NEWS FLASH

The New York Times recently reported that many of us are re-watching old television series.  And in significant numbers, no less!  That’s a nice headline but we already knew it.  We’ve been doing that for quite some time now.

New television shows are rarely refreshing, funny, enjoyable or even worth the time.  They’re often violent, strange and off-putting.  But some of the oldies..... Well, they’ve still got it all going for themselves. And us.

We knew the actors, of course.  Hugh Laurie of House.  Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce of Frasier.  Alan Alda from Mash. To say nothing of our times with Carol Burnett, Tim Conway and the inimitable Lucille Ball.

Maybe it was a matter of trust. Or even comfort.  We knew the actors and we trusted them.  We knew there would be little or no ugliness or violence.  We knew the story line would be....well, just that…an actual story line.  Good always overcame evil. And yes, we laughed! A lot. Those were all good things. And now, in re-visiting them, they’re still perfect for the end of the day.  Or even for a late afternoon respite from our increasingly complicated world. 

But I worry we’re on a fast train here. A train speeding backwards. We could end up re-visiting Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans.  But, if memory serves, there are worse places to go so we’ll just ride this out and see where it takes us.