(no subject)

[oselle]

Bela is apparently not returning.

I, of course, am overjoyed. But I'm already starting to see sniffing that Kripke is "giving in" to fangirl demands.

If he is, then this is one case where it's a smart move. The fans (who, I'll admit, are mostly girls) didn't dislike Bela in such large numbers because they were jealous or misogynist or whatever the hell fangirls tend to be labeled as whenever they take issue with a female character. They disliked Bela for all the RIGHT reasons. She was poorly conceived from the start and even more poorly executed. The writers gave her nothing to do except be "stylish" while making the heroes of the story look like complete idiots every single time. She was a glamour girl inexplicably dumped into a world of backroads, seedy motels and truckstops. Her character simply made no sense and no one ever made any effort to make her make sense. It was an unsustainable and unfixable situation, and I'm glad Kripke realized it -- and while I'm sure the fan reaction had some influence on the decision, I don't believe for a second that it was the sole deciding factor. We're not all that.

Secondary characters in general are a tricky bet. I tend to like them to "know their place." They turn up now and then. They function as a good resource or backup. They may provide comic relief. But no matter how great they are in small doses, I'll never be as interested in them as I am in the main characters and I don't really want them to be fleshed out. I especially don't want to see entire episodes revolve around them, even if it's only once a season -- to me, that smacks of a show that's running out of ideas.

The only exception I'd be willing to make in Supernatural's case is Bobby because they have managed to make his character so interesting and because Jim Beaver is just so fantastic. But even then, I'd only want to see an entire episode about Bobby if Jeffrey Dean Morgan was in it -- I so, so want to know why Bobby pulled a shotgun on John, and I'd be happy to devote 40 minutes of Season 4 to it.

At any rate, I think this is good news for the show. Now let's just hope they don't screw it up by replacing Bela with someone even more annoying. Would that even be possible?? I say don't replace her at all. Let's just get back to Sam and Dean...with a little Bobby on the side. And maybe some Ellen now and then. 'Kay?

Comments

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

I too have seen the “jellus fangirls” response to the news, but honestly, Bela’s character was quite unsalvageable and I’m glad she’s going. Most of the love interest-style supporting characters could have worked out with a bit of tinkering (yes, even Jo if they’d got rid of the brattitude and given her a purpose other than mooning after Dean) but whilst Bela worked OK as a one-off in a comedy episode, the writers clearly had no idea what to do with her after that and resorted to telling us how great she was rather than writing her that way. Let us hope that they spend some of the money they’ll save on sending Katie Cassidy to Acting Lessons during the hiatus!

I love Bobby, but hope they continue to handle him carefully. I’d hate him to go the way of Spike where promoting the character to a regular stripped him of all of the qualities that made him a fan-favourite in the first place.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'd love the money they save to go back into the music budget. I'm dying to get some Allman Brothers in there.

I agree with you about Bobby -- I don't have a problem with them retconning him into "Uncle Bobby" all of a sudden nor with him being "like a father" to Dean but they need to stop having the boys turn to him for everything (adorable though he may be). When it comes to supporting characters, familiarity tends to breed contempt.

And what's this nonsense about having to bump up supporting characters' roles to give J2 a break from all the work? Jeez. There are 40-year-old guys out there working 18-hour shifts on crab boats in the middle of the Bering Sea in January. I think Jared and Jensen are young and strapping enough to handle some long days on set. (Yes, I've been watching too much Deadliest Catch).

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Bobby -- I don't have a problem with them retconning him into "Uncle Bobby" all of a sudden nor with him being "like a father" to Dean but they need to stop having the boys turn to him for everything (adorable though he may be).

Yes - they made that mistake in Season 2 with the Roadhouse and put me right off the whole idea. What's the point of Sam having that enormous brain of his (yes, brain) when he keeps ringing Ellen/Ash/Bobby for the answers?

And what's this nonsense about having to bump up supporting characters' roles to give J2 a break from all the work? Jeez. There are 40-year-old guys out there working 18-hour shifts on crab boats in the middle of the Bering Sea in January. I think Jared and Jensen are young and strapping enough to handle some long days on set. (Yes, I've been watching too much Deadliest Catch).

This one puzzles me a little too. I'm sure the Js work very hard, but I recall all the Seventies shows that were single or double handers and wonder what has changed.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'll tell you what's happened, Ghyste. It's THESE DAMN KIDS TODAY. Don't know nuthin' about hard work.

Seriously though, you don't even have to go all the way back to the seventies. I recently bought my first boxed set of The X-Files. Season 3, 1995-6. Now, since I've gotten into SPN I've had this feeling that there used to be MORE to televison just a few years ago. Thought it was just me getting old. But I was right -- not only did every season of the Files have two whole more episodes, but every single episode ran almost five minutes longer than an average episode of SPN. Taken altogether, that adds up to a whopping three-and-a-half more hours of screentime every season. Actual screentime, not including commercials. Do you know how much story you can tell in three-and-a-half hours? And the two leads are on screen, either together or separately, in almost every scene. If David and Gillian could carry 24, 45-minute episodes every year, I'm sure Jared and Jensen can. I don't recall David Duchovny getting whiny about it until he had a wife and kids in L.A. that he didn't like being away from for so long, and he was also older, and had packed in more seasons, than either of SPN's leads has.

Brats!