I guess I was extremely naive and oblivious to the true world of television fandoms before I finally broke down and got a Twitter account two years ago. I had no idea the madness that was awaiting me! In my mind, I was only there to essentially stalk celebrities and annoy them enough to get them to respond to me. Surprisingly, I got a reply from my favorite TV actress, Stana Katic (Castle), within only a couple weeks of joining the social network, and only bugging her maybe twice (that was a realllllllllly good day for me)! I was happy in my little world, chatting with Amy Brenneman (Private Practice) about deep fried kool-aid at the county fair and going back & forth with authors of a few of my favorite books at the time. I got to see fun behind the scenes shots of actors filming in the August heat, the setup of cameras along a Hollywood street, and the cutting rooms of film editors. The madness hadn't struck yet.
And then September came.
Most of you know that September brings with it the new season premieres of television shows. It's a very happy time of year for me. My shows, my (fake) friends if you will, return to me for another 9 months of fabulous storytelling.
But Twitter exploded!
It was this everywhere, all the time:
Twitter fans are the most intense, the most opinionated, and the most viscous fans you'll ever meet. They just tell it as they see it, some of them not even seeing things objectively. If they don't see what they want, they lash out. However, when they see what they love, they fawn over it for days, and send thanks to the creators and writers of their magical show. And after that, they turn to Tumblr or FanFiction to fawn over it some more (those are topics for another day).
Now, Mondays are my nights. My beloved Castle is on at 9pm on ABC (go watch it. like seriously.). Twitter on Mondays is ridiculous. I mainly "follow" Castle fans on Twitter, so it's pretty much all I read about on there. Depending on the episode on tap and the time of day, you'll get very different reactions.
For example, this was some of what I read on Twitter today:
7am: HAPPY CASTLE MONDAY!!!!!!
9am: ONLY 12 HOURS LEFT PEOPLE!!!!!!
Noon: is it castle time yet? school sucks.
3pm: loooooooooongest day evvvvvvvvvvverrrrrrrr.
6pm: oh you lucky Canadians seeing it early!
6:30pm: ooooo look! i found illegal links! **goes and downloads**
7pm: this episode does not have enough romance in it! where are Castle and Beckett?!?!
(*mind you, this is a crime procedural show, but people have been groomed to only want to find the romance in it between the main characters*)
8pm: EAST COAST WATCHING NOW!!!!!
8:15pm: it was okay i guess, not the best episode, i wanted more Caskett...
8:15pm: BRILLIANT EPISODE
8:15pm: eh, it's okay.
9pm: (West Coast person's name insert here) please tag your spoilers! i still have another 2 hours!
11pm: i hope the ratings were good....
Midnight: is it monday yet?
As you may be able to tell, tonight's episode of Castle didn't have exactly what all the fans wanted, at least on the surface. This was an episode more focused on one of the supporting characters, Detective Javier Esposito, and his back story. Typically, at least ever since Castle and Beckett finally started dating, we've been given a few adorable moments of them together. Not tonight...well maybe one or two....but it was mainly all Esposito, which I LOVED! Especially since this show is considered a crime procedural, not a romance, I enjoy when they allow the other characters some screen time. It's enough for me to just know, and not see, that Castle and Beckett are a couple. But I'm getting away from my point....
It is just a TV show. I recognize that. But I also recognize the fact that people don't only watch it out of boredom. They know what they want in a show. They know what they want to see and what they don't.
However, Twitter is a mad world. One person loves the episode to no end while another person would have rather they completely deleted that episode from the series. The point is that we all have opinions and we are allowed them. But I feel like occasionally, people forget that hundreds of people are working incredibly long hours to bring them the 43 minutes of showtime they see every week. It costs thousands of dollars and has cast and crew up all hours of the night running on only coffee and 3 hours sleep. And what ends up happening to their hard work? Thrown in the garbage by fans who forget that they are lucky to even have a show to watch in the first place.
I'm not trying to condemn anyone, I know I am guilty of this same thing upon occasion. However, the complaining drives me insane to no end. Be grateful you have a show to watch, be grateful that those actors and crew are passionate enough about their work to produce something that you ever came to love in the first place. There is no need to tweet your showrunner asking for more romance in his crime show...the only thing you should be tweeting them is Thank You.
So anyway, enough with that rant.
There are four types of Twitter fans. Those who come by occasionally and say "oh hey, great episode." Those who are very passionate and protective, but also sane. Those who are demanding and constantly unhappy. And those who love whatever is given to them. So which are you?
Lesson learned: The Twitter fandom (of any show or what have you) is intense. Don't cross them the wrong way. Most are amazing people and very insightful and funny. But there's always a couple crazies thrown in.
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For those interested in Castle, please check it out on ABC!
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In the words of Zachary Levi (Chuck, Tangled), "I don't mind being called a nerd. Nerdy just means passionate."
Note: this blog post was written before my personal viewing of the new Castle episode and purely based on the early Twitter impressions of early viewers and the things I saw broadcast and discussed on Twitter. Not meant to be offensive in anyway. Don't take it as such, por favor. Comments welcome!
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