Thinking back, I’m not entirely sure when things began to shift. I just know that, one day, things were better. When you think about it, it’s kind of funny; or maybe sad. I also never figured out when things started getting bad. I just knew that, one day I began to fear, that the world wasn’t what I thought it was. So I’ve hoped, and done what little I could, to fix it. And suddenly I realized; it feels better. The world feels less off, more of the place I believed it to be. In some ways, it’s even changed into more than I’d ever hoped.
I wrote this blog a few years ago. Since When Did “Anti-War=Anti-American”? It can give you some idea of just how frustrated I’d become, with the state of things. This is when the world really started to feel wrong.
I wouldn’t exactly label myself as an idealist. Once again I refer to myself as a pragmatic optimist. But I always believe that people at large, at least in this and other comparable countries, were more liberal than they admit. I trusted that, when push came to shove, most people understood one simple basic thing to be true:
If you are hurting someone, I damned well better stand up and shout about it; but if you’re not hurting me or anyone else, what you’re doing is none of my business.
Let me give you an example of what I mean.
Do I believe that most people would stand up for gay marriage when put to the test? No, I do not. That would be naïve. What I do believe though, is that most people wouldn’t stand out against it. That most people would understand that, even if they aren’t exactly thrilled about it, it doesn’t affect them or hurt anyone, and therefore they just don’t have a justification in fighting it.
But as the last few years have carried on, I’d truly started to wonder if I was right. Did most people have this basic understanding? Or is this like newscasters who love to test passers-by in geography, to prove just how dumb a culture we are developing? And we all watch, and cringe, and have nightmares about Idiocracy that night. Or maybe that’s just me. Were there really so many people who thought they had to the right to dictate marriage, and limits on freedom of speech and basic human rights? And what about longer running issues? Were most people really not aware that the “War on Drugs” has cost us billions and been nothing but an abysmal failure? Do they not know that, once again, the Europeans are doing it better?
My head swam with these possibilities. And then, once again, there are the Idiocracy dreams. <shiver> I was a little scared. I wondered just what world my son was going to grow up in. I had people to keep me going, during that tough time; outspoken voices that helped me hold fast to my trust in the world. People like Bill Maher and John Stewart, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, George Carlin and Kevin Smith. And then there were movies and shows that helped me cope; West Wing and Studio 60, the documentary Grass, Saved!, Adam and Steve & Will and Grace. I could find books to take solace in too. America: The Book reminded me that we’ve gone through these patches before, and somehow we remember ourselves again. Maher’s When You Ride Alone, You Ride With Bin Laden reminded me that there are those who know how expensive freedom can and should be.
And then the most amazing thing happened. I started to realize that there were a lot of people waking up to the realities of the situation. Little by little, a new sense of optimism crept into me; and at one of the toughest times our country, and even the world, has known. But while this feeling has been building and progressing, I will volunteer that something this week coalesced those small inklings into a profound sense of joy. It was the progression of the television upfronts this spring. A strange and shallow reason to find my realization, you might think. But think again.
Another sign of the times, which weighed heavily on my heart in those dark days, was the state of the popular media. At one point, it genuinely felt like there were more so-called reality TV shows, than real TV shows. The number of options, for a true lover of the media of serialized storytelling, was limited. And when a new program would show promise, it would disappear quickly. I go to the movies, on average, once a month. But I also rent a fair amount. When 3 in 4 movies I would see, disappointed me greatly, it really made me even lose my love of seeing new films. And that was a daunting feeling; because movies are, and always will be, my greatest passion. So when my two dear loves began to let me down, that hole in my heart, felt even bigger.
So, what happened this week? Well if you’re part of the great Twitter TV Rescue net (hmm, domain anyone?), you are no doubt aware. In a season full of surprises, several new and unique shows got a voice, and amazingly, more kept it than history would dictate. And I really believe that this is in no small part, due to the creation of Twitter. But not for the reasons you might imagine. Now sure, Twitter has allowed a whole new form of communication for those looking to save their series from the oblivion. In the last 10 years, “Save Our Show” has become a far more familiar cry. Geeks across the globe have tried, most often unsuccessfully, to convince various networks that a series has potential beyond what they see in the Nielsen charts. But it’s usually been a message that we would scream loudest to the already converted, with minimal ways to reach the casual TV viewer’s attention. We’d be on our fan group message boards, and raise money for charities and LA Reporter full-page ads. Maybe we’d even get some billboards (and then there was the summer I covered the top of my car windows with Save Angel web addresses).
With Twitter, we are best able to get the casual viewer involved in the desperate battle to save a show we’ve come to crave. But it goes beyond that. With Twitter, we’re also able to open up a whole new viewing audience for the shows that many of us have referred to as overlooked. Genre television shows, the most commonly fought for series, have mostly had a limited audience for the same reason their campaigns have. People don’t go looking for them. How many of us have actually created Sci-Fi fans, by turning them on to a show they might never have heard of? Personally, I have dozens of Firefly converts (as do almost all Firefly DVD owners). I brought a few new people in to Sorkinland, to cry for the loss of Studio 60 as well. My sister pulled me back into the Stargate universe, when I’d flitted away somewhere in season 2. And thank goodness she did; oh what I might’ve missed.
Twitter brings a new audience to so many ideas, thoughts and forms of entertainment/enlightenment. But this week, it really performed a miracle.
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/fall-tv-cheat-s.html
I’ve pulled the current status of new TV shows for next fall, based on the link above. Out of 56 series that are expected to return next year (Sure thing to Already renewed), I’ve taken note of shows I would classify as geek-friendly-TV. Now that doesn’t mean it’s only enjoyed by geek and ‘fanboy/girl’ types. It just means that it’s also highly popular among genre TV fans because of storyline, premise and/or casting. For instance, Big Bang Theory is definitely not a genre show, but I think it can be agreed that it’s geared toward those individuals. Of those 56 returning series, 23 shows are geek-friendly. Think about that. About 40% of television returning next fall is not a reality TV show, a teen/adult relationship drama, or standard fare crime/medical drama. And that doesn’t even examine new shows being greenlit for next season.
So this sudden shift in the minds of TV networks executives; this wonderful news about shows being reconsidered based on the increasing activity of online viewing, DVR recording and DVD sales; this wonderful sense of hope about the next season of television, is what helped me realize just how much hope I am harboring , as of late. Of course, bigger things have been building the hope for a while, that was just the catalyst point.
In the last few months same-sex marriage has now become a reality in 5 states (still hoping CA will join back on the bandwagon). And opinion polls, which once showed a slight preference for banning gay marriage, have seen a swing in the other direction. There is even serious discussion taking place, in public and private, on lifting the ban on gays in the military.
We’re not so actively protesting the war in Iraq anymore, but there’s less reason than their used to be. The point of protesting a war is to bring people around to the idea that it must end. Most everyone agrees it’s time to get the hell out anyway, so protesting isn’t so much of benefit now. Sure, we all have issues with the timelines and withdrawal strategies in place, but the overwhelming opinion (74% in one poll) is time to go.
The newest US Drug Czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske, has announced an end to the position of fighting a “Drug War.” This, at the least, shows that the US government has begun to realize the mistakes of the past, and they are opening their eyes to a new way to handle the drug problem. (For a really informative history of the “War on Drugs”, watch the Grass documentary). Perhaps, it could even lead to the US having a policy that actually balances free will with responsibility to the population.
Polling numbers are also showing an increased approval of plans to allow illegal immigrants to become legal residents. Where once we were all abuzz about building a wall, now we’re looking at building a bridge, to a part of our country that has been so long vilified. And it didn’t take mass mailing of the brilliant film, A Day Without a Mexican. Though I think that would probably bring even more people around to the real facts about illegal immigrants in this country, and just how much they do contribute.
The world I know seems to be transforming before my very eyes. Or perhaps it would be better said, within our minds. And it makes me wonder about my worries in the past. All those people I believed knew the basic truth; have they just been the unvocal minority? Was I right that more people understood, and they’ve just been quiet for a while? Or are more people starting to come to a new realization themselves? Are minds really changing and evolving in this world?
I don’t know which is accurate, but I do know this; I am exceedingly hopeful about the world my son will grow up, and the world I have to live in. And I’ve never felt less like moving to Canada (no offense to any Canadian’s).
P.S. Based on another surprise renewal for the 2009 fall season, I have a new theory on why the networks are being so open minded in their scheduling for next season. Many of the renewals were, it seems, contingent on budget cuts for the shows. I imagine it's cheaper to keep a series and get them to trim back, than to launch an entire new series. That may have more to do with the decisions, than a genuine interest in broadening minds on geek-friendly TV. But even if this shift in the network behavior, is monetarily driven, I'll take it. Perhaps the resulting success, of giving unique shows more time to expand their audience, will improve the lot of TV viewers for generations to come.
© CleverTitania.com 2009
