Growing up, MacGyver was my favorite television show. I am certain you remember MacGyver, the Phoenix Foundation employee that could get himself out of any and every scratch with a roll of duct tape and a ballpoint pen found beneath the seat of a burned up Army supply truck abandoned somewhere between Belarus and Uzbekistan. He was a genius, lived on a houseboat somewhere out west, fancied a peaceful approach to problem solving, and seemed to have recurrent encounters with one Mr. Murdoc who could not be killed. MacGyver ran for seven seasons beginning in 1985 and culminated with a made for TV movie sometime in 1994, two years after the series finale. I know this because I watched every episode…some of them twice..all before the modern marvel we know as the DVR.
MacGyver was an interesting character with many levels to his persona. He hated guns, was a scientific mastermind, knew foreign cultures like the back of his hand, and dated exotic women (most notably Teri Hatcher). He marauded with the likes of Jack Dalton, Pete Thornton, Frank Colton (whose little brother Billy Colton was played by a very young Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and his English bulldog Frog, along with a litany of other role players. MacGyver nearly died in every episode yet as viewers, you came to expect the unexpected which typically had MacGyver riding off into the sunset in a very James Bond like fashion. Needless to say, I liked the series, as did my wife, ironically enough which makes for good conversation when the topic arises.
Looking back on one of my favorite TV programs, albeit hokey when compared with modern television productions, I am reminded that there was once a marketplace for TV programs with strong characters. That no longer seems the case in today’s trigger happy world of TV cancellations. And the viewer…the viewer is left holding the bag wondering how this program or that would have ended if allowed to run its course. It is comparable to a book missing it last five chapters, ripped violently from its pages, the ending never to be revealed. Yet as viewers, we have no say in the matter.
Gazing across the spectrum of TV listings today, one finds a plethora of idiotic reality programs followed by news magazines, game shows, and sit-coms. Very few, if any, strong dramas are left revealing a significant shift in TV viewership; based on ratings, TV viewers are choosing mindless reality shows and other untraditional content over strongly written dramas. All the while, TV execs are saving millions of dollars in production costs by catering to the dumbing down of an industry…and generation for that matter.
TV watching has never been the wisest of options for one’s free time. It is a guilty pleasure of sorts, one I compare to story time of old, just in the modern world, our stories are delivered to us live and in color. Or they were. Tomorrow, I’m afraid, we will be discussing my next door neighbor’s pursuit of a front yard garden as her endeavors unfold as part of a new reality show entitled “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow.” Just think of the possibilities. I assume ABC has picked up the rights…as it will premiere right after the shim-sham Barack Obama Health Care special this Wednesday at 9. Do you think MacGyver can get us out of this mess…What about health care? Yeah, me neither…just a thought!
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/06/17/2009-06-17_abc_pledges_gop_a_healthy_debate.html
RIP
The Beast – A&E
The Unit – CBS
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