“Soon as the writer starts turning a personal anecdote into some cosmic ponderance, I think to myself “boooring” and know that what’s coming is some journalist major regurgitating his college indoctrination.”
I agree. I seldom make it past the name of the poor person whose problem I am about to witness. I have the same problem with TV and movies. They are so formulaic I can’t bear to waste my time watching them unfold to their all too predictable end. As a kid I loved all those seventies murder mysteries, until I realized that you were introduced to the murderer and the critical evidence in the beginning before it had any relevance to the story. Then, the main character would whip out those facts in the conclusion like a magician with a hat and a rabbit. I hate TV and I haven’t been to a movie in about fifteen years.
Film cliches would fill a book - and probably have.
Every family lives in a nice isolated house with 20 acres of wooded ground - often near a lake.
They make a middle-class wages but can afford a huge spread.
I agree with the mysteries, even with my fave, Columbo. I found a binge-watch playlist on Amazon Prime. I just like watching Peter Falk. And the cars, outfits and technology is so retro-70’s, it’s fun from that perspective, too.