Repeating Grades

Little has changed in television broadcasting for the past 50 years. Every time I'm hired for in-house studio work with live programming, I have to chuckle. I laugh because despite the advances in technology, the aestistics are the same as they were 20 years ago. A set, monitors, several studio cameras, black curtains, audio cables, and a grid of lights; the basic building blocks behind the earliest tv stages.

It's like walking through the halls of any highschool 20 years after graduating. It's an eery feeling. The lockers, chalkboard, desks and clocks on the walls are vitals that seem stuck in time. Having graduated from mundane studio work 10 years ago for a life of news, sports and documentary detail - my manhandling a stationary camera again is like, well, repeating 3rd grade after graduating SUNY. I've traveled the world many times over and met big personalities and celebrity figures, yet, working where I first started is maybe a reminder not to let it all go to my head. It may be troubling for the psyche but it's good for the ego.

I won't name names but I know several people in the industry who forgot where they came from. Inevietably, they too will be asked to repeat 3rd grade. No one is immune in the tv world, behind the camera or in front of it. Of course, most of them went to Harvard rather than SUNY so these lucky few will have the money to bribe the Principle. The moral of this story? Go to Harvard.