Thoughts on Tru Calling?

Quote from the Fox Boards:

Tru Wakes up.
Tru gets call from some one. (i.e. Brother, best friend, etc.)
Tru makes lunch date.
Tru has lunch. (setting up sub-plot)
Tru goes to work.
Tru gets phone call from person she had lunch with telling how much of a disaster their day was.
Some dead person says "help me".(setting up main plot)
Un-origional series of cuts indicating day is beginning again.
Tru wakes up again.
Commercial break
Tru gets call from some one. (i.e. Brother, best friend, etc.)
Tru makes lunch date.
Tru has lunch. (She advises Brother , best friend, etc. not to do what ever caused them to have a horrible day)
Tru then spends much of first half of show enlisting her brother or morgue friend to help her find who the dead person is. (This is now much easier now that she has confided in them both about her power. It is irrelevant that they believe her or not because they always help her anyway.)
Commercial break
HORRIBLE FLASHBACK!!! Accounting the past half hours procedings. (Side note: If Peter Jackson can allow us the curtesy of no Flashbacks bringing us up to speed for the "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy for three complete years. I THINK THAT I IN MY FEEBLE MIND CAN REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST 22&1/2 MINUTES OF A TV SHOW WITHOUT HAVING TO BE TOLD WHAT PREVIOUSLY HAPPENED BEFORE THE COMMERCIAL BREAK! But I digress. Sorry.)
Tru runs through the day solving the puzzle of how the person got killed. (Again enlisting Bro & Morgue Dude.)
Tru saves person. (only it seems all too easy)
SHOCKER! True misses one piece to the puzzle causing her to have to scurry and save the person at the last minute. (Driving the main plot into the third act)
Commercial break
Tru runs to thwart the person from being at the same place at the same time foiling the death. (Resolving main plot)
Tru goes back to work at morgue.
Tru gets call from person she had lunch with telling her what great advice she gave them that afternoon saving their day. (Resolving sub-plot)
Credits
Rinse & Repeat next week.
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This analysis is dead on. Every episode has fit this mold to the tee. IMO, what they really need to do is take a step back, forget all about Tru's gifts for a moment and just pretend the characters on the show actually have stories of their own to be told. Maybe spend some time exploring everything NOT related to needy dead people. It woudn't be so bad, I mean there are dozens of successful shows out there with plot guidelines no deeper than "a foster child lives in orange county" or "Two kids have the same dad, but the dad denies the one kid". There is SO much they could be doing with this show right now, if they only were brave enough to let go of the gimmicks, bells and wistles.
 
Originally posted by Khaych
I mean there are dozens of successful shows out there with plot guidelines no deeper than "a foster child lives in orange county" or "Two kids have the same dad, but the dad denies the one kid".
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Successful? Yes. As deep and interesting to watch as Buffy or another high-quality show? No. The OC and One Tree Hill will never achieve the depth and intensity of Buffy or The Prisoner or any other classic cult show. They may not be as recycled as Tru Calling, but they are still not very thought provoking or exciting. Storylines of shows like those are almost entirely romances and domestic squabbles, and after a while, that gets boring.

I agree that Tru Calling is too formulaic, though. Hopefully the writers will recognize this and start creating more interesting storylines. I think it has potential. I also love the observation about the flashback summaries. Those insult even my intelligence. 😛
 
the show kind of reminds me of a mystery show, just a bit more "now" and not like France in the 1800s or something like that, i do tho believe the show needs a bit more drama in it, it's all set up, but they haven't really reached any big emotional conflicts
 
Well so far, we see them playing with every possible variation on the same theme.

What happens if the dead guy isn't asking for help for himself? DONE
What happens if the person will die anyway? DONE last show
What happens if more than one person dies in the same event? DONE
What happens if it is someone she knows who dies? DONE
Wat happens if she actually thinks she'd done the killing herself? DONE

An obvious one that I'd guess would be coming very soon will be: What happens if she fails to save them?

Hopefully, sometime after that, the writers will begin to see the theme as too constraining, and leave it's old and tired carcass for something fresh to sink their teeth into. Either, that, or the season will be over by then, and it won't be picked up for season 2.

I feel bad for Elisha, because while the actors, editors and directors seem to be excellent, the writers really really suck bad. I mean, as in 'fire them before they ruin everything' kind of bad.
 
Yea, but Early Edition, which was very similar, also went through all those variations and still stayed fesh and new. There's hope for Tru Calling, because in death every case is different.
 
Early Edition was a great show, but I am really not sure why. Just like Tru Calling, it was occasionally a bit repetitive, formulaic or nonsensical, but it managed to keep my attention for more than three seasons. (I am still watching it in reruns.) I think that most of Early Edition's greatness came from its interesting characters/actors. Eliza Dushku is a great actress, but I do not particularly like the character she is playing. I also do not particularly like the supporting characters, with the exception of Davis. I think that the fate of Tru Calling is entirely dependent on how much the writers develop the characters over the next couple of episodes.
 
I love the show. Even though the kinda do go over the some of the same stuff over and over but it is still one of my favorite shows.
 
Willow02- they go over some of the same stuff so it leaves us less confused and so it'll make sense. I love the show!
 
Have you guys seen the newest episode "murder in the morgue" i think it was called. It was AWESOME! I was on the edge of my seat every minute of the episode...if you havent seen it i highly recommend it, the writing is awesome, the characters are developing more...its just an awesome show!
 
Tru Calling is a very cool show and all but I really wished that Eliza Dushku would have took the other offer on her table. To star in a buffy spin-off. But anyhow, Eliza looks sexy and beautiful in any role.
 
A faith spin off would be totally awesome, in case Tru Calling doesnt work out I really hope she goes back to Faith!
 
Originally posted by angelus1234
Have you guys seen the newest episode "murder in the morgue" i think it was called. It was AWESOME! I was on the edge of my seat every minute of the episode...if you havent seen it i highly recommend it, the writing is awesome, the characters are developing more...its just an awesome show!
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Yes, that was a great episode. One of the best, but they are all very very good. That episode though especially went above and beyond!
 
"Murder in the morgue" is my favorite episode. I thought she was gunna die at the beginning, but the bride asked her for help just in time. wooh...
 
Hmmm, seems from what some say that it's not THAT interesting actually, is it ??
I hope they will find better writers. They should search on the net, lol, in the 'Writer den' part there r a bunch of good writer, with an amazing imagination, lol
How many epi have been released there ? Is it soon the end of S1 & will there be a S2 ??
::dance::
 
I really like the show. My family and I sit down and watch it. It's about the only show that everyone in the family watches since Buffy went off air. Then again we watch anything with a Buffy character in it.

You know, I think that they are just feeling the show right now. I think it has legs, but I hope that Eliza does go back and play Faith every once and a while.

It would be funny if one of the Buffy characters show up as a dead person.

I think if you give it time it might succed.
 
Hmmm, seems from what some say that it's not THAT interesting actually, is it ??
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:: directo Yes it is very interesting. The show is totally awesome, and gets better and better every episode. What is good also is that fox is promoting it more like during american idol and stuff. Fox really needs to promote it because it really is a great show that deserves the hard core fans. I think that the show started out not having many viewers because of lack of promotion.
 
I think that a good show needn't promotion.
Ok, btw, I'm gald to hear that some ppl think it's a good show, & even if the scripts aren't good, I'll watch it when it'll be on here. But I like better to hear that the scripts aren't that bad actually. ::rolf::
 
Tru Calling, yikes Eliza made a mistake. Its not a terrible show, I have actually watched some of the episodes myself but I don't think it will last for a season 2. There is only so much you can do with a show where "the day starts over" without people getting burnt out and tired of the idea. I don't know why she didn't understand this from day 1. Oh well, maybe we will still have the chance of a Faith spinoff.
 
I was an Early Edition fan and I love this show too. I've always liked the idea of time manipulation anyway, and Eliza is one of my fave actresses. Besides Tru I also really like Harrison, Lindsay and Davis. Her sister Meredith gets on my nerves sometimes but she's interesting and a good actress. I really liked the Valentines episode, and Putting out Fires made me cry. Another one made me emotional too but I forgot the name of it, it was the one where she replayed the day more than once. The only thing I'd change about the show are the flashbacks, I don't mean the ones that come halfway through the show because those are for Friends fans that just tuned in. I mean for example in the repeat this Thurs., the first time she lived the day someone broke a vase. Then when she relives it we get a flashback of someone breaking the vase before she moved it. I mean geez, it didn't happen that long ago, do we really need to be reminded of something we just saw? Or could they of just had her move the vase and all but the slowest audience members would catch on? There are more examples but I"ll let it go because I love the show. Honestly I think Early Edition might of been a bit better but this one is cool too and I like trying to figure out who did it before the end.
 
I'm so glad Tru Calling was picked up for a second season. I really like the show. Some famous guy is joining the cast in 3 weeks, I don't remember his name. I can't wait 3 weeks until the next episode! AH!
 
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