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Blogs by Robert A. Mills
WASTELAND 10/20/2012 5:37:44 AM
You can fool some of the people all the time, and all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time, was said by Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Will Rogers or Hugh Hefner, I am not certain which. But I know it was not Mitt Romney or President Obama. . . . After January 20, 2013, what difference will it make?*
I am concerned about the Boy Scouts’ sexual predators’ file. Scouting was, for me, one of the most satisfying, fulfilling times of my life back in the ‘40s. Although I did not particularly like our leader in those days, I can never suspect him (or any of the hierarchy) of sexual abnormalities.
I have not been near Lake Lanier since my youngest daughter was in high school, but I am concerned about the drought in Georgia as much as I am about the Boy Scouts of America. Between the Roman Catholic Church and the idiots at Penn State, the Boy Scouts fiasco is the last straw!
Anyway . . . because I, like everyone, have my favorites, I anxiously await, as I have for dozens of TV seasons, the hundreds of new shows each year, 89.7% of which will be cancelled within a month or two. 2012 is no exception, and I do not think 2013 will be either.
Major TV networks seem to pride themselves in offering “dogs” they know will not succeed; the cable networks normally show only new shows that have at least a chance of being around by year’s end.
Exceptions and favorites aside, I believe that both outlets subscribe to the age-old axiom “let’s toss it against the Entertainment VP’s door and see if it sticks.” Of course, there are the anomalies: shows that are so well written, filmed and acted they surprise everyone and seem to go on forever.
Such is MAD MEN, a blockbuster that has made AMC a dirty word (how did CBS, ABC or NBS ever let this one get away?—heads should roll—of course, had a bona fide network gotten their hands on it, they would have ruined it).
BREAKING BAD is another. And there are THE OFFICE, MODERN FAMILY, THE GOOD WIFE, PARENTHOOD, BLUE BLOODS, PRIME SUSPECTS, HOUSE, THE MIDDLE, GLEE (the first season, anyway), CSI (the original one, not the spin-offs), plus a score of others — not to mention the host of dynamos on HBO and other cable and network outlets, some of which, I am sure, make up your favorites.
Sadly, TV is watched mainly by the Great Unwashed, and the more generic it is, the better; 99 and 44/100% of the “sit-coms” are present and accounted for. If a storyline requires the audience to “think” and react to plots and characterizations, the show will most likely fail.
This may account for why PBS has the best programming possible, yet garners such few focused eyeballs.
“Hey, Millsy, what’s wrong wid youse? I laid out a bag a clams for a 95-inch flat screen so da wife and kids would watch it and leave me alone so I could enjoy football an bowlin. What’s wrong wid dat?”
Nothing. Your motives are perfectly honest. You wanted an “entertainment sitter”, and that is exactly what you got. It completely explains why you never went to college and probably dropped out of school in the 10th grade with an IQ only slightly surpassed by an unwatered plant.
You did not drop out until the 11th grade? Well, you are the exception. I bet you love AMAZING RACE, GBC, SCANDAL, THE BIGGEST LOSER, WEEDS, THE VOICE, LAST RESORT, NEARLY NORMAL, REVOLUTION, THE BATCHLORETT, BATCHLOR, CELEBRITY APPRENTICE, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, TWO AND A HALF MEN, SURVIVOR, etc. And all the game shows — except JEOPARDY, which you do not watch because you just do not understand.
What is the future of TV? Vast. Absolutely VAST. No question about it.
It will continue to provide unlimited employment for countless laborers who can cheaply and quickly build quasi-sets, writers who concoct absurd scenarios for inept but gorgeous actors who can spew mindless dialogue to enhance senseless, unrealistic plots, cinematographers to film it with expensive equipment at glamorous studios relying on “laugh tracks”, salesman to peddle the results into syndication ad infinitum, executives to gloat over them — all of whom will be paid enormous salaries provided happily by viewers who will brave any storm to purchase products huckstered by deep-pocketed and unwitting sponsors who are convinced their wares will go unbought if they do not back a particular network or cable entity. (Long sentence worthy of Tom Wolfe, right?)
For that alone we should be thankful. Thousands of jobs are created that otherwise might go begging. Now we know why Hollywood is what it is.
So, if you want drama, go to the theater. If you want literature, go read a book. If you want news, read a newspaper, or at least a magazine. If you want conversation, take a bus ride. If you want pathos, find a church. If you want classics, make friends with a lawyer who sometimes wins — or a teacher who lectures. If you want comedy, go to the library.
If, on the other hand, you want nothing more than human pablum, turn on your TV. It’s all there, within reach.
* Jan 20 is a Sunday, officially Inaugural Day. The public swearing-in ceremony will be held on Monday, Jan 21. But of course you knew that.
