Chekhov's Gun

[Listener]

For want of a better place to put this...

Is it just me, or is Chekhov's Gun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov's_gun) rapidly becoming the most overused cliche in TV these days?  I've seen it recently on so many TV shows (especially ER, but also Las Vegas, Criminal Minds, and most crime-related shows) that I now turn to my wife and say "gun on the mantelpiece" whenever it happens.

Discuss.

[gelee]

I agree.  You can see it coming a mile away, although this is the first time I've encountered the term, so thanks for the education!

[Listener]

I agree.  You can see it coming a mile away, although this is the first time I've encountered the term, so thanks for the education!

I aim to please.

I really noticed it the first time this year on ER, when Pratt was treating a former football player and he said "I need you to sign this consent and we're ready to go, and I have to tell you, there's a very minor chance of side effects x, y, and z."  That was about 5 mins from the end of the episode, but I just KNOW it's going to come back to haunt him.

[gelee]

I've actually noticed it on "Criminal Minds" a lot.  The featured Geek will usually mention something weird and out of context early in the episode - an obscure author, the Fiobinacci [sp?] Sequence, Brownian Motion, something - and it turns out to be the crucial fact that ties all the clues together and solves the case.  Kind of Deus Ex Machina, but laid up in advance?

[Listener]

I've actually noticed it on "Criminal Minds" a lot.  The featured Geek will usually mention something weird and out of context early in the episode - an obscure author, the Fiobinacci [sp?] Sequence, Brownian Motion, something - and it turns out to be the crucial fact that ties all the clues together and solves the case.  Kind of Deus Ex Machina, but laid up in advance?

It's not always Reid, but there's usually SOMETHING.

Speaking of CM, weren't you PISSED when Garcia & Morgan finally admitted their feelings, and then Garcia goes out and decides she thinks that other computer tech should be her next target?  ARGH!

[gelee]

Yeah, I was disappointed at that.  I was hoping the wouldn't run so true to type, but what can you do?  It's still big network TV.  One of the things I like about CM is that it's the SMART guys who save the day.  I wonder how much longer this strike is going to run.  The networks are already re-airing canceled programs from past seasons.

[Alasdair5000]

Yeah, I was disappointed at that.  I was hoping the wouldn't run so true to type, but what can you do?  It's still big network TV.  One of the things I like about CM is that it's the SMART guys who save the day.  I wonder how much longer this strike is going to run.  The networks are already re-airing canceled programs from past seasons.

Depends who you talk to.  One columnist claimed it was basically done, now, ten days ago and all that was left was final sign off.  However, Variety are currently speculating (Which is, of course, a world away from reporting) that it could go on into March.  Either way, from the bits I've been able to follow, if the strike isn't resolved very quickly now, basically every actor and a sizable portion of the crews working on most TV shows will, under force majeure legislation, be legally freed from their contracts.

Now if that's right, and I'm NO lawyer, that means that there are going to be some pretty serious contract renegotiations going on once this thing's finished.

[Russell Nash]

Yeah, I was disappointed at that.  I was hoping the wouldn't run so true to type, but what can you do?  It's still big network TV.  One of the things I like about CM is that it's the SMART guys who save the day.  I wonder how much longer this strike is going to run.  The networks are already re-airing canceled programs from past seasons.

Depends who you talk to.  One columnist claimed it was basically done, now, ten days ago and all that was left was final sign off.  However, Variety are currently speculating (Which is, of course, a world away from reporting) that it could go on into March.  Either way, from the bits I've been able to follow, if the strike isn't resolved very quickly now, basically every actor and a sizable portion of the crews working on most TV shows will, under force majeure legislation, be legally freed from their contracts.

Now if that's right, and I'm NO lawyer, that means that there are going to be some pretty serious contract renegotiations going on once this thing's finished.

Only the big names could get away with that.  That kind of bad faith dealing would end up getting people black-listed.  Or studios wouldn't hire them thinking they're just trouble witing to happen.

[gelee]

Yeah, I was disappointed at that.  I was hoping the wouldn't run so true to type, but what can you do?  It's still big network TV.  One of the things I like about CM is that it's the SMART guys who save the day.  I wonder how much longer this strike is going to run.  The networks are already re-airing canceled programs from past seasons.

Depends who you talk to.  One columnist claimed it was basically done, now, ten days ago and all that was left was final sign off.  However, Variety are currently speculating (Which is, of course, a world away from reporting) that it could go on into March.  Either way, from the bits I've been able to follow, if the strike isn't resolved very quickly now, basically every actor and a sizable portion of the crews working on most TV shows will, under force majeure legislation, be legally freed from their contracts.

Now if that's right, and I'm NO lawyer, that means that there are going to be some pretty serious contract renegotiations going on once this thing's finished.

Only the big names could get away with that.  That kind of bad faith dealing would end up getting people black-listed.  Or studios wouldn't hire them thinking they're just trouble witing to happen.

So do you think the networks will start looking for stand-in writers if this goes long enough?  They might make a reality show out of it and kill two birds with one stone.  "Who Want's to Write A Sit-Com!"  They could get Ellen Degeneres to host it.  A bunch of wannabe screen writers have to write a 5 minute skit every week, with the rest of the contestants playing the parts (no SAG labor).  Every week, America votes for their favorite skit.  The winner gets a one year contract to work in Fox's (did you really think it would be any other network?) R&D Department, writing pilots, and will get paid about half scale.
Hey can I copyright this idea?

[eytanz]

Now if that's right, and I'm NO lawyer, that means that there are going to be some pretty serious contract renegotiations going on once this thing's finished.

Only the big names could get away with that.  That kind of bad faith dealing would end up getting people black-listed.  Or studios wouldn't hire them thinking they're just trouble witing to happen.

Depends, really. It's not the kind of thing lesser-known actors can initiate, but if enough big names do it, that could start a cascade effect. Few people can afford to be singled out as troublemakers, but a lot of people are positioned to take advantage of a trend.

[DKT]

The actors better get some work done while they can.  Aren't contract negotiations for SAG (and the director's guild) coming up this summer?

[Alasdair5000]

Them and the Director's Guild I think.

Which could make life veeeery interesting.

   The weird thing is, that this may actually help some shows in trouble.  Jericho, with it's seven episode micro season in the can, is going to be one of the only bits of genre programming on the air.  Likewise, when the strike eventually resolves, shows like Supernatural are going, conceviably, to get a boost simply by the first new episodes in a while showing up.

[Planish]

(back on the rails)
One of the things I enjoyed most about David Lynch's Twin Peaks was the appearance of so many "guns on the mantelpiece" that never got used. You never knew which ones were going to be important.

[Russell Nash]

(back on the rails)
One of the things I enjoyed most about David Lynch's Twin Peaks was the appearance of so many "guns on the mantelpiece" that never got used. You never knew which ones were going to be important.

I love it when there's rat poison on the shelf or something and it just stays on the shelf.  One of the charactors is ex-military and he doesn't just crack or go whoop ass on someone.

[gelee]

If never used, Does Chekhov's Gun turn into a Red Herring?

[Russell Nash]

If never used, Does Chekhov's Gun turn into a Red Herring?

If shown right, it's just set dressing.  Guy's ex-military.  He has his old 1911 on the mantel piece.  He doesn't use it to kill someone at the end.  It's more realistic than using it to kill the bad guy.

[qwints]

I don't see what's wrong with this device. It seems to be the opposite of deus ex machina. Maybe if every episode of some television show has the murder weapon shown in the first five minutes, but too many red herrings get annoying.

[gelee]

I don't mind it, but if can see it happening, then it's probably being done wrong.

[Russell Nash]

I don't mind it, but if can see it happening, then it's probably being done wrong.

That's the point.  The problem is when they highlight it in Neon and say, "look, look".  Then it's just wait until the last scene when they use it.

[Heradel]

I can't say I've been surprised by one of those in a while — and it's usually so obvious when one is introduced that it makes the plot that more transparent. I agree that Cop shows do this the most — usually in the form of the killer being given more screen time early on than the other suspects, or with some other clear marker such as a typecast actor.

[DKT]

I will say, I don't mind this device when it's executed well but anytime Cary Elwes is a supporting detective in a crime thriller, I know who the killer is pretty much when I first see him on screen. 

[Alasdair5000]

I don't mind it, but if can see it happening, then it's probably being done wrong.

That being said, my favourite example of it's in the old Bablon 5 episode 'Grey 17 is Missing'.  Literally the first time you see Garibaldi, he's holding his grandma's old police revolver, cleaning it, telling a story about it and, of course, it ends up playing a role.  If it's going to be used, I have no problem with it being used that flagrantly:)

(Of course, I still remember being the only person laughing in the cinema when I saw Outbreak and, when asked where the dead guy caught the virus, Dustin Hoffman says 'In a movie theatre' then he, Rene Russo and Kevin Spacey ALL LOOK INTO THE CAMERA.)

[Planish]

(Of course, I still remember being the only person laughing in the cinema when I saw Outbreak and, when asked where the dead guy caught the virus, Dustin Hoffman says 'In a movie theatre' then he, Rene Russo and Kevin Spacey ALL LOOK INTO THE CAMERA.)

Umm... That would be a case of Breaking The Fourth Wall. Always a popular device.

[Alasdair5000]

(Of course, I still remember being the only person laughing in the cinema when I saw Outbreak and, when asked where the dead guy caught the virus, Dustin Hoffman says 'In a movie theatre' then he, Rene Russo and Kevin Spacey ALL LOOK INTO THE CAMERA.)

Umm... That would be a case of Breaking The Fourth Wall. Always a popular device.

Yes I know.  The point I was trying to communicate (And quite clearly some of it stayed in my head, sorry about that:)) was that I have a fondness for the 'architecture' of a story showing through if it's done right, be it Chekhov's Gun in Grey 17 is Missing or Breaking the Fourth Wall in Outbreak.

[Heradel]

Umm... That would be a case of Breaking The Fourth Wall. Always a popular device.

The Daily Show does that a lot with the Correspondent green-screens, though the mostly non-fiction nature of the show makes it less broken fourth-wall than other examples.

I've always wondered about where books like Bright Lights, Big City fall in terms of the fourth wall. The second person perspective doesn't breed that same sense of suspension of disbelief as first or third does.