I get to write an article? Whoopee. I mean it. Seriously. I like to write things, and while I would prefer to get paid for what I write, I'm perfectly willing to pimp myself out to those few things in life that deserve my considerable skill.
I'm not playing. I'm good!
So is this show.
Anyway...
No, but really, y'all. Rookie Blue? Brilliant. I just finally managed to catch the first episode and I laughed my way through the thing. I really have a lot I could criticize, but the point is, I have put considerable time, effort, and energy into examining this show's weaknesses and strengths. That's kind of something you only do if you're really invested in something or someone, you know? If you know you don't like something, you just kind of figure that it's not something you want in your life and move on. Something you know you do want in your life, you obsess about, more. If it's obsessing in a 'why don't more people watch this show' kind of way, instead of a 'creepy stalker' kind of way. Which seems like the kind of thing that is probably even less fun than it sounds, if that is even at all possible.
I generally think that the best way this show could improve is to get more people involved in it. Maybe that's just my tremendously oversized heart talking, but I'm serious! This is the funniest [laughing with, I promise] and most entertaining show I've seen since Grey's Anatomy lost that certain something years ago [and never got it back, by the way]. The actresses and actors have that je ne sais quoi...chemistry, I guess it is, but there's something else, too. They all seem committed to their parts. I like that the actresses and actors don't seem like rookies, but do seem to have that sort of 'I'm determined not to screw this up' vibe.
I'm not helping here, much, am I? Okay, here's the thing--it's been forever since we've had a show to watch with this much heart. I'm sick to death of intellectual dramas like 'Lost' that are almost impossible to follow and have nothing terribly important to say, anyway, about anything. I'm sick of shows like 'The Practice' featuring strong women for like two seconds, right up until they become depressive, psychopathic murderers. I'm sick of shows like 'Law and Order' sacrificing any semblance of gender balance for ratings. I'm sick of shows sacrificing their good parts for the pleasure of knowing that adolescent boys and the grownups whose bodies they occasionally occupy flip to the shows I like to watch titties, and that this is supposed to be a good thing for a show.
I am enamored with any show that has spine and spunk and wit and emotional appeal. It's almost a rule of nature--if these elements are present, I will find a way to tune in to watch. I will find myself considering the impact the show has had on me in the most bizarre of moments in my life. I will find myself thinking of the main characters when I need inspiration or comfort. I will consider what the lead woman might say, and do it.
This is one such show, and is that rare gem that will genuinely remain with me for a very long time. I find myself contemplating what Andy might do if she were me, meaning, what I would do if I was not afraid to be as strong as she is. I wonder what it might be like to simply go with my gut the way Sam does. I wonder if I could totally contradict my entire training and just go for what I want, anyway, the way that Gail does. I wonder if I could bring down the bad guy with pure skill, if I have so much passion that I would be willing to work as hard for what I want as Dov is. I wonder if I could keep to the rules even when my own selfish interests would lead me down another path, like Chris. I wonder if I could deal with having as many blows against me as Tracy, and succeed anyway in whatever course I plan to take. I wonder if I could live every day with the responsibility for other people's lives in my hands--and I understand that we all already do that. We have the responsibility for a world of people depending on us to do what we are here to do on our hands even if we don't choose to see it that way.
Shows like this remind us that responsibility is meant to be inspiring, not more reason to depress us and numb out. We can change anything that scares or hurts us, if we just allow ourselves the strength to do so. We have to commit ourselves to the change in a way that human beings in real life rarely do. Yet we know that we can, because that is how imagination works.
For human beings, if we can dream it, we can achieve it. If we are imagining something coming to pass, we must already have the tools to make it happen..we may just be unaware of that fact. The key is choosing to do what we honestly want, what our gut tells us, instead of what the voice of guilt--the voice of self-doubt and self-loathing--in our heads has to say.
We are all Andy, sitting on the bed, scared of being happy and more scared of making the wrong decision and winding up alone and abandoned yet again. We have all been there. We as a species are there now.
If we leave then we will only wind up back there on that bed in a few days' or weeks' or months' or decades' time. That's a reasonable choice. Yet if we make that choice, then really, who do we have to blame if not ourselves for being so damned miserable all the time, knowing we knew better than to make that choice but chose to pretend otherwise?
How happy can a person really be if they must lie to achieve it?
I'm not playing. I'm good!
So is this show.
Anyway...
No, but really, y'all. Rookie Blue? Brilliant. I just finally managed to catch the first episode and I laughed my way through the thing. I really have a lot I could criticize, but the point is, I have put considerable time, effort, and energy into examining this show's weaknesses and strengths. That's kind of something you only do if you're really invested in something or someone, you know? If you know you don't like something, you just kind of figure that it's not something you want in your life and move on. Something you know you do want in your life, you obsess about, more. If it's obsessing in a 'why don't more people watch this show' kind of way, instead of a 'creepy stalker' kind of way. Which seems like the kind of thing that is probably even less fun than it sounds, if that is even at all possible.
I generally think that the best way this show could improve is to get more people involved in it. Maybe that's just my tremendously oversized heart talking, but I'm serious! This is the funniest [laughing with, I promise] and most entertaining show I've seen since Grey's Anatomy lost that certain something years ago [and never got it back, by the way]. The actresses and actors have that je ne sais quoi...chemistry, I guess it is, but there's something else, too. They all seem committed to their parts. I like that the actresses and actors don't seem like rookies, but do seem to have that sort of 'I'm determined not to screw this up' vibe.
I'm not helping here, much, am I? Okay, here's the thing--it's been forever since we've had a show to watch with this much heart. I'm sick to death of intellectual dramas like 'Lost' that are almost impossible to follow and have nothing terribly important to say, anyway, about anything. I'm sick of shows like 'The Practice' featuring strong women for like two seconds, right up until they become depressive, psychopathic murderers. I'm sick of shows like 'Law and Order' sacrificing any semblance of gender balance for ratings. I'm sick of shows sacrificing their good parts for the pleasure of knowing that adolescent boys and the grownups whose bodies they occasionally occupy flip to the shows I like to watch titties, and that this is supposed to be a good thing for a show.
I am enamored with any show that has spine and spunk and wit and emotional appeal. It's almost a rule of nature--if these elements are present, I will find a way to tune in to watch. I will find myself considering the impact the show has had on me in the most bizarre of moments in my life. I will find myself thinking of the main characters when I need inspiration or comfort. I will consider what the lead woman might say, and do it.
This is one such show, and is that rare gem that will genuinely remain with me for a very long time. I find myself contemplating what Andy might do if she were me, meaning, what I would do if I was not afraid to be as strong as she is. I wonder what it might be like to simply go with my gut the way Sam does. I wonder if I could totally contradict my entire training and just go for what I want, anyway, the way that Gail does. I wonder if I could bring down the bad guy with pure skill, if I have so much passion that I would be willing to work as hard for what I want as Dov is. I wonder if I could keep to the rules even when my own selfish interests would lead me down another path, like Chris. I wonder if I could deal with having as many blows against me as Tracy, and succeed anyway in whatever course I plan to take. I wonder if I could live every day with the responsibility for other people's lives in my hands--and I understand that we all already do that. We have the responsibility for a world of people depending on us to do what we are here to do on our hands even if we don't choose to see it that way.
Shows like this remind us that responsibility is meant to be inspiring, not more reason to depress us and numb out. We can change anything that scares or hurts us, if we just allow ourselves the strength to do so. We have to commit ourselves to the change in a way that human beings in real life rarely do. Yet we know that we can, because that is how imagination works.
For human beings, if we can dream it, we can achieve it. If we are imagining something coming to pass, we must already have the tools to make it happen..we may just be unaware of that fact. The key is choosing to do what we honestly want, what our gut tells us, instead of what the voice of guilt--the voice of self-doubt and self-loathing--in our heads has to say.
We are all Andy, sitting on the bed, scared of being happy and more scared of making the wrong decision and winding up alone and abandoned yet again. We have all been there. We as a species are there now.
If we leave then we will only wind up back there on that bed in a few days' or weeks' or months' or decades' time. That's a reasonable choice. Yet if we make that choice, then really, who do we have to blame if not ourselves for being so damned miserable all the time, knowing we knew better than to make that choice but chose to pretend otherwise?
How happy can a person really be if they must lie to achieve it?
