I just finished watching the first two episodes of Quarterlife.
There’s an article over at NewTeeVee that examines the shows audience numbers, specifically that the numbers were going down. Andrew Baron commented about it on his blog too. Quarterlife seems to be losing their audience. The question is why.
I had no idea who made this show until the end credits and I nearly fell out of my chair. How could Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick be responsible for a show that I thought was so terrible? I usually like their work!
I’m reminded of a conversation I had a few days ago.We were discussing the difficulty in doing drama in short segments.Comedy and spectacle are easier and more satisfying in short clips but drama takes time to build.I think maybe the 8 minute length is part of the problem.It’s dragging the show down.There’s just not enough time to get into it.
OK maybe that’s part of it but there are other problems too.
So the main character calls her roommate an alcoholic on her blog and then she’s surprised that it becomes a problem? How clueless are these characters? How can I care about someone who basically creates their own problems this way?
Oh, and having TWO product placements in the first 90 seconds was really off putting. Product placement needs to be much more subtle to work. Corporate logos invading the frame constantly hovering in front of and behind the actors just kills the authenticity of the drama. It really pulls you out of the story and makes you think you’re just watching a contrived advertisement. The main character rolling around on her bed with her computer just screams product shot! product shot!
The product placement right up front set a really bad tone right at that critical point where you should be concentrating on winning over the audience. Hmmm… Maybe I was just put off right from the start and didn’t give the show a chance after that…
OK, so I just watched the third episode. I’m trying. Maybe it’s getting better. I’m not sure. I’m thinking that there are too many characters. With so many character arcs to cover in 8 minutes the plot moves forward way too slowly. Maybe this show is over-reaching and would be more successful concentrating only on one character.
And where is the RSS feed? Why isn’t this show on iTunes? I want to subscribe and watch this on AppleTV in my living room. That’s a much better place to watch something like this. Maybe it would help me get into the show more.
I’m going to watch a few more episodes but only because I respect the producers’ past work. I really want to like this show, but it’s hard.
