"TAL" ... Same As It Ever Was, But Not Really

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 23, 2007 1:16PM

When we saw Ira Glass at a "This American Life" taping a few weeks ago he bemoaned the fact that Showtime was doing so little to promote the television adaptation of the show they were working on. He said the network was only putting up money for a single billboard, so he hoped all of America would take time to drive past that billboard. Obviously Ira doesn't get online much, or he would've seen his face plastered over the top of just about every single website out there.

At that taping, Glass took time out to share his thoughts on the transition of the show from radio to TV, but truth be told, he needn't have wasted his time worrying so much. The program makes the adjustment quite nicely. Last night's episode's stories were familiar, and the visuals truly are stunning and cinematic in scope, but it did bring up an interesting point we had never really considered before.

Many of the topics "This American Life" covers are kind of uncomfortable, when you really think about it, and one of the main reasons we can listen without cringing at many of the subjects is because we can't see them. The mind serves up a pleasant buffer to help us avoid facing certain truths. On television, though, we see the subjects, and sometimes that can cause the latent superiority we feel most NPR listeners (ourselves probably included) secretly harbor to manifest itself more obviously. An inward sneer turns into an outward snicker, and the three-dimensional reality of the subject breaks down the semi-private cocoon that has allowed listeners to silently pass judgment on subjects over the past decade pr so.

In the television version of the show, the visual aspect helps take the sting out of some of the more acidic aspects of the show. For instance, Glass opened the live taping here in Chicago with an audio story that will appear in the third episode about wannabe grade school television reporters and then switched on animation by Chris Ware to accompany the tale. The addition of the visuals brought the story to another level and brought a satisfying level of dark humor into what might have been simply a mouth-agape account of a ghastly affair. Last night the same can be said about the interview with the rancher who lost his prize bull. On the radio, hearing a man talk about crying while skinning his favorite pet comes off as macabre at worst and darkly humorous at best. When you see the guy, though, saying the same phrase ... your heart breaks a little.

Good radio, like good television, exposes the darker and more confusing sides of humanity. Great radio, like great television, helps guide you through some of these intricacies while refraining from telling you what to think about it or offering any pat answers. Oddly enough, we never really focused on just how disturbing much of "This American Life"'s material was until we got to see it, but now we respect the show all the more since the mastery displayed dealing with such delicate situations has now been exposed.

You can watch the first episode online, for, um, free! Right here. Thanks for reading.