TV Show Plots and a GIVEAWAY

With my favorite new show back from winter break (can we just have a moment to seethe about all these new winter-break gaps in our favorite TV shows, interrupting our viewing pleasure. Ugh!... okay, I'm good now.), I've got TV plot lines on the writer-brain.

One of my favorite shows at the moment is:

Revenge airs Sundays on abc at 9PM EST

It has intrigue, tension, and of course all the REVENGE a girl needs. Be still my heart!

Seriously, I've followed this show religiously because of its plot twists and character developments and the lovely Miss Emily Thorne (a kick-ass female lead). And Emily shouldn't even be likable in the broad spectrum of favorite characters. Why, you ask? She creates a new identity to destroy the lives of others. What have we heard from birth (well, since we started attending school and every teacher in the history of time has preached to us): two wrongs do not make a right. So, for all intents and purposes we should not root for her. But I do. Every week. And I bet you know why savvy reader/writer/TV watcher/human being, you.

The reason: Emily is doing bad for the sake of her father's reputation and all the lost innocence of her childhood taken away by the hands of the people she's after.

That's a plot I can get behind.

My other favorite (for a different reason than just sheer entertainment) is:

I watched the entire first season in one setting. (Yes, I was that lazy one day after the holidays). The show had been recommended by a friend, so when I saw the whole season on Super Sale in Best Buy I grabbed it as a gift to myself. Totally made my weekend.

This show has been criticized immensely by the viewing public for its lack of instant gratification a la CSI/SVU/Law&Order. The Killing's entire premise is the murder of one girl in Seattle. Her death is linked to her family, her friends, the town, and even political powers in the area. (No spoilers, that is all in the first episode). And the whole SEASON is focused around solving her murder. Which is the biggest reason I LOVED it.

There's another kick-ass, flawed female lead, Miss Sarah Linden. She's a homicide detective set to leave Seattle, with her teenage son, and meet up with her fiancé (for their wedding!) in Sedona, AZ. Then Rosie is found. She does things (that I can't tell you because they're spoilery) that we should not like her for, BUT what do we know about loving flawed characters, Dear Readers, she does them for a heart-tugging reason and I can root for that!

(can you tell I love to see a flawed female lead. So rarely does the female actress get to really be the leading anti-hero in such evocative ways.)

Other reasons I love The Killing: the cinematography (so gorgeous), the endless plot twists, the time spent developing its characters (including Rosie, our case subject), the way it follows the family through their grieving process while dealing with the legal process of finding their daughter's killer, and seeing the day-to-day of a police search played out in a more realistic way (with SPOT ON dialog) instead of redundant recaps of who did it and why, like some other cop shows. (no offense if those tickle your fancy because everything is subjective to each and every one of us, and it's all good.)

And to wrap up this post with a point (I was getting there, I promise): The plots of Revenge and The Killing remind me why I write. Unlike with movies (which I LOVE with a different part of my writer-soul), a season of TV shows allows us the same experience a great book or book series does. Told in many episodes, often times over the span of years, it gives us time to breath a full life into characters, to watch their ever so slight developmental rises and dips, we explore the setting and emotions at a leisurely pace as we return to them each week, and we're often given an abundance of subplots that enrich the main story (which isn't always possible with the time-limits of cinema).

Amazing TV shows inspire me, and teach me just as much as a good book, a writer's blog, or even workshops on craft!

If you've stuck with me this long: THANK YOU! I know that was a winded post (and an abundance of parentheses were over-abused, I'm sure). So, for all of you out there that watch great TV shows as inspiration for your own writing, character and setting development, dialog builders, and sometimes just pure entertainment, here's a giveaway for bearing with me! ;-)

I would have loved if the prize were something involving Revenge or The Killing, but of course I couldn't find any of their merchandise at my local bookstore. However, there was this fancy piece of prize:
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The Office airs Thursdays on NBC at 9PM EST

The Office has been hilarious and fun, so I thought this would be a good gesture to fans of the show as it is airing its 9th and final season. A fond farewell from me to you.

What you'll get in the office kit:

• Michael Scott's "World's Best Boss" coffee mug

• Pam's Drawing of Dunder Mifflin building

• Angela's Baby Jazz poster

• Dunder Mifflin notepad

• Dunder Mifflin mouse pad

• Dunder Mifflin mission statement

• Schrute Farms Beet Seed and Vance Refrigeration magnets

• Full-color game collection

• Schrute Buck

To enter, simply fill in the rafflecopter below and GOOD LUCK! The contest will run until Midnight January 24th 2013. ONLY OPEN TO THE US (my apologies, international peeps).
I'll announce the winner here on the blog that evening.





a Rafflecopter giveaway