Interesting read, apparently TV licensing returns more revenue than either DVDs or box office.

Aka, The Simpsons as profit center.

Not the soap thread, but...

So I'm reading Everything Bad Is Good for You for a study group on pop culture and teens at UCLA, which I'm suddenly in charge of, and I'm enjoying the book. It's provacative and compelling.

I'm in the television section now and Johnson is talking about the cognitive demands, the increased complexity that watching TV now demands and I'm intrigued because it reminds me of listening to folks like Tim talk about maintaining narrative arcs etc.

Johnson points out that Hill Street Blues was one of the first shows that combined the complexity of multithreaded over multiple episodes and seasons storytelling with complex social issues. Prior to that, it was only daytime TV that had such complex story telling with, admittedly, fluff content.

Now, except for whozzit.... L&O and possibly CSI, most shows are multithread/multiepisode. He cites Desperate Housewives, 24, The Sopranos, West Wing, ER, Alias, etc.

And they're making us smarter because we are engaging with that complexity.

So, see, TV is not making us stupid. And go soaps for pioneering that technique in TV.

Hill Street was definitely revolutionary in its form and content. It was my first communal-watching show with my friends in college.

It was also one of the things Joss cited as an inspiration for Firefly (along with The Killer Angels).

Johnson points out that Hill Street Blues was one of the first shows that combined the complexity of multithreaded over multiple episodes and seasons storytelling with complex social issues.

Alas, I always preferred "St. Elsewhere" to "Hill Street." The latter show was exceptional, but "Elsewhere" was always more entertaining.

I still regret missing episodes of St Elsewhere. Too much theatre work and the lack of vcr.

Is it out on DVD? St. E, that is? I missed more than I saw, but I did like.

I think it was out on video tape, but I donot know if it ever got burned to dvd.

Largo -- did you just feel like you had to choose between them? Because they were both on NBC, right?

did you just feel like you had to choose between them? Because they were both on NBC, right?

Right (though, "Hill Street" was on opposite "Knots Landing," and that was the show I would drop everything for back in the day). I just looked forward more to "Elsewhere" when TVLand acquired the MTM library, b/c, it was all good and soap-like.

ETA: I know it seems odd for a second- or third-grader (circa 1986-87) to be all "tied up in KNOTS," so to speak, but it's the truth. I swear it. I can't say I was a Doogie Howser, or anything, but back then, I had zero patience for alot of shows you'd think a kid my age would've enjoyed. (I think alot of it had to do w/ having only one sibling who was nine years older than I, and whom I wanted to show I wasn't just some annoying tag-along.) When other kids were watching cartoons and Miller-Boyett sitcoms, I was watching the NBC Thursday night lineup (or whatever).

Unfortunately, neither "Hill Street Blues," nor "St. Elsewhere," is out on DVD at the moment. But, "The White Shadow," another, underrated drama series from MTM, will be, next month; so, you know, "hope springs eternal," and all that.

"The White Shadow"

I loved this show! I had such a crush on Ken Howard.