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Potential for a Harry Potter Television Series

There have been a lot of times that I’ve heard people say how disappointing certain aspects of the Harry Potter films are in terms of replicating the books. I have always dismissed these complaints because I am well aware that the novels and the movies should be separated, but I think to dismiss one particular idea that a few people have put forth is plainly ignorant.

Over the years I have continually heard one way for the Harry Potter series to be remade but not as a film version, but for television. It was only recently that I actually took this idea seriously. The reason was the success of the “Game of Thrones” series.

The “A Song of Ice and Fire” series is definitely a lot bigger and far more involved than the Potter series, and yet it makes for quite a good television series. I figure that if it works for them, why not the Potter books.

The idea is simple. For the first three books (the smallest of the seven) there can be ten half-hour episodes and for the remaining four it can be ten hour-long episodes. This gives an extra three hours on top of the two hours of the film versions for the first three and an extra eight hours for the remaining four books.

Some may question whether or not there is enough content in the books to warrant this, but I can see it happening. Especially if they took off from the Harry-centric nature of the books and films and added some scenes in for other characters. I would imagine that J.K. Rowling could actually help if she wanted to do so.

I think it could also help in terms of casting. Some people have complained that, in the films, the characters don’t seem to be the correct ages, something which I find very petty but I do see the point. The series which spans seven years took ten years to make and people, particularly children and teenagers, age quite a bit over that time span. With this type of television show, it would only take seven years to make, meaning that they would all age in the correct time span, giving a more accurate version.

The downsides to this idea are easy to see. With the story being as it is, it requires quite a number of younger actors, meaning there is a lot of rules that need to be abided by in terms of what can be done with the child actors.

Another problem could be the fact that the fans of the series that have complained about the movies will probably be unhappy with any casting that doesn’t include the actors from the films. And, given the nature of film vs. television acting, it would be doubtful that any of the original cast would return for a television series. Maybe a few would. Evanna Lynch (portrayed Luna Lovegood in the films) is one that I could see returning as her character, but not many others, especially the younger actors.

Evanna Lynch as "Luna Lovegood"

I guess the question, ultimately, is “would Harry Potter work as a television series?”. I think that it absolutely would! I think it could even become the most watched television show of all time. If it was done well. If it were to be done, it would need to be extremely well done otherwise people, namely the fans, would complain. But it wouldn’t matter anyway, because the type of people that complain about these things will always watch it anyway because they wouldn’t be able not to.

Do I want this to happen? Honestly, I couldn’t care less if it does or not. If it happens, great! If it doesn’t, I’m not going to care. The movies are fine.

~Benjamin~

Glee

“Glee”, for those of you that don’t know, is a comedy, drama, musical television show mostly concerned with teenagers and their lives, or more correctly, their love lives. Well, that’s not strictly true, but I’ll get to that later.

I started to watch “Glee” from the very first episode. Frankly, I was attracted to the show because of the humour that was shown in promos on Channel 10 (this was before they went and ruined everything) here in Australia. The music seemed to be an afterthought to me, and still is.

Let me get one thing straight, I like “Glee”. I really do. I just wish that they would do things right some times.

There are so many controversial storylines in “Glee” that I feel the only good way to talk about them is to list them.

•  Teenage pregnancy involving the head of the celibacy club lying to her boyfriend about the baby’s father. 
•  Racism. 
•  Homosexuality and homophobia.
•  Eating disorders.
•  Teen alcoholism.
•  Depression.
•  Texting while driving resulting in a car crash.
•  Suicide
•  Spousal Abuse 

Of course, this is a condensed version, but you get the picture. The problem with doing controversial storylines is that the writers need to find ways to make the consequences real. In this respect, “Glee” has been very mixed.

While the storylines involving teenage pregnancy, racism, homosexuality and homophobia and underage drinking are done reasonably well, the rest aren’t done nearly as well. The depression storyline begins in Season Three and only lasts a few episodes and then it’s resolved. This was something they could have really used to help people, but it was over before it got good.

But worst of all are the storylines about texting and driving and suicide. One of the characters, Quinn Fabray (who seems to be involved in a lot of the controversial storylines), is driving, receives a text and replies. This leads to her car getting plowed into and wrecked.

But the next episode she is not as bad as she should have been. Sure, she was in a wheelchair, but she was looking as good as usual and one of the first things she said was that she was having the best day of her life.

What?

That’s absurd!

If you do a storyline like that it needs to show the true consequences. That means the aftermath of the crash, the hospitalization, the destroyed parents. All this is telling people is that it’s fine because you will actually feel better! Stupid.

The suicide one is better in that the suicide scene itself is very well done. 

I kind of just realised that the crash and the suicide happened in the one episode. Intense.

But, ultimately, the character who attempted suicide was found by his father and revived. At least they had the thought to show him in a hospital, I suppose. Not that he looked terrible. And then they resolved it in the very next episode, which didn't really help things. It was a good message, but they didn't follow through on it greatly. Although, I have to say, his father finding him was heart-wrenching to watch.

My point is, if you are going to do storylines like these that are going to have an impact, let them have an impact. Don’t use them for ratings, which is clearly what they were doing. Use them to actually have meaning. These storylines could have been brilliant if they had the time to play out. But they didn’t.

Ultimately, I like “Glee” and what it stands for. It doesn’t try to mend racism by raising the formerly oppressed above the oppressors, it makes them equal. It has a good message. It tackles big issues. The characters are fun. It’s funny.And it has okay music. I just wish they would include some music I like. I mean, how hard would it be to use something by Placebo, really?

I absolutely cannot believe I got this song in somewhere.

~Benjamin~

The Death of the Television

You know, I was stuck as to what to write about for my first post here on this blog. Nothing seemed quite good enough. And then, while watching an episode of "Game of Thrones" through iTunes, I realised exactly what to write about. It was like an epiphany. The death of the television.

When the television was initially released, people claimed that it was going to be the death of radio and books. Of course, it wasn’t. But, in saying that, I believe that television is going to die. At least in its current form.

The Internet, being what it is today, has become a powerhouse in video sharing. It started with Youtube, but has grown into something a lot larger with websites like Netflix and Hulu and programs like iTunes. Each of those actually provide a service for people to watch television shows on demand for a certain price.

The problem with this, for television at least, is that these sites and programs are actually providing a better service than television is. Of course, this is mostly speculation on my part as Hulu and Netflix are currently unavailable in Australia at the moment. However, iTunes is releases television shows for download very quickly after they happen on television itself. And, what’s better, you actually get to keep it and watch it over and over and over.

Not only that, but people could also say that the Internet is hurting television in other ways. Take a television show like “Glee” as an example. In Australia, “Glee” airs on Channel 10. The problem is that Season 4 of the show is already up to Episode 4 in the US when it hasn’t even started here. The people that want to watch “Glee” (i.e. the people who will give Channel 10 ratings) will want to watch it sooner rather than later because of nasty SPOILERS that they don't want to be subjected to, so they find other ways. This happened to me with Season 8 of “House MD”. Channel 10 didn’t even get halfway through the season and stopped showing it (as they do every year), but when 2012 began, American television aired the remaining 13 or so episodes while they hadn’t even started airing here. I found alternate ways to watch the show because it was the final season and I didn’t want spoilers. It wasn’t until not long ago that I noticed that they were airing the final episodes. And what did they do? Put two episodes on every night for over a week! Ridiculous!

My point there, if you didn’t grasp it because of my massive tangent (who could blame you), is that television needs to provide a better service than the Internet. And, right now, it’s doing a rather poor job of that with shows from overseas (or as I like to call them, the good shows). And, because of this, television ratings are going down. If people are using the internet at this point to watch television in a more efficient way, what’s stopping it from getting better in the future? Nothing.

Going back to my point from the beginning about radio and books, the reason radio and books didn’t die is because the television was a completely different medium. This, however, is more like the transition from VHS to DVD. The same type of content, just delivered a different way. And what happened to VHS? It died. Sure, it took a few years, but it happened. 

If the internet continues to provide good service to people, there will be nothing stopping it from becoming the next medium for “television shows”. I think it’s only a matter of time. A lot of television shows use iTunes, Hulu and Netflix to broadcast their shows less than 24 hours after they’re one right now. Soon people will realise that it’s probably cheaper to use the internet then to use a television station. And when that day comes, I want you all to know that I called it. 

~Benjamin~

Fawlty Towers

Everyone knows of John Cleese but most know him from the infamous Monty Python. However, from 1975-1979 he led an exceptional cast in the brilliant British comedy Fawlty Towers. The TV series consists of two seasons both with six episodes each. In this short time, the show managed to be nominated for six awards in both the Broadcasting Press Guild Award in 1976 and the BAFTA's in 1976 and 1980 in which it won four of the six. The show follows the chaos and troubles at Basil Fawlty's hotel. Basil is absolutely not cut out for the hotel industry, he is rude and intolerant but it is this what makes the show utterly hilarious. Other characters include Sybil Fawlty (Basil's wife), Polly Sherman (House Keeper) and Manuel (Spanish Waiter). Their on screen chemistry is amazing, and definitely makes the show. 

The humour is simple and not crude which makes it more appealing to audiences. Much of the humour involves the miscommunication and sheer stupidity of the characters. Manuel, the Spanish waiter, is the easy target and is often the butt of the jokes. However, my favourite episode is the last episode in season 1 'The Germans'. Here, John Cleese's acting is brilliant once again, as he attempts to entertain a group of Germans that stay at the hotel while Sybil is hospital. A key line throughout the episode is "Don't mention the war" and this ultimately drives the plot. 

Fawlty Towers is an old time classic. If you love John Cleese, I would recommend watching this show. I have no doubt that you will be laughing as much as I did. 

-Rachael- 

Beauty and the Geek Australia

A show that has just returned for another series this year is Beauty and the Geek Australia. As of this point, there has only been one episode but already it has created enough interest to keep the viewers watching. There has already been shocking revelations on the show, such as one of the geeks a millionaire! None of the beauties know and neither do the geeks or the viewers.

The Geeks!

For those who have never watched it, the show is about 10 stereotypical geeks and beauties. The beauties chosen are often very attractive, but not the brightest bunch around! The geeks are often rather socially awkward, especially around women, often have a rather... "interesting" choice of clothes, hairstyles, etc. The idea of the show is to put these two different worlds together as sort of a social experiment to see how they interact and get along. 

The Beauties!

The idea is for the geeks to become more confident and perhaps change their fashion style, whereas the beauties are to learn some new things they never would have before and to understand the mind of a geek.

The geeks haven't always been quite so lucky with the ladies, as one of the geeks Jason says in his profile:
"A not so comforting moment for Jason was when he professed his love to a friend at high school who revealed to him that she was in fact gay.

"She said, 'Well, I'm actually a lesbian. But if I wasn't, you'd be the first guy I'd choose to date.'
But then I saw her a little while after and she was dating a guy so she had decided she now liked guys.""

Ouch!

- Ashleigh 

Game of Thrones

Game of thrones is a hugely popular TV series produced by HBO. It is based on George R.R. Martins fictional series 'a song of ice and fire' which spans seven books (only 5 of which have been published.) the first season was based on the first book - hence the title 'game of thrones'. This means that each book gets around 10 hours of film time, allowing for a more comprehensive adaptation than a film would ( such as the harry potter series ).

This means that the series is incredibly complex and engaging, two traits which make for a successful TV show . Unfortunately ( or fortunately if you are patient) for HBO to keep up this level of detail ( and to allow Martin to finish writing the last books ) they have decided to split the third book into two series. Having read the books i have to side with HBO (even if they are just doing it for the money.)

If you haven't watched or heard of Game of Thrones, I highly suggest that you check it out. :)

-Matthew