So today I’m in mourning over the cancellation of a show I grew up with, One Life To Live.  I watched it on and off over the years but always kept track of the stories. Since I left my job to raise my kids, I have been watching it regularly again.  Even the kids know mommy’s one show is on.  Though they were excited that it was ending so that they could monopolize the tv with the Disney channel, lately even they have been feeling bad for me and my show.  Now I know that it hasn’t been quality programming all the time and often the acting and story lines can be a bit silly.  However, you can’t expect too much when they need to put on a show every weekday for 40ish years.  Still, the characters become familiar and the stories are a nice getaway from the reality of life.

Lately though, it seems that we are not allowed to getaway from the reality of life.  There is more and more thrust upon us with the increasing talk and reality shows on the air.  Even OTLT is being replaced by a panel talk show which starts today but I refuse to watch.  I mean how many of those do we need.  Do we all really want to just talk about our lives and our problems all the time.  Don’t we want to escape sometimes to a different world with interesting people and new possibilities?

I know it is cheaper not to pay actors or hire creative writers to come up with ideas but is it really ok to just give up on creativity?  I’ve read that our nations creative IQ is declining for the first time in generations and that will hurt us in a globally competitive market.  That creativity gave us the edge when it came to inventions, innovations, entertainment, etc.  Now it seems that instead of trying to foster and rebuild it we are surrounded by executives and people saying no big deal.  They seem ok with just peeking in on random groups of people living odd lives and calling it entertainment or getting a bunch of professionals together to chit chat on air about different subjects.  Where are the intelligent new shows full of interesting ideas and good acting?  Why are we letting reality shows kill all the creative ones???