Now that I have a journal, I’m wondering what I should write about. What happens during my day is generally pretty BORING most of the time, so boring that even I probably couldn’t stand to read about it. So that’s not what this journal should be about—not what any of my journals have ever been about. A journal should be about what you are THINKING. So here is one thing I have been thinking about in the last day or two. Monk.
For anyone who may not know, Monk is this great TV show about a “defective detective” — i.e., he is this fabulously intelligent and gifted detective, but he also happens to be crippled by almost every kind of neurosis, fear and obsessive/compulsive behavior known to man. So you get a lot of comedy out of his reaction to his world, and of course he always solves the crime that nobody else can. He has this “nurse” Sharona who takes care of him (and also helps him solve the crimes). She is this real New-Yawker single mom who is always wearing miniskirts and fringe jackets and tight shirts and sexy boots. He depends on her TOTALLY, and even though he drives her crazy most of the time, they have this really great relationship.
So here’s the problem. The actress that plays Sharona is leaving the show, and they are going to replace Monk’s sidekick with some new actress. She won’t be a new Sharona, she’ll be a totally new character. Mary says it will never work. I say it might. I’m not saying it will definately be better, or that it will definately be worse, I’m just saying “Let’s wait and see.” It’s kind of hard to imagine the show being just as good without Sharona, so I see how Mary could say that. I mean, imagine Lucy without Ricky (hey! They did that—and it was never as good, right?) or Cheech without Chong (that happened too, and also didn’t work out too good) or Penn without Teller — no,I can’t even imagine that! (Or is it Teller without Penn? Which one is the one that doesn’t talk?)
Anyway, I think I’m digging myself into a hole here. Maybe somebody can help me out. Was there ever a time when a successful duo was split up and changed around, and the new combination was more successful than the original??? I started out to write that sometimes Change can be a good thing, and maybe in real life sometimes it is, but in stories and entertainment, I’m starting to think generally it doesn’t work out that way. Maybe that’s because we as people are resistant to change. And especially because we come to stories (movies, books, TV shows, etc)to be ENTERTAINED and amused and comforted—and change is not always comfortable, so we tend to resist it.
And that opens another whole can of worms, doesn’t it? Is the purpose of art to enlighten, to cause us to think (as in “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth”) or is the purpose of art simply to make us laugh and feel good? Too too deep and philosophical, I know. Sorry! But being that my life in general is sort of boring, I have to make it more interesting by thinking about things like this. Also, even though it’s been a long time, there’s still a bit of the college student about me. 🙂
