As promised in a previous post, I have taken to reading emblematic Gen-X literature (pronounced let tra chore…eh heu!) to try to better understand the first of my progeny’s demographic group. The first venture into this wading pool (cesspool?) was Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. I’m sure you have seen the movie, which kind of spoiled the end for me, as I’ve seen it too (and liked it very much). But recall the reading was from the point of view of Gen-X Lit, so knowing the twist at the end was secondary.

And the conclusion to which I came? The song remains the same: unlikeable characters carrying out heinous activities without remorse or even conviction. Slouching toward Nirvana … yes, a thickly veiled allusion to Cobain..another Gen-X’er. Gee whiz – they’re everywhere!

But wait: let’s talk about why Gone Girl and Fight Club are so popular with audiences. What is it about readers like us that we find such nasty characters so attractive? I can only speak for myself, not having any creds as a psychoanalyst or such…I find bad people far more interesting than good people. Well, duh! Hey, wait: not so fast.

Look at prime time (and not so prime time) network television these days. COPS. Hoarders. The Suze Orman show! The Price is Right. All of these shows feature people who do foolish or just plain stupid things and get busted or punished for their transgressions. We look down on these people. We would never do idiotic things like the people on these shows. So that makes us some kind of voyeurs, peering into their lives and judging them as wanting. But is their behavior the same as that of the sociopathic narcissists found thus far in GXL (new shorthand for Gen-X Let tra chore)? Nay, nay I say. In fact, I’d argue they are exactly the opposite! Ah ha – now we’re onto something…

We’ve got what cha might call this love/hate relationship thing going on. The people we watch on television are people we either love or we hate. We love the bad people who get away with being bad. We hate good, ordinary people who do foolish things and get caught…How’s that for some insight there? We love winners and we hate losers. Simple..

Which brings me to the heading of this post: Nurse Jackie. Four seasons came & went, with the heroine of the story, Jackie Peyton, doing bad things and getting away with them. We rooted for Jackie, even tho’ we knew she was doing wrong. She hurt her family with her infidelities and drug use; she hurt her employer by violating clear drug policy (aided and abetted by the hospital administrator who didn’t want to lose her best nurse). She hurt her friends by engaging in a sexual relationship with the druggist Eddie, oh but forgetting to inform him that she was married and had kids…a fact she hid from all her co-workers.

But in spite of all her misdeeds, we still wanted her to succeed in her misadventures. Why? Because we knew for sure that Jackie was a survivor – a winner in the tough game of life. And we want to be like that as well.

So what happened? The two founders of the series left the show (for personal reasons: what the hell does that mean?) and got replaced by two guys. And what happened to Jackie? Aargh…she’s kicked drugs, has become Eddie’s “friend”, has a new relationship with a NYPD sweetie pie and is doing her best to be a mother to her children. OMG! What is up with all that?

When at the end of Episode 5 these two ‘guys’ that run the show opined that they wanted Jackie to get some relief from all her angst, it struck me as a rather odd thing to say. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Men cannot stand the idea of a woman being bad and getting away with it. It just strikes them at their core (and we know what part of their anatomy resides there: ref back to phrase with pic at the top of this post). So we have a little internal psychodrama going on here with NJ – and one I predict that will end up dooming the series. Of course! What better way for Jackie to get her comeuppance than to get cancelled? Whew…that’s deep. So un-GXL…

PostScript: Did a little surfing to find out that the two creators – Linda Wallem and Liz Brixius – are a lesbian former couple. According to some, their hostility to each other post-breakup made things difficult for the cast & crew. Say, what? Sounds like they got the boot to me. New President of Showtime – a guy. Two new guy show runners. Um hm…well well. I rest my case.