Hi there! I'm J.D.! I was convinced by my good friend Rachael to engage in this blogging venture, thinking it would be amusing to see me put my endless verbal ramblings in print. Now that I'm in front of a blank computer screen, the screen stares back at me. Mocking me, taunting me challanging me. "So, you think you can write," the screen says, "Well, show me! I'm wanting!" So, here goes nothing,....
Topic The First: My Misspent Youth With The Television Set.
For better or for worse, whatever free time as a child that I didn't spend being an industrial strength bookworm, I spent them as a television junkie. So, I was alternately enriching and destroying my impressionable young mind at the same time. Lots of what I watched was garbage, lots were surpisingly good. Both will be discussed from time to time.
One show that falls in the "good" category is one that had a profound effect on my mindset, for better or for worse. It may not have been considered "educational television" per sae, but it did honestly encourage and motivate me to think as a child.
That show was Columbo.
A deceptively simple program, Columbo was an Agatha Christie style mystery turned on it's head. You knew who the murderer was. The first act was entirely devoted to depicting the killer planning and commiting the murder. Columbo doesn't even show up until act two. There are no fistfights, gunfights, or car chases. So, why bother watching it? Simple, the show's creators perceptively realized that the identity of the murderer is ultimately problamatical. The best part of all mysteries is the pursuit, the chase, the game of cat and mouse, and verbal chess matches between the detective and the suspects. The fact that the suspect is the murderer actually hightens the tension. How close can Columbo get? How can the murderer wiggle out of this? It's not a "whodunnit," it's a "howshegonnagetem?"
Another brilliant aspect of the show was the fact that Columbo was not your typical cocky, cut, buff, and well-tailored police detective. He was apologetic, average build, and shabbily dressed. But beneath his unassuming exterior was a brilliant, intelligent mind. The murderers usually underestimated him due to his unassuming appearence and demeanor. This would be their fatal mistake.
Also, since the murderers were usually the cream of wealth and prestige, Lt. Columbo's ironic dichotomy of unassuming brillance gave him a sort of everyman status. In a way, he represented all of us. We also had the dual pleasure of simultaneously watching Columbo putting the pieces together and solving the mystery while the murderer was slowly crumbling and deteriorating under Lt. Columbo's repeated scrutiny and verbal chessplaying. It wasn't just a mystery program, it was also a psychological study of two powerful minds on opposite sides of the law colliding against each other.
Ultimately, Columbo (Both the show and the man) proved to viewers that the journey to the solution was just as important and just as satisfyingly entertaining as the solution itself.
That's all for now. Until next time, Take care of yourselves and play nice with each other.
