TV Musings

Posted October 20, 2007

The new fall schedule has made my life more difficult. I have satellite and a DVR, so I have some advantage, in that I can record a show while I'm watching another. If I was willing to shell out a little more money a month, I could increase that. But really, do I need to watch that much TV? No. There are, though, a couple shows I really like. Network TV, not pay channels. Although, there are a few of those, too.

On NBC, there's the lead-in to Heroes, Chuck. Quirky little show, it's about a slacker who works at a computer store and gets tangled up with the CIA. It's amusing and disturbingly watchable. Here in the mountain time zone, it doesn't conflict with any pay channels, however, the show following, Heroes, is on opposite Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. As long as I'm not recording anything else, that's a non-issue. Fortunately, No Reservations rebroadcasts 3 hours later.

On ABC, there's Pushing Daisies. This one, I see as something you'd get if you crossed Dr. Seuss with Edward Gorey, and threw in a dash of Tim Burton. It's so absurd, it's cool. This would have been so easy to mess up, but for my tastes, they've gotten it right. It's an intelligent show, so I don't expect it to last more than two seasons.

Beyond those, there are my old standbys, like the original CSI, Criminal Minds, Numbers, and Heroes. Okay, so only one of those have been on for more than three seasons, but still...
I've also rediscovered The Simpsons and Family Guy. Gotta laugh, and those still do it for me.
Then there's what's available on pay TV. There were shows on BBC America that I enjoyed, but have since stopped watching that network. I've been waiting for over a year for the second season of Life on Mars. It's being redone for American television, with all the standard adjustments of beautiful people and vapid storylines, although maybe not so bad, since David E. Kelley is doing it. Just the same, it won't be the same. I was also hooked on Robin Hood, a lovely little show with a bit of comedy and a particularly evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Haven't heard anything about the second season of that one, either. Mostly, I'm disillusioned with BBCA, and refuse to get hooked on anything else, regardless of how interesting Torchwood looks to me.
USA has some neat little shows, like the old favorite, Monk, and a couple of new faves, Psych and Burn Notice. SciFi has Eureka, which I've been told has stolen plots from X-files. Well, since I had a hard time sticking with X-files and have no trouble at all following Eureka, I don't actually care where they get the plots. It's watchable.

At last, there's South Park. Morally opposed to the show at the outset, I refused to watch it. Nevermind the fact that I didn't have pay TV until July 2006, so I couldn't watch it anyway. A friend of mine talked so much about it, I finally caught an episode, and now I'm hooked. Intelligent potty humor. Go figure. The animators have no problems saying what's on their minds. One of my favorite episodes is "Trapped in the Closet," which basically makes Scientology look stupid. It's the show that made Isaac Hayes quit, since he's a Scientologist. He didn't have any issues with Moses as the central computer from Tron, or Jesus with his own public access show, and probably unfazed by the shows about Mormons. Pretty hypocritical to get upset over it. But it's a funny episode.

There are three channels I like to watch at any time of the day: National Geographic, Travel, Food Network and Turner Classic Movies. TCM is awesome for many reasons, not the least of which is there are movies that haven't been aired for years, and they're commercial free. On Sundays at 12 Eastern (10 Mountain), they show a silent movie or two. Anyone with any interest in the history of film should watch. I now see what the big deal was about Rudolph Valentino.

I've only had my satellite dish for a year and a half, after ten years of only having network TV. I can't imagine not having some pay channels any more. I'd lose my mind.