The Texting on House of Cards

Awhile back, I recommended that all of you read a book called "I Want My MTV", which is an oral history about the beginnings of MTV. If you still haven't read it, you're missing out. It might be my favorite oral history, and as you know, I'm a connoisseur of all things oral.

Anyway, in the book, there's one guy who is mentioned again and again as being a genius. Unlike everyone else, no one seems to say a bad word about him. He's just damn good at what he does.

And that man is David Fincher.

David Fincher has always been good. And it's worth watching "House of Cards", on Netflix, just because he produced it and directed the first 2 episodes. David Fincher directing TV, imagine that. And imagine the freaking budget of this show - Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, and Fincher? It's amazing what my $19.99 a month can afford.

I've watched through episode 3 and I'm into it. I like it so much that I'm choosing to ignore the fact that occasionally the main character turns and speaks directly to camera - which I've only liked when Zack Morris did it.

But the reason I'm writing about "House of Cards" is because of the use of texting on the show.

I may be completely out of it, but I don't think I've seen texting done in quite the way that it's done on this show, and I think it's really, really good and sort of "important".

Everyone texts in the real world. The trouble is, texting isn't a very exciting thing to watch, and it probably never will be. But I really like the way they are doing it. I can't do it justice by describing it, so please check it out if you're interested.

I'm willing to bet that this style will be ripped off for years to come. 

The other thing is, they are getting the writing of the texts right. There's an exchange in episode 3 between Kevin Spacey and Kate Mara that is perfectly written.

So even if you don't like the show, please enjoy the texting.