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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Why series about immortal characters should never last more than three seasons…

...without a cast turnover or them being turned mortals.

Now this isn’t the first time this issue is addressed. I’m sure of that. Well, if I had done some research, I’m sure I could’ve said I’m certain, but let’s not dwell on that. *Studies have shown that TV series about immortal characters, whether vampires, aliens, angels, demons/any other creature that somehow has managed to cheat death for centuries/millennia, should never last longer than three seasons. Why, you ask?

Here’s a hint. Because in real life, all of the actors and actresses portraying said characters are (do prepare yourselves to be shocked!) very much human. I’ve been a fan of several shows where immortality was one of the main ingredient. Vampires, angels, you name it, those shows had them in spades. It’s amazing for the first couple of years, until the supposedly immortal (who by the series definition, unchanging in physical appearance) character begins to change. Hair can be dyed, wrinkles can be covered up with make-up (or botox, I don’t judge), but you can’t change or stop the maturing process that comes with age. Being stuck in a certain role for a decade doesn’t stunt your actual physical development. And there’s nothing wrong with that. People age, kids grow up, we are all aware of this, or at least I hope we are. But that should also reflect in the nature of their work.

A show of hands from those that have seen Charmed. If you haven’t, do give it a try, it’s actually rather good. Except, it lasted for over nine years and all the immortal characters were obviously changing before our very eyes. A marathon showed that more so than anything else. I’m perfectly comfortable of suspending disbelief when watching something, because the acting was good enough to make me less worried about the fact that the whitelighters had obviously “grown-up”, but I am less inclied to do so when a thirty something year old is still forced into the mold of a high-school student. That’s mostly an American trend, admittedly, but it actually made me wonder if everyone in the schools from the US look like they could legally purchase alcohol. I mean, seriously, would you card a guy that looks like John Bender in The Breakfast Club? Why are fake IDs even necessary since they can all grow beards?

3x04-Leo   & 8 years later     7x03-Leo

Most of the vampire series that are currently on TV had been guilty of this, with actors and actresses way in their thirties still playing seventeen. It would work if they looked even marginally in their late teens, yet most of them don’t. To keep from being mean, by all means, do go on with the show, but maybe have a cast turn-over? Or have the characters graduate? It’s been known to happen, yet sometimes it isn’t fast enough for credibility of the role to be maintained.

I am aware that most of the casting is done for convenience’s sake. You can’t hire kids because it limits their work hours and there are different laws and so on (not to mention that *gasp* they too will eventually grow up). But if that’s the case, don’t spread out your show until your cast turns forty, while we’re being repeatedly told that they are twenty or twenty five. A change in the shows’s mythology goes a long way.

 

250px-822679_1315066957872_fullThis is the type of thing that alters our perception of age. I didn’t notice it before I grew up a little myself, but let’s face it. If people start to believe that this is how seventeen years old are supposed to look like, a lot of high-school aged girls are going to be severely disappointed, not to mention the guys will end up with self-esteem issues. Not to mention the many times I’ve seen people being insulted for “looking old”, even when they actually looked their own age. Keep in mind that not everyone that’s fifty will “keep” as well as Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt. Aging is normal, but trying to pretend it doesn’t exist is…slightly damaging.

That’s not to say I didn’t dream about being young forever and maybe it’s why we allow ourselves to pretend we simply don’t see that growing up happens on TV as well, but I’m a nitpicker from time to time and this is one of my personal pet-peeves about supernatural shows.

 (hint – the guy in this picture? Not seventeen.)

 

 

*studies done by me by not actually doing them (but it sounds smart, doesn’t it?)

Cristina Bogdan
Cristina Bogdan
What's there to say about me? I love the sci-fi and fantasy genre when I read, but I am in no way limited to that alone. I do think Frank Herbert deserves a statue for his writing(if there is one, point me in that direction, please). I enjoy writing quite a lot, but I am also kinda lazy. If you want to make me happy give me books or Doctor Who collectibles. Or a real TARDIS, in which case I will love you forever.

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