Angela's World

[grim4746]

I've been reading through the "Angela's World" section of this site and I have to say it has really made me think differently about the show. The analysis of the episodes has effected me the most. I suggest you all have a look if you haven't yet. A lot of what is said I agree with even though I hadn't considered it before. One thing I have to disagree with though is the analysis of "The Weekend". The episode is presented in what I would say is a harsh light. The author says the episode uses "artifical devices" and has a "lack of character development" and "wasted scenes" and is overall "simple minded" (Granted these are taken out of context but I am presenting them as I understood them). The author believes that the episode involves these poor qualities because it is a parody of the refuse that would be left on television once MSCL was cancelled. He has a good argument (and again I recommend reading it) but I just can't agree. I think there was intelligence in "the weekend". Admittedly the episode
was lighter and certainly a break from the heavy tone the show had taken especially in the previous episode but I still thought it was excellent and not as a parody. I've always viewed the episode as a light spot near the end of the series to remind the audience that even though things weren't going well for Angela et al at the time there would still be happiness and fun. I think of it as a last chance to see group of characters we'd come to love interacting without being at each other's throats (for the most part).
I know this post was long but I'm hoping some people will read it (I guess if you see this then you probably did) and I hope you will reply. I curious to know what others think about the episode.

[oldguy]

I think "The Weekend" kind of reflects well many weekends a lot of us have had.
I could relate well to that story, and I agree I didn't think at all that it was a parody
of anything. I hate to say it, but sometimes I think people who are trying to
intensely analyze things go too far --- and the writer of Angela's World probably
was reading way too much into things by then --- He was probably too frustrated
that the show was going off the air and interpreted everything through that frustration.

[ataris]

I have to say that I think a lot of us here who are really into MSCL read into it too much. I think that's because we like it a lot, and I my self do it all the time. With reading into the lines so much good and bad come out. We find flaws in the show but for every flaw we find 10 other things that make us love the show so much more. Back to Angela's World "The Weekend". Reading how that author analyzed it made me see the episode differently. I can see both sides on this. I can see how it's kind of a break from the normal plot and doesn't really deal with any major issues, so it could be considered not as good as some of the other episodes. And it's not one of my favorite episodes but they were trying to get a bigger audience and they had a really I don't know what's the word heavy plot and I think there was a much needed break. Such as a weekend. I do think though that it wasn't exactly mscl quality, it was kind of boring at some parts and had scenes that you would expect from any other teen sitcom. As always I'm not making a lot of since and I'm getting tired so I will finish this later.

[SteveReed007]

"Weekend" was delightful. I thought so from the first time I saw it. "MSCL" was so tightly focused on its storytelling, and beautifully so, that it didn't have much room for the all-out serendipity and surprises of a classic farce. "Weekend" put all that built-up steam into a great package.

(By "classic farce" I don't mean a story that is nonsense, as we usually use "farce," but in the strict sense of its meaning in the theater: a comedy that turns on rapid dialogue, quick interactions, and physical action.)

It had large and small touches that showed fascinating sides of these characters. A larger touch was seeing Patty and Graham as unabashed sexual beings, where we'd only had some potent but isolated scenes earlier. A smaller one was Rayanne's encounter with Danielle in the early morning, where they both show genuine affection. "They're brown." "That they are."

(For that matter, it was a refreshing change to hear Danielle's voice in the voiceovers, giving her character some added sides.)

Someone in this thread wondered whether Bill Blais was simply frustrated, by this point, with "MSCL" already being put on "hiatus" (in fact, cancellation). I suspect he was. Yet others have thought "Weekend" was too silly for other reasons, long after the press of writing "Angela's World" during and immediately after the series was on ABC.

If we're gonna get a sitcom dropped into a dramatic tapestry, make them all as good as this one, I say.

[Ken]

I haven't actually seen The Weekend so no opinion on this at the moment. But I would like to say that Angela's World is really worth reading because I found a lot of good analysis and observations that I didn't see b4.
When I initially started reading it, it seems overly longwinded and too detailed but there's quite a few good points in there. But one of the things that I find hard to see/agree on is the analysis of the different voice which seems a bit tenuous. E.g. How Brian(main stream) eventually got on with Rickie(minority, different voice) signifies the possibility that one day the different part of society will communicate with each other.

On the other hand, the observation on "cilantro" is good, how Angela is stepping up the pedestal instead of pushing Graham off the pedestal in Father Figures is right on.
But obviously, the interpretation of the ending is really open and I find it hard to concur with the how could she not go with Jordan arguments.

Anyway, hope I haven't bored you if you have read this far

Wasting way too much time, Ken