Here's one. Why do all the characters on TV show no longer talk like normal people?
Let's start with HBO's "Succession." a drama I have watched since it began despite the fact that I hate every single character in the cast. Since Season 1, I have been waiting patiently for the corporate jet crash that demolishes everybody. Finally, in its final season, they are starting to kill people off.
But I digress...
Everybody on "Succession" talks as their dialogue was crafted by Shakespeare or Norman Mailer or Noel Coward. Each sentence is designed to be the most profound thing you ever heard. Until the next line which is designed to be the most profound thing you ever heard. All of this is peppered liberally with the F bomb.
PS, nobody talks like this.
Let's move on to Apple TV's "Shrinking," which, in its first season, was a show I sort of liked despite the fact that the lead actor Jason Segel is a horrible actor. I watch it mainly for the comedic turn offered by, of all people. Harrison Ford. But, here again, we have a bunch of characters who are continually trying to top each other with cleverness. It sounds so unbelievable and hollow.
Add to this the always constant dropping of the F bomb by everybody regardless of age or gender. You would expect this kind of language from Tony Soprano and the boys. But from a bunch of maladjusted psychiatrists in Pasadena?
PS, nobody talks like this.
My last exhibit, your honor, is a Netflix show called "Unstable." I was drawn to it by the pairing of Rob Lowe with his real life son playing...ta da...father and son. I've watched two episodes and may or may not return. Why? Because it's another contest of who can say the most clever line of dialogue this side of Neil Simon. None of it sounds realistic.
TV writers should listen to conversations I have with my friends. As real and genuine and organic as you can imagine. And nobody is trying to top the other with a bon mot.
PS, we don't talk like that.
Dinner last night: Leftover SPO.
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