A to Z 2026 - T - Contessina’s Collection of Human Treasures

“There used to be an old myth, among humans,” Contessina said. Michelangelo stared out toward Earth, and Contessina peered down along with him.

“They would say, aliens were watching the same TV broadcasts they were.

“Of course no one was. Why would we? Even if anyone had picked up the signal, out of context any TV show would’ve been impenetrable.

“Which is also to say, now that we’re paying attention? It’s hard not to obsess. There’s so many different kinds of shows, just between the ones they make now. Catching up on the backlog? For a lot of humans, TV shows ended up being the way they explored the idea of aliens. It used to be books, but far more humans did it through TV shows, eventually. There was a whole series of shows in particular, they were…imaginative, hopeful, and if you ever ventured into the human internet you’d think they were the worst thing ever, which is itself hilarious, but you don’t need to worry about any of that. It’s best not to know what a lot of them are thinking, I’ve found. They’re much better if you let them break away from the pack. I don’t mean to digress.

“I’m not going to talk specifically about any one TV show. Other worlds have similar things, but TV shows are definitely something that helped popularize humanity among the Puck, once we discovered it, so that all you’ve got to do is say Earth TV, and you’ll elicit a huge smile. It’ll offend an actual human, to reduce all of it to just a generic label, but I find that endearing. They’re in their way as obsessive as we are.”