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The Search For Truthiness
Jul. 16th, 2011 12:33 amFollowing Netflix’s suggestion, I finally started watching The X-Files. Partly it was in an attempt to understand what the hell everyone else was watching back in the day when I was an adorable little counterculture twerp who feared scary TV shows, and partly it was being sick of only having seen what fans assure me are the four worst episodes,* although how they differentiate is difficult to tell now that I've seen more. I mean, they're all pretty bad. And as I watch, I think I’m finally starting to understand what my sister was talking about when she explained her addiction to True Blood. My thought processes for The X-Files go something like this:
“Dang, this is a terrible show.”
*next episode*
“Totally boring and pointless.”
*next episode*
“Nobody told me the actors were this bad.”
*next episode*
“And I never knew how completely ineffective Scully and Mulder are.”
*next episode*
“I mean, do all of these monster-of-the-week episodes end with the monster still at large, or at most temporarily inconvenienced?”
*next episode*
“Why am I still watching this?”
You get the idea.
Although I am having a great time seeing just how different things were just under two decades ago. I can see how people get stuck in the When I Was Your Age loop: it’s fascinating to see how things change. Even the mindset is different. (No Straight To The Internet mentality—not even for crazy conspiracy theorist loners looking to meet other crazy conspiracy theorist loners—and at least one episode based entirely on phone tag.) Pretty entertaining.
Mostly, though, it’s a perfect show to ignore while writing, and I’ve certainly got a lot of that to do if I’m gonna get this OGYAFE done by my own deadline. Time to turn on another boring ineffective badly-acted** X-File and get back to work!
*next episode*
*The one where Scully gets an evil tattoo, the one where Bryan Cranston's head explodes, the one where inbred hillbillies booby trap their house, and the one where Deep Roy crawls up people's asses and kills them.
**The first season has terrific sound mixing, though. I can hear every single ambient conversation in the street scenes. Sadly, though, I was left hanging with the drama of Lady Trying To Establish Which Store She Will Meet Someone In Front Of Later in favor of some other story about monsters running amok. Also I swear our heroes are being shadowed by one very determined, Tourette’s-affected dog.
“Dang, this is a terrible show.”
*next episode*
“Totally boring and pointless.”
*next episode*
“Nobody told me the actors were this bad.”
*next episode*
“And I never knew how completely ineffective Scully and Mulder are.”
*next episode*
“I mean, do all of these monster-of-the-week episodes end with the monster still at large, or at most temporarily inconvenienced?”
*next episode*
“Why am I still watching this?”
You get the idea.
Although I am having a great time seeing just how different things were just under two decades ago. I can see how people get stuck in the When I Was Your Age loop: it’s fascinating to see how things change. Even the mindset is different. (No Straight To The Internet mentality—not even for crazy conspiracy theorist loners looking to meet other crazy conspiracy theorist loners—and at least one episode based entirely on phone tag.) Pretty entertaining.
Mostly, though, it’s a perfect show to ignore while writing, and I’ve certainly got a lot of that to do if I’m gonna get this OGYAFE done by my own deadline. Time to turn on another boring ineffective badly-acted** X-File and get back to work!
*next episode*
*The one where Scully gets an evil tattoo, the one where Bryan Cranston's head explodes, the one where inbred hillbillies booby trap their house, and the one where Deep Roy crawls up people's asses and kills them.
**The first season has terrific sound mixing, though. I can hear every single ambient conversation in the street scenes. Sadly, though, I was left hanging with the drama of Lady Trying To Establish Which Store She Will Meet Someone In Front Of Later in favor of some other story about monsters running amok. Also I swear our heroes are being shadowed by one very determined, Tourette’s-affected dog.
