All Things Unoriginal

After admitting my family background, I must admit, something else, I don’t watch a lot of TV because I am not a very big fan of serial style narratives. Watching Star Trek (not DS9) was the closest to serial, and even Voyager can be watched out of order, the only real thing that changes episode to episode is how many tens of light years they have advanced in there hopeful but equally bleak 70,000 light year journey. However I have started to enjoy the serial of “The Riches,” maybe I can follow because they have a minute and a half long recap that recaps the season so far, however, this isn’t too hard because they are only on episode seven. Nor do I watch a lot of reality TV either; I prefer the good old comedy sitcom, sit down, and watch 30 minutes of TV and your done.

So I have read a few reviews about “The Riches” and I keep hearing that this show is unoriginal. I have no frame of reference, but maybe it is…. SO WHAT?! There’s not a lot of original and new stuff on TV, and I don’t need a CTV degree to see that! Three “CSIs,” five “Law and Orders,” five “Star Treks” and countless other direct spin-offs; those aren’t original either, but for the most part seem to be doing quite well in the case of “CSI.” One thing learned in TV class is there is very little new stuff, almost everything is based off of something else that came before it, especially now that there are so many channels and only so many hours a day, do the math, I have 100+ channels, others have more, every day that passes is 100 days of TV lineup. Everyone is looking for that something new, but everyone also seems content with rehashing the old stuff… “American Idol” is followed by a whole lineage of copycat shows, showcasing a supposed talent to the endearing fans. They’re all the same! Cable is no different, there are countless dating “reality” shows, but they are all the same too, just with different “twists.” Reality shows became very popular here in the US in the new decade, but only if you never flipped on a foreign channel. But even those can find roots in 1950’s games shows.

“Married with Children” may have been new, but how original is it to get an idea by starting out saying, “We’re not the “Cosby Show,’” may make for something new, but still unoriginal. Taking a list and changing the positives to negatives still equals the same thing, just negative. It has originality; it does things previously unable to be done on TV, much like HBO leads the way with “The Sopranos” or “Sex and the City.”

For those up on history, the originality of TV becomes even less remarkable when radio is factored into TV’s history. The serial format itself is old, dating back to early radio. Reality shows could be found on “candid microphone” shows as well as trivia and game shows.

Originality aside, the premier of “The Riches” raked in 3.8 million viewers and another 1.35 million in an encore presentation. Of those first 3.8 million, 3 million viewers were previously tuned in to “The Day After Tomorrow.” I don’t know where to find more current ratings, so that will have to do.

The show is somewhat predictable, but general plot lines often are (back to the originality problem). The first few episodes were rough, but once they were finally beginning to even think about calming down, the “old family” finally catches up at the end of episode four, didn’t take long did it? The family had to catch up some time, they new it was going to happen with in the show. FX could have allowed more time to reunite the families, however the reemergence of the family in episode six provides “The Riches” with an easy end to the series if it would ever need to be ended in less then one show.
SPOILER… but not really… Wayne is announced as the front-runner for leader of the old family. The Malloys fail, they go home, they clear up a big mess started at the end of episode five, and our beloved family with Eddie Izzard as patriarch lives on happy as the leader of the gypsy travelers and the whole family is armed with new life experiences and school for the children.

None of the general plot line is new though, but then again, if you want to generalize everything, almost nothing is new at all, the world has been around for just to long, new things are generally improvements on the old with new twists. What is the Internet but an extension of the early radio days when anyone with some electrical know how could be on the airwaves communicating with other people? To me, and apparently everyone else, it’s the specifics that is what matters… Are they dancing, singing, skating, eating worms? They are all the same format, just different specifics, and as far as I am concerned, a gypsy family with no education jumping into the rich, highly educated life, with nothing more then a branch through another man’s heart is pretty original on the specifics.

So what if it is unoriginal? So is the majority of what else is on TV, get over it and go watch YouTube, but if you look real close, how much of that is distinctly original?