Meanwhile, In Another Small Town...

Okay, I know I said I'd give my overall thoughts on the fall season of AIO soon, but I'd like to take a break from AIO discussion to plug another radio drama that I think deserves some attention. That radio drama is Down Gilead Lane, which is re-airing its fifth season starting this weekend. So let's see if I can try to persuade you that it's worth checking out!

You'll find a story arc
I don't know about you, but I love continuing storylines in radio dramas and television shows. As long as a story arc is well-crafted I greatly enjoy a plot that can carry on being captivating over a long period of time. And story arcs come in all forms--oh yes, there's the exciting, all-encompassing story involving a sinister company called Andromeda trying to take over the world from small-town Odyssey, but then there's also the heartfelt, realistic story involving Mandy and her parents' possible divorce. The story arc present in Season Five of DGL falls more into the latter category, as everyday characters press through a number of issues facing them over a period of months. Each episode is written by the same writer, meaning that all the episodes feel connected and maintain the same feel.


You'll find relatable characters
My theory when it comes to fictional characters is that a listener usually likes them for one of two reasons: either they have unique qualities which make them likeable (possible examples are Bernard, Harlow Doyle, or Bennett Charles) or they are so realistic that you bond with them and grow attached to them because of that (possible examples are Mandy, George Barclay, or Connie [although that last one's a bit doubtful--do you really know someone who doesn't go anywhere in life and no one seems concerned about that?]). Probably you could argue that a lot of characters are both unique and realistic (such as Eugene), but I'd say that in most cases the reason you like the character would be because of just one of those two elements (that is, most listeners like Eugene because he's a quirky, fun character--not because he reminds them of their dad!). If you've ever listened to Down Gilead Lane you'll know that the show is severly lacking in idiosyncratic characters but abounds with realistic ones, which is both to the show's advantage and disadvantage. In the upcoming Season Five episodes the abundance of true-to-life characters works well, offering characters of all ages that you'll identify with and root for.

And you'll find powerful lessons
Sometimes a radio drama stands out because of its ability to impact those who come into contact with it. That is certainly the case with the upcoming twelve episodes of DGL, which involve somewhat serious issues dealt with from a distinctly Christian perspective. These are not vague messages about things like honesty and cheating, but instead address hard-hitting issues like rebellion, family breakups, and reaching out to the hurting.

Admittedly it's fairly sentimental stuff that's not for everyone's taste, but if episodes like "Karen" or "Life, in the Third Person" are among your favorite AIO shows then I think there's a good chance you'll find something to like in this season of DGL. So if you dare, go listen to the first episode of this season now!

And if you're at all interested, be sure to check out the weekly fan commentary on these DGL episodes here. Um, should I mention that I co-host it? :-D

The Winner is Obvious...

The End of Season awards have been given out, and AIO fans seem very certain that one episode stood out from the rest in album #52--"The Mystery of the Clock Tower." It won Best Scene, Best Sound, Best Actress (Connie, of course), Best Script, and Best Overall Award--the only category that it didn't win in was Best Actor, and the only reason it didn't win for Best Actor was because it wasn't nominated in that category. The results strongly suggest that it would have a complete sweep for "The Mystery of the Clock Tower" if the AIO producers had allowed it to be nominated in all six categories.

The other winner in the Awards isn't really "Fast As I Can," although Will Ryan won Best Actor for that category, but actually "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show." Why? Because it came second in every category it was nominated in (Best Sound, Best Script, and Best Overall Episode). In contrast, "Fast As I Can" didn't even end up in the top five for Best Script and Best Overall Episode. Why "Broken Pencil" was such a clear runner-up is up for debate (this episode was pretty divisive because of its wacky feel, but "A Thankstaking Tale" was for the same reason and that one didn't receive much attention from voters), but it seems like enough listeners remember enjoying that show for it to have received such a good placing.

But the "obvious winner" in these Awards isn't one episode, but actually one writer/ director. And that's Paul McCusker, who wrote and directed both "Clock Tower" and "Broken Pencil." Apart from an appearance from Marshal Younger (whose episodes "The Owlnapping," "Square One," and "Fast As I Can" didn't perform particularly well in the Awards, save Will Ryan's performance in the latter), none of the episodes in the fall season were written by pre-1997 writers. As I see it, these results are a vote for "classic Odyssey," as embodied by Paul McCusker's scripts.¹ Why do these shows hearken back to older Odyssey?

• Both of McCusker's shows included the "big three," Whit, Connie, and Eugene. That's not to say that the inclusion of those three characters in an episode is a guarantee of making an episode successful: just take a look at "Grandma's Christmas Visit" (which included the "big three"), which not only placed badly in all categories it was nominated in, but tellingly got last place in the Best Script category. And despite not being considered a classic AIO character, having Wooton in "Wooton's Broken Pencil Show" didn't hurt.
• "Clock Tower" and "Broken Pencil" were good at what they attempted to do. Just like a majority of pre-1997 shows were. The two-part mystery, while admittedly not up to the standard of Paul McCusker mysteries like "The Case of the Secret Room" or "The Mysterious Stranger," was as good a mystery as you were going to get in 2010. In the year of mysteries with the Jones and Parker Detective Agency, as two ten-year olds were busy chasing after ants and arguing about what the mystery should be called, "Clock Tower" shines as the only smart mystery of 2010. People like shows that reach their potential, and I'd wager that many AIO fans thought that "Clock Tower" did.² "Broken Pencil" was going for more comic gold, and whether it was successful in getting that depends on the listener. I would argue that "Broken Pencil" was a good AIO comedy, actually thoughtful for a change. The show achieved what it was going for, and made lots of listeners laugh in the process (and if a comedy makes lots of people laugh then is that not some sort of sign of success?).
• Paul McCusker knows how to incorporate a message into his shows without sounding like he's talking down to the listener. I doubt this third point has anything to do with how well his episodes fared in the voting, but I think it points to an intelligence that isn't present in a lot of new AIO shows.

And for the record, here's how I voted and why:

Best Sound: "A Thankstaking Story" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower")
This is always a tough category to vote in, but I went with the Thanksgiving show because it really put me into the fairytale story. The sound designer must've faced a lot of decisions when it came to portraying the Dr. Seuss-like world, and I think most of them were the right ones.

Best Scene: "Good News and Bad News Song" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower Meetings")
I almost voted for the incredibly well-done scene from "The Mystery of the Clock Tower," but I decided to go with a scene that I just thought was really fun. :-) In some ways I'm not sure if you can count either of those two choices as scenes (because one "scene" is actually a song and the other is kind of going back and forth between two scenes), but I completely understand why "Meetings" won: it deserved to. :-)

Best Actor: Will Ryan in "Fast" (Actual Winner: Ryan in "Fast")
There was so much talent in the Best Actor category that it was hard to choose, but I went with Ryan because I thought he did well in "Fast As I Can" and he was the only actor that has been around for more than just the last two seasons. For me that gives Will Ryan an instant advantage over the rest of the actors, even though someone may have actually done a better acting job than him (yes, I know that's not the way you're supposed to vote, but none of the five nominated actors stood out to me so I went with my gut).

Best Actress: Katie Leigh as Connie Kendall in "Clock Tower" (Actual Winner: Katie as Connie in "Clock Tower")
Ben Warren wrote on his blog that this would be "the tightest race, no doubt."³ I raised my eyebrows when I read that, wondering if I'd missed something in the AIO fan community. If the spring Avery Awards are anything to go by, the post-hiatus episodes of AIO have made Katie Leigh more popular than ever. Taking 48.8% of the spring vote when the runner-up has only 20.5% of the vote is not tight. And it's not tight either to take 47.7% of the fall vote (with Sydney [Camilla] once again as the runner-up, but hopelessly behind at 18.8%). In fact, the winner of this category was the most comfortable of all six Avery winners. All this success seems to say that Katie's either really doing a great job, that the other actresses (or characters, more than likely) aren't very good, or that Katie won simply because she was playing such a well-loved character. I would tend to believe that, perhaps not unlike Will Ryan's win in the Best Actor category, Katie won because of Connie. The episode she was nominated for doesn't matter (I'm sure she would've won even if she had been nominated for "Christmas Visit" instead of "Clock Tower"), it's simply because everyone loves the character she's playing.⁴ The reason I voted for Katie is a combination of two things I mentioned why she might have won: the other actresses (read: characters) nominated were much less appealing and I like good ol' Connie. And that's why I predict Katie Leigh as Connie will be winning both Avery awards for this year's episodes--I don't have to hear the shows to know that as long as she's in them and as long as the organizers of the Awards let her in she's going to win Best Actress. No tightest race about it! ;-)

Best Script: "The Mystery of the Clock Tower" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower")
Overall, the scripts weren't very good this season. Looking through the episode titles only a few stood out to me as viable options, and it didn't take me long before I was clicking back and forth between "Clock Tower" and "Thankstaking." "Clock Tower" had as its disadvantage an ending which let me down a little, but "Thankstaking" also had a disadvantage in that the show was a little over-whelming. I decided to go with the season premiere, simply because the writing was more polished than "Thankstaking." Okay, so I wasn't sure about the plot's direction in part two, but the dialog and the story devices used were signs of good writing. And as implied above, I am partial to Paul McCusker's writing. :-)

Best Overall Episode: "A Thankstaking Story" (Actual Winner: "Clock Tower")
It made me laugh, had lots of good characters in it, and Eugene and Connie sang. Isn't that reason enough? Sure, it may have had its problems, but I think I probably enjoyed that show the most.

Be looking for an overview of the fall season sometime this month, hopefully!

1. And look at the results from Spring 2010, when "The Jubilee Singers" by Dave Arnold (another person involved with AIO since pre-1997) won in three categories.
2. As I stated when "Clock Tower" first aired, I thought part two wasn't a very good conclusion to the mystery, but now it's not as bad as it was on first impression. I would still argue that it didn't reach its potential for me, but it seems that I may be in the minority on that.
3. See http://aio-thechangingtimes.blogspot.com/2011/01/avery-awards-who-should-win-who-will.html. Worth noting is that while Ben did feel that Sydney Shiotani (Camilla) and Christina Pucelli (Emily) has good chances to win, he did predict Katie Leigh as the winner.
4. Okay, so a rising number of fans have been complaining about Connie's character recently. To that I say: so what? The negative opinions about Emily Jones, Priscilla Peterson, and even Abuelita (the bottom three "Best Actresses") have been far more common and consistent.