Thu, February 5, 2004
This Concludes Our Broadcast Day
The final episode of Ed airs tomorrow night on NBC, and I'm virtually inconsolable. I was handling myself all right until Gary Portnoy's "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" came on the iPod this afternoon. This was the opening theme to Cheers for ten years. It's a really fantastic song in its own right, but it also makes me think of the show and reminds me of a time when TV shows not only had opening themes but also closing credits. It's not that I'm nostalgic for that necessarily – the theory is that we get more comedy today with "cold opens" and "tags," although my suspicion is that we just get more commercials – but the strains of that opening theme have a way of transporting me back to the dinner table at home, where we would watch Cheers as a family every Thursday night. A film professor once talked about the significance of TV theme songs as aural cues akin to the curtain going up – the signal for the family to gather around the set. (Ask Arksie. He was there. Albeit asleep.) I tend to agree; I think that common, repeated element to start each broadcast did sort of mark the shared experience.
And that's what's so frustrating about the cancelation of Ed and the end of Friends. Sure, these days you can buy every season of every TV show on DVD, but it isn't the same. I have the entire run of NewsRadio on tape – one of my favorite comedies ever – but it doesn't feel the same to watch them now. There's no schedule to it, first of all. When you don't have to wait the full week, anticipating the new entertainment, it doesn't have the same value. And, for me, part of it was the feeling that the show was happening "now." That it was currently going on. Maybe I liked the idea that I knew where all those actors were for a few hours a week, or maybe it was just that the characters felt more "alive" when their entire history wasn't yet written. Mostly, I think it was just nice to think that there was more coming. The differences between TV and movies are many, and at times I like TV better because of the increased amount of time that the writers and producers have to spend with the characters and stories over many episodes. But, with movies, you only have a couple of hours to spend with them, so you don't get attached to the characters as much. And when they leave you don't get your heart broken.
When I thought about it this afternoon, I really missed Cheers. I miss the experience of watching the show, and I miss the characters and the stories. (Another thing that changes when you're not watching TV shows for the first time is that a lot of the flaws become more apparent. Like that Robin Colcord guy doesn't make a whole lot of sense now, but when it was unfolding right in front of you, you bought in.) Yes, I could watch Cheers a few times a night on TV Land, but I usually avoid it. I think for the same reason I still haven't watched any of the last two seasons of Alias. I don't want to do anything to spoil the perfect memory of it. The idea in my head is just too nice to let go of. (Pop psychology says this is why I never made the right romantic advances on the woman I loved from the ninth grade on – I was afraid she wouldn't live up to the mental picture. Perhaps this is why I continue to be alone, even though consciously I think I hate it. All right, I guess I'll buy that Cheers DVD, after all.)
Maybe books are the answer. There's a similar finality to the end of their stories, but the characters are created much more in the imagination of the reader than TV characters are. So, in a sense, you can keep them with you and keep thinking about them. I just know I'm going to have a terrible time deleting that final episode of Ed off of TiVo, because it just feels like it's a surrender to the unfair and unwarranted ending of something so special. Sure, if we're lucky, there will be DVDs some day, but that will just be looking back at what already happened. Like flipping back through a photo album of experiences I already had while, somewhere, Ed and Carol are off having new adventures without me. Maybe I can start a petition for an Ed movie. I'm beginning to understand where those X-Files fan fiction writers are coming from.
And, by the way, what bizarre, demeaning sexual favor am I going to have to grant in order to get someone to finally release Grand on DVD? Good Christ, that was a fantastic show, and it's like we're supposed to pretend it never happened. This wasn't Chicago Sons or George & Leo, it was a genuinely excellent show and it should be around for me to watch again, through eyes filled with tears.
mommymomerino — Fri, 2/6/04 12:26pm
This is why I remain a loyal "Friends" viewer in syndication, as well as assorted "Seinfelds" etc. It makes them seem like they are still "happening", even though we know how it will turn out and can recite most lines with them...having it doled out in increments gives me something to look forward, too. See you come by your pathetic habits through the gene pool!...sorry :)