A whole bunch of great TV series came out during my teen years. During the mid 2000s, I remember catching my first episode of House MD. It was around 11 pm and it lasted to around midnight. I was pretty tired I remember, and I would have turned it off in a heartbeat if it bored me. But it didn’t. That show instantly hooked me. I just loved the sarcasm, the quick-witted replies, the humour, everything. Like Holmes, House is essentially an extremely bright misfit solving mysteries. It’s an old formula, but it works. Looking back, I came across it at just the right time. Being a teenager, I could sympathize with his general “buck the system” attitude. For House, all that mattered were results – rules be damned, which made him feel somewhat out of place compared to his coworkers and those up the ladder, who followed the rulebook to a fault. And, being a teenager, feeling out of place just comes with the territory, so I saw a kindred spirit in him.
It probably lasted about two or three seasons too long. The writers took the show into genres it had no business of being in, but that’s American television for you. That being said, it’s easy to forget how widely popular this series used to be. I guess it’s all about having great writers and having the kind of actors who have a certain magnetic pull to them, who draw your attention soon as they appear on the screen.
And while I’m discussing TV series, here’s a show which has started to fade into obscurity the last couple of years: Life On Mars (2006). If you haven’t seen it: police detective Sam Tyler gets into a car accident and gets transported back to 1973. Cue the classic 1970s music, the police beating down suspects and car chases. Okay, so part of it is an episodic police procedural, but it’s also about Sam trying to get back home. And here’s the clever part: we’re never quite certain whether it’s all in his head, or if he’s really back in ’73. Think you’ve got it figured out, well, they give you some other piece of information to make you think otherwise.
But what truly made this show, was Sam interacting with others in the 70s, and seeing him slowly change over time, to the point of deciding he’s much more happy and at home in ’73 than he ever was back in ’06. By the end, the question of whether it’s real, or if it’s all imaginary, doesn’t matter anymore. He’s made his decision.
To truly get this series, you need to watch the first episode, showing him in the present. It’s not just that we see criminals exploit the flaws in the system, with Sam powerless to do much about it; it’s also shows Sam trying to keep up the facade that everything’s okay when it clearly isn’t. The thing is, society has changed so much over the years, that he just doesn’t fit in anymore. As is often the case with British TV, it’s only two seasons. Quality over quantity is the British way of going about things, so it seems.
Anyways, in other news, I’ve had two colds in a row the last couple of weeks, which I’m recovering from. Let’s hope it’s smooth sailing for the rest of the year.
Kind regards
Vincent J. Dancet