Mythbusters is one of my favorite television programs. It’s entertaining, informative, and I think what drew me to it season after season was its humanity. The people on-camera and supporting crew were engaging in semi-scripted experimentation and often let their emotions shine through. It’s a kind of reality television that isn’t cruel or mean, or just out to show the worst of humanity. It’s strange to realize this now, but this show was one of the elements that got me through a bad period back in 2008 and 2009. Its rough edges and acceptance of the possibility of failure just hit the right note.
I think it also gave me a goal. I wanted to work with a group of people like them. Creative, passionate, hard-working people who wanted to tell interesting and varied stories. I’d worked in video games since 2004, but every place I’d worked felt like isolated pockets of disciplines. Programmers in that corner, animators over there, designers over there. Game testing–my specialty–was especially isolated. When I first found myself at Double Fine back in 2013, it felt like I’d found a home. Every month presented new challenges, new chances, and new creative projects to focus on. I thought I’d stay as long as the company would have me. A promotion to a producer role wore me out to the point that I felt I had to leave, but I was fortunate enough to get a chance to return nine months later. This month is a year since my return and four years since I first arrived here. I once again find myself hoping I can work with this passionate bunch of people for a long, long time.
Mythbusters ended right around the time I returned to Double Fine in February 2016, which is located in the same area where the show was filmed. I could see M5, the primary workshop for the show, from my freeway commute to San Francisco. The truth is I didn’t watch the final season or glimpse at the final season shenanigans because I wanted to avoid the end. It’s only now, as I rewatch the entire series on the way to the finale, that I’m diving into details about the final season. This article in the San Francisco Chronicle reminded me that it’s important to remain aware of the positive experiences in life:
“I would tell people, ‘These are the good old days. Just know that.’ This will never happen before, and this is never, ever going to happen again.”