TV has a problem,

and we won’t wait around for people to fix it.

King Solomon once warned us that it is unwise to ask why things were better in the good old days. I wonder if part of the reason is that romanticising the past can lead to lethargy, which means we stop creating. In the last few years, we’ve had a steady diet of TV shows and films based on books, games, toys, comics, sequels and reboots. It’s like the AI tools which only spit out what already exists and can’t give us anything new. Rinse and repeat. You can read

Ted Gioia

on this, and he actually knows what he is talking about. 

Another problem

We also have another problem: we’ve all become cyborgs, and the robot part of us has stolen our attention. Do you think I’m kidding? How long since you last looked at your phone? Big Tech has reduced us to code, and we are dancing to their algorithms. This is the machine that

Paul Kingsnorth

talks about.

Can a cow be a solution to these problems?

Jazz Cow isn’t a book, a comic or a game; he isn’t part of the Marvel universe; he has his own universe and dances to his own rhythms. He reluctantly leads a group of musicians, poets and misfits in resisting the technocratic world of algorithms and fake filters of Dr Popp, who is trying to enforce convenience, safety, and affordability on the long-suffering residents of the Bohemian quarter of Popp World. (see jazzcow.co.uk)  

Will it solve the deep societal issues that today’s great thinkers like

Jonathan Haidt

talk about? No, it’s a cartoon cow modelled on Humphrey Bogart, who walks around playing the saxophone and doing crazy missions with his bickering oddball friends. In fact, “touching grass” or milking a real cow might be a better strategy, But we are looking at a proper smart 20-minute Sitcom like the Simpsons rather than scrolling past a Barbie Dancing Dogs on TikTok. And who doesn’t need a good chuckle at the moment?

So, do we really want something new? 

We think it is time, time to stop complaining, time for something fresh and time to look forward. We might not have the money yet, but we have a world-class team who has done work for BBC, Channel 4, Disney, Amazon, and Netflix; a great idea and an exciting pilot script. Much of our team is from the UK, home to Colin Pillinger, the guy who tried to land Beagle 2 on Mars from his garden shed.¹ We won’t wait around. We’re gonna make this happen. Will you be part of Jazz Cow’s resistance? 

OK, what can I do?

First, make sure you are signed up for this newsletter; we won’t send you too much, as it’s hard to find the time to write too often.

Secondly, share it with others, and thirdly, later in the year, we will put this on Kickstarter, please back it. If you are not familiar with that, it is a website where people can ask others for money to get projects off the ground, and in return, backers get rewards like a download of the film and limited edition merch and to be part of the journey. If we don’t raise the money, you get all your money back.

I’ve been working on the pitch video today, so that will probably be the next thing I’ll share here. More things will come up on our social media if the algorithms even bother to show anyone. 

So, let’s get this revolution televised! 

1. I know that isn’t quite true. He has 40 million pounds, but compared to the billions of NASA or Space X, it is basically peanuts and who doesn’t love a little hyperbole?