The key is to ground insane stories in people viewers care about. If stories like the Old West or Viki's spaceship adventure worked, it was based on people caring about Viki and Clint.

Something like 1968 didn't work for me because I didn't give a rat's a$$ about Rex or Gigi...which has basically been the problem I had with most of the show's stories in the last few years, lack of investment in the characters the show loves.

I dont think people would want that even if it was based around vets. Would the 1968 stuff had worked had it been all about Bo and Nora? I think it still would have been a mess. I dont think Rex/Gigi were the problem as it was good for a week thing. The problem was it lasted too damn long. Had it gone on for most of the summer with Bo/Nora most of us would still be complaining about it dragging on and yelling for him to come back to this reality already

I dont think people would want that even if it was based around vets. Would the 1968 stuff had worked had it been all about Bo and Nora? I think it still would have been a mess.

That's another thing. A story must be right for a character and vice-versa. You can't just plug characters into a situation such as time-travel and hope for the best. Viki's "Round Trip to Heaven" might have been unusual for her on the surface, but it worked because the story emphasized Viki's reunion with Joe, Meredith, Tony and others.

I dont think Rex/Gigi were the problem as it was good for a week thing. The problem was it lasted too damn long.

We know Bo and Rex won't prevent David from being born (natch), so...why are we back in 1968 again? So Rex and Gigi could be separated and have to fight their way back to each other? Really? You know, it would have been so much simpler just to have Rex go on the run for a crime he didn't commit.

I dont think people would want that even if it was based around vets. Would the 1968 stuff had worked had it been all about Bo and Nora? I think it still would have been a mess. I dont think Rex/Gigi were the problem as it was good for a week thing. The problem was it lasted too damn long. Had it gone on for most of the summer with Bo/Nora most of us would still be complaining about it dragging on and yelling for him to come back to this reality already

People probably wouldn't have cared that much, but I think they would have cared more than they did with Rex/Gigi. That story, and the even worse followup when Rex was shot, basically put a big red flag on what shockingly poor actors JPL and FF are and how little chemistry they had onscreen. I know a lot of people don't like Nora or Bo/Nora, but I think they would have made that part of the story work.

Stories in recent years are both endless and full of uninvolving characters, and while some seem to have some type of purpose, I guess (this two Todd stuff), others are bewildering and repulsive (Rex, our "hero", sells his wife for scrap and then digs up her corpse after trying to kill other women and going to a lap dance club).

Edited August 28, 201114 yr by CarlD2