Are TV Writers Off the Hook for Realistic Storylines?

As a writer, I often hear the advice of how important it is to create realistic characters and storylines. You are never supposed to take the easy way out and leave the reader feeling disappointed. It seems some TV writers are not held up to the same standards.

Several months ago I got back into one of my favorite soap operas from my youth--One Life to Live. I got hooked on the storyline of John McBain and Marty Saybrook--wondering if they would ever get together despite Marty still mourning the loss of her husband, Patrick, and the challenges that John has with emotions and dating women. It finally looked like they had a shot. They began sharing special moments together and spent one night in a hotel room in Louisiana.

But, happy endings are boring, as are happy couples, so the morning after their night of passion, Marty is abducted. Amazingly, before John and Marty sleep together, she bares the secret she's been carrying--Patrick was murdered. So, when Marty turns up missing and John finds out that Cole has been taken too, John is easily able to figure out that the past has come back to haunt them.

Now, if the coincidences ended there, I might have been okay with that. But...

* John elicits the help of Ramsey--an FBI agent from John's past--who just happens to know the man John thinks is responsible for Marty and Cole's disapperance

* Ramsey--who was already working with John to find John's sister-in-law (Marcie) who is on the run with her adopted son, Tommy--just happens to know the last location of the guy John wants to find

* Ramsey is able to drop his job of hunting for Marcie in order to help John track down this guy in Ireland who might have taken Marty and Cole. I wonder if the real FBI works that way? If it does, then that certainly explains a lot about how ineffective one organization can be.

* Both men make it to Ireland in record time and find where Marty and Cole are being held very quickly

The next few things that happen I can buy: on the airplane to Ireland, John discovers a chip that Patrick hid in a poetry book (he took it from Marty and Cole's apartment after it was ransacked) which holds the information the guy who took Marty and Cole wants; John and Ramsey are overpowered when they try to rescue Marty and Cole, but John makes a deal with Simon (bad guy) to give him the chip in exchange for Marty and Cole's safe return; Ramsey--who has his own agenda--goes after the van carrying Marty, Cole, and Simon and shoots a tire, so the driver loses control and the van careens off a cliff.

Here is where reality takes a nose dive again:

* The van does several flips and lands on its side. Marty is the only person John finds in the van and he assumes Cole has been thrown. But since Cole was in the back of the van and the windows were closed, how did he fly out? John had to pry a door open to get to Marty, so how was Cole not in the van?

* Simon is nowhere to be found. I guess we could assume he jumped, but John and Ramsey would probably have seen him. And with the injuries he would have sustained in the accident, it's not like he is running anywhere.

* There is talk that the actress who originally played Marty Saybrook might return. Well, little problem--Marty just got blown up in the van because she sent John out to find Cole--who once again had been somehow thrown from a closed van. While John is tending to Cole's injuries, a spark ignites the leaking gas tank and the van blows up. So, how is Marty going to return at all? I guess she could be a ghost like Spencer Truman was for a while. But I can't imagine them recasting the part just for Marty to be a ghost. So, are we to believe that Marty, who was trapped under a heavy box, with numerous injuries--including two broken legs--slithered out on her own and just wasn't found by John or Cole? I really can't wait to hear what they are going to do with this one.

I can appreciate a good story and lots of conflict as much as the next reader/viewer, but I don't like the idea that I have to be careful not to take the easy way out in my stories, but TV writers can sacrifice believability and common sense in order to get to where they want the story to be.

Sloppy writing

Ever have one of those days when sloppy writing just irks you? Today is one of those days for me. Must be the heat because everything is getting under my skin.

The continuing story of Jessica and Nash (can't stand this guy) on One Life to Live has taken another turn. Antonio (Jessica's ex-husband) has requested that Nash buy out his share of the vineyard--the business that Nash and Antonio went into together. But Nash doesn't have the money. Antonio has given him a short time to raise it before he sells his shares to the highest bidder. Feel the pressure here?

Pressed for cash and running out of time, Nash hears about this high stakes poker game going on after hours at Roxy's saloon. Big wheelers are coming in from Atlantic City to play.

Here is where it gets sloppy: two people show up at the saloon. Only two people. So, if Nash hadn't weaseled his way into the game these two people would have squared off against each other? And I am supposed to believe this is a high stakes poker game.

Please don't insult me. If you want me to believe this is an important game, then at least have more than two high stakes gamblers show up to play against the show's regular.

The Curse of Being A Writer

Now, don't get me wrong--I love my job. It's one of two things I've ever wanted to do with my life. But there are times when it can really stink to be a writer.

Maybe this isn't true for everyone, but I can't just read for enjoyment anymore. I am always dissecting plot, keeping an eye on the author's style, and noticing typos. I wish there was a way for me to shut my writer's mind off for a little while and just enjoy a story or book.

Then there are television shows. Randolph Mantooth (Emergency, Loving) is one of my favorite television actors. He had a brief stint on the soap opera One Life to Live recently and I've found myself watching this soap again even though they killed Randy's character off weeks ago.

But I can't just sit there like a couch potato and go ga-ga over the gorgeous actors and get caught up in the storylines, because I'm trying to figure out how the writers are going to plot out the next episode.

There is an ongoing storyline between Detective John McBain and Dr. Marty Saybrooke. Marty thinks she killed Spencer Truman and John doesn't believe she did it. He is determined to prove her innocent, but he is having a heck of a time convincing Marty that she didn't stab Truman. What makes the situation even more interesting is that John cares for Marty.

Here is where things can get real good: Marty is convinced she is guilty of killing Truman--even though her memories are still vague and she doesn't remember actually stabbing him. But, since Marty believes that she did it, she plans to plead guilty at her arraignment. John is going to be escorting her to the court house.

More than a couple things could happen between John and Marty. John has been begging Marty to plead not guilty so that he has time to snuff out the true killer. And while pleading guilty will mean a separation from her only son, Cole, Marty is willing to do that if he is well taken care of. She is placing all her hopes on his future and seems to believe her life as she knows it is over because she must pay for what she did. But what if on the drive over to the court house John declared his feelings for Marty? Would that be enough to give her a reason to plead not guilty? Could John's admission make Marty look forward to the future and give her something to concentrate on other than paying for a murder she might not have committed?

That's one possibility, but how about if Cole figures out that John is in love with his mother and he is the one who lets the cat out of the bag right before Marty is arraigned? Will she believe Cole? Or will she think it is just a plot to get her to change her plea? Or, could Cole's announcement be just the thing to get Marty to think jail isn't where she wants to spend her free time?

Maybe it's neither of those two ideas. John McBain--from the short time I've watched him--isn't a guy who shows too much emotion. Would he be willing to make himself vunerable by admitting to Marty that he loves her? Or would he keep working on trying to find the real killer, but never say anything to Marty about his true feelings. He is a cop--first and foremost, and if his feelings became known it might jepardize his chances of ever finding the real killer.

And Cole, would he even have the wits about him to figure out that John is hot for his mom? I mean, he's got enough of his own crap going on--including testifying against his step-father who had blackmailed Marty into marrying him so that he wouldn't tell the police that Marty killed Truman and who also tried to convince Cole to kill the guy that his step-father was holding hostage in the storage room of their apartment building.

As I watch this story unfold, I wonder if the writers and I are on the same wavelength. I think about all the possibilities that could be played out in the next episode and I remember back to a time long ago, when I was a kid watching One Life to Live on a 19" color TV with rotary dials, and how none of these things plagued my mind. I just vegetated in front of the television set and enjoyed watching the actors portray these characters without any thought to the fact that there were writers behind the scenes making these characters act the way that they do.

As a writer, I'm lost to that forever. But I can still watch and learn how to weave great storylines with strong, believeable characters, who make desperate choices when put in desperate cirucmstances. I can see how other professional writers keep engaging the reader time and time again and strive for the same excellence in my own work. I will pay attention to how backstory is woven into the current action so that I don't bore my readers to tears when I need to spotlight some aspect of a character's past.

I guess it's really not a curse after all!