User blog:BradP27/3 Ways TDD Could be Great -- and 3 Ways it Could Suck

Hi folks! You might remember me from my review of TDRR, where I broke down the storytelling and comedy choices that made it the best season since the original TDI. Here's my take on the newly announced Total Drama Daycare, and my thoughts on why the new format could -- actually -- be a good thing for fans of the series. (I also break down ways in which things could go horribly, terribly wrong.)

I'll start by saying that I'm cautiously optimistic about TDD. Why? First -- because Ridonculous Race was the highest quality season of Total Drama, by a variety of measures, since the original TDI -- so I trust that the writers and producers have a handle on what works and what's funny.

But second -- I think that the new premise has the potential to be creative, engaging, and hilarious -- more so than the other 'reboots' with the original cast.

I'll break down the three ways I think that the 'daycare' premise could be used to delight and entertain fans and newcomers alike -- and the three ways I think the premise, if poorly executed, could lead to one of the worst seasons of TD yet.

One thing to consider before I begin:

Total Drama is a show for kids now -- not a show for teens.* This doesn't mean we need to give up on the series -- it means we need to adjust our expectations and our vision of what 'good' is. Adjusting our expectations doesn't mean lowering our expecations. There are plenty of shows targeted to younger kids that are also accessible, delightful, and hilarious to teens and adults -- I'm thinking of Phineas and Ferb, Clarence, Steven Universe, Adventure Time. Ideally, this is the future of Total Drama. But we need to understand that the show will never be as edgy, or based in subtle satire, as TDI was -- and that a "good show" looks like one that is simple enough in its content and characterization for kids to follow along (and broad enough in its humor to hold their interest), but is also clever and subversive enough to engage and entertain its older fnabase.


 * Arguably, Total Drama has been a show for kids, not for teens, since TDI -- note the marked lack of edginess in subsequent seasons (can you imagine Heather's "boobies" or Owen's jokes about "second base" in any season after Island) -- because, for any number of reasons, the studio and network have decided that kids and pre-teens are the main consumers of the show. In fact, much of the awkwardness in later seasons can be traced back to the clumsy attempts to shoehorn a premise and plotlines that were clearly designed for teens into a tonal and narrative style that was digestible by an 8 year old. So TDD, in many ways, is simply Total Drama leaning into its identity as a series for kids and pre-teens -- rather than awkwardly trying to inhabit both spaces.

So I'm not basing my version of "good" at what will appeal to diehard fans who are teenagers/young adults, but what will be entertaining and engaging to a broad subset of audiences -- kids and teens, diehards and newcomers -- alike.

Anyway. Here we go, with:

Three Ways Total Drama Daycare Could Be A Smash

'''1. It uses a new premise and setting to tell original, fresh stories -- and to break our favorite characters out of tired roles. '''

Can I be honest? I loved the original TDI characters, but the past few seasons have trampled their stories to death. Especially with characters who were written specifically to be send-ups of reality show stereotypes in the original version of the show, there's only so many directions you can take their storylines. So that means being repetitive to the point of boredom and staleness (raise your hand if you're a wee bit tired of the same Owen/Lindsay jokes), or awkwardly forcing them into scenarios that don't align with their character in order to create variety/move plot forward (Trent, anyone?). Simply put -- the same old plotlines, jokes, and relationships are tired. We can't get any more mileage out of them. (Case in point: All Stars.)

And yet of course we want to keep what resonates and is funny about these characters we have come to know and love. We want to have our proverbial cake and eat it too -- we want everything to be familiar and new all at once.

What TDD can do is create fresh, new stories -- and create space for characters to break out of established roles -- by completely changing the context. Ideally, while toddler Duncan is still a rebel and toddler Owen is still a bighearted ball of enthusiasm, they behave differently than their teen counterparts due to the fact that children have different needs, priorities, traits, and developmental levels -- allowing for a new, exciting, fun, and authentic set of stories to be told with our favorite characters '''in a way that a new 'Total Drama Island'-type series simply could not have done. '''

Besides, the setting of childhood (a time of absurdity and big emotions) is a stage on which great bits of comedy can play out. Imagine: Owen's signature brand of excitable combined with the childlike wonder of learning/experiencing things for the first time. Duncan wants everyone to know he's not one to be messed with, but no one will take an adorable four-year-old seriously. Courtney desperately trying to wrangle a band of unruly kids to do her bidding. Heather trying to create a social pecking order with kids who can't yet spell 'pecking order.' Chef Hatchet is a beleaguered preschool teacher who just can't deal with these kids anymore. Same characters, but in a different situation where their traits show up at different ways. It's consistent with all the things we loved about the old series -- but also new, different, and varied enough to catch and hold our interest.

2. It sends up -- and gets creative with -- a new set of TV tropes.

What drew so many of us into TDI was the send-up of 'Survivor'-type reality shows -- it borrowed the elements that made the show exciting, satirized some of them for laughs, and generally felt clever and subversive. '''I loved TDI as the Survivor parody it was -- but the show has milked this premise to death. TDD presents an opportunity to play on new TV tropes. '''Based on the description we've gotten so far, it seems like Fresh has committed to this premise, and that we're going to see plenty of (new, fresh) satire/sendup of certain types of TV. What exactly that might be, or how well it might be executed, is unclear.

My best guess -- and maybe it's just because I love the idea -- is that, because this show seems more situational (as opposed to competition driven) and there's a confessional element, is that there could be (at least in parts) a send-up of "lifestyle" reality shows that follow dramatic people around (e.g. Real Housewives, Keeping Up With the Kardashians). Which is great -- there's so much that makes those shows watchable that could be replicated here, and so much that could be satirized for awesome laughs. Admit it -- a Real Housewives parody with preschoolers is a great premise. I'd watch that.

'''3. It grounds itself in relational humor, rather than gimmickry. '''

'''Total Drama has been at its best when it takes zany, deep, and authentic characters and lets them play off each other. '''The worst points in the series are when we feel like characters are being manipulated into some narrative arc or playing stock roles in some sort of plot device -- where what's driving the action (and the humor) forward is a set of external circumstances rather than the hilarity that can be mined from putting well-defined, poorly-matched characters in a simple situation and letting the jokes flow. Especially in TDPI and All-Stars, it led to characters wandering around uttering one-liners into the void as things happened around them, rather than engaging with one another -- getting on each other's nerves, forging awkward alliances, navigating cute and complex romances -- like in TPI. That's what RR did really well -- they grounded their narratives and humor in the personalities of and relationships between the characters rather than recycling the same one-liners.

As I wrote in my review of RR: " they mined comedy from the personalities--not the surface attributes--of the characters. Two good examples--the cadets' jokes weren't cop puns, they were rooted in MacArthur's take-no-prisoners style and that conflict with Sanders' by-the-book, measured approach. The ice dancers' jokes weren't about Olympic figure skating--they were about one deranged maniac who would do anything to win and one flamboyantly gay dimwitted sorta-maniac who sometimes was OK being pushed around and sometimes wasn't."

Freeing the show of the big, gimmicky narrative driver of a reality TV competition (which was originally clever but could become limiting/stifling) -- and situating the show in the middle of early childhood, which is all about awkwardly navigating social boundaries and finding ways to manage your big emotions and emerging personality -- could be a catalyst for the kind of humor the Total Drama series has always done best -- relational humor, driven by big and complex personalities, as opposed to one-liners and situational jokes.

Three Ways Total Drama Daycare Could Suck 

'''1. The writers miss the difference between "childlike" and "childish." '''

The daily lives of young children -- the joy, struggle, imagination, volatility, and energy of little people with big emotions -- are rich with humor. Seriously -- spend time around a 4-year-old and you will agree -- unintentionally, a 4-year-old is one of the funniest son-of-a-guns around. The humor, irony, and drama in a kid's life, when written well, can delight viewers across generations.

But, just as easily, writing a show about (and for) kids can easily be an excuse to reach for easy, broad jokes that are silly rather than funny. My worst nightmares for TDD are full of inspid one-liners and gags about bodily functions -- the jokes that bring fown the house with kids 6 and under. And the show has readily delivered this type of humor before without batting an eye, so the worst-case scenario may be closer than it appears. My hope is that the show portrays the experiences and inner lives of the Total Drama kids in a way that feels authentic (with some suspension of disbelief, obviously), and with (appropriate) depth and complexity, so that it feels like a show written ABOUT, not BY, four-year-olds. Again -- the shows I cited earlier do a great job of doing this in a way that has broad and intergenerational appeal.

'''2. The original characters haven't changed a bit -- they're the same sixteen-year-olds, now in the body of a four-year-old. '''

I'm pretty worried about this one. Here's the gist: ''Look, it's Duncan, Courtney, Izzy, Owen, etc, just as you remember them -- they talk and behave the exact same way but now they're toddlers and they go to daycare. Isn't that great? ''

In a word: No. Shoehorning the personalities of teenagers into the situations and limitations of toddlerhood just creates a massive tonal inconsistency. While we don't expect realism from cartoons, we do expect characters to behave realistically (if exaggeratedly), and toddlers acting like teenagers isn't realistic. It's not relatable, because things have to have an element of realism to be relatable. It's not funny, because things have to be relatable (at least on some level) to be funny. Have you heard of a cartoon called Allen Gregory? Probably not -- because the FOX show about a six-year-old with the affected mannerisms of a Manhattan elite adult got terrible reviews and was canceled after a handful of episodes. It won't feel consistent or coherent, and will lead to awkward and forced situations/jokes.

3. Total Drama leans away from innovating on TV tropes and tries to hit traditional sitcom beats.

It's hard to infer much from the description we've been provided. Total Drama Daycare could be an exciting pivot into a different sendup of reality TV tropes -- or it could be one step removed from a traditional sitcom about some kids and their zany antics. It takes a truly incredible set of characters -- and team of writers -- to turn the "kids hanging out and getting into mischief" trope into something that is engrossing, entertaining, and goes beyond cliche. I'm not convinced that this is Total Drama's wheelhouse. What TD -- and Fresh -- are truly good at is creating high-concept, slightly satirical and subversive contexts for comedy to play out in. Trying to "play it straight" and write Total Drama Daycare as a generic sitcom about little kids being a little wild will lead TDD straight into the pits of indistinguishable mediocrity.

A final word -- what matters more than the premise (and how it's used) is the writing. One of the reasons TDRR worked so well was simply that the writing (the dialogue, the jokes, the characterization) was simply way better than it had been in prior seasons. Put more generally -- these narrative choices matter, but how they're executed matters most.

So those are my reasons for not giving up on TDD -- actually, why I'm kind of excited -- and what I hope the new season can bring.

What do you think?