinda dance around it. 

In Dabb’s defense, Carver has had way more time to tell his story.  Against Dabb tho, it seems Carver always kinda knew what story he wanted to tell. Dabb is almost running this thing like he has no idea what comes next.  And not in the way like how Carver wasn’t sure if Abaddon would possess Dean or if Dean himself would become a demon at the end of season 9, a decision you could tell was made late, but all the while it could be seen that both options were on the table.  Not knowing the route is not the same as not knowing the destination.  And I don’t think Dabb knows his own destination (and with talking to Berens briefly at Burcon this suspicion has only been compounded in my mind).  Up until the Nephilim plot, I thought the general destination was to have Lucifer possess Mary but now that option seems off the table (although I could have sworn I’ve heard Lucifer spoilers for later on in the season?).  And while I can definitely appreciate the dialing back of the world affecting mythos (YMMV), Dabb era has not been (structurally speaking) what I expected at all, especially since Dabb’s episodes under Carver always illustrated Carver’s structure so damn well (forever laughing over 9x20 tbh).  

Carver era felt like it made every move count.  Almost every pop culture reference informed a theme, every “C” plot character (even Cas and Crowley) became a mirror that told one cohesive story in which everyone was involved in. Dabb era?  Not so much.  Or idk… maybe it only seems that way because there’s no meta writer (that I know of) keeping track of it all and documenting it (that I’ve seen) in essay form.  I’m usually still pretty good at seeing it though (even when it’s something I don’t like), and I just don’t see it as things stand.  In fact, the only pop culture reference that has even stuck with me is the whole Beyonce and Agent Z thing, to illustrate Crowley and Cas’ antagonism towards one another.  Also, notably, there is the matter of Wanek’s absence for a good chunk of S12.  While his staff more or less continued with the general look of the show (doing Lucifer 5x16 visual call backs in 12x07 for example), his absence has marked a striking shift in the show’s structural presentation.  I’d say the Destiel B plot has particularly suffered, but tbh, there is currently no Destiel B plot (you can squint and Dean’s annoyance over Cas and Crowley working together maybe counts for .2 seconds and sure they are being defined as a definite team, there are no interspecies or same sex mirrors in sight telling their story).  Just like there is no Dean and Sam B plot for that matter.  A lot of the show’s visual subtext comes from transcribing the key themes between Dean/Sam and Dean/Cas, and without said themes present, there’s just nothing to work with honestly.  You’d think there would be some Dean/Mary stuff to make up for it (besides the pie stuff shifting from a Cas theme to a wholesome family theme I got nothing) but nah (or maybe I’m wrong?  I honestly don’t follow a lot of meta writers anymore because a good deal of them just too willingly disregard the shows more glaring problems or they are otherwise imo too optimistic in their approach to how the show will handle the repression of Dean Winchester as the plot point relates to both him and others for my personal tastes).  

I hope I’ve illustrated my point clearly enough, but I’m kinda rusty with even talking about these kinds of things.  My blog is not really a meta blog at all anymore (and honestly, thank Chuck because I would have nothing but the above criticisms all season long about the structure of the season).  And despite the above criticisms, I actually have enjoyed the season quite a lot (with the exception of 12x05) so I haven’t really felt the need to point out all the structural stuff on a regular basis!  But yeah… there’s just no definitive structure to it and the one theme that is mostly present (the results of absent or bad parenting) is just something that I feel has been talked to death even if it’s through a fresher lens (Mary’s POV in the future) than most.