This week in television: Blindspot kills a lot of people! So much bullet death! It was funny watching the Russian spy cell episode and thinking about what media during the Cold War was actually like and what modern spy stories have become. Both still adventure shows, I guess.
I started playing the game Spiritfarer this week after seeing how amazing the animation looked and the gameplay style. There are a lot of cool, chill mechanics, like fishing, gardening, cooking. Much like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing where you can fish and garden. Or Breath of the Wild where you can….fish, hunt, and cook. Not to detract too much from Spiritfarer which is a lovely game that I’m enjoying immensely and also has a lot of other stuff going for it. I recognize that this is a common genre of video game but it’s also one that has become extremely popular and en vogue recently and thinking about why that could be is interesting to me. It reminds me of the 70s “rural purge” of the big three networks (but mostly CBS). Still popular shows like Green Acres and Beverly Hillbillies were canceled in favor of targeting younger demographics and more modern storylines. Essentially, moving the perceived target audience from the countryside to the cities. Obviously lots of people all over the country were enjoying the show regardless of where they were but the move was also an age-demographic thing. I do wonder though if those shows were so popular because they were seen as ¨simpler¨and cozier in the way that these modern games are. A sort of return to paradise kind of thing, since people are so desperate to take their minds off…well, everything, really. I don’t expect, or even think it’s possible, for video games to wipe the slate clean the way that CBS did and start from scratch, because they’re not broadcasting games. But I do wonder if we’ll eventually see a similar kind of shift away into more ¨urban fantasy¨ games. (Not that those aren’t extremely popular right now. They are still extremely popular.)
Surprising no one, I continue to watch Man From UNCLE with a vengeance, except now I’ve gotten some friends into it. It’s a funny thing feeling so invested in having other people like the thing you like. I was thinking about it the other day and it’s kind of like having friends that you want to get along, regardless of whether some of those friends are fictional. You want to be able to talk about those friends because you care about them and having an outlet for it is so, so nice, even if you can’t always expect it of people. There’s also the other thing where you really enjoy a show or a character even through they’re blatant stupidity, so while you’re just like “oh, the dumb asshole is my favorite,” sometimes the people you’re watching with are all, “no, this is just dumb.” It’s nice to vibe and be on the same page! This is all to say that I’m greatly enjoying a rewatch with people who think Napoleon and Illya are messy bitches but love them anyway.
I’ve slowly been introducing one roommate to British reality TV. Grand Designs was last week, as discussed, and this week I showed an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown which is both fun and informative! Jon was on that week and his dry, cardiganed humor is always welcome. I’m thinking Only Connect next because it is far and beyond the nerdiest show and just really pleasant and relaxing yet fun to watch? It’s like Jeopardy except I feel no need to actually have the answer because there’s no freakin’ way I’ll ever have the answer. They had a Monkees question and I barely got it. The only fear is that I would be too successful and it’s the only show we watch for the next six months.
I loved Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres was a scream. Even when I was a teen, my friends and I loved to talk endlessly about Arnold Zwiffel. Their switch to a “younger” audience was probably engineered by the same people who canceled Man from Uncle and Star Trek. In short, they were idiots.