zvi likes tv

My small contribution to NotCapade, the notacon for the rest of us.

So, at last year's Eclecticon, I ran a panel on why some high quality television shows didn't get very much fannish activity, while other shows that were poorly written/acted/directed got lots and lots of fannish love. We came up with the lists below.

Fannish, not watchable	Watchable, not Fannish
Many gaps in plots and poorly illustrated character relationships SFF Amusing or light-hearted tone Episodic in nature Substantial worldbuilding with many underdeveloped and undeveloped areas Characters have a goal which defines but does not structure the show Pretty characters and visuals At least one OTP	Show thoroughly explores its own plot premises and character relationships Not SFF Unhappy tone Must watch each episode to keep up Universe is constantly jossed Distinctive dialogue High quality No fannish evangelist demanding fic of friends
Ex. Smallville, Supernatural, Harry Potter, SGA	Ex. Homicide, West Wing, Babylon 5, Sports Night

I've begun looking at any and all discussions of, "but why do people like this show which is *bad television*?" or, "why don't people write for my new shiny?" through this lens, and it seems to me that this works. But maybe I haven't looked far and wide enough. Does anyone know of any shows that are bad, popular with fen, and do not have at least 6 of the qualities on the first list? What about shows that are good, watched by a not-marginal number of fans, and yet don't seem to garner any fanactivity—no icon-making, no stories, no vids? Do you know of shows like that which don't have at least 6 of the characteristics of list #2?

Or are there characteristics we failed to capture? Are there other factors which make a show irrestible to large numbers of fen? Are there are other characteristics that make show so good, yet stop a fan from picking up keyboard and writing more herself?

Or, hey, what about list number three? What does a good show have to have that makes a lot of people do fan activity for it? Example shows would be The X Files, Buffy/Angel, Firefly/Serenity, and Due South.