I did favorite movies in an earlier blog (go GalaxyQuest!) and with the advent of the new season thought I’d do some of my favorite television shows.
First off let me tell you I grew up loving television. There was barely anything on back then so we watched EVERYTHING that was remotely interesting. My oldest son is now watching some of those same cartoons I watched as a child, teen & young adult. Nothing takes me back than the theme song of The Banana Splits! Too bad they aren’t re-running The Monkees!
Anyway, I enjoy television and with almost every new season I’ll watch all the new shows at least once to get a feel. My criteria… I have to enjoy the characters. If the main lead is an ASS I don’t really have a huge desire to watch him no matter how entertaining the writing is (Community…new series with Chevy Chase, barely holding my interest).
Although I will always make an exception on any show my brother is working on. He’s a set dresser and he’s worked on some really good shows, Mad About You, Sports Night, Samantha Who and now, Accidentally On Purpose with Jenna Elfman. The plot is interesting… older single woman gets knocked up by much younger guy. Jenna almost doesn’t have the acting chops for it or the director isn’t grooving her right, but the male lead has an incredibly hot bod and he’s been naked enough times to keep ME watching! (and pausing and rewinding and pausing.. yum!) The writing and acting of the supporting cast is wonderfully done and Jenna seems to be finding her groove if last night’s episode is any indication.
And inside scoop, Jenna is really pregnant and she suddenly “popped” which was why in one episode she was just pregnant and then the next she’s in her 2nd trimester. Oh and the british girlfriend is also pregnant which is why all her shots are behind things. I hope the networks give it a chance to get its audience, it’s really cute.
Oh but I love the new show CougarTown. It had the best line ever in its first episode. Recently divorced 40-something (Courtney Cox) gets talked into going out, gets real drunk, meets a young guy and sleeps with him. Post-coitus they are sitting by her pool in terry cloth towels and she says… “Wow! It’s like I can see colors again. We did it 3 times… 3 times! And you didn’t need a nap, or pills or anything!” I died laughing! And that show keeps coming up with hysterical lines that crack me up.
Rarely will I ever purchase a show on DVD, but I have 2 exceptions to that rule. One is the The Big Bang Theory. About 4 geek scientist and the blond who moves in next door to two of them. The lines are perfect, the acting is spot on and to anyone who has any interaction with your basic geek or scientist… this show will resonate with you. It’s in it’s third season this year and I have both previous seasons on DVD. Worth it… CBS on Mondays.
The other show I hope to own that never let me down in hysterical laughter every week was Titus (cancelled many years ago…sob). Based on the life/routine of Christopher Titus and starring him and the late Stacy Keech. Not only did it have wonderful acting, plots and lines it had that extra I love that so few comedies achieve… the perfect slapstick. It was raw and real and made me laugh until I peed my pants almost every episode. Someday I’ll own the whole series on DVD… when I can spare $50.00!
I watch all the sci fi shows and some of the dramas. I used to watch all the crime shows…but only if I liked the characters. Yet I realized I was more interested in the personal drama of the characters than the crimes they solved and after a few seasons they kept interjecting bad personal drama on individual characters to keep that flow going. It got very irritating watching a character you liked do stupid stuff just for ratings.
When I was a new mother I was not only home all day… every day… for the first time in my working career (almost 15 years) but I was also up sporadically every night! During that time I managed to catch up on all the reruns of all the Law and Orders I had never watched because I would crash at 10pm and never set a VCR (yes… back then we only had VCR’s!) I continued the trend into my parenting years until just recently.
As I pursued my writing, spending time in front of the television dropped into the background. I stopped watching almost everything except a few shows and almost all of them comedies. Now I watch television mostly as sound when I bring work home with me.
Ever the multi-tasker… that’s me. Probably why in my writing my first character Cat has more than one man!