Harlan Ellison's Watching Book

Ellison is primarily known as a writer of speculative fiction as well as TV shows, including the original Star Trek and The Outer Limits. His name comes up often as the inspiration for other writers. He's the writer that other writers respect for his intellect and craft. So, I wanted to try out some of his work.

Reading this book was like being cornered at a cocktail party by an opinionated blowhard who has to tell me in a loud voice everything he thinks is wrong with the current state of cinema. It doesn't matter what I think because he has no interest in any other person's opinion. If I disagree with him, I am moronically wrong. If I do agree with him, it doesn't matter, because I will never, never, never comprehend the true artistic depth of pure cinema.

I really debated whether to keep pushing my way through this book. Well, stubbornness prevailed.

And along the way, the book got better. In the second half of the collection, his tone lightened up and he poked more evident fun at his own curmudgeonly demeanor. He also better articulated his reasons for criticizing the inadequate state of cinema and how it was pandering to the lowest denominator. He executed lengthy critiques about why Spielberg's thumbprint on movies like Gremlins and Young Sherlock Holmes was a bad thing, in the larger scope of things.

Did he educate me on what he perceived as the evident problems of Hollywood? Yes. Did I agree with his views? Sometimes. Was he full of himself? Definitely.

Still, the book was like being cornered by a blowhard, but as with many encounters in life, I did come away a bit wiser. The essays probably were more engaging in their original format - published monthly. Reading them back to back only emphasized the long-windedness and redundancy.

In the end, was it worth it slogging through?

Meh.