Forgive me, but my mind is all over the place this morning. A lot is popping in my mind about writing in general and me figuring out some stuff. So.. let me just flow with it today.
First of all, last night I was one of millions that was excited to watch the return of the sitcom errr dramedy The Game. For anyone that doesn’t follow the show, it stars Tia Mowry (of Sister, Sister fame with her twin Tamara), Wendy Raquel Robinson (best known for her role on the Steve Harvey show as Principal Grier) and other talented actors such as Britney Daniel, Pooch Hall, Coby Bell and Hosea Chanchez. The show originated on the CW network, but after three seasons it was cancelled. Admittedly I was slow to catch on to the show as it did have a slow start. However, I got into it as the drama started to build while still carrying a healthy dose of comedy. The writing was excellent!
As they say, all good things must come to an end and with that the show was cancelled. But die-hard fans weren’t having it. Petitions, protests (did it really go that far?) and just an out cry of support caught the ears of executives at Black Entertainment Television (BET). BET eventually revived the show and after a two-year absence viewers were ready! Only it wasn’t the same. People are now referring to the show as the BET version versus the CW version, and understandably so.
Granted, I’m not a screen writer, but some things about the show seemed really off last night. While I was entertained I felt like something was missing. There was no longer that balance of comedy and drama and some of the development of the characters just seemed overly done. Blogger Tyler Lewis did an EXCELLENT review, with a breakdown on what was right and wrong with last night’s premier. It was obvious the writers were pushing too hard. Maybe to live up to the hype and expectations? My main gripe was how Britney Daniel’s character, Kelly, was once warm, smart and a little bit of sassy. Now Kelly is parading around as a bitter bitch holding grudges against her ex-husband Jason (Bell) and once upon a time friend Tasha (Robinson). It just seemed all wrong for Kelly’s character. I wish the writers would have stayed away from stereotyping Kelly has a bitter divorced woman.
As a different kind of writer, I’m not sure what I would exactly suggest if I were in the position to. I do know I wouldn’t exacerbate each character’s development by taking them a step backwards. Then again, maybe the writers are taking into account some aspects of real life when people do go backwards and not forward. However, it still seemed a bit extreme compared to the “CW version.” The only situation that seems to make sense is the saga between Derwin (Hall), Melanie (Mowry) and Janay. As Lewis pointed out in his blog post, Melanie was the only character that hadn’t changed since the CW days. So it’s as if the writers continue to play up Melanie’s selfishness to see how far she can go before completely destroying her marriage to Derwin.
I’m still a fan, so come next week I will be watching to see if the show’s momentum can continue after last night’s seemingly over done hour. Truly they gave away too much. However, they are scaling back to 30 minute shows starting next week. Writers of the show, don’t let us fans down!
In other news (and on a more personal note), I’m a little disappointed that I haven’t worked on my manuscript in a couple of weeks. In some ways it’s understandable as I have been dealing with a lot. Mainly the renovation process that has been off and on in my home. There’s still small work to be done, but the last of the major work (my bedroom) is complete. I finally have my “Tiffany Blue” room. So now I’m spending time unpacking my life.. all 31 years of it.
Side note: Not quite 31 yet, but will be in a few weeks….
It’s refreshing as I unpack and discover things I wrote years ago. I came across my first attempt at a novel that I wrote in the tenth grade. I even had an artist, who was a grade level above me, do cover art for it. She willingly DREW my cover art for nothing. I would love to know what she is doing now. I guess I could look her up on Facebook.
Aside from stumbling across long-lost ”literature” I revisited my chapbook that I created a year ago. The book contains poetry and prose and I had no real plans for it. I’ve only given away three copies, but now a small enterprising side of me is starting to talk. I’m thinking of starting small with publshing the chapbook and then going for the gusto and with the manuscript. This kind of scares me. I’m ready to “come out,” but I’m such a virgin of fully stepping out as a creative writer. Being published as a journalist or as a writer within an anthology is one thing, but when you are talking about flying solo, to establish yourself, it’s exciting and scary.
Being this is my first chapbook I don’t know the ends and outs of distributing/selling copies. I’m currently in the process of researching on how to properly go about legitimately publishing it. So far, I’ve started with the Poetry Society of America. There is a list of chapbook publishers that I want to comb through. I shall keep you all updated on what I come up with.
As far as the actual manuscript is concerned, I’m aching to get back to it. I just hope I don’t become a slave to my distractions like I normally do.
January 12th, 2011 → 3:22 pm
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