There are some things that are always funny, like the make them laugh song and dance routine in singing in the rain, or Golden Girls. I don't think a bad episode of Golden Girls exists. They really don't make shows like that anymore. Pure laugh and joy, and every once in a while a really heartfelt moment. Now they are all reality, trailer-park, who's your daddy tele-trash. OK so there are some good shows on, some good dramas, a few classic comedies, but even some of those can't compare to Cheers, Coach, The Cosby Show, or Golden Girls. Sometimes I wonder where it all went down hill. Was it TV that got worse, or Americans? Did we become so unintelligent that we actually enjoyed watching people eat maggots, slugs, and animal testicles?
I have to admit, there are days when I come home and I want to do anything but think. I want to watch something meaningless and forget the rest of the world exists. And on those days my first instinct is to sit in front of the tube.
But there is a difference between getting lost in a program because you are too tired to think, and getting lost in a program because the storyline is so riveting. Because you sympathize so much with the characters that you can't tear your eyes away. I can think of a few specific scenes where this has happened. Will and Grace, I don't think it was the season premier it was a few episodes into the season. But Will and Grace decide that they are going to have a child together through artificial insemination. But Grace decides not to because she meets her future husband and does not want to give up on the chance that she might actually find love. They get into a huge fight. Blow out. They are ready to throw out their friendship, (and I have lost friends over less), and it is the only show that ends without a laugh. No punchline, no jokes. And it is so shocking and so real that for a moment you forget you are watching a comedy.
I love it when that happens, and it very rarely happens anymore on TV. A tragedy really.
What is worse is that so many books have gone down the same path. Sure there are really great novels out there, that stimulate your mind, that pull at your heart, that leave you struggling to hold back tears. Then there are cheap thrills. One day reads. Beach material. If you write books of this nature you're a sell out. If you don't you make no money. Where is the line? How do you write something that is entertaining, fun, and still meaningful. I find that I have always been searching for this line. I have always been battling with artistic snobs, and literary buffs, the world of academia clashing with pop culture. I never understood why it had to be one or the other. I found myself constantly defending the likes of masses. Now I find myself trying to write for them. Writing for the masses while stimulating the elite. Can it be done? I guess I'll find out in time.
