Episode 1269: I Wish I Had More Original Ideas...

Met my supervisor this afternoon and chatted for an hour. In summary, he thinks that I should stop worrying about finding a totalising theoretical framework into which I can fit my ideas, and instead I should just concentrate on articulating those ideas first and foremost, bringing in theory only if it's going to help me make the argument. He did agree that the conference paper would be a helpful starting point, and that I should try to write it in such a way that it can be easily reincorporated back into my dissertation proper, to save myself additional work. Ah well. I'll start worrying about all that next week, although I do need to reply to the conference organisers with a finalised title by Friday. Anyway, this week, The River (yes, I'm still watching it, since it's only eight episodes) tried to be Fringe-meets-The Walking Dead, and it was just a ridiculous episode for a show that's already doomed to be cancelled anyway. In other TV news, Matt Davis is leaving The Vampire Diaries because he's been cast in the Cult pilot, which will also be airing on The CW if it gets ordered to series. Much as Alaric will be missed on The Vampire Diaries (although he apparently has the network's blessing to appear as both characters, leaving the way open for guest appearances), I do hope Cult gets ordered to series. It sounds like the show's going to be tonally more like Nikita than the usual teen drama fare that network produces, which is worrying because of how bad the ratings for Nikita are. Still, at least he'll be a lead for a change, rather than being part of the sprawling cast of subsidiary characters that writers for The Vampire Diaries don't really seem to know what to do with lately, besides writing them in and out as and when a plot point calls for it. Don't get me wrong, I still really love that show, but seriously, just spin off all the Originals into their own series already!