PBS, ever becoming more and more a fascinating venue for gorgeous cinematography and entertaining programming, plays one hour of Democracy Now every weekday nite. Sometimes I watch, sometimes I shut my eyes and ears tight to the chaos of the world hoping to preserve a long, calm nite of sleep. Couldn't do it last nite. The persistence of Amy Goodman won. I sat on the edge of my bed listening to her report the student protests at the University of Puerto Rico. Something, I've come to find out, not happening in the mainstream press. 24 days these people have been occupying the university grounds...a campus of 65000 students...protesting the $100 million in budget cuts. They are being starved, their family members trying to get them water being arrested, riot police surrounding them, threatening them. Don't forget, PR is United States territory. This ain't a third world dictatorial situation.
Several recent scenarios flashed before my eyes: Texas changing the context of history books, deleting facts, twisting truths and calling it education; schools in urban Kansas City and other districts going bankrupt; Arizona eliminating ethnic studies; the continuation of the failed No Child Left Behind program, and a presidential candidate vehemently promising to make the education of our nation a top priority. The dumbing down of America by the hands of the trusted. More frightening to me than any missile threat from the east.
And there went any possibility of a peaceful nite's sleep.
Now. I make it a daily event to watch one full hour of quality television every nite. Sometimes my sleep suffers and I go into two hours, sometimes three, if it's all just too good to turn off and my discipline is at a low, but most of the time I keep it at bay. It's my learning tool. It's my daily industry news. It's my replacement for the terrible cinema taking over the theatrical world. It's my hope.
I've devoured the first season of Mad Men recently and found it to be the most overall well written, filmed, designed, and executed show I've ever come across. It's intelligent and daring, edgy, bold, so so entertaining. The characters, the story, the concept, so well developed. The acting and, quite obviously, the directing are fantastic. Camera movements, lighting, art design, dialogue, sound...a Valhalla of moving pictures!
The crazy thing is I initially rejected this show. It was a Christmas present from Nick. I wholly appreciated the thought but questioned him on his decision to offer this show to me as a gift. It was HBO and Showtime I ranted and raved about incessantly. Why this silly new offering from AMC? How could one of the lower channels possibly compete with the genius of pay TV serials?
I had caught up to all those glorious programs a couple months after Christmas and rather than go back and re-watch, definitely not something I'm adverse to, I decided to give the "lesser" series a try. Three episodes later, at 3 am in the morning, I was singing the praises of AMC and thanking Nick for the intro to Mad Men from the bottom of my heart. He had opened up Pandora's box of television shows for me. All 900 channels were now open for my inspection at the first suggestion of greatness hinted at by anyone I considered to have semi good TV taste.
I've now gone through Mad Men, Breaking Bad (my pick-my-jaw-up-off-of-the-floor series), United States of Tara, The Office (UK) & Party Down. I branched out into Showtime with Weeds, Dexter, and Nurse Jackie giving each of them the benefit of the doubt at the behest of the first season's usual discomfort of watching the actors get into character and the not-having-enough-money-yet-for-a-really-good-production obstacles. I looked under the layers, focused on the plot lines, listened to the writing and let it all move me, teach me, and allow me to escape.
No need to say HBO warranted absolutely no prompting. I've followed everything from Deadwood to the Wire to Carnaval to Flight of the Conchords to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Extras, True Blood, the Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Summer Heights High, Big Love, Bill Maher, Sex In The City, Tell Me You Love Me, In Treatment, John Adams, Def Poetry...!!!! I even delved into the world of HBO Latino and got swallowed up by Alice, Capadocia, and Filhos do Carnaval!
See???? And there's no end to this whirlwind of fantastic. Treme, Ricky Gervais, Hung, and the Pacific loom on the horizon. No kid in a candy store could be happier than I am dancing with the fine work of so many TV artists and executives. And that's something I NEVER ever thought I would say.
I recently decided to give the networks a chance. With everyone raving about Lost and Glee, and me with my new found trust in TV and tolerance of other peoples viewing advice, I did it. And I'm hooked. Glee is a world of funny and talented. It levels me after a high anxiety hour of Lost. And yes, Lost has my heart racing by the end of almost every episode so far. I'm only a few episodes into the first season but, man, I am happily impressed and pleasantly surprised. Oh, ya, it's network television no doubt. All the main characters are good looking and perfect. Dimples and cerulean blues. The leader (so far) is a man. The women a little non existent in the strength of the story line except as victims. The danger perilous but usually overcome by the end of the hour. But it's good, suspenseful stuff. And the dialogue far from normal network cheesy.
As I watched Charlie hanging from a jungle tree last nite, seemingly dead, my heart went into fearful over drive and I had to remind myself it was network TV I was watching. Not cable. Only cable kills the main characters and leaves everything so wonderfully unpredictable. It easily calmed me as I knew Charlie would live to see another production day. But the show's creators threw a curve ball at me that almost had me jumping out of bed whistling and hollering, showering pride on the industry I struggle to survive in. Charlie lay dead. His rescuers given up. Could it be? I wondered. Could it really be? Alas, no. The hero doctor gave it one last go and our victim gasped back to life. Even still, a well done scene. JJ Abrams just moved high up into the ranks of top notch directors for me. I even compared the guy to the untouchable and seemingly impassable Spielberg. If the quality and boldness of what film once was (and what TV has become) existed today would JJ Abrams give Spielberg a run for his money? Would his film work surpass the genius behind Jaws, Close Encounters, and Raiders of the Lost Ark? Sadly, we probably won't find out anytime soon. Not with the junk studios are dumping on the pill popping, food poisoned, and chemically laden masses that we are all a part of.
Which brings me right back to politics. Education is information. Information means making choices. Making choices based on educated thought means quality innovation for an ever growing population. As the American system of education declines further than we've seen it since the birth of this idealistic nation...As public schools and universities run out of money...As doors close on those below the upper middle class line...It's crystal clear obvious there needs to be something else to replace the loss of intelligence we will all be victims to. Now's the time to be patriotic. Now's the time to refresh the tree of liberty. Now's the time to put down the apathy and look through the propaganda. Eisenhower's military-industrial complex is quite possibly upon us for without education there is only war, poverty, tyranny.
Ask yourself what each one of the shows I mentioned in this blog have in common and you should realize that it is intelligence. They are all clever and unpredictable. They are certainly there to create revenue, sell commercials but not in the damaging way it has been since the advent of the TV. Each series draws upon real life. Each series looks at the motivations of real people. Looks at the paths of strife that have been our lot in history. Some series, like the Wire, are written by people who have lived and breathed trauma. Others, like Lost, are fully fictional scenarios that offer explanations to human behavior, governance, and destruction. But they all offer an education of sorts. If our government and our schools are not going to do it then we, as entertainers, creators, artists and producers can. What better way to learn than through entertainment? What more fulfilling career to have than one that supports open minds and free thought? What better payoff than one that lets everyone have a piece of the pie?
And so this is a call to arms. Pick up your weapons. Your pens, your paper, your paints, your guitars, your drums, your microphones, your cameras, your laptops, your editing bays, your persuasive natures, your fast talking abilities, your confidence, your pride, your voices. Pick them up and hold them high. Move swift and be creative. Without the artists & entertainers leading the way social progress stands still. - TKS
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