Lost In Tv Stories, From "House Of Cards" To "Game Of Thrones"

John Kelly '84 and English chairman Bill Cohen discussed what has—and hasn't—changed in popular storytelling.

By John Kelly ('84), The Washington Post.

I’d be hard pressed to tell you what a Kelly always does — routinely checks his spam filter? recycles? — but, thanks to “Game of Thrones,” I know that a Lannister always pays his debts.

I can barely keep all my cousins straight, but I am intimately familiar with the Crowes, the family of hapless backwoods criminals on the FX series “Justified.”

I don’t know how to poach an egg, but I’m pretty sure I could cook up some crystal meth, thanks to “Breaking Bad.”

Perhaps I watch too much television. Perhaps you do, too.

And who can blame us? There may be a lot of awful television these days — pretty much everything that falls under the “reality” heading — but there’s a lot of good TV, too. It’s certainly better than when I was a kid, when “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father” and “Room 222” passed as high art.

It’s almost too much of a good thing. “Breaking Bad” prequel “Better Call Saul” is currently airing. The third season of “House of Cards” just dropped. “Mad Men” is about to return. “Game of Thrones,” too.

There is so much quality narrative that I’m wondering whether I’ve reached peak attention span. How many more detailed, incremental shows can I keep straight? And I don’t even watch “The Americans” or “Homeland.”

I wonder whether we have arrived at a unique point in the history of human culture, when it has become so easy to be overwhelmed by the totally fictional exploits of totally fictional creations.

Not necessarily, said Bill Cohen, chairman of the English department at the University of Maryland.

“Certainly Greek mythology has an incredible pantheon of amazing fictional stories about gods and humans interacting,” he said. “And the Bible itself is full of great stories that captivate readers.”

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