Submitted by admin on Wed, 2007-03-28 08:00. ::
Rehash, rehash and more rehash. We hear moptop music, relive Kennedy assassination clichés and revisit palaver about idealism, disillusionment and self-discovery. Astounding. This is a tale that baby boomers have been peddling for a long time, ramming it into pop music hooks, major motion pictures, coffee table books and expensive sociology courses at state universities.
And so we find ourselves in a little trap. The wise historiographers who might enlighten us with a true and savage diagnosis of the fatuousness of “The Boomer Century” will never watch it. That might not matter, except that “The Boomer Century” comes with the imprimatur of PBS, and the contributions of various mainstream scholars and droners with advanced degrees. How do these people continue to complain about the lies of Nixon and Johnson when they seem merely to have re-engineered Vietnam-era doublespeak for purposes of chintzy sophistry like this?
The program, sponsored by Vanguard, the investment company, makes little mention of communism, fascism or religion apart from an ideology of vague self-empowerment. Its host is Ken Dychtwald, a pleasant and suntanned gerontologist whose book titles — “Age Power,” “Age Wave” and “BodyMind” — suggest he might have a knack for motivational seminars. Indeed, he rarely stops smiling here. The ideology of the baby boomer, in his telling, is a George Foreman Grill or a Sledge-O-Matic: something to be sold.
All this might be harmless enough, except that the program makes some feint at seriousness. It offers interviews with Julian Bond, Erica Jong and Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, who all sign on to boomerness as a transcendent quality.
Pete Nelson, Mr. Jacob's partner, is equally enthusiastic. “It's amazing to me that we're creating fun spaces like this,” he adds. The two men, ruggedly youthful-looking in chambray and jeans, stand on the balcony of one of their creations. A table is set with linens and china, as if for a honeymoon.
Neil Steinberg and Joel Westbrook, producers and directors; Ken Dychtwald, executive producer and host; Mark Jonathan Harris, writer. Produced by Alexandria Productions and Generation Entertainment.
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