TV Boomers Suck

Years ago I wrote:

The Baby Boomers are the worst generation in American history, they need to die off, and I pretty much agree with every single one of these People Are Sharing The Boomer Trends They're Ready To See Go Extinct things.

which is just one of about a zillion things I've mentioned re: the Baby Boomers being the single-worst generation in American history.

Meanwhile, years ago I had to stop watching Billions, a show I otherwise liked but was making me depressed with its "how miserable can these people who have it all be?" theme, a theme similar to other incredibly popular shows popping up at the time, including Succession, of which I knew myself enough to stay away from since it's always sounded like the Michael Jordan of the "miserable billionaire" genre to me, and Yellowstone which started out aesthetically pleasing enough to transcend the "omg I own an entire US state but am miserable 24/7" genre but quickly devolved into an unwatchable soap opera. All of these shows highlight a patriarch clinging to every inch of money & power he's accumulated (or inherited), which is always more money & power than you or I would ever think possible to even dream of, and a bunch of seemingly worthless shithead sons & daughters cutting each other's throats for the biggest chance at Dad's power & money. This means that 60 minutes of a 60 minute show is stuffed to the gills with people who should be thrilled every moment of their waking days, but we're treated to the exact opposite which can grind me if nobody else down to the fucking nubs, screaming at the tv for them to just fucking go to a goddam island and enjoy your fucking money already instead of choosing to be absolutely fucking miserable all damn day long.

So imagine my delight at seeing the Universe finally catching up to me with an article in the Sunday New York Times - or, as I call it, "The Times" - titled How Stingy Boomer Parents Became the Best TV Villains:

Older Americans hold an outsize share of the nation’s wealth and power. Television loves watching their children scramble for a taste.

Even by the accustomed standards, recent television feels utterly awash in succession-themed stories. “Empire,” “Yellowstone” and “La Maison” all hinge on the promises and prevarications of parents and their offspring. On HBO alone, we’ve had “Succession” (children vying for control of a media empire), “The Righteous Gemstones” (children vying for control of a religious empire) and “House of the Dragon” (children vying for control of the family dragons).

Stinginess is a harsh verdict to lay on a large and diverse demographic. But it does seems fair to wonder if our hefty slate of succession-themed shows and films (there are also, among others, “The Will,” “The Inheritance,” “Inheritance Wars: Who Gets the Money?” and “The Crown”) is standing in for intergenerational conversations too delicate to have in real life. Advances in medical care and robust entitlements have made a vigorous old age not just viable but expected. That is a wonderful thing, but it does come at a cost for younger people — a pileup of housing shortages, slower career advancement and underinvestment in things like schools. Much has been written about why younger people are having fewer children, but seldom does the quiet part get spoken aloud: They face the daunting prospect of raising children with less money than their parents had, plus the task of helping to take care of those same parents during their decline.