Jumping the Shark

The caption put them out of order: it should be Most, Howard, Winkler, Ross, and Williams.

Howard is the only one who is recognizable as he’s remained quit prominent. Checking, though, I see that Winkler is still appearing frequently enough to be earning a living from screen performances and among the remainder Williams is the only one you’d call retired.

Ron Howard’s long looked sort of decrepit, though. The four who played his pals I wouldn’t have recognized. It’s astonishing that Marion Ross is able to travel at her age. Another lucid and ambulatory nonagenarian who’s seen fit to make tiresome public statements is Mrs. Fred Rogers.

I know I should hold myself to a standard that prevents this sort of thing from disturbing me, but I can’t help feeling some degree of anger and resentment toward people like this. They and others of their profession were at least partially responsible for much laughter and enjoyment on my part in their heyday, (although, as with all actors, their success largely depends upon the writers who produce their material). I thank all concerned for those times of respite from daily cares. But it angers me that so many of the practitioners of their craft now see fit to spoil it all by their insistence on spouting off their personal political beliefs, as if they somehow are entitled to any more credibility on such issues than my landscapers, or my chiropractor, or the guy who stocks the shelves at Kroger. I do not advocate political censorship in any form, but why can’t they all just shut up and quit ruining whatever good they may have done in the past through their talents (at least for those of us who are not leftist loons?) /Rant off