quirky shows

So, what exactly does quirky mean? Um... I don't really know how to explain it, but it's still one of my favorite genres of TV or movies or whatever. It's probably also going to be mostly stuff I'd call dramedies, even though I feel that label can sometimes have a certain stigma about it. Sometimes that might be somewhat deserved, but ultimately, it just means that the subject includes both drama and comedy, to a point that I'd feel simply referring to the subject as one genre would do a disservice to the other, which may be an equally important aspect of the story.

Sigh. Anyway, I suppose my closest attempt to define "quirky" would be to say that it's simultaneously ordinary and out of the ordinary. The dictionary will probably tell you it's "unconventional," and I suppose it leans distinctly in that direction, but still I think most of the things I call quirky are in a lot of ways pretty ordinary, which lends a rather convenient contrast to a subject's... unconventionality. You know wot I mean?

Familiar settings, a basically normal-seeming world (probably most often set in a small town), where things happen that may by contrast to that normalcy seem somewhat bizarre. Not bizarre enough to label a show "fantasy" or anything, though perhaps one might invoke the term "hyperreality." I don't know, some of the things I call "quirky" may include events that are anywhere from improbable to impossible, to the point I'm tempted to call it fantasy or some such genre, but not quite. And other things I call quirky may include nothing of the sort. Maybe it's just nothing more improbable than ordinary people being interesting and funny enough to make a movie or TV show about. Of course, it's also possible that alot of shows I call "quirky" really just don't seem to me, for whatever reason, to quite fit within the typical comedy or drama mold. Something that's just not so... formulaic. Something a bit simpler, more intimate. Or whatever, I dunno. Or maybe you could just call it "slice-of-more-interesting-life-than-yours."

But basically, it's just a convenient category that can include whatever I feel like calling quirky, whether I can explain it or not. There's definitely going to be a somewhat broad spectrum of stuff here... Anyway, I suppose the most useful explanation of what I mean by the term would be simply to watch (or at least read my reviews of) some of the different things I choose to include in the category.