Do networks and series realize that characters matter?
Sure, you tune into a series if the premise is interesting or the plots are appealing. Maybe it’s because the nerdy bits of filmography grab your eye.
But at the hub of all of that is the characters themselves.
You cannot have some of the best, most compelling, or most interesting series out there without characters bringing the script to life and serving as vehicles for the plot and story.
It’s starting to feel like the business of television rules all else now. Yes, I’m realistic about the expenses to bring shows I know and love to life. Nevertheless, the results still irritate me.
We’re at a point where television is cost-cutting itself into oblivion. Apparently, we’re not supposed to notice or acknowledge this at all. Nope, we’re supposed to be grateful for the scraps they give us.
Broadcast series are whittling away so much at their shows that there’ll barely be anything remaining anymore. Our gratitude lies in the fact that we’re lucky to still have them airing at all.
But why is it so wrong for us to expect and want more? And why are we the problem for daring to invest in what they give to us and expressing frustration when they rip it away from us?
We’re at a tipping point with television. From the outside looking in, it seems like there isn’t enough money to continue producing scripted content.
Every season, the amount of scripted stories onscreen, particularly with broadcast, shrinks. It’ll be particularly glaring come Fall when most networks have devoted much of their scheduling to reality shows, game shows, and sports.
Older series are coming to their natural conclusions, while newer shows faced the firing squad without getting a proper chance to find their audience and grow. Networks put many fan-favorite series down like beloved animals.
But the series that somehow remain almost always have to pay a price in some capacity.
Dick Wolf Universe is the prime example of what many of us are talking about when it comes to how deeply cast and cost-cutting disrupt series.
FBI has a steady revolving door of people coming in and out to serve as Scola’s new partner after Tiffany’s departure. They feel like nameless, faceless entities in whom we cannot bother to invest because we know they’ll likely disappear at some point anyway.
Law & Order: SVU may as well not even have a squad at this point. We barely see characters like Curry, let alone get an actual full arc. Silva was offscreen more often than she was on. Half the time, it resulted in some of us forgetting that she was actually with the unit until she appeared in episodes.
And the series sidelined Velasco so much that when they abruptly announced his departure with a random promotion, it was hard to muster any surprise or care anymore.
The characters feel like entities moving the plot forward rather than actual characters whom we get to know, invest in, relate to, or anything else.
SVU is a series that has delivered an iconic character like Olivia Benson for nearly 30 years — and now it can’t even bother to give some of the ever-revolving new characters more than a couple of lines.
What happened? Why does it seem like series don’t value characters anymore?
Why are characters so expendable now? What exactly is supposed to keep viewers invested in the series, if not the actual characters? How do talented actors and writers collaborate to bring them to life?
It’s starting to feel like writers build characters up on an Etch’ n’ Sketch and then shake midway through the process. It’s so jarring.
That’s how it feels with someone like Chicago Fire‘s Sam Carver. He’s inarguably one of the best characters on the series as of late.
They gave him such a great arc, and he at least had a couple of seasons to evolve into a character that Chicago Fire fans came to know, love, and root for. He was complex, his story was appealing, and it slowly unfolded.
But then they just tied a bow around his latest arc to shuffle him offscreen, and his story feels incomplete. And for what? The budget?
Comparatively, Ritter was a great character whom the series introduced through various arcs.
He was a queer firefighter who had a wonderful dynamic with Hermann, which the series dropped, struggled with personal issues, and balancing his work and personal life was challenging.
They sidelined the character, and they’re now writing him out. So what to those of us interested in character trajectory and growth, right?
Now, Chicago PD has dropped Kiana Cook.
Critics and fans alike have raved about how great an addition she was to the series and unit, and the show made some real effort to develop her well, peppering in a background that was intriguing and exploring different dynamics among the team.
It all felt so natural, and it was also markedly different than what we’ve had before. But now, inexplicably and abruptly, the series is discarding this character as if she didn’t matter. The expectation is that we’ll roll with it because cast turnover has become the norm.
The only thing worse than when a series treats characters like they’re interchangeable is when they give us copy-and-paste characters.
It feels like there’s little to no thought anymore when it comes to character building.
Two out of Scola’s three replacement partners felt exactly the same: similar characteristics, physical features, and overall vibes.
Hotheaded, impulsive, yada yada — feels like a stale, recycled trope that procedurals rely too heavily on now.
FBI: International’s Wes, being the headstrong, rebellious type who doesn’t always play well with others and barrels through rules and red tape, wasn’t entirely different from FBI: Most Wanted’s Remy, who does the same.
And after multiple seasons of dealing with both Halstead and Hailey’s annoying, repetitive antics and drama on Chicago PD, we finally broke away from that this season, only for the series to cast the more levelheaded, easygoing, and collaborative Cook aside for another loose cannon with military experience.
Didn’t we have enough of that with Halstead and Hailey combined? Why are we doing it again?
Worse yet, the likelihood of this new character lasting longer than a season is low. So what incentive is there anymore to invest in characters?
Television is just going through the motions now instead of actually trying to produce quality content with characters who resonate with audiences and stories that stick with you long after the credits roll.
Characters have become warm bodies to fill in scenes and occasionally recite lines. They’re caricatures in life-sized form.
Now, they’re treated as if they’re interchangeable and expendable. Everyone takes viewers for granted –their tolerance, intelligence, patience, and loyalty. It’s tiresome.
Surely, this is cost-cutting and budget measures, as much as, if not more than, creative decisions. Hell, if it were solely about creativity, they certainly wouldn’t keep giving us half-assed characters and then failing to develop them.
I miss when characters used to matter more.
A great character will have people still discussing and dissecting them long after a series ends. And that’s starting to feel like a lost art form at the mercy of the budget.
Characters matter. TV as a business needs to remember that before it loses what’s left of its soul — and its audience.
We’re not a content farm — just people who love TV and are concerned about its future. Seriously.
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