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The End of the Surprise Ending
Just in case you guys missed it... *g*
Today's online issue of the NY Times features an interesting article about spoiler leakage and the effects the insatiable hunger for previous knowledge has on fannish perception as well as on the production policies of genre shows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/arts/television/09NUSS.html?pagewanted=1&th
Various Whedon and J.J. Abrams mentionings. Losts of pretty quotes like the following ones:
However, for television writers laboring over intricately constructed plots, spoilers can be a special torment. "They beat me up; they took my lunch money," sighs Joss Whedon, whose productions (including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the recently canceled "Angel") have been longtime sieves for inside information. "I tried to fight them for years, including this year. And I lost. I tried to keep Christian Kane's appearance on `Angel' a secret, and I made the cardinal mistake: I filmed with extras." Extras are on the set briefly, and once they leave there's nothing to keep them from talking about what they saw there. "The only way to rid yourself of spoilers is to try to make work that people are not interested in, and that's not a method I'm going to try," Mr. Whedon concluded.
For Mr. Whedon, the death of television surprise is the end of what he calls a "holy emotion." Surprise, he argues, "makes you humble. It makes you small in the world, and takes you out of your own perspective. It shows you that you're wrong, the world is bigger and more complicated than you'd imagined." He continued, "The more we dilute that with insider knowledge, with previews that show too much, with spoilers, with making-of specials, the more we're robbing ourselves of something we essentially need."
Today's online issue of the NY Times features an interesting article about spoiler leakage and the effects the insatiable hunger for previous knowledge has on fannish perception as well as on the production policies of genre shows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/arts/television/09NUSS.html?pagewanted=1&th
Various Whedon and J.J. Abrams mentionings. Losts of pretty quotes like the following ones:
However, for television writers laboring over intricately constructed plots, spoilers can be a special torment. "They beat me up; they took my lunch money," sighs Joss Whedon, whose productions (including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the recently canceled "Angel") have been longtime sieves for inside information. "I tried to fight them for years, including this year. And I lost. I tried to keep Christian Kane's appearance on `Angel' a secret, and I made the cardinal mistake: I filmed with extras." Extras are on the set briefly, and once they leave there's nothing to keep them from talking about what they saw there. "The only way to rid yourself of spoilers is to try to make work that people are not interested in, and that's not a method I'm going to try," Mr. Whedon concluded.
For Mr. Whedon, the death of television surprise is the end of what he calls a "holy emotion." Surprise, he argues, "makes you humble. It makes you small in the world, and takes you out of your own perspective. It shows you that you're wrong, the world is bigger and more complicated than you'd imagined." He continued, "The more we dilute that with insider knowledge, with previews that show too much, with spoilers, with making-of specials, the more we're robbing ourselves of something we essentially need."