Is It Really the End of an Era?

I read today that the series finale of "Desperate Housewives" is scheduled for May and I was thinking to myself "am I really going to miss it?"  I used to watch it religiously - until Mike and Susan broke up the first time.  Then I stopped watching it.  It seemed to me at the time that the writers were only interested in breaking people up, not keeping them together.

Then it got me to thinking back to other shows I watched all the time and was surprised when they ended.  I am happy these days that I can now find them again on Amazon - yes, I am an '80's TV show addict!!  People tease me about my '80's addiction - my music on my iPod is largely '80's tunes, my satellite radio in my car is tuned to the "80's on 8", my kids know more '80's tunes than they do the modern stuff.  OK, I'll admit that maybe I need to get out more, but finding and collecting these shows is kind of a hobby of mine, and it's kind of cool watching them again, checking out the hair styles back in the day, the clothing, vehicles, etc. (think "Magnum, P.I., "Remington Steele", "Simon and Simon").

The one thing that is kind of distressing (to me, anyway), is that not all seasons of certain shows are being released.  As someone who collects TV series, it would be nice to be able to complete all of the seasons of the shows I like.  To give you an example - CHiPs has only had Seasons 1 and 2 released - and the execs in charge don't know if and when the rest of the seasons will be.  My question is then why release it at all?  It's kind of pointless, if you are interested in collecting the series, to have only a few seasons and not the rest.  The same goes for the Equalizer, Matt Houston, Perfect Strangers, etc.  To me, this just gives pirating the go ahead to continue to rip people off.  It just doesn't make sense to me to release a "teaser" season, and then say, "Oh sorry, that's all you get".

As an aspiring screenwriter, I would hope that once my show(s) get picked up (and I'm hoping they will), that it would last awhile, and hopefully be immortalized on DVD.  I don't see the end of a show as the "end" per se - if it is on mediums like DVD or digital download - the work of everyone involved in that show is still captured forever.  But, to give the show and everyone associated with it the full credit, the entire show needs to be released, i.e.  every season, otherwise the pirates will see it as a positive to continue ripping people off by selling them poor quality, stolen reproductions of shows that are in demand but hard to get.  To me, that is akin to insulting the hard work of the actors and everyone associated with the show.  Get them out legitimately, (those of us who are serious collectors are perfectly willing to pay for them) and put the pirates out of business.  I'm not sure why the studio executives aren't seeing this.

Anyway, just got my 2nd season of "Diagnosis Murder" (I know, that was the '90's, but close enough!) that I think I'll watch - just to make sure it's a good quality!  Can't wait for my next acquisition!  Yes, I'm perpetually stuck in the '80's!!

The Power of Positivity

After a particularly emotionally draining Monday, I had to meet at my daughter's high school to discuss classes for next year.  While there, new behaviour strategies were also touched on.  When my daughter entered the room after class, she told us of a couple of the steps she achieved regarding her behaviour.  Three of us acknowledged those milestones with "that's awesome" or "great job", however one of the other resource teachers answered with a "but, your still doing..." without putting in the positive side.  You could see my daughter slowly deflating.  I continued to praise her progress as we were leaving to go home.  I wondered, though, how is her school setting her up for success then, if they can't see their way clear to acknowledge the positive things she's doing?  When she's told she's bad all the time, where is the incentive for her to do well?

Why does it seem so much easier for people to say negative things than it is the positive?  That has baffled me for a long time.  It just seems that people find it easier to criticize someone (even someone they don't even know) than to offer a compliment.  I'm finding that people are using social media to bash other people as well - people they don't even know.  I guess it's even easier to slam a person you can't see.  That way, you can't see how much your words hurt.

I remember a line that Julia Roberts said in "Pretty Woman", when Richard Gere's character, Edward, offered Vivian (Julia Roberts) a compliment.  Her line was "the bad stuff is easier to believe".  Wow.  Why is that?  Why do we find it easier to believe the bad stuff about ourselves and not the good?  My theory - because we only hear the bad stuff first; the good stuff is almost like a "footnote" ("oh by the way, you did this well...").

I believe for anyone's mindset to change, the positive has to be focused on first.  Give compliments where they're due.  You can also discuss negative things in a way that doesn't make them sound too negative. ("Maybe we can work on this issue...").  Start telling someone they've done a great job, or wish them luck on a project or interview.  Wish someone a great day or say hello to someone.  Maybe we can eventually break down the negative barriers and build up positive thinking.