But not really.
Good television shows are hard to find these days. Good live action television shows, not animation, are even harder to find. Yes, this is going to be a "Why I'm a huge dork" post.
Before the premise, before the plot, I look at characters to see if it's going to be a good show. I really, really like ensemble casts. Too often, I find that if a show focuses on one character for too long (I'm looking at you, Glee), it gets stagnant. Boring. We start not to care over those one or two characters drama, and we turn to fanfiction speculation to see what the rest of the cast is doing. That's why I like shows like Avatar, Rome, Ouran High School Host Club (SHUTUP), and even the earlier episodes of Lost. (Disclaimer: I stuck with Lost until the very end. The virtue of the fishbiscuit was enough to keep me a slave to it).
I like character development. I like seeing how they grow and change. I'll use Avatar as an example, because I'm currently watching Book Two again, and that is far and away my favorite season. What I love about Avatar, is even though it started off as just a kid's show, it had some mature-ass themes in it. War, for one. Loss of loved ones. Genocide. Differing belief systems. The capacity for good and evil. Terrorism.
I have several favorite characters, but upon rewatching, I've settled on Toph, Zuko, Sokka, and Iroh as my favorites of all time. Toph would be a pain in the ass if you knew her in real life, but her vulnerability due to her blindness, and her ability to still be the BEST EARTHBENDER IN THE WORLD really makes her lovable. Sokka, I love you, you started as wanting so badly to be a warrior, and then blossomed into a sword-wielding water tribe BAMF, while still retaining your meat and sarcasm. Even while he's infinitely less capable than anyone in his group, he's still protective of his little sister. That part in the episode "The Southern Raiders" where Katara says "You didn't love [dead mom] like me!" was heartbreaking. Kudos on the animators for making such a "I'm really hurt, but trying to hide it" face.
Iroh and Zuko's dynamic has to be one of the better father-son dynamics I've ever seen. While it is easy to make fun of emo!Zuko, remember, he has a scar that takes up half of his face. From his own father. I've never felt such hatred towards an animated character as I feel towards his father. He challenged a defenseless kid, his own son, to a one sided fight. This is where Iroh comes in--he's the best father EVER. He lost his son, Lu Ten, at the first successful siege of Ba Sing Se. After seeing his brother (who, I'm guessing, is like fourteen years younger than he is...) irreparably damage Zuko's face, he volunteered to be with him, exiled, indefinitely. This both served Iroh's duty to his family, and his yearning for a son.
That's why the second season finale is so good. Zuko doesn't see how much Iroh sacrificed, or see how much he loved him until half way through season three. He wanted so badly to re-win his father's approval, even ignoring the fact that Ozai almost killed him and clearly is encouraging his younger sister to be a sociopath. (Azula isn't one of my favorite characters, to tell the truth, she never really develops until the last few episodes, where her crazy becomes tangible). He starts out as an honest to goodness asshole, but then we see his character change.
"Hi. Zuko here."
He's vulnerable. He has a lisp. He's only ever had one girlfriend (Mai--his sister's bestie), and loves her very sweetly. He pretends he's all tough, but lets his uncle set him up on a date and is in awkward town all through it. He's basically every nice guy I know--and it takes an inspiration fever and a kind, fatherly uncle to make him that way.
Also--the bending. I'll be brief, but having actually done a martial art for a while now, I can see how hard it is. You have to be hella strong to do any kind of bending. You need to have grace, agility, and control. If I could bend anything, it'd be earth. I'm really into strong, blunt movements. Powerstance, FTW. Plus, I'm not very graceful. Ha. Either that, or an Airbender. They can fly.
Basically, Avatar has all the elements of a great show--character development, macro and micro conflict, interpersonal relationships, and kids acting like kids, and adults acting like adults. It was extremely well written, well paced, and had some kickass female characters, without resorting to tokenism.
The movie sucked. I'm not even going to honor it with a review.
