The second thing that any meta series must do, especially if its meta-ness is closely intertwined with its plot or overall concept, is make sure that attempts at self-awareness feel aligned with the show’s mission or sensibility, and not acts of television desperation. More often than not, they come across as contrived, and force Kevin Spacey, as Frank, to do more explaining than needed. I often have the same reaction to Frank Underwood’s straight-to-camera confessionals on House of Cards. By the second or third one, it feels like the show is being a show-off. ![]() One arch comment that wryly mentions streaming TV is fine. While the Netflix version proceeds mostly charmingly in the same vein, when it attempts to acknowledge its existence within the streaming-TV universe (a sort of wink-wink, we’re on Netflix!), it pushes the meta joke too far. ![]() The same is mostly true of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Netflix adaptation of the Daniel Handler books whose narrator constantly reminds us that we are consuming a truly depressing work of fiction. But its hat tips and acknowledgements of its own place in the canon - practically inevitable for a show based on a comic about high schoolers - so far have enhanced its appeal without distracting from the main plot: the mystery behind the murder of Jason Blossom. Riverdale, for example, is a teen soap that, via its casting of actors who first became famous by playing teenagers (hi, Luke Perry) and its references to other works of teen fiction, qualifies as meta. The first one is knowing how to keep the meta-ness under control, without relying on it as a crutch. But pulling it off, in my mind comes down to two things. I appreciate most attempts at self-awareness and wink-wink humor, even when a series can’t always pull it off. I should say, upfront, that some of my all-time favorite shows ( The Simpsons, Seinfeld, the aforementioned Moonlighting) were modern pioneers in this area, and I adored them because of it. At this point, given the preponderance of TV shows that hit meta notes, it’s fair to ask: What’s the difference between meta that’s done well and meta that doesn’t work? In dramas, especially, the tacit acknowledgment of form can also come across as pretentious, a word that detractors of Westworld and The OA have certainly used to describe both programs. Try too hard to be self-aware and viewers will immediately sense that, well, you’re trying too hard. The meta approach can be challenging, though. Shows on the more dramatic side of the spectrum fit in the category as well, including: House of Cards and Fleabag, in which protagonists speak directly to the audience about what’s transpiring Westworld and The OA, hour-long narratives that explore the manipulative nature of narrative and Stranger Things, a sci-fi–horror ’80s period piece that revels in emulating sci-fi and horror from the ’80s. (“The other thing about me is I give zero fucks about anything, yet I have a strong opinion about everything, even topics I have no knowledge about,” says Hannah in this Sunday’s season-six premiere, echoing the kind of criticism often lobbed at Dunham and her entire generation.) During the past decade or so, the self-referential has played a major role on comedies like Community, Arrested Development, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and even to some extent Girls, which repeatedly and slyly acknowledges the blurred dividing line between star Lena Dunham and Hannah Horvath, the self-involved millennial she portrays. ![]() Fast-forward a few decades to the 1980s and one could find the same approach on shows like Moonlighting, which regularly burst through the fourth wall (also, sometimes, additional walls), and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, in which Shandling basically starred as himself, on a comedy whose theme song announced, “This is the theme to Garry’s show/The opening theme to Garry’s show/This is the music that you hear/As you watch the credits.”Īs creators and viewers have become more savvy and conscious of technique, meta storytelling - in which a TV show acknowledges its own status as an artistic creation, thereby bridging the divide between fiction and reality - has become even more prevalent. Self-conscious, fourth-wall-shattering humor was a trademark of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show in the 1950s. ![]() Television has been getting meta practically since it began. Nikki and Paulo on Lost’s season-three episode “Expose.”
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