by
Scott D. Parker
A few short months ago, the new television season premiered.
With great anticipation, my wife and I looked forward to the return of old
favorites (Castle, CSI: Miami, Body of Proof) and the opportunity to sample the
new shows to premiere. Some of the new shows proved quite good (Grimm, Terra
Nova, Revenge) while others fell by the wayside after a viewing or two (actually
cannot even remember them now). Naturally, all the shows we end up watching on
a regular basis become investments for us. We set aside time to watch them, be
entertained by them, discuss them, look forward to each new episode, and
generally are pleased with the investment. Along the way, naturally, there were
time conflicts (CSI: Miami *always* got bumped by football; Harry’s Law jumped
around; Private Practice moved to Tuesdays opposite Body of Proof) which meant
that we taped the shows to watch later. It’s just what we do when there are a
number of shows we enjoy. Moreover, throughout the year, we had the one-offs we
watched (Downton Abbey, Sherlock) that bumped our regularly scheduled shows,
but we were flexible and caught up on everything.
So, imagine my surprise when, after watching the season
finale of Revenge this week my wife commented that we were finally free from tyrannical
chains of the television. Yeah, those are my words, fancified. She didn’t say
those exact words but the gist is there. Finally, she thought, we were free
from the TV!
How is it, do you think, that the very device that delivers
entertainment---entertainment that we choose to accept and that we enjoy—becomes
a shackle?
I asked a similar question a few weeks ago: Do you enjoy
reading or having read? I’ll admit that there are time when I’m reading a book—a
book I want to read—and then glance up at my bookshelves at all the other books
I could be reading and start to wonder if I should drop the current book and
pick up a new one. Maybe the author isn’t reaching me. I’m nearly done with the
current selection of my SF book club and the book selected—a supernatural
pirate book; what’s not to like?—failed to live up to my expectations. When I started,
I imaged finishing it, then moving on to Captain Blood and a re-reading of
Treasure Island, all the while watching the three Pirates of the Caribbean
movies at night. Now, I’m a bit soured on pirates because I expected the
current pirate book to be one way…and it wasn’t.
I wonder, in our culture of instant takes on any given
subject, that many of us prefer *having read/seen* something rather than
actually enjoying it in the moment. For me, the hour of Castle or CSI: Miami
(RIP) is a fantastic hour that I love. Same, too, with the oh-too-short “season”
of PBS’s Sherlock and Downton Abbey. I also enjoy reading about those shows and
others the following day. Back in the days of the TV show “Lost,” a small group
of my co-workers and I would gather in the hallways and pore over every detail.
The folks who missed the show missed the discussion.
It was merely a curious observation that my wife made that
got me thinking. I don’t have all the answers, nor do I have all the answers for
me, personally, either. But it’s part of a larger social discussion of reading
and consuming content in the 21st Century.
What are your thoughts?
Book Signing of the Week: James Swain at Murder by the Book, Houston, Texas
Without a doubt, living in the same city as Murder by the
Book is a luxury. It is a destination stop for nearly every author doing a book
tour. On Thursday night, James Swain made his only non-Florida stop on his tour
promoting his new paranormal/magic/thriller book, Dark Magic. My wife read an
advanced copy and wrote a Fresh Meat review over at Criminal Element. (Having
read her piece, I’m going to read the book, too.) So, when I discovered that
Mr. Swain was to be in town, we headed on over to see him.
Now, most of us here know that, when it comes to an author
event, they can sometimes be hit or miss. I’ve had the sad occasion to meet a
favorite author who was a bore when it came to a book signing. I’ve attended
lavish gatherings of authors that are new to me and had a blast. I can say,
with absolute certainty, that I’ve never had an author perform a magic show.
My wife and I arrived and, when it came time to sit and
listen, the only available seats were on the empty first row. I’m a back row
guy myself, but we sat front and center. Imagine our surprise and delight when
Mr. Swain asked us to be his assistants. I’ve never see magic performed that
close before and it was thoroughly amazing. Some of the things he did I frankly
do not know how he did them. The card tricks are, likely, sleight of hand, but
the other, mind-reading things were awesome.
For an author whose book my wife selected
at random, Mr. Swain now has a new reader to count in his column. And isn't that the purpose of book events anyway?
3 comments:
TV can feel restrictive if you carve out thirty minutes or an hour per program, per week. If you watch TV shows on DVD, you're still pledging to sit and watch for however long you do.
Anything we choose to do with our time is something of an investment, but watching movies or TV is more restrictive than reading or writing. When watching, we not only have to accept the screenwriters' plot but also the actors' portrayal of the characters and the director's overall vision. The range of stories you can tell on broadcast and cable TV is also subject to decency standards more conservative than those for theatrical movies or written fiction. When reading, we are free to imagine the characters and the setting and control the pace of the action to an extent. When writing, we have even more creative freedom.
On a side note, I met Jim Swain at Dead End Books on on Long Island (which has since sadly closed). He was known for his Tony Valentine series of casino thrillers back then. He's a great speaker, writer, and performer.
Up until probably the 1980's if you wanted to watch a show, you were chained to that time period. No recording, no endless reruns. If you didn't watch, you missed it. Especially in the country where there was no cable or satellite dish and only three network channels. Nowadays I don't worry about missing a program - it will be on again, sometime, somewhere, forever.
The trick for us is that we don't watch all that much TV. There are maybe a couple a shows a year that we make time for, and aside from Doctor Who it's mostly done on our time when we have chance. So it never feels like a commitment, it's just a few hours of relaxation here and there fitted in around our commitments.
Though Castle started to feel a lot like a chore this season, so that's one that might be cut loose from next year.
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