R.I.P. Fantasy TV?
TELEVISION | Is fantasy TV dead?
Richard Hatch, Survivor.
This is all Mark Burnett’s fault.
Not so long ago, you couldn’t channel surf at primetime without seeing a big-headed alien or wrinkly-nosed vampire go by.
Then 1999 rolled around and Richard Hatch’s naked ass and evil plotting turned the tide.
With the premiere of Survivor, fantasy TV was out and reality was in. And primetime’s been a bit of a bummer ever since.
Maybe it’s got something to do with 9/11 or the state of the world, but there’s suddenly a stigma associated with the fantasy genre that goes beyond the simple historic “geekiness” of its rep.
Fantasy and Sci-Fi, at least at the moment, are not considered serious or smart enough for primetime consumption.
Total mistake, if you ask me.
Consider this: Reality and reality-based procedurals are both highly formulaic and often highly unoriginal.
There are no fewer than four versions of Law & Order currently airing new episodes, for goodness sake. And there are three versions of CSI.
On some level this makes sense. Shows based in hospitals, at crime scenes, in courtrooms, and at morgues appeal to audiences because they hit close to home. Serial killers, for example, could be argued to be a reasonable fear for the average viewer (in that they actually exist), but big-headed aliens? Not so much. The familiar machinations of a procedural are also a comfort when laced with the more disturbing episodic real-life issues those tend to traffic in (rape, illness, murder, etc.), and the simple reality of reality is appealing in its own way as well. (Richard Hatch was a shit head, but he was such a familiar shit head, you know?)
By contrast, getting an audience to stay tuned in long enough to get caught up on the plight of a teen vampire slayer and her 240 year old boyfriend takes some real creative talent.
But isn’t that a good thing?
Jennifer Garner, Alias.
At their core, the (overlapping) fantasy and sci-fi genres are generally about traditional themes of love, betrayal, loss, and growing up. And are those subjects any less real or relatable when approached from a new angle, or seen through a freaky lens that might include man-eating worms or long lost prophecies? Nah! They’re fun! But they’re still serious. And unlike shows like Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy or CSI: Iowa (those are real at this point, right?) fantasy retains its freshness.
Still, while we may be in a depressing downturn when it comes to fantasy offerings on TV, if there’s one thing this genre is good at, it’s coming back from the dead.
The fantastical tides may be turning again.
ABC is carrying Alias, a show that looks like a spy-drama-procedural on the surface, but contains hidden, super-weird depths, and Lost, which is definitely wacky as hell (though I’m not quite sure where it’s going yet). Both shows are booming in terms of popularity, despite featuring hard-to-explain phenomena like unidentified monsters, futuristic weaponry, and Jennifer Garner speaking Russian.
In other words, it’s possible that fantasy TV is making a comeback. You know what?
I want to believe.
SIDE: R.I.P. fantasy: When did some of the biggest shows bite it? A timeline.
When it comes to fantasy TV, in the last five years or so, the best of the bunch have all gone belly up. Here’s the dilly on when each one bit the cancellation bullet:
- Angel – 2004
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer – 2003
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch – 2003
- The X-Files – 2002
- The Lost World – 2002
- Xena Warrior Princess – 2001
- Star Trek: Voyager – 2001
- Are You Afraid of the Dark? – 2000
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – 1999
- Hercules, Legendary Journeys – 1999
SIDE: Craving a fantasy fix? Here are the networks to try, and to avoid.
LOST, currently on ABC [2005].
NBC: Nothing to see here.
As already mentioned, this network currently carries four different versions of Law & Order and not one single fantasy in its primetime line up.
CBS: Nyet.
Just as bad as NBC, CBS is the mother of three different CSI series, as well as Cold Case, and Without a Trace, but no fantasy or sci-fi.
ABC: Not bad!
ABC carries espionage drama Alias, mentioned above, which includes mysterious prophecies, super-weapons, and Jennifer Garner successfully disguising her identity with unbelievable wigs. Lost is also airing on ABC, and comes complete with paraplegics regaining mobility (out of nowhere, for no medical reason), cursed series of numbers, and unidentified monsters in the jungle.
FOX: Not non-existent.
FOX is more about nighttime soaps along the lines of The OC and North Shore, right now, but it’s also given a chance to Tru Calling, starring Buffy-alum, the Dark Slayer Eliza Dushku, as a medical examiner who can time travel.
The WB: The fantasy-factor is off the charts (considering).
The WB is really the only network of note operating right now to have any traditional fantasy offerings in its primetime slots. This teen-oriented network is home to fantastical-classic-cheesefests Smallville and Charmed, neither of which does the genre justice, but which are certainly better than nothing. And I’m sure there’ll be more come fall.
A version of this piece was published on the Dose website, pre-launch, March 14, 2005, as filler content before the paper began publishing in earnest. More film and tv pieces are here.