The ‘clip show‘ is episodic television’s in-between hop.
Clip shows are usually aired at the height of, or even in the twilight of a show’s popularity. Family Ties was where I remember seeing it first in the 80’s. Friends made it an art form in the 90’s. Hopefully, I won’t do it this decade, but a clip show becomes useful when the characters have grown, the actors have better contracts, and nearly every conceivable plot line has been tried. They fill time, allow the viewer to refresh and reminisce, and they save the network money.
The last thing I want to do is a clip show, but I think this is a good point to stop and reflect on what has happened and what’s to come. I can also preserve some of the other content that’s percolating and save some energy with warp drive on the horizon.
Starting in Oakland, there was a family of four enjoying an afternoon together while taking a break from a slumping housing market and a classic labor vs. management fight.
Across the bay in San Francisco, Supervisor Will extolled the virtues of free baseball when times are good and bad.
Down the road in San Jose, the best of minor leagues was on display on the diamond, in the stands, and from across the Pacific Ocean.
What’s to come before the plane leaves for Denver? Two more samples of extended bay area baseball for sure, updates on the Roadie, and maybe some more analysis of attendance and money trends.
As to the latter topic, there have been many stories in other outlets that are addressing the strain around the country – all in different ways.
New York was once considered to be recession-proof, but that was before over 30,000 jobs disappeared in the financial sector. Now, Met and Yankee fans alike are having problems unloading this year’s tickets and are worrying about whether they will be able to get next year’s, according to the New York Times.
Just in St. Louis, Forbes reports on the violent collision between real estate and sports, where an adjacent project sits idle to the new Busch Stadium. Tying residences and retail to new stadium construction was seen as a calming influence on the opponents of the stadium-building binge of the last 20 years. There are unfortunately a handful of examples around the country where it’s not working out so well.
The Coquis family is one after my own heart. Dad Roberto, mom Judy, and daughter Sofia are halfway through a 30-ballpark trip they did not intend on taking at the beginning of the year. They are trying to raise money for charity and raise awareness for their own plight. It’s one big job interview. The site called 30ballparksandababy.com is great and they are doing a magnificent job marketing themselves. It’s a journey I intend to follow and I encourage you to do the same.
Two other sites I am following intently do a fantastic job with analysis. If you want more nuts and bolts financial analysis then you have to put The Biz of Baseball in your rotation. If you prefer visually striking and very funny takes on the game then Craig Robinson is your man.
Lastly, it’s a bit too early to say with certainty about what the pitching matchups will be for the five major league games on the Roadie it does look like that it will start with Matt Cain for Giants against Jason Marquis of the Rockies.
If that is the matchup in the pilot episode, I am pretty confident that series will be picked up for sure.
JJ, I think you are totally on to something with the clip show as in between hop metaphor. I bet you can create an entirely new writing genre out of the creative in between hop analogy. Allow me to demonstrate:
Spanish 21 is the in between hop of gambling.
Kurdistan is the in between hop of countries.
GDI+ is the in between hop of Windows graphics programming. (geeks only)
The morning after pill is the in between hop of birth control.
The pug is the in between hop of dogs.
i think you’re just jealous i do this all on a macbook.
write the GDI+ story and I’ll post it!