is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Television!
I haven't written about TV for awhile, have I? Well, I do love the way Heroes ended. At first I had that pit-stomach feeling that it was delivering that same old TV message of family normativity, but then I realized that none of the families left standing were biological families (nothing is wrong with valuing biological families; something is wrong when the culture-at-large seems to say that the only meaningful grouping in people's lives is the biological family); all were groups of people who had elected to be together, or who had found themselves implicated in each others' lives without precisely having elected to do so, and now had simply found themselves to be together instead of alone. That sentiment was echoed in the final voiceover about how there is "so much struggle for meaning, for purpose, and in the end, we find it only in each other, our shared experiences of the fantastic and the mundane, the simple human need to find a kindred, to connect, and to know in our hearts that we are not alone..." ...all good. I also love how the ending wrapped up one story and then we got a glimpse, a minute or two only, of the next story, for next season. It was so satisfying to get some ends tied up, and a story concluded, rather than being left with some dumb cliffhanger that is supposed to keep us wondering all summer. To the cliffhangers I say: whatever! Heroes will have earned a loyal audience by telling a good story with enough mystery but not endless obfuscation (and Lost could learn something from that).
I like a story that takes its time in the telling, and may even require patience, but not one that buries the story so deeply that you can't keep your grip on the many threads that may or may not end up being tied together.
Speaking of which, I haven't watched the season finale of Lost yet. I was on a train from NYC to Philly while that transpired, and I plan to watch it online some time this weekend. But here's my current beef with Lost: the endless obfuscation. The first season was so good at combining mystery and suspense with revelation, such that I never felt like I could EVER miss an episode. The second season faltered with that but was good at giving us complex backstory to characters old and new. (My favorite episode of the second season was the one that showed us backstory to Mr. Ecko and Charlie in the same episode: both were living lives ruined by having tried to save their brothers from ruin. Each life is understandable as tragic on its own, but when you look at them in comparison all you can see in Charlie's life is privilege: sure, he fell victim to heroin addiction while trying to keep his brother from dying of the same, but Mr. Ecko took his brother's place as a child soldier in Africa. Looking at Charlie's life, you see that all he needed was a bit more strength, some perspective, and a turn of luck here and there. But what would be needed to save Ecko from the sadness of his life? The entire world would have to be ordered differently! The entire world! That, my friends, is the sadness of his story. It was truly amazing how that episode paired the two stories and made that point without ever explicitly saying anything to that effect. It just let the stories speak and trusted the audience to hear what was being said. That was some good TV.)
This season of Lost has returned to some of the suspense and interest of the first season, but I haven't been as hooked on it, and often go for a couple of weeks without seeing it, only to catch up watching it in mini-size on my slow computer. During season one and two it seemed necessary to try to follow all the threads and figure out whether they connected to give clues to the secret of the island. But by now it is evident to me that that is a fruitless enterprise, and I've long since despaired of the writers being able to come up with any conclusion that would satisfy the amount of crazy mystery that has been leveled at us as viewers.
Still, I will watch that season finale and see what I think. The show is still more interesting to me than many other shows one finds on network TV.
In other news, last night I turned on the TV a bit early to catch the (finally returned!) new episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (which wasn't all that good, this new episode, unfortunately) just in time to see the poo song from the musical episode of Scrubs. It is perhaps the best ever of musical episodes, after Buffy of course, but far head of anything Drew Carey ever did. The poo song and the guy love song are both worth seeing at least twice. In fact I would watch them both again right now if my brain could control the television.
My next struggle: do I keep my commitment to watching only television that I can watch for free using an antenna? Or do I go for cable in New York? I'm certain the answer will come when I move into my house and figure out whether I can get any channels using an antenna in a first floor back-of-the-building unit somewhere in Brooklyn. I don't get much cell coverage in the new place, so I had to go ahead and set up the most-basic-form of landline telephone service. But I didn't opt for a DSL package, in case I end up buying cable and high speed internet together. It's all about TV today.
PS--The food processor gift was from LIZ DUNN (as revealed to me by EVANY THOMAS)! A fabulous surprise for which I have thanked her and will continue to do so by cooking things for her when she visits me in NEW YORK CITY.
5:34 p.m. - May 25, 2007
jd - 2007-05-27 16:57:17
Despite the fact that you find Scrubs watchable, I will always be your friend.
The finale of Lost was totally great. The season was uneven, to my mind, but the finale was one of the best finales ever, of any show. I'm totally "stoked," as the kids say, for next season. If only it was January...
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jill - 2007-05-28 23:47:46
jd, i wonder if it bothers you that you share your name with the lead character on scrubs, JD!? no matter what you answer, i will always be your friend, too.
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