02/04/12 – The Lineup

I was going to get so much done tonight. The way I figure it, I have nearly 30 episodes of Coincidence to record for Podiobooks, for instance. However, I didn’t realize what was on TV this evening. Sounds like a cop out, but there are only a few events I like to catch on the television (Flyers games being the first vice that comes to mind). If pressed I’d have to say I downright loathe the medium.

For a long time, I named “Cable Guy” as my favorite movie. Say what you will, but it resonated with me. “Somebody’s gotta kill the babysitter”? Yes. Hell yes. That babysitter raised me from the time I was 8 and my mother took up to 5 part-time jobs to make up for the husband she had just left. It, with my two similarly aged pals, molded me during my formative years. And like most good children, I grew up resenting what groomed me.

It’s not the vapidity of it that bothers me. Trends, by their definition, change. It’s the complete and utter vacuum of productivity. I vaguely recall an older storyteller from television’s yesteryear claiming that a good series can be understood through sound alone. If you can tell what’s going on through sound effects, the score, dialogue, etc., then the producers have done their job. Unfortunately, few follow this nowadays, choosing what they feel is a more “immersive” experience that just so happens to require the full attention of all your senses.

This isn’t to say any particular medium is better or that this even applies to anyone else.  I’m just sick of explaining why I don’t have cable.  It’s bad enough that I have about 18 stations I don’t care about.  It’s all about productivity.  Reading I still find productive because it’s teaching me something, namely language and narrative techniques.  Television, it can be argued, can teach these things as well (in theory).  But really, isn’t that a bit of a stretch?

“If the real thing don’t do the trick, you better make up something quick” – Heart’s “Barracuda”