The best thing on TV is what I put there
My head is swimming in incomplete thoughts. Too often I stare at a blank page wondering what inspiring words of wisdom I will impart to my audience, only to find that those brilliant ideas of my twilight dreams have escaped me.
Every now and then I catch glimpses of them. I have plenty of starts and stops. One of the problems of having worked at three different newspapers in the last two years is remembering what topics I’ve written about to which audience. One of the benefits is being able to recycle old columns for my new audience here, but I try not to do that.
Throughout my seven years at my hometown newspaper in Colorado, I was always prohibited from writing about homosexuality. I could probably write a book on what the Bible has to say about it but have tried not to overdo that subject. Typically, per the name of my column, I like to write about my faith, my family and things I consider fun. Sometimes I’ll take on local topics, but not too often. My cute kids and wonderful wife often provide plenty of column fodder. But I don’t get to see them nearly enough with my lengthy commute to work and a busy family schedule of Boy Scouts and church activities.
Another frequent topic is the Lone Ranger, but I doubt there are many readers of the Waller County News Citizen who are as interested in the subject as I am. I know that will change in a couple years when Disney finally makes its new Lone Ranger movie, but until then I will try to contain my enthusiasm.
Halloween is coming up in a couple days, but I just wrote about costumes a couple weeks ago.
So, as you can see, my thoughts are bouncing around with no clear focus. (Anyone who knows me would say this is nothing new!) On the other hand, the page is no longer blank but is about a third full.
I guess this must be how it felt to be a writer for the old “Seinfeld” television show – a show about nothing. Now television is something I can write about. I rarely have anything good to say about it, though much of my life has been shaped by it.
As a kid, I grew up with “Star Trek,” “Batman,” “The Lone Ranger” (duh!), “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Brady Bunch,” and a host of Saturday morning kid’s programs. Among my favorites were “Land of the Lost,” “Superfriends,” “HR Pufinstuf,” “Batfink,” “Fat Albert” and of course the whole Looney Tunes gang.
In my adolescent years I got hooked on “M*A*S*H,” “Happy Days,” “Lavern and Shirley,” “Mork and Mindy,” “Grizzly Adams,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
As an adult, my TV viewing has trimmed down to the various incarnations of “Star Trek,” the re-imagined “Battlestar Galactica” and NFL football. At one time I was a news junkie, but after a while that felt too much like work.
Now, most of the little bit of time I get to spend in front of the boob tube, I watch movies. They are a lot more entertaining than the drivel that passes for programming and you don’t have to contend with commercials and those annoyingly stupid pop-up ads that block half your screen.
With movies, I know ahead of time what is and is not appropriate for my children to watch. Most of the stuff on primetime does not pass the parent test.
If you were to look on the shelves of my entertainment center, in addition to a lot of Lone Ranger videos, you would see a lot of science fiction, fantasy and superhero movies. There is also a healthy mix of Disney stuff, especially the movies done by Pixar.
“Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” "Pirates of the Caribben" and “Harry Potter” are the most common titles in our collection, followed by “Spider-Man,” “Fantastic Four,” “Zorro,” “Batman,” “Ironman” and the like. My wife likes musicals, so we have a bunch of those. There are also the stand alone favorites like “Dances With Wolves,” “Passion of the Christ,” “Titanic,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Apollo 13,” “Sahara,” and “Night at the Museum.”
If we ever struggle between science fiction and a Western, we can usually resolve it with “Back to the Future 3.”
To be sure a lot of those movies have scenes that are not appropriate for children. I usually watch those after the little ones have gone to bed, or if they are out of the room. Sometimes I’ll just mute the TV or hit fast-forward. You don’t get that benefit with regular television. You don’t know when something inappropriate is coming up until it’s right in front of you.
Well now, what do you know? It looks like after all this rambling I’ve found something fun to talk about after all.
Every now and then I catch glimpses of them. I have plenty of starts and stops. One of the problems of having worked at three different newspapers in the last two years is remembering what topics I’ve written about to which audience. One of the benefits is being able to recycle old columns for my new audience here, but I try not to do that.
Throughout my seven years at my hometown newspaper in Colorado, I was always prohibited from writing about homosexuality. I could probably write a book on what the Bible has to say about it but have tried not to overdo that subject. Typically, per the name of my column, I like to write about my faith, my family and things I consider fun. Sometimes I’ll take on local topics, but not too often. My cute kids and wonderful wife often provide plenty of column fodder. But I don’t get to see them nearly enough with my lengthy commute to work and a busy family schedule of Boy Scouts and church activities.
Another frequent topic is the Lone Ranger, but I doubt there are many readers of the Waller County News Citizen who are as interested in the subject as I am. I know that will change in a couple years when Disney finally makes its new Lone Ranger movie, but until then I will try to contain my enthusiasm.
Halloween is coming up in a couple days, but I just wrote about costumes a couple weeks ago.
So, as you can see, my thoughts are bouncing around with no clear focus. (Anyone who knows me would say this is nothing new!) On the other hand, the page is no longer blank but is about a third full.
I guess this must be how it felt to be a writer for the old “Seinfeld” television show – a show about nothing. Now television is something I can write about. I rarely have anything good to say about it, though much of my life has been shaped by it.
As a kid, I grew up with “Star Trek,” “Batman,” “The Lone Ranger” (duh!), “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Brady Bunch,” and a host of Saturday morning kid’s programs. Among my favorites were “Land of the Lost,” “Superfriends,” “HR Pufinstuf,” “Batfink,” “Fat Albert” and of course the whole Looney Tunes gang.
In my adolescent years I got hooked on “M*A*S*H,” “Happy Days,” “Lavern and Shirley,” “Mork and Mindy,” “Grizzly Adams,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
As an adult, my TV viewing has trimmed down to the various incarnations of “Star Trek,” the re-imagined “Battlestar Galactica” and NFL football. At one time I was a news junkie, but after a while that felt too much like work.
Now, most of the little bit of time I get to spend in front of the boob tube, I watch movies. They are a lot more entertaining than the drivel that passes for programming and you don’t have to contend with commercials and those annoyingly stupid pop-up ads that block half your screen.
With movies, I know ahead of time what is and is not appropriate for my children to watch. Most of the stuff on primetime does not pass the parent test.
If you were to look on the shelves of my entertainment center, in addition to a lot of Lone Ranger videos, you would see a lot of science fiction, fantasy and superhero movies. There is also a healthy mix of Disney stuff, especially the movies done by Pixar.
“Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” "Pirates of the Caribben" and “Harry Potter” are the most common titles in our collection, followed by “Spider-Man,” “Fantastic Four,” “Zorro,” “Batman,” “Ironman” and the like. My wife likes musicals, so we have a bunch of those. There are also the stand alone favorites like “Dances With Wolves,” “Passion of the Christ,” “Titanic,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Apollo 13,” “Sahara,” and “Night at the Museum.”
If we ever struggle between science fiction and a Western, we can usually resolve it with “Back to the Future 3.”
To be sure a lot of those movies have scenes that are not appropriate for children. I usually watch those after the little ones have gone to bed, or if they are out of the room. Sometimes I’ll just mute the TV or hit fast-forward. You don’t get that benefit with regular television. You don’t know when something inappropriate is coming up until it’s right in front of you.
Well now, what do you know? It looks like after all this rambling I’ve found something fun to talk about after all.
posted by Joe Southern | 2:05 PM
1 Comments:
as a yonug writer, who would also rather write about her heroe, The Lone Ranger, insted of other stuff.
But, when i have to write the "stuff" my family does make for endless writing, the little things, you know, you know about.
"Hi-Yo-Silver!Away!"
Sarah Brown
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