Help Me—I’m Bingeing Again by Kait Carson

The sad fact is, I am a binger. Not sure what that says about me. Especially as I can guarantee you that I won’t be on the front lines of a binge. I’ll definitely arrive at it late.

 

Case in point – I watched Downton Abbey in 2019. It was wonderful. I wondered why I’d waited so long. Downton Abbey, I hasten to add, was not directly based on a book. However, the producer admitted that he had read To Marry an English Lord, by Gail MacColl and Carol Wallace, for inspiration. Downton did remind me of the delicious novels by Evelyn Waugh, most particularly Brideshead Revisited.

 

I spent part of my pandemic downtime watching the Longmire series. Yes, I know. Late again – after I watched the series, I read each of Craig Johnson’s books. Always promising myself that this was the last, I simply wasn’t going to buy the next one. I lied. I own them all and have number 17 on pre-order.

 

Recently, I took up crochet. It’s boring but I enjoy it. That led me to look for something to do while I tied yarn in knots. The something was Bosch, the Amazon series. I’m not a complete luddite. I, at least, knew of the character Bosch. Michael Connelly was the featured speaker when I attended the Writer’s Police Academy. To prepare for the event, I read several of Connelly’s then contemporary Bosch books. He was a wonderful speaker, I enjoyed the books, never watched the show. Until now. Yes, book 1 is on my Kindle to be followed by book 2, etc. and then, who knows, maybe The Lincoln Lawyer series. It could happen.

 

MacColl and Wallace were not involved in the writing of Downton Abbey. Based on the article, they were surprised to learn of their novel’s connection to the show. Nevertheless, the writers followed the conventions of a novel. The show and each of its characters had multiple arcs. There were subplots, main plots, a historical backdrop, and a fabulous castle that was the main character. The Abbey’s very survival is tied to the fortunes of the Crawley family and the current Earl. It is the Abbey that drives the plot.

 

Both Craig and Connelly are/were involved in bringing their books to the screen. Longmire has ended, but the characters and some storylines were very much a part of the series. I’ve not read the early Bosch books so I don’t know how closely the scripts follow the novels. I suspect license has been taken, but under the author’s watchful eye.

 

The video arcs of Longmire and Bosch are very different. Longmire took a longer arc. The story continued from episode to episode over the course of years until Longmire, quite literally, rides off into the sunset. It was a brave act to retire the sheriff while continuing the novel series. Will the books end the same way? Only Craig Johnson can speak to whether the televised series foreshadows the written series. Johnson’s books are a master class in the first-person point of view. The video series, of necessity, takes a more global view. Johnson served as Executive Creative Consultant but did not write the scripts.

 

Bosch is different. I’m currently beginning season 3 and Amazon released the seventh and final season last night. I’ve read there is to be a spinoff series, but have no idea if Harry continues as a character. The Bosch series is comfortable territory to a writer. Each season has an arc, as do the characters. The episodes are very similar to chapters. It’s not too difficult to see the hand of a novelist in the structure. Connelly is involved in writing the scripts so it makes perfect sense that they follow a novel format.

 

It seems there is a difference between scripts written by novelists of their book and scriptwriters based on their reading. The structure reflects the orientation of the writer. I wonder if that’s why Stephen King always shows up in movies based on his books. Is it his way of retaining control, or is he emulating Hitchcock?