In exchange for three brand new seasons of your favorite cancelled television show, you must make a decision even Sophie couldn’t fathom. Either all of Shonda Rhimes’ shows (past, present and future) are magically redone as if Chuck Lorre was in charge of them, or vice versa.
Will Meredith Grey now be played by a camera-winking Anna Faris along to a laugh-track and wacky hijinks, or will Amy Farrah Fowler become a self-entitled narcissist played by Sandra Oh along to an overly-emotional sweeping soundtrack hand selected by Zach Braff himself? Now Olivia Pope (Nene Leaks?) is the sassy neighbor sneaking in through the White House balcony to sleep with her boyfriend the President (Charlie Sheen).
So I looked up Shonda Rhimes. I haven’t watched any of her shows. I’m pretty sure I haven’t even seen a stray episode of any of them when really, really bored. If I get 5 seasons of a canceled show I’d let just about anybody produce everything she’s done.
I’ve liked some of Lorre’s stuff, I’ve liked some of Rhimes’ stuff. I’ve disliked some of both. All things being equal, I’d rather laugh: give me Lorre.
For my three extra seasons of Leverage, I’d like you to add Christina Hendricks as a series regular, please and thank you. Or, at least, the Big Bad of season 7.
I don’t even know who Chuck Lorre is, and he wins. Grey’s Anatomy lost me when people who broke up to have an affair later had an affair with the person with they were originally with. When you have to recycle adultery, you’re clearly bankrupt for ideas. My wife watched it for a few more seasons and gave up. My wife tried to like the spin-off show and gave up. Our friend says Scandal is the best thing ever and we couldn’t get through two episodes. If you like Shonda, I won’t judge, but she’s had more second chances with me than she deserves.
Another Grey’s Anatomy drop out. I really hate Rhime’s schlocky, corny, overmelodramatic tripe. I’d much rather live in Lorre’s anything-for-a-laugh world.
I am not really interested in any of the shows by either producer, but I voted for Rimes because she has a reputation for being an advocate for diversity–both in casting and in hiring crew behind-the-scenes–and I am of the opinion that bridging the very evident equality gap in the industry (both race and gender) is generally a good thing. That would be a guiding principle of hers which I could get behind, even if they were shows I would never personally watch.
Lorre Plus:
His shows make me laugh. I recognize the jokes are often crass or juvenile, but dang it, sometimes I need a good laugh.
Lorre Minus:
His characters’ personalities and the show continuity are not always consistent. Too, I feel he indulged Charlie Sheen’s craziness WAY too long. Finally, 2 1/2 Men should have wrapped up when Charlie left. I know that Lorre might have thought that doing that would have let Charlie “win”, however.
Shonda Plus:
The first few seasons of Grey’s were awesome. The original characters played off each other well, and the writing was good quality. She gets extra points for creating Cristina Yang, who is one of my favorite characters ever. (I realize this is not really a popular opinion. ;))
Shonda Minus:
More recent seasons of Grey’s have really declined in quality. She has so many “hit” shows that I don’t think she can adequately devote time to any of them. She appears to be obsessed with infidelity as a plot device, which makes me uncomfortable. Also, by some reports, she can be rather vindictive, though who knows how true that is? Overall, I have a negative opinion of her at the moment, which is sad, because she’s done a lot to advance minorities. :o
For the series of each that I’ve watched the most of, it’s a hard comparison. TBBT vs. GA.
The first 3 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy are generally first rate. The next 2 okay. Then the bottom fell out.
None of the other shows I’ve seen of hers are worth watching.
For The Big Bang Theory, it started off fairly nice, held together for about 5 seasons then has faded quite a bit. So, never as top notch as GA, but a longer “peak” era.
I admire some of his work on Roseanne (at the start, of course) and Dharma & Greg.
Going the other way, Lorre “wins” the terrible TV show contest. Mom, 2 and a Half Men, Mike & Molly, Grace Under Fire. I’d hire someone to imprison me in a castle dungeon so I’d never create one of those awful shows again.
The worst show Rhimes has given us that I’ve seen is How to Get Away with Murder. Crappy, but nowhere as bad as Mom.
Not really possible to create a one-dimensional comparison out of this. So I’m going with the only reasonable metric: Cartoon theme songs created.
I liked about half of Chuck’s shows, don’t really like any of Shonda’s
Plus he co-wrote the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme, so he gets my vote via 16 yo me’s proxy.
Wait, is the person you vote for in charge of the cancelled show you pick? Screw that then, I’m abstaining. Everyone here owes me a big thank you for not giving some studio schlock the chance to fuck up Firefly.