The Tragedy of Perfection.

You could say I grew up in a conservative town. A town that did not offer MTV with their cable packages, for fear of what we all might see.

So you can imagine my amazement a few years ago when Comcast made a mistake and I started receiving the premium channels---HBO, MAX, SHO---on accident. My mind was blown by the limitless, boundary-less, whacko-ness of the content in these shows!!! Looking back, it was a sort of a revelation, really. Because in one viewing of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I believe was the first show I really got sucked into, all my relativities were all shot. Now what I once thought was great tv, was really just average tv. And what I once believed was good plot structure and character development, was just average plot structure and average character development. And, most importantly, what was once great writing for tv, was now just average writing for tv.

BECAUSE SHOWS LIKE [Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Love, Dexter, Californication,Tell Me You Love Me, Weeds, Entourage, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, John Adams, Recount] ARE GREAT TV WITH GREAT PLOTS AND GREAT CHARACTERS AND GREAT W-R-I-T-I-N-G!!!!

(in my opinion, everything pales in comparison--with the possible exception of The Office and Mad Men.)

Sunday night was a great night of tv. Here was the lineup.
8:00 SEASON PREMIERE of DEXTER.
9:00 SEASON PREMIERE of CALIFORNICATION.
9:30 NEW ENTOURAGE
10:00 NEW MAD MEN

As a songwriter I always have my "hook antenna" up when watching tv or a movie. And although I didn't hear any good song titles, I did write down a few lines that I thought were not only good writing, but GREAT THINKING!!!

• "I guess I didn't take the temperature of the room before I opened my mouth."--Debra Morgan, DEXTER
  

This made me think about the issue of discernment and how much we have to filter in this world.  It also made me ask myself where is that delicate balance between good manners/generic and complete authenticity/intrusive. It's such a fine line these days.

• "He did not suffer the tragedy of perfection."--DEXTER

This is the line that keeps running over and over in my head. I literally thanked God in my prayers Sunday night for giving me a life that has not mislead me to believe that I am in any way perfect or in control. In the show, this quote came from a man referring to his brother who had just passed. And I  thought to myself, gosh...I hope people can say that about me when I die. I aim to live fearlessly in a way that isn't free of mistakes or lessons learned the hard way. It's not that I don't long for a righteous life, nor do I take sin lightly. I guess I just don't ever want to live a life that exudes a self-righteous understanding. Or a life that was NOT lived for fear of tripping up along the path. Really take one second and think about that "the tragedy of perfection". Ahhh..it's so good.

• "Once a star, always a threat."-Ari Gold, ENTOURAGE

If you're in the entertainment biz, this comes with no explanation. It's so true too. Can I quick ask the question: IS ANYONE ELSE OBSESSED WITH ARI GOLD??? 

*quick sidenote: I used to work for a carbon-copy of Ari, minus the wife and kids. 

• "Vicaden?? OOoooohhh.....I likaden."--Hank Moody, CALIFORNICATION

This is not profound at all. Just freekin' hilarious. It's even funnier when you take into context the fact that Hank just had a vascectomy in this episode.

disclaimer: in no way do I condone the language or content in these shows. as an adult, I have to continually filter what is right, wrong, and DEAD WRONG. so please don't interpret this as me being excited about drug-dealing, soft-porn, serial-killing and excessive swearing.