Limit Your Exposure

Last night before exhaustedly passing out watching "I Love You Man," then waking up, going to work, and finally catching up with the season premiere of "Mad Men," I am struck by how much more excited I've been about television than movies over the past several months. So much so that while the list of movies I've missed this summer keeps growing and growing (over 20 new releases to catch up with since last April), I have been quick to both catch up with and rewatch a whole slew of television series on DVD. While a part of this has to do with large screen viewing available comfortably and conveniently in my own home, with no additional purchase beyond what's already on my shelf or on my cable, I think comparing my two most recent viewing reveals a little more.

While I wouldn't even propose to say that "I Love You Man" is even comparatively the caliber of film that "Mad Men" is to respective television series, irregardless of this, there is something to be said for the sheer amount of originality, and in turn unpredictability of "Mad Men," compared the very formulaic "I Love You Man."

Again, "I Love You Man" is just another conventional romantic comedy. I mean, it was written and directed by the guy who brought us "Along Came Polly," and it's only real twist on the genre is to make the love story about two hetero guys and their friendship (I refuse to use the b-word) so maybe I shouldn't expect much as for originality, and maybe I am talking in far too great of generalizations, but I think it's safe to say that out of the 20+ movies I want to see, I have a pretty good idea how each of them will end. In their 2 hour run time, they will quaintly and conveniently reach a satisfying and most of the time happy ending, one which I can either predict right now, or one that I will be able to see coming not less than 45 minutes into the affair.

But week to week, hour to hour, and season to season of most of my favorite ongoing television series, I have no idea how they will end or where they are going next. And it's not just "Mad Men." It's "Lost," "Dollhouse," and "Chuck," and even the late "Battlestar Galactica." Even when they follow formula, such as most weeks I know that Don Draper is suave enough to bed another woman other than Betty, I remain dazzled not knowing a thing about where things are headed, and actually comforted by the fact that I know they could actually end badly and with more remaining questions and things to ponder, rather than every loose end nicely and simply wrapped up.

Ultimately, I guess I am just shocked that with high budget television as opposed to high budget studo filmmaking, with budgets that still exceed a million dollars per episode, there is such a disparity in the risks that showrunners and writers are allowed to take and where stories are allowed to unfold in relation to most modern films and filmmakers.