I love writing - I love having the freedom (and the overly active imagination) to create my own worlds, my own characters and have them however I want to. It is so much fun to be able to create a character from the beginning and be proud of it and know it's your own creation. I love it. You can let them do and be anything you want. They can experience everything you've ever wanted to do and by writing about it and creating their experience you get to be a part of it.
I am fascinated by characters. With TV characters I like exploring/discovering how they are created, how they behave, what are their quirks and personality, what are their annoying habits, what is their back story. And the characters are a collaboration of many people the directors, writers, producers and the actor. I can only imagine how much fun it is to be able to get to know a character and act him/her and make your own choices about how they change and who they are and what affects them. I imagine that is one of the best things about acting. To be able to inhabit and experience what it's like to be someone else than who you are. And being involved n the process of that creation.
The characters that last best on TV are those that are human, that the TV viewers respond to and remind them of themselves, of our own inevitable humanity. TV is a fictional world but when it is a fictional world inhabited by realistic people it becomes that much more enjoyable to watch. My favorite TV shows all have in common that they have extremely good characters that are well grounded and realistic. Some started off that way and with others it took time. I will delve into that later on. The characters that end up becoming my favorite are always the one's that are most human, make mistakes, blunder, look silly, are emotional and are not perfect. If I don't see that in characters, I stop watching. Sometimes the characters jump out straight off the bat, realistic and nuanced and with others it takes time.
Sam Hanna on NCIS;Los Angeles is an example of a character where it took time for him to become more than a cardboard, one-dimensional type and emerge as a person. I gladly admit that when I first started watching NCIS:LA it took me a long to actually enjoy Sam Hanna as a character. He was a former Navy S.E.A.L., spoke fluently two extremely different languages (Japanese and Arabic), never lost a shot in battle or was wounded, cracked a joke no matter how bad the situation was and seemed to be perfectly uninfluenced by whatever went on around him. He was just too perfect.
Just like happened with Kensi, the producers started off with a character that was far too perfect. To be able to give a person so many positive, amazing characteristics must be fun but it detracts from the humanness of the person. Everyone is imperfect in the real world and it is nauseating watching perfect TV characters week after week. Becasue you know no one is like that and it is hard to actually get caught in a show, knowing nothing about the characters is human.
Sam Hanna was a superhero all through season 1. It wasn't until season 2 he became more nuanced and realistic. It surprised me when he actually started responding emotionally to situations and showing a softer side of himself. Episode 2x05 'Little Angels' was the first one where I truly liked his character and the first episode he seemed genuinely human. And it's all been uphill since then. I enjoy him much more now as a character than before.
I believe the reason viewers responded so well to Deeks and Nell from the start is because they were realistic from the beginning. Nell admitted her personality vices embarassed (I laughed so hard during that scene) and was nuanced from the beginning. Deeks makes mistakes and is silly and listens to musicals. Whereas as with the other characters it took all of season 1 to get them going, the new one's emerged good straightaway. And in season 2 the series hit it's stride. There are definite hiccups along the way but the characters are actually enjoyable now. And that is why I watch it.
Sam is the epitome of the NAVY S. E. A. L. Living overseas for a number of years, I was privileged to meet and get to know men just like Sam, cool under pressure, cracking jokes in the middle of dangerous missions, and all in all, unflappable. They have to be that way or they would lose their minds. Granted, not all S. E. A. L. S. are like that. Many are just as flawed as we are, but they do their jobs and don't ask for praise, just respect. If it weren't for these dedicated men, our country would be much more dangerous than it is. Hell, the radicals really don't need to do anything, we are our own worst enemy. Just think about that. And let the writers deal with sam Hanna. They've done pretty well so far.
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