Wednesday Writing Assignment
I don't know about the rest of you, but television has often provided for me a kind of respite from the harsh world. As a kid, I wanted to live on "Family Ties" with the Keatons--understanding, liberal parents who loved their children for their flaws, and who were flawed themselves--or even on "L.A. Law," where everyone was smart and rich and sexy and knew the right thing to say. More recently, John Ritter's father-character on "8 Simple Rules" actually choked me up sometimes, so much did I want him to be my dad. And on "Alias," Sydney Bristow is everything I'm not: athletic, cool under pressure, multlingual. And a very hot woman.
What television show would you most like to live in? Or, what television character would you most like to be? What, if anything, does your answer say about what reality is lacking?
posted by Eric @ 10:53 AM
6 Comments:
For a while, as a teen, I wanted to join the quirky residents of Sicily, Alaska on "Northern Exposure". I thought that I would fit right in and also delight in the creative, bizarre local culture.
When I graduated from college and began my first job, struggling financially and emotionally, thrown out of the nest into the cruel office and the cold world, immensly bothered by my insane (no, really) roommate and the cats she refused to get spayed, I watched "7th Heaven" every Monday with almost-religious devotion. To live in an enormous, warm home, surrounded by the supportive family lead by a good minister, to know that no problem would arise worse than a teen friend smoking pot, and to be assured that every worry and turmoil could be resolved in an hour, that was the good life.
Hello,
TV is the problem, familys don't spend anytime with each other anymore. They site in front of that mind control box and live life through the shows. It's sad The box tell you what to wear, what to think, what to do, what your life should be like. I unplugged the TV two years ago and me and my family spend time outside living life. Playing games and just having fun.
That is just my 2 cents.
In the love of Christ,
James
Hi James,
Thank for visiting and sharing your thoughts! I agree that TV has taken over too much of modern life. I had strict TV watching limits growing up myself, and, as a young adult currently working full-time and going to Shiatsu school part-time and raising 2 cats and maintaining relationships and staying in shape and preparing nutritious meals...well, I don't have much time for television myself. But I do enjoy certain shows, even if I don't watch regularly. I see television as modern storytelling. Yes, I'd perhaps rather have a local bard sing Homer's epics to the village in front of a campfire, or have access to inexpensive live theater/ dance/music, but there is some damn good stuff on television, I think. Did you particularly enjoy any programs when you did watch television?
There's bad television just like there's bad everything else, but good television can be very, very good, and at its best--again, like any other medium--it can be art.
My family of choice was the Thachers, on ABC's "Life Goes On" (Sundays, 1989-1993). They were middle class, suburban, like mine. The parents fought sometimes, like mine, and the siblings too, like me and my sisters. The son had Down's Syndrome, though, which was new to me, but the show wasn't about that.
I think what I loved about the Thachers is in some ways the opposite of what kStyle loves about "7th Heaven": none of it was EVER okay. Unrequited love abounded, and the daily strife of earning a living and fighting prejudice (against the retarded son, and later against Becca's AIDS-stricken boyfriend) and dealing with death and getting up every day. This family loved each other all the time, despite all they endured, and probably because of it.
I second your RIP for Jonathan Brandis. He was also very good in the two-part television adaptation of Stephen King's "It," which is one of the better made-for-TV movies of the last ten years, I think. He was a really good actor. Sad ending for him.
I want to live on "Hill Street Blues." Best show ever. It's hard to get a sense of that, at this point, because the shows didn't stand alone, and, like most shows, it eventually jumped the shark, but it was great. Plus I've always thought it would be interesting to be a cop. "Northern Exposure" was interesting, too--I watched it quite religiously for awhile--but Joel eventually drove me nuts, as did Maggie. And "Moonlighting"--definitely had some great moments.
carla
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