Comic Situations

February 3, 2005

Ann Althouse observes that Carrie, in Sex in the City, would sit down at the end of an episode and type the overarching question for her newspaper column.

Isn't it obvious that if the show were being made today, Carrie would be a blogger?

She's right, in many series a blog could serve, not as a gimmick, but an irresistible way to layer the narrative. Tempting, easy to provide comment, voice-over, plot twists, embarrassment, 'splainin'. As well as escape from the frequent pseudo-glamour of newsmen and broadcasters as key characters.  Now, any job or location can be a backdrop for the Imitation of Life, expressed in a blog.

Everybody Loves Raymond Barone, a sportswriter and blogger. Or Deborah, a secret blogger. Marie, an unlikely blogger.  Frank, an embarrassing blogger. Amy's parents, duelling bloggers on a religous site.  And so on.

The act and impact of blogging, as well as the split-screen possibilities of the active involvement of readers, is at least as photogenic and cinematographic as "writers" and "anchors." And the substance of what is written will be easier to incorporate into a story, because of the wide-ranging subject conventions bloggers enjoy.

It's ironic, just as series television is almost dead courtesy of the writers' strike and Reality TV, a yet newer medium offers it writerly, dramatic, and comic vistas.

We launch the series with Ann's cohort's compelling question.

In a search for meaningful relationships in life, which is the better choice: a passionate engagement with a person who has obvious faults, ill-suited to your needs and temperament, or a calm and steady affection for someone who inspires little else?

Then, via this artificial but dramatically-promising dichotomy, move on to the romance of battling or parallel blogs, cutaways to amusing and poignant characters monitoring and commenting on the conversation and having adventures of their own.  It'd sell to the Turned-Off-by-Fear Factor audience. And initiate the medium.

Any collaborators for a pilot out there, masters or mistresses of the Narrative Arc?

Update:  Dagwood today (no  link available?) contemplates a new Reality Show, set in a writers' conference room, with writers wondering what to write about.

Here in Dilys' lair we're always glad to help.