Recently,  I noticed TV shows starting in the middle.

One of the stars is in trouble. When we’ve seen a couple minutes, enough to know that things are awful, we see a subtitle saying “48 hours earlier.”

If it happened once, I wouldn’t have noticed. I saw it three times in a week.

My guess?

It captures the audience after the commercial break between shows. If the program started with the exposition, we wouldn’t pay attention. We would get bored. By starting with the crisis, we are aware that the chain of ordinary events that started 48 hours before is going to lead to something larger, something riskier, something life-threatening.

If the four gospels were TV shows after ratings, they would start with a closeup of Jesus’s face. He would be on his back, eyes closed. There would be blood dried around his eyes. As the camera pulled back, we’d see the blood slowly oozing around thorns poking into his forehead. As it pulled back further, we’d see a board under his head, and then his arm stretched toward us.

Someone would step in, his back blocking the screen. As the camera kept pulling out, we’d see the back of a Roman soldier. We’d see that his left hand was holding something in place, but what we can’t quite see. We’d see his right hand reach off screen. He’d bring a mallet into view and raise it.

As the screen went black, we’d hear the mallet hit something metal.

And then, what’s the best next scene?

The sound of guys laughing? With the subtitle “24 hours earlier”?

A donkey braying? With the subtitle “Five days earlier”?

A baby cry? With the subtitle “33 years earlier”?

A coffee mug set on a table? With the subtitle “1981 years later”?

As the screen opens on this post?