Ah, what I miss by letting TiVo be the guardian of my viewing...

With three people in the house (and three TiVo remotes!) there is always something to watch on the PVR. The appeal of being able to watch a show when I want to, and to skip commercials, is just too tempting. That said, I didn't realize how it cost me the serendipitous discoveries by stumbling across channels with the + or - button.

There's a swathe of channels that carry shows merely labeled "Government" or "Education." No blurb, no summary. No way to distinguish a talk on higher math and its application to theoretical physics and ... a Thomas Jefferson impersonator monologuing on stage?

In this one episode, there were two academics standing in for former presidents, Jefferson and Samuel Adams. I came in midway, so I don't know if they had a prefab exchange already presented or not. At the point I clicked to this channel, they were fielding questions from the audience and were answering them in character (though with a pointed awareness to how to best align their words with our current situation.)

I stood fascinated (I stand often when watching television, to better encourage me to judge whether or not the show is worth not just my time, but a bit of effort and discomfort.) I admire Franklin far more, him being the inventor and scientist and intellectual, but Jefferson was dynamic and forthright in his words and reasoning.

Adams was no less so, and I realized from watching that his were the words "I study to be a general so my children can study commerce so their children can study art." (I'm not sure if he would easily countenance that the next generation would study reality shows, but that's an aside for another day.)

However, Adams did get short shrift because Jefferson was evidently the lead act. Beside that, the scholar portraying Jefferson Clay S. Jenkinson evidently has been doing this for many years, so he was much more comfortable and adept in both his role and stagecraft. I'm sure he meant never to upstage Adams (unlike the actual figures who evidently were in a few bitter rivalries, such as for the White House, until old age mellowed them) but that was how it came out.

At any rate, fascinating stuff. I can (and will probably do so later) hold forth on the matter of nation-founding and such, but for now, I just wanted to share a quick "what's the kitty up to now" momemnt.