Harold Has A Lover

Well, I'm here because Steve Smith asked me to be here. He recognizes that the few of us he's invited are stakeholders in this enterprise in a way just as he is. Of course, his stake is much greater since it's his reputation on the line but Steve clearly sees that he doesn't have the corner on good ideas. He hopes we will all throw our good ideas into the mix and something will germinate from all the goodwill we all can show. He's invited us up to Hamilton, Ontario to discuss the fate of The Red Green Show with some suits (program executives) from PBS who have responded to the public pressure to add some of the older episodes that have never aired on PBS to their rotation. They have only recently been made available on DVD and the viewers are aware of their existence and maybe have seen some of them. Steve himself has released some of them on YouTube and the fans are thrilled. He's a little ambivalent about how to go about adding them to the PBS line-up especially since the oldest episodes are very unfamiliar to the regular viewers. It was in the beginning while the show was finding its way and everything looks different. The only real anchors to hang recognition on are Red and Harold. They have been there forever but the rest has all changed. Some episodes have a whole different cast of additional characters and although the premise is the same, the effect is sort of jarring if you aren't familiar with the history of the show. The suits are intensely aware of this and want to know what we think and get our suggestions about how to introduce the new-old episodes to those who've never seen them before to ease the transition. Steve has also expressed some uncertainty about how he would like to see PBS acquire the rights to air the shows. He's not particularly worried about a direct payment since the oldest shows are fully paid-for and the later shows were produced in cooperation with PBS and so they paid a percentage of their production cost. I have some ideas about this as well and Steve is grateful that some deal may be struck which would be fair to all sides.

I've given my opinions and mixed it up with the suits and now I fade into the background. I decide to wander through the sets here in this warehouse named "Mr. Used" who supplied many of the original props for the show as it was being produced. Many of the sets were returned here once production ended and have become sentimental displays of their days in the sun. It's almost as if I can imagine the Possum Lodge as it was during the heyday and I turn one corner and recognize many familiar things and again turn a corner and I'm immersed in yet another familiar space and soon I am in the cellar of the lodge where the meetings were held. I see the old familiar arrangement with the seating for the officers and the additional seating for the members and I remember that there is more territory to explore just beyond the left side of the meeting room. There's a door there and I open it and I realize I've never been here before yet it is so familiar in some way. Behind the door is the entrance to a cave which I just know is why the lodge is located where it is... The folks who created the lodge in the first place took advantage of these natural caves and built the lodge over the entrance I'm standing in front of. As usual, I'm sure they didn't know exactly what they would do with the caves but they thought it was especially neat and would come in handy someday. I wander into the caves and turn on the lights and to my surprise, they are jam-packed with all kinds of electronic equipment and I know for a certainty that this is Harold's private domain. He discovered the caves just as I have and he must have recognized their worth immediately. It looks as if half of Canada's surplus electronics stock is somehow here in these caves and I'm endlessly fascinated by it all. I wander further into the caves and as each item comes into view I know what purpose it once served. I continue to wander and take in all the sights and soon I hear voices approaching. One of the voices I recognize as Harold's and the other voice I don't know. Soon they come into sight and I greet them with "Morning Harold!"

He looks up and recognizes me and says "Morning Steve! Nice of you to visit today."

I say: "Quite the collection you have here. I'm very impressed."