Makes Me Think...

The fall TV shows are just getting started, and I'm excited to be watching a few new shows this season.

The reason I say we're watching "a few" this year is because in previous years, we have started watching some very interesting shows and get very invested in them, and then they get cancelled. Then we're left wondering what the big event was (The Event) or what caused the blackouts where people could see a glimpse of their future (FlashForward) or if there was really magic out here (The River) or which reality was the actual truth (Awake.)

Those are just a few of the ones we've gotten hooked on that left us hanging.

One of the new shows we're watching this fall is Revolution on NBC. The network had been really marketing this new show heavily, so when it premiered, I was excited to watch it. Luke's a pessimist about new TV shows and really doesn't like to get invested, partially because we've been burned so many times. But we both sat down and watched the pilot of this show and really enjoyed it. Now that Episode 2 has aired, it's safe to say that we're fans and like it.

As best I can figure out, the show is set 15 years after a major and permanent worldwide blackout of all technology - from cars, computers, phones, lights, electricity... everything. That, in itself, is fascinating to me. It's hard to think about how reliant we all are on technology. I think to myself, hey, if the lights go out for a few hours, that's not so bad... I can play on my phone (still technology.) Recently, one of our past brides posted that they were without power for a few hours so she was sitting in her car charging her iPhone so she could play on it. (Good idea, by the way.) But in the world these characters live in, none of that technology worked. It wasn't a matter of having your iPhone charged up when the blackout happened, because even if your battery was 100%, it was technology, so it was blacked out.

So, in the past episode, one of the characters (remember, this is 15 years from now) had an iPhone in her backpack. One of the other characters said to her, "What in the world are you doing with an iPhone?" and she explained that the only photos she had of her family were on that iPhone. I immediately thought... wow. I wasn't the only one, either. A few of my photographer buddies posted about the same thing on Facebook. The character said she was holding on to her iPhone incase someday the power came back on, so that she would have those photos again.

I'm guilty of it too. We are photographers, for pete's sake, and we don't print nearly enough photos. I mean... we are shooting film now, but instead of ordering prints of the film, we're requesting digital scans from the lab. When we have our own picture taken, if I sit back and really think about it, I honestly think that I'm satisfied with something as insignificant as being able to change my Facebook profile picture, as opposed to having a picture printed to frame. Even as I write it... I'm irritated with myself!

One of my favorite things to do growing up was to find a box of photos and look through them. My parents and my grandparents each have cabinets in their house stuffed with boxes that are overflowing with old photos. I loved to look through them. That was a great way to kill an afternoon... no technology required. At the rate we're going now, Luke and I won't even have enough actual prints to fill up 1 box. We have 2 or 3 actual nice albums from our wedding and a few portraits we've had taken, but our kids and grandkids could look through them all in about 10 minutes or less. That certainly wouldn't kill an entire afternoon. But I have my iPhone, right? Hmmm... doesn't seem nearly as fun.

So I'm going to start doing better myself. We're going to print stuff more often. I don't want all of my memories trapped in an antiquated piece of technology years from now (and yes, even Luke's iPhone 5 (I'm still stuck with the 4, booo!) will be antiquated one day: think about if all your pictures were on a floppy disc, nowadays.) I want my kids and grandkids to have our boxes of photos. So I'm going to do better.

By the way - it's a good show to watch. It's on Monday nights and it's only aired 2 episodes, both of which can be watched free on NBC.com. Enjoy :)