The Road Less Traveled

I just found out that one of my favorite television shows, New Amsterdam, is probably going to be canceled. And I think it has very little to do with viewers and ratings and more to do with “creativity problems.”

What exactly does that mean? I imagine this angry television writer throwing a tantrum because he’s out of ideas for the show and is parading around shouting, “No more! No! I won’t do anymore!”

This isn’t the first time a show I’ve fallen in love with has been canceled. Does anyone remember the show Wonderfalls? It was also a FOX show and had one of the most amazing main characters I have ever seen. Her name is Jaye and she is cynical, antisocial, “overeducated and underemployed”, bitter, and best of all a master at avoiding expectations. The premise of the show was a little weird, but the mark of good writing is when the characters within a story change. It’s even funnier when they change against their will. In this case, the cure for Jaye’s cynicism comes in the form of inanimate objects speaking to her and giving her clues that lead to helping her change people’s lives.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the first episode:

Eric: Life can be sort of peaceful when you stop struggling.

Jaye: It’s a lot like drowning that way.

But, unfortunately, the show went the way of other artistic shows that just aren’t meant for mainstream crowd, I guess. I fell in love with it and was heartbroken when the fourth episode aired and then that was it.

There is a similar show out now that I also love: Eli Stone. I won’t ramble on and on about that one just yet. Let’s hope FOX keeps Amsterdam alive and I finally get to see if John finds true love and becomes mortal (although I like that he’s immortal. It does make him a better cop.) If I just confused you, watch the show. It’ll make more sense then.

Until later– “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”

I just stumbled onto something that makes me proud.  As of about thirty minutes ago, Google’s #1 search trend was a French phrase, “faut souffrir pour etre belle,” which translates to something like “You have to suffer to be beautiful.”

Why am I proud of this?  It proves that the quest for knowledge among Internet junkies is not limited to “Grand Theft Auto IV” or “Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards Results.”

Where did I get the crazy idea to check the Google search trends?  Most of my television time during Spring Break has been spent watching a channel called Current.  It is made up mostly of pods, short videos that are between 3-7 minutes long, perfect for ADHD viewers like me.  That’s not the best part.  Most of the pods are Viewer Created Content.  Their web site, current.com, presents assignments that their viewers/visitors can use as ideas for pods and then send them in.  The best are voted on by viewers/visitors and then hopefully chosen by current to be aired on the channel.  That’s still not the best part.  They pay.

I think I’m actually going to try this.  There are a few of the assignments that I think I could do, with my little Flip and my high tech Windows Movie Maker.  Seriously, though, I think things are looking up.  Most of the pods are about world issues and current events.

Hope things are looking up for you, also.