Sunday, October 30, 2005

Poll Results (such as they were) - Which Of These New Shows Do You Find Scariest?

Well that was a bit of a poor choice of poll questions. There were only three responses so scarcely representative of anything. There were two votes for Threshold and one vote for Supernatural. No other show, including my little "joke" entry of Martha Stewart's Apprentice got any support. I sort of think that's disappointing considering the reaction that a lot of people have to Martha and her show.Also not registering any support was Nightstalker which I suppose indicates that there was no real reason for reviving the series, or at least for reviving the series in the current form. I am reminded of Dick Law And Order Wolf's attempt to revive Dragnet. Good cast, good stories, but people didn't watch in droves

I think in a way that the new WB series Supernatural is the real successor to Darren McGavin's series. They're facing things that people wouldn't believe in even if they saw them themselves (and managed to survive) and are doing it outside the law because the law wouldn't understand. Kolchak - the real Kolchak - always had to deal with skeptical editors, police and just about anyone else. It doesn't hurt that these are the sort of urban legends and campfire ghost stories everyone has heard of, but with a frighteningly real spin put to them. No wonder the series is doing well (at least by WB standards).

I can definitely see the appeal of Threshold as well. Invasion often seems to drag and tends to be more focused on the family elements, while having little in the way of the sort of dramatic tension that its ancestor, Invasion of the Body Snatchers had. Surface which seems to be more about the government conspiracy than about any real threat that the sea creatures present. But Threshold gives us a real, authentic danger, a danger made all the more frightening by its nature. Without intervention anyone could be changed. The next one could be you. It's the real successor to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

I think I'll do classic TV horrors for the poll I'll post sometime Sunday.

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