Growing up one of the most memorable programs on PBS was Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting. I watched the show between other channels or while bored. It featured a white man with a beard and an afro painting incredible landscapes in half an hour. Sounds dry, but the effect of watching the painting come together is incredibly compelling.
Ross’ technique and TV persona was instantly recognizable. Talking to a few friends last night, we all knew The Joy of Painting and Bob Ross. We all had watched the program and remembered the ‘happy little clouds over here’ and the way Ross would ‘just pull this together across the water.’ He had little phrases for his techniques and he made it look effortless.
We got so into the conversation last night that we had to look up the show on the web. We found The Joy of Painting website and there was Bob’s smiling face, just as we remembered, with his landscapes. We browsed to the News sections and: whoa! What is this?
The Joy of Painting is becoming a video game! First thought: Odd! Second thought: Who will buy this? Third thought, after reading that the game was being developed for the new Nintendo Wii: Ohhhh. Yes. I see. With that new cool controller, painting makes sense. This could reach a whole new audience for video games. No longer just boys in different stages of emotional development that every other video game platform chases, but a new age group, gender, interest type. Very cool.
Will it work? Don’t know. What do you think?
