I’m just going to come right out and say it: I hate fall. After
saying goodbye to three months loaded with mojitos in the sun,
Hawaiian shirts, Jimmy Buffett music and endless barbecues, fall is
sort of a post-summer bummer.
I’m just going to come right out and say it: I hate fall. After saying goodbye to three months loaded with mojitos in the sun, Hawaiian shirts, Jimmy Buffett music and endless barbecues, fall is sort of a post-summer bummer.
There are enough fallies out there that will find autumn sacrosanct, but other than it being pie season, I just can’t get excited about a few months of chilly weather, contests dedicated to gargantuan gourds, an obsession with the color orange, the glut of food and drink loaded with “spice,” or the sun setting somewhere around lunchtime.
Even at the cineplex, the season is a big change from the mindless, explosive fun of summer blockbusters. With no fewer than nine “serious” movies being released this season that deal with the Iraq War, the war on terror or conflicts in the Middle East, this is Hollywood’s fall reality check.
Luckily, for a little escapism, one couldn’t do much better than turn to the new network TV lineup. Chockablock with magic, science fiction and super powers, this year’s fall TV is more about fantasy than any in recent memory.
Besides my favorite fantastical TV characters – Hiro and his mutated batch of next-men on “Heroes” – the ghost whisperer, “Supernatural” twins, and Superboy’s little league of justice are all returning to the tube this season.
The new recruits are also numerous. There’s pie-maker Ned who resurrects the dead on “Pushing Daisies,” IT spy “Chuck,” time-traveler “Journeyman,” Satan’s little “Reaper,” a “Moonlight” vampire, and a “Bionic Woman.”
This dichotomy of pop, reality at the theaters and escapism at home, makes an odd kind of sense.
I definitely believe in the importance of a dose of reality through entertainment media. Just like people who don’t follow the news because “it’s too depressing” are kind of irresponsible, it’s somewhat of a cop-out to never take in a little popular culture that’s reflecting the real state of our world. It can’t all be pirates and transformers, after all. However, there is a limit to how much reality you need at a time.
It’s one thing to take a somber, two-hour trip “In The Valley of Elah.” But when it comes to a Monday night, after a day of work, it’s natural to want to tune in to the whimsical adventures of a guy that can fly and a cheerleader who can’t be hurt, both of whom are working to save the world.
Plus, over the course of a season, those are the characters we keep inviting into the living room week after week. We want to see them, to check in on their astonishing tales of magic and wonder. They are so rooted in the fantastical that things are guaranteed to work out in the end.
A series based too firmly in the reality of the Middle East, for instance, would be less likely to guarantee a happy ending, and that’s not something the public wants to see in their weekly shows. The “adventures” might be too believable, and not provide enough of a separation from the 24-hour news networks just a few channels away. For an example, see the 2005 FX show “Over There.” It followed a group of soldiers on their first tour of duty in Iraq and, despite a lack of political bias to appeal to wider audiences, it only lasted about three months.
But it needn’t be an if-and-or scenario this season. Over the course of the fall, hit the theaters for that sometimes-chilly dose of reality through pop culture, then head home for some fantasy and a slice of pumpkin pie.
