It’s not long ago that I came to terms with something that I was until then ashamed to admit: I love television. God, do I love television. I’ve loved it all of my life, as long as I can remember. I’m not just talking about any particular show, I mean just… television, the whole thing, the concept. I love it.
I used to not be able to say that. I would just huddle in my dark living room every night with the flickering television light comforting me like an old friend that nobody likes because he’s always causing problems, but I just can’t drop him by the wayside can I? Other people would talk about how they hate TV, how they don’t even have cable, they just have the TV there for DVDs and playing games (right, like that’s any better!), and I would just nod in noncommital implied agreement, though inside my heart would ache because they were impuning the character of my life-long friend.
Well I gave all that up. TV is a good, good friend of mine, and he deserves my praise.
Now right here is where you think you know what I’m going to talk about: PBS. Documentaries. BBC. I say, screw all of those things. I mean they’re nice and all, but really, who cares?
No, I’m talking about scripted television in all its brilliant and inane glory. Three’s Company, NYPD Blue, Lost, Gilligan’s Island, 24, Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, I Love Lucy, Damages (dear God yes, Damages), Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Beans Baxter (look it up), Voyagers, Doctor Who… Jesus, I could go on forever.
The point is that television offers brilliant storytelling in many shapes and sizes. There’s a reason so many respected and established film actors are winding up on television shows, and it’s not (just) for the money. As a narrative delivery vehicle TV grants advantages over movies. Rather than the one-off nature of film where you develop a character in a vacuum, shoot your scenes, and then walk off the set never to visit that character again (obviously, there are exceptions); in television you get to develop the character over 22 hours of storytelling in a season rather than over 90-120 minutes of screen time.
Add to that the variety of shows, and the endless sub-varietes. You have not just comedy and drama, but any genre of storytelling available to any other narrative art form. Farce, horror, sci-fi, western, romance, action… you name it, television can do it.
Yes, there are absolutely worthless wastes of bandwidth floating around the TV airwaves, but there are equally worthless wastes of paper pulp available in any bookstore or library. There is no innoculation against mediocrity.
Anyway, the point is that I love the stories that are told on television, I love the characters that are developed, I love the ideas that are explored. Without the writers of the WGA none of that can happen, so I hope for a swift resolution to this strike.
Now go and watch Break A Leg.
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