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Lesson 1
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JUNE 5, 2025… TV SERIES CHOICE… Prison Break ….
What I learned doing this assignment is … BINGE WORTHY leaves unanswered QUESTIONS to compel the viewer to watch and follow the journey of the characters.Prison Break — LIST THE 5 STAR MODEL…
** 1 ** Big Picture Hook… a man deliberately gets himself incarcerated to orchestrate his brother's escape from death row.** 2 ** Intriguing Character: Mike tattoos his body with a map of the prison compound, with a lucky plan to be sent to the same Maximum Security Prison as his brother. Mike commits an armed robbery and lets the judge sentence him to prison for 5 years.
** 3 ** Empathy Distress: Mike watches the guard stabbed and the inmates laugh. We are sad to know that appeals denied, Lincoln's scheduled execution is next month, on May 11. Mike's nephew, L.J., sells weed to show he has no care what happens to him in the future. Lady Lawyer is torn between her past love of Lincoln and her current fiancé planning a wedding.
** 4 ** Build Layers / Open Loops: First 5 minutes of the pilot shows Mike rips off the posted newspapers that introduce all prison character … Brother Lincoln…. Chicago Mobster Abruzzi … Senior “Rich” Convicted “Cooper” … Prison Doctor– all become necessary for the escape plan. Open loops are other characters connected to Mike, the lady lawyer and his nephew.
** 5 ** Inviting Obsession.. – [Mystery] Mike in prison, his mis-direct to the doctor of being “diabetic” when he’s healthy. – [Dept of emotion] : Lady lawyer who has a dysfunctional view of her love life. Teenager, L.J. dealing drugs because he has no self worth. – [High concept] Killing of the Bishop and the corrupt organization? Will Mike survive Maximum Security Prison with his brother?
[ I think this TV series will explore moral justice and family devotion. -
WHAT I Learned doing this assignment is the characters have initial challenges and then the keep piling up to lead me into wanting to know if they will survive and succeed but knowing the obstacles are many. Also, I wouldn’t normally be interested in a show about basketball but it grabbed my interest with the good characters and hook.
Subject line: TV SHOW – SWAGGER – 5 Star Model1. BIG PICTURE HOOK – Jace is a talented kid with an attitude from a bad neighborhood trying to make it as a basketball star. Can he keep going despite all the roadblocks.
2. AMAZING AND INTRIGUING CHARACTER – Jace is talented but challenged in the world he lives in, his mom is a badass, his coach, Ike, is ex basketball player who Jace doesn’t respect, at first, is a good guy but gets himself in trouble and wants to deliver more than he may be able to.
3. EMPATHY/DISTRESS – He’s a good kid that has many roadblocks, feel for the coach and want the Mom to get what she wants for her son.
4. LAYERS/OPEN LOOPS – Will Jace make it, will he allow Ike to coach, will he get over his fears, will he survive his neighborhood.
5. INVITING OBSESSION – Will he make it? Police take him down, he has trouble with kids at school, Jace needs to be a team player, Coach may not have the money to keep going, Jace is great but he fails at the game and coach has missteps too. -
Assignment 1
TV Series: The American
What I learned doing this assignment is that layered storytelling and unique situations are important when creating bingeworthy TV.
The 5 Star Points for the show.
1. Big-Picture Hook – The world is really fresh, unique, and intriguing. I have never seen a show that focuses on the Russian spy. Typically it is on the government agents who are trying to find them.
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character – Their loyalty or lack there of, to Russia after so many years in the States is fascinating. I was impressed with the sharp senses the spies had when trouble is near.
3. Empathy/Distress – The scenes with the captain in the trunk and the fact that the wife and the captain had crossed paths in a tragic way in Russia and how the husband avenged her. It showed his love is more than just a character, while her love had a been an act up until that incident.
4. Layers/Open Loops – the couples new neighbor is an FBI agent assigned to the counter terrorist unit was an amazing twist. It will make for an exciting series. I have seen those situations in comedy situations but never in a drama like this.
5. Inviting Obsession – That last scene forces you to watch the series to see what happens. Both the spies and the agent have great instincts. It makes for a great story. -
June 23, 2025 TV Series Choice: The Queen’s Gambit
What I learned while working on this assignment is that this show is very bingeworthy because it creates a sense of concern that potential dependency may lead to other setbacks, which might destroy her success in chess.
1. Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show?
The big hook of this show is about a nine-year-old girl who doesn’t choose, but is forced into independence due to her family turning her back on her. Beth’s mother died in a car accident. Her mother wasn’t very nice to Beth’s father, who in turn, abandoned both of them. It’s this independence that makes us, the viewers, want to see what she does next. Although she has the support of other characters in the show, she knows what she wants (to excel at chess) and to use every opportunity to get there (skipping chorus practice to go down to the basement to play chess with Mr. Shaibel. Unfortunately, she has an addition to a tranquilizer that leads to devastating results.2. Amazing and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
Beth is intriguing because she sees her talent for chess in her head (literally). She doesn’t have a chessboard upstairs in her room, so she visualizes and practices moves on the ceiling when away from Mr. Shaibel.
Jolene is intriguing because she is a live and let live person, but gives hints of support to her mates. She understands age and race discrimination when it comes to adoption (she stated this herself as she is currently experiencing it). She seems to settle on the notion that she is there in the orphanage until the start of adulthood, but in subtle ways helps the girls find their strengths to persevere.
Mr. Shaibel is the custodian who has some space in the basement for materials and also has a chessboard. He is no nonsense and is upfront with Beth about chess. When the game is over, it’s over. However, we as the audience, wait for him to acknowledge that Beth is a prodigy of sorts in chess. This allows us to focus on his constructive criticism of her during the game. The world is not perfect and Beth (and the audience) need to see her struggle a little before making it big. Although Jolene is supportive of Beth at the orphanage, it is Mr. Shaibel who truly gives Beth the key to chess. He helps Beth compete at the high school with older boys.3. Empathy / Distress
Ask this: What situations causes us to feel both empathy and distress for these characters?
First and foremost, we see the grown Beth reflecting on what happened prior to the orphanage. There was a car accident that took the live of her mother. Her father abandoned both Alice (Beth’s mother) and Beth. But if we go deeper, it is apparent that Alice has psychological issues that may have forced Beth’s father to leave. I made the connection between her upbringing and her dependency on the tranquilizers at the orphanage. Maybe we will see this revelation in future episodes, but for this pilot episode, I see the distress that frustration in Beth as she needs these drugs in order to be her best self in chess. I was even concerned that she would “mess up” at the high school competition without the drug. But Jolene came to the rescue with a couple of pills. It is weird that as an audience member, I almost wanted Beth to take the drug to compete. That should never be the case of a little girl, but the writing was truly persuasive.
Jolene is another person that gives some of us a feeling of empathy. In the mid-twentieth century, she, as a minority child, had difficulty being adopted. She said so herself. She also felt she was too old. I can sense her sadness, but also see myself in her, even though I am an adult male. I can sense troubling moments of time in my life where I was passed over and discriminated, but still did my best to keep a smile on my face and treat those around me with respect. She still has hope, maybe not in childhood, but perhaps adulthood to realize her dream.4. Layers / Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?
How does childhood trauma impact the realizations of dreams?
Will that trauma lead to potential self-destruction, which can hinder said dreams?5. Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
We need to see the development of Beth from childhood to adult. The beginning of this episode shows Beth as an adult briefly. She seems hurried and slightly troubled. We her taking pills for a brief moment, but we don’t know what they are for. The appear to be the same pills as from the orphanage. Before that we see her in the bathtub, literally the first scene. She seems to be drowning her sorrows, so to speak, as she was frustrated when the employee was knocking on the bathroom door. So, the child Beth is potentially going to go through additional trauma which may or may not have a connection to her upbringing and downfall with her parents. How do these potential setbacks impact her success as a chess champion? I hope to find out soon.
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