discussion

Genrelogues Shaun and Jen’s new column about new and old SF/F television, film, and literature.  This week, Shaun and Jen tackle the first four episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., airing every Tuesday (8/7c) on ABC.  Though we will try not to ruin whatever we’re talking about with a lot of detail, you should be warned that spoilers are inevitable.  Read with care. If you have any thoughts about the show or what we’ve got to say below, leave a comment! ———————————————————————— Shaun:  Since this is our first Genrelogue, I want to start off by talking about the issue of anticipation in relation to this particular product.  There are a couple things I think are worth exploring here.  First, the simple fact that this is another attempt on the part of Joss Whedon to successfully capture the genre TV market, which we all know he hasn’t been all that successful at in recent years (the early cancellation of Firefly, by many accounts a classic, and the poor showing of Dollhouse, which got off on a bad foot the second the studios nerfed his original beginning).  Since his success with The Avengers, my guess is Marvel expects AoS to be their “in” to the TV market.  And since they’re on a major network — ABC — they will have the benefit of a much larger audience than their competitor, DC, whose only major live-action show, Arrow, appears on the CW — which, though successful within that particular network, does not benefit from