TV Tuesday: Getting Into It

[yourlibrarian]

When you are asked for show recommendations, do you find that you tend to recommend watching chronologically or do you pick the best episodes to tempt them? Does it make a difference which show or genre it is?

Comments

[jo]

It has never occurred to me to recommend a single episode or episodes of a show when I recommend a show to someone. The closest I've come is when someone doesn't want to watch what they know is a subpar season of something (e.g. the 2nd season of Star Trek Next Gen), so I might and have recommended specific episodes because they are key to a character's development or the plot comes back in a later season, etc.

I guess it would be OK to recommend "best episodes" of a "case of the week" type of show. But most of the shows I watch aren't that, so recommending Severance to someone by saying they try ep 7 of season 2 would just be totally daft.

I might suggest they skip an episode that I thought was really subpar and just read a plot summary instead, but that's a different sort of thing.

[yourlibrarian]

I know that I have run into this issue when watching semi-serialized shows. Some absolutely have to be watched from the beginning, though I know I have warned people that the first few episodes may be slow until you start getting to know the characters and grasp where the plot is going.

But Buffy, for example, could have a lot of S1 skipped since the show really takes off in S2. I have a friend to whom I'd recommended watching it multiple times and she was always resistant to trying it. Finally she did and I told her that if she wanted to she could watch the first episode and then skip to the final two episodes of S2 if she wanted to watch it in order. However given I started the show in S4 (I didn't have access before then) and then had to pick much of the season in reruns later due to a major life event, so that I really only watched it in sequence in S5 and then saw seasons 1-3 while S6 was airing. So I felt certain that it was less important to know all the plotlines than to really gravitate to the characters. I think certain episodes that are standalones but standouts (like Hush) might go a long way to getting someone interested and then if they wanted to they could start from the beginning once they were hooked.

[china_shop]

Ha, my first episode of Buffy was The Zippo, which I caught on TV and was a really weird one to start with! (It's the one that focuses on Xander, with Buffy and Angel being all melodramatic in the background.) :D

[china_shop]

I don't think there's anything I'd recommend individual episodes of, but there are some shows that shift tone after the first episode or season, where I'd advise skipping ahead. For example, the first season of Parks & Recreation is a much harder sell than season 2, imo; and I hated the pilot of Firefly (the way everyone treated Simon) and would have bounced hard off the show if we'd started with that.

For other shows I can think of with stand-out episodes, the episodes often work based on familiarity with the canon generally. Bojack Horseman's "Fish Out of Water" is one example.

(Of course, as soon as I post this, I'll think of half a dozen counter examples. ;-)

[firecat]

The farthest I’ll go is to say “the first few eps of S1 aren’t very good so be sure to watch through [# of interesting ep] to get a sense of what’s good about it. Or “if you don’t like ep 1–2, you probably won’t like the rest.”

[yourlibrarian]

I've done the same, although depending on cast changes I might suggest skipping an entire season, particularly if it's more episodic.

[yourlibrarian]

It's amazing you kept with it! I quite like that episode but it's so atypical 😃

[yourlibrarian]

Oh that's interesting to hear about Parks and Rec! It's such a beloved show for so many but I watched the first 2 or 3 episodes and I just found it ok. I still have it in my watchlist to give it another try but I think I'll go straight into S2 next time.

Yes, some of Buffy's most lauded episodes, like the musical, really work better if you'd seen the previous season at least, and are already familiar with the characters.

[china_shop]

I didn't watch any more until there was an end-of-season-3 "marathon" on our local TV channel, at which point, I saw that, got hooked, and went back to catch up. :D

[china_shop]

Yeah, season 1 of P&R is very awkward, and IIRC Leslie is kind of incompetent? It flips over to make her annoyingly competent and give her more wins, which works much better for me. Also, the team coheres better from season 2 on. (I'm saying this with confidence, but I haven't watched in over a decade, so...)

Yes, some of Buffy's most lauded episodes, like the musical, really work better if you'd seen the previous season at least, and are already familiar with the characters.

Yeah, the narrative weight of the season arcs adds so much, too. (Aww, your icon!)

[violateraindrop]

Same! I would mention if a favorite of mine is further into the season.

A lot of people say you can just skip the first season of Parks and Recreation, but I wouldn't recommend it like that.

[tinny]

Exactly. I do that for Farscape, which is one of my all time favorite shows, but season 1 is so lackluster.

[tinny]

I see I'm not the only one, but I wouldnt recommend selected episodes. I personally cannot skip around in a show, I have to watch chronologically.

It does help being told up front when the first season isn't good, that makes me stick with it until it gets better.