I'm Still Standing, Better Than I Ever Did, Looking Like A True Survivor, Feeling Like A Little Kid

--"I'm Still Standing", Elton John

One of my favorite shows of the last few years was Everwood. It ranks right up there with Avonlea or Buffy in terms of devotion and amount of enjoyment derived. That's why when it got canceled it was something of a heartbreak because good shows are hard to come by. There's a certain investment into the characters and stories that's hard to justify doing time and time again. With Everwood that phenomena was even more pronounced. I used to quote that show all the time here. Indeed, a lot of my earlier posts were prompted by something I heard or saw on the show so it was like losing a good deal of my inspiration. It wasn't just losing a show; it was losing a source of knowledge and information. It was losing a good deal of my routine for the week... for life.

I still miss Amy Abbot to this day.

But I'm not here to mourn the loss of a show. I'm here to testify that life does go in small, subtle ways. Greg Berlanti, one of the producers and creator of Everwood, has moved onto a new show, Eli Stone. I've got to say I like it. I like it a lot. It has the same sense of tragedy pulling people closer together. Whereas Everwood had the death of Ephram's mom be the catalyst for Dr. Brown's transformation into the family man he should have always been, so it is with Eli's brain aneurysm becoming the catalyst to his transformation into a more morally centered man. Yet this isn't the same show. Whereas Mr. Berlanti's former show delved into teenage angst and the unsettling feeling of not knowing where you belong, Eli Stone seems to be more concerned about staying who you are while adding new depth. His is journey not of complete transformation, but of awakening to how much more he could be without losing a step. Sure, maybe later on there will have to be sacrifices made, but for now the show seems to have a fine premise in him learning to readjust his life after such horrible news.

That's kind of how I see moving on from the inviting climes of Everwood to the hilly streets of San Francisco where Eli Stone is set. It's not so much trying to completely forget who I was when I watched the former show. It's really me trying to maintain the ideas that show put forth while welcoming any thoughts and ideas this new show has to offer. I used to think that's how all of life should be. That if I was a mean and controlling person before, then by all rights I should try to be a completely different person. That if I was sad or unhappy ten years ago, then by all rights I should strive to shed every trace of that person. I always say things in an either/or type of conflict. The person I was wasn't very successful... so I needed to be a completely new person.

Life does not work that way, though. People are never all bad or all good. I was never all bad or good at any given time.


and did you think this fool could never win
well look at me, I'm coming back again

Just because I like a new show; it does not diminish any affection I had for shows obsessively watched in the past.

And just because I had darker traits to my personality before doesn't mean I didn't have good ones to build on. It's all a process I think. Eli has it right; I still have a lot I can learn from the person I used to be and I still have a lot of facets to me that I have yet to see.

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers