Western civilisation has brought us some wonderful benefits, and I think most would agree it has been a fabulous success. I particularly like the way rational thinking developed over the centuries, and vast social reformation was sparked by mankind's experimentation with enlightenment, naturalism, romanticism, democracy, and socialism.
Most particularly excellent was the development of science and technology, and its ability to free us from dreary daily tasks.
Of all those developments, though, the evolution of television to the point that there are hundreds of channels delivering round-the-clock cooking and reality programming must stand at the forefront of mankind's achievements. But sometimes, all that success can have hidden dangers.
Take, for instance, the danger of missing a really good show, because it is impossible to watch everything. Such a disturbing event has happened.
I have to admit to having seen the trailer for Eastbound and Down (Comedy Central channel) and throwing it, mentally, in the pile of white trash television made up of the likes of My Name is Earl - not bad, but not worth switching channels.
That was a mistake.
Luckily, on Sunday evening, I happened to tune in to the second show of the second series of Eastbound and Down.
I had put in such a lot of effort to watch television all day, I was too tired to change the channel. That was a stroke of luck.
Eastbound and Down is funny. This is probably not surprising, as it comes from the HBO stable of programming responsible for the likes of the Sopranos, Madmen and the like.
Eastbound and Down stars Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball pitcher who after an up-and-down career in the major leagues is forced to return to his home town, Shelby, North Carolina. There, he takes on a job at his former middle-school as a substitute physical education teacher.
I cannot, obviously, tell you too much about series one, having not watched it.
But from catching up with the Kenny Powers phenomenon at show two, series two, I can tell you Kenny has headed to Mexico to restart his career.
If you have ever watched baseball on ESPN, you will know it is peopled by athletes with beer guts and mullets who exist on alcohol, steroids and cocaine.
Kenny fits nicely into that world, with the qualities of racism, sexism, free gun use and vast amounts of stupidity on top.
Will Ferrell is one of the producers, and his humour is very evident.
There is good news, too: on October 27, HBO announced they were renewing the show for a third season.
Watch and enjoy.
