Against Reruns

NBC Universal took a big step toward undoing one of the television industry’s oldest traditions by announcing Tuesday that it would move to a year-round schedule of staggered program introductions. The move is intended to appeal to advertisers, who crave fresh content to keep viewers tuned in.

And if it succeeds — and leads other broadcast networks to shift from their focus on a mass introduction of new shows — it could alter an American cultural cycle that extends all the way back to the days of radio, when families gathered around the Philco every September, as the school year began, to sample the new entertainment choices.

I'm amazed it took the networks decades to do this—a perpetual TV season always been an obvious opportunity for a short-term profit grab, though it's irreversible once the trigger is finally pulled.

In any event, that last quoted paragraph is dripping with such absurd nostalgia for consumption that I can barely wrap my head around it; I think this is my new go-to example for postmodernity.