Caemeron Crain
There is a decent chance you’re familiar with the Secret Base YouTube channel for sports-related reasons. If not, I do recommend that stuff, even if I won’t claim to have watched absolutely all of it.
But, this piece isn’t about that, it’s about a series of videos Jon Bois has put out through the channel. It’s Pretty Good, and, more specifically the recent four-part “Fool Time.” Here, Bois documents the invention and proliferation of the telegraph through the lens of two characters we know from the 1990s television program Home Improvement—Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor and Al Borland.
Although Home Improvement portrays him as lovable, when it comes down to it Tim is an insufferable blowhard who isn’t all that competent. Al’s the competent one, constantly saving Tim from his own recklessness and keeping the Tool Time ship going. Al’s a true craftsman, whereas Tim is more of a salesman. Of course, Tim always takes all the credit and thinks of Al as merely his assistant.
Bois takes these two figures and makes them archetypes as he works through the history of the telegraph. In each era, there is a Tim and there is an Al, and I think this is fair even if I have to admit that “Fool Time” is my primary source for a lot of the relevant historical information.
Regardless, this framing device helps to make “Fool Time” not just fascinating in historical terms, but incredibly entertaining in contemporary terms, as Bois will juxtapose his account of what occurred in the 1800s with scenes of Tim mucking things up, Al being subservient, etc. I really enjoy the hook.
Beyond that, I love history, and it’s striking to think about people doing all of this stuff in the 19th century. Jon Bois labels it the invention of the internet, and, in a meaningful way, that’s true.
As the story proceeds, you might be tempted to take the side of the Als (and certainly you will be if you’re at all like me), but Bois does a good job of arguing that sometimes you need a Tim—someone who will charge headfirst into a project that everyone with a cooler head might call impossible.
Together, the Tims and Als that populate the history of the telegraph accomplished something remarkable, even if the Tims took all the credit.
You can find the Pretty Good series “Fool Time” on the Secret Base YouTube channel.
