Thinking about the necessity of preservation.
There are lots of things in the world that need to be preserved. My focus happens to be old TV shows, specifically (and unsurprisingly to the reader) game/quiz shows.
I recently started streaming hand-picked old game shows on my Twitch channel. It’s a weekly affair on Monday nights for the moment and it seems to have a very sparse, devoted following for the moment. So far I have had a good time showcasing some of the rarer stuff in my collection.
I sometimes ask myself, “How important is it to preserve and showcase these things?” The best answer I can come up with is that these items are solid entertainment from a time when TV was an easier thing on the eye.
In my opinion, the modern way shows are done is too polished. The rise of non-linear editing has taken some of the charm of a live-to-tape show away that was a drawing factor in some of these shows. This is exactly why I sparsely used non-linear editing tools when doing Clue Me In in college. Polishing the show to a perfect thing kind of makes it a non-organic thing that doesn’t quite seem like what it should be.
Bringing a show in on time and rolling with the punches while the show is in performance was an innate skill. That is what should have been preserved.
(See, I stayed on point, lol)