I’m not sure if you heard, but Hollywood is on strike. The strikes could last through December some analysts say. This is going to create a bubble for what we all now refer to as “content”, because, not only is nothing being made right now, nothing is being written, and very little is in development.
What will we all do without our endless supply of content?
Well, there’s always YouTube. Content is king over there. And there’s podcasts. Hours and hours of content to get through in the form of podcasts. And Kdramas. And anime. And video games. There are books, too, but nobody reads anymore.
That’s not nothing. But what if we want some good, old fashioned Hollywood-produced television or movies? What then?
I say we can always go back to the well.
Last night, we were flipping through the streaming apps on our Roku, and I was showing my wife that you can search for a show or movie, and it will take you to whatever streaming app it’s playing on. (I know, we’re not very tech savvy in this household.) She asked if I would search up Quantum Leap. So I did. And I’ll be damned if it wasn’t on Peacock, which we sub to. We started an episode, and she decided she really wanted to watch Murder, She Wrote and Could I see where that is streaming, please? Sure. Why not? A few seconds later, there it was, also on Peacock. And there we were watching the pilot episode of a nearly 40 year old TV show.
Well I missed some of it, because I had a few work things to take care of. But when I sat back down halfway through the episode, I found myself engrossed in the story. So I watched it til the end. And you know what? It ended on a cliffhanger. And you know what else? I’m looking forward to finding out who the culprit is. From what I remember, Jessica Fletcher always gets her man.
Over the past few years I have revisited shows from my childhood. Shows like Renegade, Raven, Highlander: The Series, Seinfeld, and SeaQuest DSV.
But it’s not all ancient history around my house. There are newer shows I never got around to finishing or even checking out. Shows like Mr. Robot, Yellowstone, TURN: Washington’s Spies, Cobra Kai, and Peaky Blinders. And these are just the tip of the spear. There are hundreds of shows I never watched. Shows I either missed but meant to watch or shows I had no interest in. Older shows. Newer shows. British shows. Animated shows.
Hundreds. Of. Shows. Man.
And I haven’t even mentioned movies. But let’s just stick with TV for this article.
So what am I saying here? That we should write Hollywood off? Light a match and burn it down? Let the AIs take over?
I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe what I’m saying is that we are blessed with so many choices for content that we aren’t even aware of them all. We are blessed with so many choices, that if I were to start watching all of the movies and TV shows (what we used to just call “entertainment”) I ever wanted to watch but somehow never got around to, I wouldn’t be able to finish them all before it’s my time to leave this earth. Maybe we should be grateful. Maybe we should take some time and soak up some of the entertainment we have at our disposal. And maybe in the meantime, Hollywood could figure out how to start making entertainment again instead of content. Because one sounds like something you do out of passion and the need to create, and the other sounds like something you do out of a need to fill space.
And before we go, just for the hell of it, here’s a list of some of the stuff I’d like to watch for the first time (*), finish (**), or rewatch (***). The crazy thing is, this is only a fraction of the stuff I’d like to eventually get around to watching. And don’t forget to share your lists below. TV shows, movies, whatever. We want to hear about it.
Stranger Things *
The Simpsons *
King of the Hill **
Rome **
The Tourist **
Outer Range **
Devs **
Kingdom **
Battlestar Galactica (‘78 and ‘04) ***
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ***
The Master *
Jessica Jones *
The Punisher *
WKRP in Cincinnati *
Welcome Back Kotter *
The Golden Girls **
Parks and Rec **
The Last Kingdom **
Dark *
Tribes of Europa *
Babylon Berlin **
Altered Carbon **
Cathedral of the Sea *
The Movies that Made Us *
Neon Genesis Evangelion **
Knightfall *
The Man in the High Castle **
Dallos **
Tales from the Loop **
Foyle’s War **
Whitechapel **
The White Queen *
Columbo ***
Sliders *
Star Trek the Next Generation *
