The short answer: Crossovers in television are bad news.
The lengthier answer: Crossovers in television are generally bad news.
I was directed to an article about the future season of Fox’s flagship series BONES and how they were considering a crossover from LIE TO ME, another procedural detective show. After reading the article, I thought about it for all of a minute and came to the conclusion you see above. Seriously, there’s a reason why we don’t get many crossovers in this day and age of television: they DON’T WORK. First, the writers from one show would need to co-ordinate with the writers from the other show and they would need to come up with a logical explanation for why the two heroes would meet. And then you would have to deal with the problem that arises that the two shows share the same universe. What this does, from a logical standpoint, is require that future crossovers happen and that Brennan and Lightman eventually become a team.
Really, who wouldn’t want to see Lightman and Brennan solve cases? Brennan could accuse the bad guys and Lightman could call their bluffs. You could probably cut the show down to a half an hour, since their team-up would be quite epic. And hey, Booth could shack up with Lightman’s spunky protege and calamity could ensue!
Oh, what am I talking about. This shit is retarded. Fox, don’t do it. The end.
Buffy/Angel crossovers worked decently. Though, okay, yeah, they still seemed contrived most of the time. (Aside from the Faith redemption arc, which was awesome, but basically only Faith crossed over.) Crossovers for unrelated shows? I gotta think that's a bad idea.
Oh yeah, the whole Buffy/Angel crossover thingy. I remember not minding those as much because they at least made some sense given that the two characters lived in the same universe. But with these two properties, it seems like crossing the characters over would be difficult. Maybe I've read into it too much, but the two shows seem to have slightly different “worlds.”
Exactly. Crossovers work for spinoffs because they allow characters who used to be on the same show to reconnect. With unconnected shows, it seems so much like fanfic to me. I haven't watched Lie to Me at all, though, so I can't comment on whether it would work with Bones. It might work with some shows that are similar in tone, but I think it would still seem gimmicky.
Hell, I'd write the fanfic, which is indicator enough that this is bad news! :P
Buffy/Angel crossovers worked decently. Though, okay, yeah, they still seemed contrived most of the time. (Aside from the Faith redemption arc, which was awesome, but basically only Faith crossed over.) Crossovers for unrelated shows? I gotta think that’s a bad idea.
Oh yeah, the whole Buffy/Angel crossover thingy. I remember not minding those as much because they at least made some sense given that the two characters lived in the same universe. But with these two properties, it seems like crossing the characters over would be difficult. Maybe I’ve read into it too much, but the two shows seem to have slightly different “worlds.”
Exactly. Crossovers work for spinoffs because they allow characters who used to be on the same show to reconnect. With unconnected shows, it seems so much like fanfic to me. I haven’t watched Lie to Me at all, though, so I can’t comment on whether it would work with Bones. It might work with some shows that are similar in tone, but I think it would still seem gimmicky.
Hell, I’d write the fanfic, which is indicator enough that this is bad news! :P
Buffy/Angel crossovers worked decently. Though, okay, yeah, they still seemed contrived most of the time. (Aside from the Faith redemption arc, which was awesome, but basically only Faith crossed over.) Crossovers for unrelated shows? I gotta think that's a bad idea.
Oh yeah, the whole Buffy/Angel crossover thingy. I remember not minding those as much because they at least made some sense given that the two characters lived in the same universe. But with these two properties, it seems like crossing the characters over would be difficult. Maybe I've read into it too much, but the two shows seem to have slightly different “worlds.”
Exactly. Crossovers work for spinoffs because they allow characters who used to be on the same show to reconnect. With unconnected shows, it seems so much like fanfic to me. I haven't watched Lie to Me at all, though, so I can't comment on whether it would work with Bones. It might work with some shows that are similar in tone, but I think it would still seem gimmicky.
Hell, I'd write the fanfic, which is indicator enough that this is bad news! :P