Mister Rogers, Sesame Street, Electric Company.
Reminiscent fondness (?, ed.) for these television shows is common now. You can now order DVDs of any or all of these shows.
This can only come to one result; Other than a flash of brilliance, we find that they are mediocre at best, and we begin to realize just how much we candy-coat our memories of these television shows. There was a reason my mother sat me on the floor in front of these shows with a piece of toast and juice and excused herself into the kitchen.
There's one thing about these shows that always had me mesmerized and still does...
The factory tour.
Who doesn't remember the crayon factory tour from Mister Rogers? Brilliant. I suppose this is similar to the construction trucks videos of today.
However, on weekday evenings, I am occasionally transported back in time to when my world was much smaller and I was filled with wonder at how my crayon "became" a crayon. It is as if you are recognizing the lack of divinity on the part of consumer goods, for the first time. Your eyes glaze, your jaw drops, and you stare at the TV in wonder.
No, this is not a rerun of any of those childhood television shows. This is new, and clearly designed to appeal to young and old alike. I'm talking about "How It's Made" on the discovery channel. It's a pre-primetime filler show, amidst reruns of shows that you wouldn't have watched in the first place. But this show is like mid-evening crack, and I'm hooked.
Here are some cool things that I've seen on that show:
Matches
Motors
Cellos
Bolts
Windsurfing Boards (oddly similar in construction to Cellos)
Here are some not-so-cool, or downright gross things that I've seen on that show:
Glass (artificial) Eyes
Frozen Pizzas
Tatoos
Sanitary Napkins
Wastewater Treatment
Frozen Fish
This show is actually produced in Montreal and I am amazed at the access they are allowed at these factories, considering that there are very rarely any brands or company names shown. It also has a certain techno/porn/fusion soundtrack jacka-wacka-jacka-wacka thing that also helps the hypnosis along.
I suppose, on a broader, philosophical level, it inspires me to know that machines will not replace human labor. The amount of manpower it takes to engineer, construct, operate and maintain these robots, conveyers, spinny-things, whirly-ma-jigs, and generally dangerous looking mechanical objects, is stunning. That's not to say, that if these machines rose up in rebellion, we wouldn't be in a heap of trouble.
I hope the machines don't lose their 401k plans, or we're all doomed.
