Constantine (The Series)

I'm giving it one more episode. I honestly have no idea why I should give a s--- about anyone in this show.

Well, I liked the second ep better than the first. Will give it a little time to find its stride...but I'm not holding my breath. Wish I liked it more.

Watched the third episode. The acting is excellent. The characters are good. The writing is third rate at best.

I did a little googling and found that the writers of this episode are clearly young kids with almost no writing experience. They have minor credentials but that's about it.

Plotnholes, things that make no sense (and not in the supernatural way) characters thinly drawn who react in ways that no person ever would. The kind of script that desperately needs a good editor but clearly did not have one.

If you look at a show like Supernatural, you'll find that the writers on that show are top level pros – people who can really write, people who understand how to put a script together.

I really fail to understand how a network show with this kind of budget can't be bothered to hire top rate writers. But they'd better do so pretty damn quick or the show will sink without a trace.

It's not like it's impossible to find good writers – there are literally hundreds of authors in the supernatural and horror genre who could turn out a better script them the one that wasn't used. And who would be very happy to have the money.

The only thing I can think of is that whoever's in charge of hiring writers either is giving a chance to their nephew or simply has no conception that writing is important to a TV series.

This is a show that has great potential and could be terrific. Clearly it's going in the wrong direction, which is a shame.

Honestly, it's only been a day and I can barely remember it. Didn't the denouement involve a play on that well-known* adage "Eating the contract"?

(* = sarcasm, since I'd never heard that as an adage.)

Sorry, but I feel a bit insulted that the studios would use a network show as training grounds for untested writers. How can anyone in a position of power call this good storytelling?

I'm done. I'm so freakin' done.

Rugcat, if you have any links, I'd be interested in reading about this.

CrastersBabies said:

Sorry, but I feel a bit insulted that the studios would use a network show as training grounds for untested writers. How can anyone in a position of power call this good storytelling?

I'm done. I'm so freakin' done.

Rugcat, if you have any links, I'd be interested in reading about this.

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Sorry to say, but I've made a mistake with this.

I often Google to find some information on the writers of shows I particularly like or dislike. In this case, the writers I googled were actually two writers who wrote a recent episode of Sleepy Hollow – which, although a bit weak in some aspects, I thought was quite good. And I was surprised to learn that it was written by two novices.

The writing was so bad in the episode of Constantine that I saw, that I somehow conflated it in my mind with the two novice writers – because I couldn't imagine professional writers turning out dreck of that quality.

So it's a good lesson I learned – just because you're a credentialed pro doesn't mean you can't write something bad. Just because you're starting out doesn't mean that your writing can't be good.

Oh man. I was about to give this show a try given my preferences in other Tv shows and stories - see my avatar - but the writing is really that bad? That hurts ad is so disappointing, especially given how the comic series really helped influence some of the things I love

Kweei said:

Oh man. I was about to give this show a try given my preferences in other Tv shows and stories - see my avatar - but the writing is really that bad? That hurts ad is so disappointing, especially given how the comic series really helped influence some of the things I love

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Oh, I'd give it a try. I liked the first two episodes, although the show is still trying to find its footing. It was only the third episode where I thought the writing was so awful – but even so, the acting and especially the main guy playing Constantine is pretty good.

rugcat said:

Sorry to say, but I've made a mistake with this.

I often Google to find some information on the writers of shows I particularly like or dislike. In this case, the writers I googled were actually two writers who wrote a recent episode of Sleepy Hollow – which, although a bit weak in some aspects, I thought was quite good. And I was surprised to learn that it was written by two novices.

The writing was so bad in the episode of Constantine that I saw, that I somehow conflated it in my mind with the two novice writers – because I couldn't imagine professional writers turning out dreck of that quality.

So it's a good lesson I learned – just because you're a credentialed pro doesn't mean you can't write something bad. Just because you're starting out doesn't mean that your writing can't be good.

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Gotcha! That's still a shame. It makes me wonder what is going wrong here? Do they not recognize the level of suck? Or will it improve and they expect viewers to hang on? Hmmmm.......

I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't take itself seriously AT ALL, and I love that: it reminds me of the rough-around-the-edges early seasons of Supernatural.

Though a derail on the Supernatural thread, where dragonjax mentioned how that show's got the monopoly on US mythology, has made me realise I'd deeply prefer it if Constantine was set in the UK instead. It would fit perfectly, since so much of the plot revolves around John's past around Britain, and one of the more notable episodes so far (to my tastes) was with the miners, which would've worked perfectly in a little Welsh mining village.

Sure, it wouldn't be true to the comics, but it would stand out a LOT more as a show.

EMaree said:

I'm really enjoying it. It doesn't take itself seriously AT ALL, and I love that: it reminds me of the rough-around-the-edges early seasons of Supernatural.

Though a derail on the Supernatural thread, where dragonjax mentioned how that show's got the monopoly on US mythology, has made me realise I'd deeply prefer it if Constantine was set in the UK instead. It would fit perfectly, since so much of the plot revolves around John's past around Britain, and one of the more notable episodes so far (to my tastes) was with the miners, which would've worked perfectly in a little Welsh mining village.

Sure, it wouldn't be true to the comics, but it would stand out a LOT more as a show.

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It's been a while since I've read Hellblazer, but weren't most of those stories set in the UK?

I really should watch eps 3 and 4.

Woops, maybe? I haven't read the comics yet but I thought they were set in the US! Might be getting confused with Preacher again, I have a bad habit of that.

EMaree said:

Woops, maybe? I haven't read the comics yet but I thought they were set in the US! Might be getting confused with Preacher again, I have a bad habit of that.

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Yeah. Hellblazer is set in the UK which is the biggest issue I have with the show right now.

EMaree said:

Woops, maybe? I haven't read the comics yet but I thought they were set in the US! Might be getting confused with Preacher again, I have a bad habit of that.

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Oh, Preacher. I so loved Preacher.

bearilou said:

Yeah. Hellblazer is set in the UK which is the biggest issue I have with the show right now.

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He came to the states in the books... I can understand from a money perspective doing the series in the US, though I do think there's this "US people won't watch foreign TV" (which is wrongheaded and silly to me, but then, Gracepoint is a thing, even though Broadchurch happened...)

dragonjax said:

Oh, Preacher. I so loved Preacher.

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Hellblazer was right at the edge of too-scary for me growing up. Preacher was well over that line. /wuss

I loved the last ep. The show really ought to stay closer to the book, because you get better things like that ep. As soon as the guy said his name was Gary Lester, my hopes jumped right up.

RichardGarfinkle said:

As regards last night's episode. I was kind of expecting more from the "cop" character.

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Were you expecting the Spectre*?

I was kinda hoping for (but certainly not expecting) some Swamp Thing easter egg (just a reference, y'know?). They were in Louisiana after all.


(*Clicking that link MAY lead to spoilers. I have no idea what the tv writers have planned.)

RichardGarfinkle said:

The question is was this Corrigan pre Spectre or was it The Spectre manipulating Constantine? Zed's vision at the end might have been precognative or she might have been seeing the Spectre inside Corrigan.

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I hope it was the former but suspect it was the latter (in which case I don't think he was presented very well--any viewer not suspecting something would never guess the detective was hiding anything--except maybe the kiss at the end which seemed "odd").

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

I hope it was the former but suspect it was the latter (in which case I don't think he was presented very well--any viewer not suspecting something would never guess the detective was hiding anything--except maybe the kiss at the end which seemed "odd").

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I only know 'Constantine' from this show, and even I thought the kiss was odd. It seemed like something that would happen between two characters who had more backstory or history together. Unless they're implying something, or foreshadowing?

NBC has halted production. Not looking so good...

dragonjax said:

NBC has halted production. Not looking so good...

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Erm...I was beginning to think I might maybe someday soon start to think it could possibly be okay.

Uh oh! If they quit on Constantine I'll need another show to recap for my blog! But arg! I can see why! The writing is terrible. Kind of hilariously bad actually. But not in the wonderful way that The Strain was bad which was amazing!