Theater of the mindless

Television will never have the capability to challenge people to use their brains the way books do or even the way some radio does (or did, I suppose, before everyone got all oversensitive -- not to mention the old radio serials). But television's big minds have been trying harder, and all that needs to be posed to the audience is one simple question:

What the heck is going on here?

Thank the people behind Lost for making this a common occurrence in the boob tube medium and for proving that a lot of people actually like to be challenged to participate or at least use their imaginations when it comes to entertainment (though, the love-it-or-hate-it crowd surrounding Lost also proves there are quite a few people who DON'T like to be challenged).

Anyway, what I'm saying is that this is a good thing. Star Wars fans proved a long, long time ago that one basic story can plant the seeds in the mind of a fan and spawn thousands of galaxies worth of stories and ideas -- some good, some bad, but all products of an imagination that's being used. That's why I like Lost, and it's also why I'm starting to dig John from Cincinnati.

John is a simpler story, told in same methodically slow form that it's creators used with Deadwood to great success.But there's mystery there that's starting things up in my head, not the least of which surround John himself and the flapping-dead parakeet that can heal people. And all that surrounds a family more dysfunctional than Ben's "others" ever could be.

What's John? An alien? An angel? Or just "slow?" Is Zippy the one with the healing powers? Or is it Shawn? What did John do to Kai? Why is a drug dealer (Dayton Callie is genius in his Calamity Jane-ish character) flying in from Hawaii to keep an eye on the family and why is he babysitting a high-profile, shallow pocketed customer? Why the heck was Mitch floating? What're Luke Perry and his adorable protege up to?

It's refreshing to find another show that makes people think. Cuz most of the time they just follow the story (if there even is a story and not a bunch of dimwits trying to be the best whatever) and hope it gets them somewhere.