And where to begin. I watched an episode of Grimm a couple of hours ago, and while noting the quality of acting, special effects and the writing (all bad), I couldn't help but be intrigued enough to come back to the show, at least one it pops up on another format that allows me to watch it whenever I damn well please.
And I had to wonder why I'd want to watch it again. This led to the following conversation with my wife:
Me: In all of Sam's books and videos, do any of them have a story that you actually like?
Wife: (Sighs) If you want to start reading him The Hobbit, I'm fine with that.
Me: What about the old nursery rhymes? I grew up on those and it seems like we haven't even read anything.
Wife: We have a book, we just haven't read it to him once he learned to talk.
It just struck me. Sam's books are all about life lessons and perfectly nice kids and quirkily drawn animals overcoming obstacles in perfectly teachable and politically correct ways. The few TV shows that he watches contain earnest characters all learning to cooperate or help the earth or animals and will eventually break out into a dismal hip-hop number. Where are the stories? I remember the tales and stories I heard growing up, not the million-and-one self-esteem lessons that didn't even feel like they were intended for me.
Narrative is crucial. No wonder the boy seems bored and keeps asking to read his non-fiction book on big cats. No wonder I'm bored with most of the "stories" that show up on TV. My reaction to most movies is, "They seriously expected someone to pony up $8 to see this?" I've come to expect today's entertainment to be 98 percent junk and I'm reasonably happy when the junk is well enough made that falls into the category of "pleasantly diverting."
