The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Based on my having watched The Colony, Netflix recommended that I might like Jericho. In the interest of, "I saw it on TV, so it must be true (a line from Garfield the cat)," I went ahead and watched the series. (I suppose that I should update Garfield's line to, "My TV told me to watch this, so I did.") I have just now finished it and thought I would review it here. The basic premise is that a bunch of major cities have been bombed off the planet. The residents of one small town try to deal with the chaos.

The good: This show oozes upright morals. We accept our neighbors even though it gets us into trouble sometimes, we come together even though it hurts, we get in fights but still love one another in the end. We also always, always defend each other against outsiders like government people, no matter what. Another thing I liked about it is that apparently, after a major national catastrophe, there will be plenty of gunfire. It's definitely an action show with an engaging story line. There is no lack of weapons, ammo or explosive stuff in the world after the world ends.

What useful tips can we learn? Nothing that we haven't already read about in James Wesley Rawles or Time Magazine. Have a farm, guns, and medical supplies. So...I hope we all have all that stuff.

The bad: Jericho is way melodramatic. WAY melodramatic. And I'm pretty melodramatic myself. About halfway through season one, they almost lost me to the melodrama. But I'm glad they didn't.

The ugly: Some of the main characters occasionally have facial tics that increase the melodrama factor, so if weird twitches freak you out, this show is not for you.

Watch it if: you are in the mood to be preached at about right vs. wrong, or you have a hankering for feeling superior to people you believe to be morally wrong.

Do not watch if: you hate syrup and squirm when others twitch.

I gave it 3 stars for a mild, "I liked it," on Netflix. Netflix now recommends the British version of the same show. It's only 12 episodes, so sadly, I will soon dedicate another post to TV. Ugh.

On the book front, I am mostly finished with a kids' book called Empty which I started earlier today.
The premise is that the world has mostly run out of oil. An intertwined group of teenagers try to deal with the chaos.

I'm off to curl up in my flannel pajamas and finish that one right now.

Good night, loyal readers. Get some rest: it's hard trying to deal with all the chaos. :)

Back to Reality

There's a reality show that places volunteers in a post-apocalyptic-Los-Angeles-warehouse for 10 weeks.

The show is called The Colony and is available on Netflix. Fascinating idea, isn't it? The volunteers are all weirdly skilled at strange things. It kind of reminds me of the values-clarification lesson where you write a list of occupations on the board and have the students create a new society on the moon (or wherever) using just a few of the people on the list. I have been making my way through Season 1 (2009). Honestly, if and when Season 2 becomes available, I will not watch it, as there are plenty of other post-apocalypse shows out there that I should sample and review for you. Anyhow, the participants in Season 1 include a "handyman," an electrician, a doctor, a trauma nurse, a martial arts instructor, a marine biologist (?), a contractor, and three engineers: a computer engineer, an aerospace engineer, and a mechanical engineer. 

WHY ON EARTH DON'T THEY HAVE A HISTORY TEACHER? One of the show's viewer comments on  imdb.com says, "I guess in the post apocalypse no run-of-the-mill folks manage to survive and come together." 

So these ten people are stuck in a warehouse where they miraculously have most of the stuff that they need to survive. As in any reality show, they also have producers who help them out if one of the disaster contexts they (the producers) design somehow goes horribly wrong. Disaster contexts include such things as, "resource scarcity," "unity and complacency," "exploration of faith," "dealing with loss," etc. It was this last one, "dealing with loss," wherein we hear the narrator tell us that a member of the cast has been removed from the experiment but the "colonists" don't know it, and then we get to watch them grieve, that convinced me that there needs to be a history teacher in any disaster scenario. A history teacher would've reminded them that a producer was currently driving their friend to McDonald's. When they resort to eating rats, the history teacher would've reminded them that they were near a river previously known for its edible fish population. Whatever. I'll see where Season 1 goes and then move on. IMDb informs me that viewers who like The Colony also like an earlier series, Jericho from 2006. I think I'll put that on the queue next. 

In the meantime, this show is still on the air. It has an active website where you can audition for Season 3 if you're interested. 

At any rate, you should stop by the site and do the best thing (in my opinion) about this show, the Survival Personality Quiz. It's less real but more entertaining than the one from Yes! magazine that I posted a few weeks back. Here is my own result: "Your odds of survival in a post-apocalyptic world are pretty slim – and that’s OK with you because there is no life without TiVo and chai latte. Hopefully, you won't suffer too much on your way out." 

On that happy note, I may as well head toward Starbucks.