I'd like to talk about the situation in Iraq, and the burgeoning one in Iran, and how irritating (and infuriating) I find the actions of my country… but I won't. There's nothing I can say that hasn't been said much better by someone else; but I sometimes wonder if I'll have to leave the country for ideological reasons. Anyone have a good country for me? I won't, because I think it's important not to abandon a place that has such potential (I feel the same about private vs. public schools—don't run out on the thing your staying might help fix), but I'm sorely tempted.

No, I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, I'll rant about something that is completely insignificant but currently also irritating. That is:

Why do all the good shows get cancelled?

I just finished watching Arrested Development last night. I know, I'm really really late to this party. But I had to wait to get the DVDs. And it just pisses me off that something this consistently funny got canned. It never sucked. Ever! And my admiration for the writers (and indeed, everyone) knows no bounds. Jokes resurface from three years ago, having been transformed in the meantime by subsequent events. It never falters. Even when they found out they were going down, they managed to pull things together and create a satisfying ending that made as much sense as anything else in the show did. And it's funnier than anything's been in a long time. Well, anything I've seen.

(Though I'm offended by the repeated assertions that it's wrong to date your cousin. But I might be biased.)

But what's up with well-crafted, consistent television getting cancelled? True, some shows I like get continued, at least for now. But for the past five years or so, the stuff I like the most has either died or been in tremendous danger of doing so. I don't think Buffy or the X-Files would have survived if they'd been introduced in that time period.

But maybe this is just the natural order of things, and Firefly and Arrested Development, had they been allowed to continue one episode longer would have SUCKED, bringing the entire series down. Maybe it's a blessing to be able to own the DVDs and not regret any part of it.

But I really don't think that's true.

Side note: I didn't watch the Oscars—too wrapped up in AD—but I clearly didn't miss anything. I'm tired of Scorsese, and in retrospect while I haven't seen Venus and do not think it would show me an Oscar-worthy performance, I can't bear to watch Peter O'Toole lose again, and anyway I'm disgusted with "our" options for best film. Yes, I'm a curmudgeon. But I should be forgiven, for I saw Beckett on the big screen this weekend. Where's the writing these days?