Thank God, true talent never retires!

Have you ever noticed that truly talent people never stop creating and most often can perform brilliantly in any era. There is no age limit on creativity. The best are never spent. George Burns was always booked five years ahead even when he died at 100. Musicians like Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, BB King..still going well into their senior years. Choose any one of the arts and you will find actors, writers, directors, painters, sculptors, architects who never stop creating. Every art form has its share of mediocrity, however television seems to attract a proportionally larger number of substandard creators. Perhaps it is the huge appetite of the ubiquitous channels and the enormous volume of content that must be supplied on a daily basis that has opened the door to an increased number of producers but in this particular area the consequences have led to the dumbing down of television programming and the narcotizing of the TV audience. In other words, if Anna Nicole Smith can be a star, Jerry Springer can get huge ratings and people will watch semi sane people eating cockroaches and animal innards for entertainment then we have reached a very unfortunate point in the evolution of this society.

Recently I have been traveling far from my West Coast home into the "heart land" of America. (the so called Red States) to places like Cedar Falls Iowa, Indianapolis, Orlando, and Chicago. A visit to the local Wal Mart in these cities will tell you everything you need to know about the television audience in this country. These are good people. No. Great people! But they are getting the shit kicked out of them by high energy prices, declining education standards, health care, taxes and anything that pushes the middle class further down the food chain towards a lower standard of living and poverty. They know they are lied to and cajoled by politicians, corporations and fed a steady diet of mediocre media in particular television programming that continually dumbs them down and numbs their senses but they feel they have no power to do anything about any of it. Could it be that wholesale hand over of America to the Chinese, Mexicans and Indians that we are currently witnessing in the greatest collapse of a world power from the inside out in history is a result of this dumbing down and manipulation. There seems to be no end to the devastating attacks on the American middle class. They are manipulated in ways that no propaganda in history can match. Now, as television comes face to face with the digital economy and a changed consumer, a media revolution has begun that will dwarf all others and there is a chance for people every where to learn how to make better choices for themselves and their families. Finally the power will be directly and instantly in the hands of the consumer. The business model based on mass markets is over. The 30 second spot is as completely useless as a marketing tool in the new world and will die. Digital technologies and a changing consumer armed with a new set of media devices will alter the way television programming is created, bought, sold and viewed for ever. What will the American public choose when left to their own devices rather than being force fed corporate programming? First they will quickly turn off the junk and it is my hope that the talented creators who sincerely want to make thought provoking, compelling and entertaining programs will persevere and find ways to reach their audience with uplifting and positive programs. Albeit within niches and smaller in numbers. Fortunately, there is no time limit, no retirement age for great creators. Since television will remain the most powerful and influential medium we have for a long time to come, television producers with a conscience and ability to find the truth are one of our only chances for any improvement in the standard of television in the future and even an increase in the intelligence of the American people......can one person make a difference? If nothing else at least I can try.