There are certain shows which gather fervant fans who will not brook any criticism of their shining jewel of an obsession.

Azumanga Daioh is like that. That's the only show I've ever written a review of and then pulled back down off the web, because of all the static I received about it from true believers. One Piece seems to be such a show. Naruto is reputed to be like that, but none of my readers are fans so far as I know. For a while Haruhi was like that, and I delayed reviewing the series until after the religious hysteria died down a bit.

And I'm getting the distinct impression that Avatar -- the Last Airbender has such a following. Which is why I'm leery of writing what I'm about to write: I know what filler tastes like, and that's what I'm being fed.

These days I give a show 6 episodes or two serious attempts to watch it. And if it hasn't succeeded in hooking me by then, I give up on it. Well, I've watched 6 episodes of Avatar, and it took me two serious attempts to get that far. And what I'm seeing is the writers wasting time.

Which is the point where the true believers start shrieking. No! they say. Everything that's happening is important! they say. It's character building! they say. You may not realize it but you're receiving a lot of important back story! they say.

All of which misses the point: there's nothing going on that I care about.

One good way to tell when a show has lost its way is when there's almost no continuity between successive episodes. If a stretch of episodes could be watched in reverse order without seeming confusing, then you're watching filler. And that's the case for the last few episodes I watched.

Another is when my reaction to different episodes is wildly varied. I really enjoyed episode 5 (Bumi) and I thought that episode 6 (steel platform at sea) utterly stunk. I saw the preview for episode 7 and thought to myself, "I don't care. Why am I forcing myself to watch this?" It felt like work.

What I wanted, what I've been waiting for, was to see them find the other tribe of water benders and for the girl and the avatar to start learning water bending. I finally looked up some things, and based on the titles and other things I've seen, that doesn't happen until about episode 18. In the mean time I'm getting filler, oatmeal instead of meat. I'm getting day-in-the-life episodes. I hate day-in-the-life episodes! (Unless it's Aria, which is the exception that proves the rule.)

But if you just stick with it, it'll get better! the true believers moan. Why should I? It's the writers responsibility to hook me, not my responsibility to force myself to watch.

It's not impossible for a series to do it. Aria did. Nanoha did. Macademi Wasshoi did it. That's all in the last couple of months. I even stuck it out and watched all of Cyberteam in Akihabara.

But at this point I seriously doubt I'll watch any more of Avatar. It just isn't working for me. The series ran 60 episodes, about, and I figure there's really enough material here for one tight 24-episode season. All the rest is oatmeal, which could be watched in any order or omitted entirely without seriously confusing the audience.

Virtually every series contains at least some filler, but when filler predominates, the show isn't for me. Sorry, true believers.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in System at 09:55 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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