Seen Any New Blondes Lately?
By Brad Parker

       If you have had the humbling opportunity to turn on the TV recently, you would discover that most things aren't the same. I recall a time a few weeks ago, when I saw a preview for the season-opening episode of the ABC series, "Spin City." The preview showed our character, Michael J. Fox, smitten after meeting German übermodel Heidi Klum (Last years cover of SI's swimsuit edition) during a photo shoot with the mayor. I decided that it would be perfectly human of me to turn on this sitcom, since I had watched it to a moderate degree last year, and for other undisclosed reasons (note words German übermodel, above). I sat down to watch a show not called "Spin City", but "Trend Town." The opening scene showed Michael J. Fox roller blading through the hallows of New York City hall, listening to the Barenaked Ladies on his headset. Quick, open up the Encore! section of the Sunday paper. See what group has a hit toppling the charts- ohp! it's the Barenaked Ladies. As this charade continued, the usual main five characters entered the screen, giving him a list of 1,000 things to do.

       More interesting was the way the fashion sense of this group had changed. A usually reserved and homesick secretary from Wisconsin, James, now sported a Kanga hat and a new wardrobe. Another one of the secretaries, who just last year was struggling to break away from living with her parents, now wears a voluptuous wardrobe and blonde hair. But by far the worst change towards trend in this show was the changing of a character's character. Nikki, a secretary who gained popularity and infamy for slamming Fox verbally on a daily basis now has strong feelings for him and is shy and slow to the gun for the comeback. Without a doubt, a change in the fashion was coming, but in a sense the whole show took a new turn. This almost makes "Spin City" obnoxiously routine, and makes it a chore sometimes to get the jokes. How one show can go downhill so quick remains to be seen; about the only thing that they haven't done is change the names of the characters- stay tuned, though.

       This sort of change is nothing out of the routine, however. Many shows have changed everything to create a hit. Shows in the past, take "Coach" for example, which bounced on and off the air for years before they were given a permanent spot. Eventually, every show loses something and winds up on the Family Channel. What makes a good show, however, is a solid that are masters of non-conformity. Looking at shows that were successful, classics, like "Cheers" and "The Cosby Show" all depended on viewers. The viewers depended on the producers and writers to make a show that could express something genuine, something inventive or something accurate.

       People didn't turn on "Cheers" and expect Norm to suddenly be intelligent, and viewers didn't turn on "The Cosby Show" to see Theo as a glowing example of every African-American teenage male. The fact that these characters did not change while other sitcoms did is what made these shows special, and this is the type of thing that will eventually kill shows like "Spin City." The show sees themselves looming atop the ratings, and feel like they must change to draw more people. If wanted to see what was popular, we could just open a YM and find out. The majority, however, look to TV as a way to find this and we have seven million variations of the same style. TV has been both reveled and damned for this, but the population of America's youth has an uncanny way of finding out for themselves what is hip and in- it's called school. Any school. High School or elementary school, this is what has usually set the standard.

       Of course, we cannot help but remember that the Barenaked Ladies new album was one of the first to be featured on the show "Dawson's Creek." With both of these venues doing quite fine, thank you, one cannot help but realize the connection between pop-Americana and the television. Something undeniably strange, though, happens when TV tries to reenact teenage virtues: it either becomes the newest trend or is burned more than an acting attempt by Marky Mark. Case in point, "Dawson's Creek" vs. "Clueless." The WB is killing the ratings with this show about a group of friends that are like every other normal group of 17-19 year olds. They just hang out, spend the night at each others house, have reckless parents, and mope to all of the hippest tunes. All in all, "Dawson's Creek" has success because the viewing audience either can relate perfectly, need to see how it is done, this relationship thing, or tune in to laugh at characters they are nothing like or much to cool for. This is what most producers are looking for. They want people to watch with no expectations and to have a variety of reasons for watching the show. Looking now at a show light-years away, "Clueless", it is obvious to see that this show not only because it was overkill and ridiculous compared to the film, but that instead of trying to introduce something unique and a new style, it drew upon people who already existed. People like Cher (the main character of the show) are nothing more than bashed for their fashion sense, and there is nothing exciting about a group of people that have already been stereotyped.

        A proper degree of uncertainty makes a great show, and this is what makes "Dawson's Creek" annoying, but better. The people within the show are very hard to group or classify, unlike the spoiled, arrogant snobs in "Clueless." An ungeneric sort of nature exists, and this is what keeps people watching. Maybe they're just waiting to pounce on a time to see Katie Holmes become utterly stereotypical, but I haven't seen it yet. As for "Clueless", I'm sure that you can catch all the "great" episodes on the WB this week- oh, wait a second- not anymore. Buffy's on.