Z on TV: Dead on TV - Sun critic David Zurawik writes about the business, culture and craziness of television

April 7, 2009

Kutner's suicide on House -- an exploitative TV death?

Kal Penn

You have to hand it to Fox and the producers of House: They certainly seem to have cut through the clutter of a not-so-terrific year for primetime drama and caused a stir with the out-of-the-blue suicide last night of Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn).

From a publicity standpoint, Fox and the producers did a great job of keeping the plot development under cover until it happened -- thereby assuring the greatest impact. But there are issues that need to be discussed ranging from dropping a suicide bomb like that on viewers, to the way Fox is handling the death on the morning after.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about these intended-to-shock season-ending deaths and how much I hated the way they sometimes abused viewer emotions and the relationships some fans had built with favorite characters over the years. I think this one fits the profile.

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Posted by David Zurawik at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)
Categories: Dead on TV, Fox, Scripted Series

March 17, 2009

Let's NOT play the who-will-die? TV characters game

You know what game I am not going to play this year? The which-one-of-our-favorite-TV-characters-will-die-in-a-shocking-season-finale game.

I mean it. I have had it.

I believe in the reality of my favorite TV characters as much as anyone -- unfortunately, probably more so. And for more than two decades, I have been arguing that the best prime-time drama is as good as anything described in university syllabi as literature. In fact, I based my professional life on that proposition. And for a long time, I had no reason to question it.

But in recent years, prime-time economics and hustler producer-writers who have killed off characters left and right for shock value in an effort to paper over their failures as dramatists have cheapened the medium (cable channels like HBO included) to the point where it is a sea of cheap thrills and empty storytelling come season finale time.

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Posted by David Zurawik at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Dead on TV, Scripted Series