From: bmr@gonzo.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Bruce Reagan)
Subject: Re: Chris' hearing (12-14 ep.)
Reply-To: reagan@fedsrus.b15.ingr.com
Organization: unknown
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 15:39:50 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.115232.1@jaguar.uofs.edu>, jld7@jaguar.uofs.edu writes:
|> The author of POST 1907 writes that Chris is a non - essential character to the
|> show. I beg to differ with him on this point.  Although Chris is not one of the
|> major characters, he is essential to the show.  When NEXP began, the original
|> premise of the show was to focus on Joel; however, the writers realized that to
|> have a broader appeal, as well as more storylines, there would have to be more
|> focus on the inhabitants of Cicely, otherwise they would just be caricatures. 
|> Chris is essential to the show, as are all the minor characters, otherwise
|> there would not be as much focus on them as there is on Joel. Now the focus is
|> more evenly distributed among all of Cicely's inhabitants. Watching Chris'
|> hearing is kind of like watching a favorite movie that you've seen a dozen
|> times already, like say, The Wizard of Oz.  You already know what's going to
|> happen, but you still watch it anyway, although the only way you could watch
|> this particular episode would be with a VCR, but that's beside the point.u   965	Re: Chris' hearing (12-14 ep.)                [20] jld7@jaguar.uofs.edu 
|> Everyone knew that they couldn't get rid of Chris, but it was still a good show 
|> in every aspect, and it makes for some good conversation on the network to know
|> what others think of it.
|> 		
|> 		Happy Holidays everybody,
|> 			Take care,
|> 				Jennifer 


	I would certainly not argue that Chris is essential to the show (even
though I think MASH showed that almost any character can be replaced if done
right).  I will however, argue that Chris is not essential to Cicely from a
legal standpoint.  It could be argued that Chris is the spirit of the town and
he enhances the enjoyment of the lives of everyone in Cicely.  I don't see that
that makes him an essential member of the community.  I know of many communities
that do not have radio stations or doctors and they get along just fine.  What
annoyed me about the show is that there seemed to be no legal basis for the
judge to delay extradition.  In fact I don't think think there is a legal
definition of Chris-ness.
	I feel like we were cheated by the show.  I think that we knew that the
show would not allow Chris to leave and the writers had written themselves into
a corner that they couldn't resolve realistically so they made something up. 
You go into any story/show with a willing suspension of disbelief.  You say "Ok,
I'm going to believe what you tell me until you contradict yourself or do or say
something so illogical that I can't accept it. You then become absorbed in the
story and forget that you are watching a show.  I couldn't accept the judge's
reasons and that reminded me that I was watching tv and that, to me, is a
failure on the part of the writers.
	The good thing about the show is that the dialogue is so good and the
characters so rich that the plot itself is not always paramount.  Even though I
did not buy the ending, I did enjoy the show very much and I'm glad Chris gets
to stay for 3 more years.


-- 
Bruce Reagan
reagan@fedsrus.b15.ingr.com
bmr@gonzo.b15.ingr.com
Newsgroups: alt.tv.northern-exp