Is it just me?

By Lonnie Cruse

Sigh, ALL of my favorite television series ended this season with huge cliff-hangers. White Collar, NCIS, NCIS LA, The Closer, Burn Notice, you name it, I watched it, and then I was stuck waiting until June/July for the new seasons to begin. All at the same time. Sigh. And once they DID/DO begin, I'll be on series overload, trying to keep them all straight. Who died? Who survived? Who's new? Who isn't? Whew.

Lots of good drama on television these days. (Lots of garbage too.) This isn't Father Knows Best or The Donna Reed show any more (though they were good, in their day.) But the writers have to keep topping themselves, or the series dies. (Same for mystery writers writing a book series, but that's another story for another day.) How do they top explosion after explosion or disappearance after disappearance? How do they keep the characters fresh? Keep them growing? How many murders can Jessica Fletcher solve in one town? (Solution for that one, they moved her to New York where murders were a bit more numerous. Works for me.)

I'm old enough to remember riding with the neighbors over to the nearest television store and watching TV through the window on a warm summer night. I still remember who had the first television in our neighborhood (same neighbors, of course.) Television has come a looooong way, baby, since the 50's. Whew. A VERY long way. Like I said, some good, some not so good. I fear that our kids spend way too much time in front of the TV, instead of outside playing. Still, we can see news from across the world in an instant. Keep up with what's going on. We just need to control it, not let it control us, don't you think?

I'm going back to DVRing my fave shows, so I don't miss any explosions. You?