The More Things Change. . .

the more they stay the same.

A few weeks ago, I read The Grapes of Wrath. It's scary how insightful John Steinbeck is, and even scarier how much has not really changed when it comes to the consolidation of wealth and power in this country, or wealth and power's penchant for beating down and beating up the middle class.

I've also spent much of the summer watching my way through my beloved Northern Exposure collection. And it occurred to me that a lot of the techniques on shows that are popular now were mastered by NX over a decade ago: it was quirky and often utilized fantasy scenes, much like Scrubs or That 70s Show; and much like Grey's Anatomy, it had an excellent soundtrack with music carefully selected to match what was happening on screen, and its episodes were thematic (though often the theme sort of sneaks up on you and you suddenly realize how all the storylines tie to it, where on Grey's it sometimes feels like they beat viewers over the head with the theme to make sure we get the point).

As the Preacher would say, there's nothing new under the sun.