One. Two. Three.
Happiness.
For a brief, beautiful moment, I experienced genuine happiness at the end of Monday Night Raw.
My viewing of RAW last week was slightly similar.
Read MoreNXT, the WWE's farm-league show, is the right length of time combined with the right cast of characters combined with a focus on the most fundamental truth of the pro-wrestling fiction (that pro-wrestling is a legitimate sport, not a form of entertainment). This makes for a show that would entertain almost anyone - from the most jaded smark to the most inexperienced wrestling viewer.
Read MoreForty minutes.
That’s about how many minutes of legitimately good (or entertaining) television existed on last night’s three-hour RAW broadcast. This is an estimate based on the opening match, Daniel Bryan’s segment, and the final segment.
Read MoreLately, SmackDown has existed as background noise in my house.
This has less to do with the quality of the show and more to do with the fact that Raw’s three-hours saturates the viewer. By the time SmackDown comes around to HuluPlus on Saturday, I’ve already seen a minimum of four hours of WWE “content” (usually more as a result of perusing the WWE Network and YouTube). There is no other television-narrative I devote that much time to. Every other show I watch is either twenty minutes a week or forty minutes a week. Like most, I occasionally binge-watch a show, but such shows are always focused on the same characters or the same, consistent narratives. The WWE has yet to catch on to the viewing patterns of today’s generation, and the fact that more and more audiences are responding to psychologically driven, serial narratives with relatable characters in interesting situations.
Read MoreSinger/songwriter Sia recently released a spiritual successor to her massively popular music video for "Chandelier".
This video, for her single "Elastic Heart", features the same dancer from "Chandelier", Maddie Zeigler, performing alongside Shia Labeouf inside a steel cage.
Read MoreNXT is the best product the WWE offers, and more than enough reason to become a Network Subscriber.
And I am by no means a WWE shill. I'm hesitant to even write the phrase "WWE Network" because it's become associated with such negativity in our collective fan-mind (something that needs to be corrected in the future as it is actually quite a positive). I write that NXT makes it worth it because I am a subscriber, and every Thursday (soon to be Wednesday) when I see what is essentially a one-hour, genuine professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the WWE, I feel as though my investment is worthwhile and as though there is hope for the future of the company.
Read MoreIf you are reading these words, you most likely have a strong opinion about John Cena.
Whatever that opinion may be, I encourage you to read this from the perspective of what makes good character work, not from the perspective of a passionate "lover" or "hater". Love Cena, hate Cena, or ignore Cena, this article is about one thing and one thing only: how small, seemingly insignificant creative choices can have powerful thematic implications.
Read More“I feel like I’m watching something that hates me, and hates itself.”
This is what I texted to a friend in the middle of Monday Night Raw. This is what watching Raw’s laborious three hours can feel like for a fan, and especially for someone who’s been writing about the show for three years.
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