[Originally posted 10/19/16]
Dear, dear TVWW readers: I’m back, I’m recovering, and, to quote Monty Python, I’m not dead yet. (See The Holy Grail... below.) Thanks for your patience, and your loyalty, while I’ve been healing, glacially but gratefully…
What happened to me, in the most general of terms, was a sudden and potentially fatal triple whammy: an intestinal blockage brought about by scar tissue from a previous operation, an inflamed gallbladder, and a free-range gallstone that eventually perched dangerously close to the passage to my liver. All in all, a solid month in the hospital recovering from one operation, then returning a few weeks later for additional “procedures.”
But I made it, thanks to a persistent and caring medical team, and inspirational visits and help from my kids and friends. I’ve currently worked myself back to about 60 percent of my normal energy level – enough to have resumed teaching full time, to have completed the recording of my forthcoming audiobook (205,000 words, 550-plus pages, in nine days in front of the microphone), and, just this week, to return to NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
My “comeback” Fresh Air piece will run Thursday, Oct. 20, as a dual review of Fox’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show and season three of Black Mirror, the anthology series now on Netflix. But since much of the country is in a national fundraiser, you may have to go to the Fresh Air website starting late Thursday afternoon to hear it. Regardless, I’m back, and so happy to be there. I got enough hugs to hold me for the rest of the month.
So I’m alive, I’m slowly returning to Fresh Air (I’ll start guest hosting again in November), and I’m gearing up for publicity regarding the Nov. 15 publication of my new book, The Platinum Age of Television, which I’m truly excited about. More on that in the coming weeks…
But with my teaching, Fresh Air, and the book work, what’s still missing is… TV Worth Watching. Since I was hospitalized in mid-July, this entire ship has been steered and run by Eric Gould, who stepped up big time, and Linda Donovan, who did whatever posting and editing Eric didn’t. Our writers, especially David Hinckley, Ed Bark, and Alex Strachan, held the fort (I know, a second ago it was a ship). And they, along with Ed Martin, Tom Brinkmoeller, Bill Brioux and Gerald Jordan, as well as Eric and Linda, helped out tremendously by contributing to the TVWW Fall Preview package, which is still in effect.
Thanks to you all, you fabulous friends. And thanks, too, to Gaby Tamariz and our new social media person, Karle Dunbar, who now will have to deal with me as well. Poor woman. And thanks to Dave Sicilia, not for writing, but for taking the huge step of driving up from Maryland to visit me in the hospital. I barely remember it (the pain meds were that good), but it meant a lot. And one final dose of extra special thanks: Eric even chipped in with the complicated but much-appreciated task of providing weekly Best Bets in my absence (and a particular note of gratitude, as well, to so many of you who enthusiastically offered your daily Best Bets).
For the next week or two, I intend to follow Eric's example, and begin to post a weekly Best Bets each Sunday, until I get just a little stronger, and clear a bit more non-teaching, non-sleeping time.
But by November, I hope to be back in the swing of things, and I hope you’ll stick around to watch us regroup and regrow. I’ve been gone from TVWW for three full months, and for most of that time did no writing whatsoever. The last time I spent a month or more without writing anything, I was 15. So I’m refreshed, and I’m not only ready to begin writing for you guys again, and sharing my opinion, and hearing from you all – I’m honored by the opportunity.
Thanks for all the support you gave everyone else at TVWW during my absence. And thanks, too, for still being here to welcome me back with a hug, even if it’s only a virtual one…