Whither Captains?

(I found this picture here.)

As a child of the 1970s, & someone who didn't apparently know how to have fun, I often spent Saturday nights watching The Love Boat & Fantasy Island.  I remember being a little confused about The Love Boat at first, because the captain was Murray from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  Murray was hardly a person you'd put in command of anything.  But eventually I was won over by the paternal captain & his sweet, witty crew.  & was only really frightened when Charo was on board.

(Although I would have been horrified to find out where Captain Stubing ended up.)

Of course, the greatest captain of my childhood was Captain James Tiberius Kirk.  The only rival he might have had is Han Solo.  In the science fiction captain of space vessels class.  But Kirk was much more put-together than Han was.  (I feel weird saying "Solo" - the same way I'd never refer to Kirk as "James" or "Jim"). Anyway, Captain Kirk was way cooler to me than Captain America.  & characters like Captain Nemo didn't capture my attention the same way as sci-fi stars did.  What a nerd I was.  & am.

You can pretend this show is a tribute to the captains of my childhood, but I can't really remember why I wanted to do a show about captains in the first place.  I just know I'm going to.  Just like I know I'll never be in charge of a vessel.  Hell, if I were in Starfleet, I'd be an enlisted man.  Maybe work my way up to Chief Petty Officer.  Until I earned my red shirt & am killed right away on an away mission.

Hey!  Self Help Radio is on today from 4 to 6pm on 88.1 WRFL Lexington.  It should be streaming simultaneously on wrfl dot fm.  If the weather's good & we don't sail into a perfect storm, I'll archive the show on the Self Help Radio website tomorrow.  But you'll want to hear it live.

That's an order, sailor!