TV Time…

Day 11-Favorite TV shows

I was going to say that I’m a TV addict, but that’s not really true anymore. I watch a certain collection of shows faithfully, but I don’t just watch crap to watch TV.

• Big Bang Theory
• How I Met Your Mother
• Glee

Those are the only three shows I regularly watch on network television. The rest of the time our television is tuned to kid's’ shows, Food Network and its new sister channel Cooking, History, Discovery or similar channels. We like How It’s Made and shows like that.

I used to be an American Idol fanatic, but I haven’t even been tempted to watch this season – it was bad enough last year without Paula, but without Simon? I can’t imagine it. I might give it a try if I get bored one Wednesday night.

My favorite movies…

Day 7-Favorite movies

In the campy comedy category, we have

Clue

Clueless

Groundhog Day (planning to watch tomorrow, cause we’re dorks like that)

 

In the romantic comedy category, the nominees are:

The Holiday

Love, Actually

(leaving room because I know I’ve forgotten lots here)

 

For the nostalgia factor:

Grease

Grease 2 (yes, I know it’s awful)

The Parent Trap (Hayley Mills version only, please) – this is also my sick movie.

Pollyanna

The Trouble with Angels (we were big Hayley Mills fans)

 

Favorite Classics:

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (which I think should be required watching in every civics/government lesson)

It’s a Wonderful Life (which, btw, is what I name when forced to pick just one favorite – I have a thing for Jimmy Stewart – let’s not talk about how he’s dead and even if he weren’t, he’d be a mummy)

The Wizard of Oz

Gone with the Wind

I'm almost small town now...

Not really. I think a part of me will always be a suburban girl, but I'm adjusting to small town, rural living. Mainly thanks to technology. I have high-speed internet access, Direct TV and a cell phone. I'm good. Really, as a stay-at-home mom, not much has changed for me except the place I do things. We still drive around doing errands, although it's farther to get to those places. I still have to do laundry, cook, clean, potty train and all that.

So my fall TV impressions. Pushing Daisies! Yay! I'm so glad my favorite show is back. And How I Met Your Mother! Yay! I'm so glad my favorite not-new-but-new-to-me show is back. Actually, I haven't watched the new season yet since I'm waiting for season three to come out on DVD first, but I'm sure it's awesome.

on getting older

Further on the topic of coming of age, I've been realizing something lately. And it's not just that I probably need to pick a hair dye and just dye the grays already. I received season ten (the last season) of Friends on DVD for Mothers' Day. This is the first tv series I own on DVD. I never thought I'd get into it, but turns out I kind of like having my favorite episodes at my disposal. I watched the first four while I was in labor with Baby V.

For my birthday last week, I got season one of Friends, so I was able to compare how freaking YOUNG they all looked at the beginning compared to season ten. Wow. Okay, so they aged and it shows. That's normal, healthy, even, since the alternative (at least in Hollywood) is creepy. The thing that's been making me introspective (like it takes much) is that I prefer them all in the later seasons. Especially the only guy I'm attracted to on the show - Chandler. Tom and I watched a movie with a young Hugh Laurie in it and there is a scene with an almost butt shot. I "ewwwed" and Tom laughed and said that since I have a crush on him, I should like that. I replied that he looked too young in the movie - I prefer him now. Tom laughed that I prefer middle age paunch, scruffy beard and wrinkles. I guess I do.

So do I prefer older looking guys now because I'm older too? Or would I have preferred them all along? The guys on my list (you know, my list of five freebies?) have changed as I've gotten older. Maybe there's something to this thing about getting older. I don't really mind. So I prefer guys who seem comfortable in their own skin, so what? That's the one thing I'm most proud of about myself. I'm happy being me, something I could NOT say even ten years ago.

I'm feeling guilty...

I totally judged Jeannie without watching the whole season 1 disc 1. She was a little huggy (I'm not a hugger), but Captain Nelson (did you know he was a captain back then? I'm waiting for his promotion) got ditched at the altar by his fiancée for some childhood sweetheart. Jeannie played a role, but Jeannie was right - the fiancée wasn't right for him. It might be been nice to know this before the fifth episode, but I'm watching the rest of this disc with a little less judgement. And I'll happily let my four year old keep watching.

Can we watch Barney?

Pregnancy has made me even moodier and bitchier than usual. Honestly, for the most part, I'm even tempered when not pregnant. But lately I have no patience. So when Miss G asked me if we could watch Barney, I sort of snapped at her. "We're not watching Barney. When have we ever watched Barney? I don't even know if Barney is on here anymore."

Then I felt dumb. "Not that Barney, Mom. Barney the policeman." It all clicked. She meant the Andy Griffith Show. Tom likes to watch old tv shows with them and their latest show (just because it comes on at the right time) is the Andy Griffith Show. So I let her watch it that evening when it came on.

We're watching a lot of old tv shows because, well, they were so much more wholesome and family friendly than just about anything that comes on today. Some of them are on TV Land and some on DVD. We have the Addams Family, a big favorite of everyone's. Tom likes just about every show, so if they're not watching cartoons together, they're watching TV Land. I got I Dream of Jeannie for Christmas and I've started watching Season 1. Miss G LOVES it. But I started to think that Jeannie might not be the best female role model. She's kind of a ho, always throwing herself at Major Nelson and stealing him from his fiancée. I didn't know all this.

My hope for the writers' strike is...

that the glut of reality television that is headed our way will be the nail in the coffin of such trash. Honestly, I feel like I"m the only person in America who cannot stand the embarassing glimpse into the lives of all these poor people who go on these shows. I confess to watching American Idol and I sort of got caught up in Dancing with the Stars this past season, but things like Big Brother and Survivor in particular skeeve me out. Why, oh why do these people feel compelled to share every intimate detail of their lives with the entire world? I'm way too private a person (seriously. If I shared half the real stuff about me here, I'd be freaked out. It would probably be more interesting, but I always think about how I feel about those people on reality shows and get weirded out by people thinking that about me).

So bring it on, networks. Continue to screw over the talent you employ (and let me assure you that I love a well-written show and appreciate it as such) and overload our screens with reality television. Fill every minute with unscripted junk. And may we never have to watch its like again.

The joys of fall...

Fall is my favorite season. For lots of reasons. I love the weather - warm days, cool nights. I love the colors - reds, oranges and browns. I love the holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving. I love the foods - pumpkin bread, turkey. And I love that TV is back. New episodes of my favorite shows, new shows to either love or hate.

Here's what I've been watching this week.

Monday:

• Chuck. Um. LOVE. First of all, I love me a nerd. What can I say? And a smart guy with a sense of humor? Gets me every time. And it seems like each week's mystery is solved in the week, which I require is most of my shows.
  

Tuesday:

• Bones. David Boreanaz. Sigh. And like most of my favorite shows, anchored by a quirky ensemble cast. The mystery didn't really grab me, but it doesn't have to. I'm more interested in character development most of the time.
  
• House. Some shows sort of start getting repetitive and boring when they do the same thing basically over and over, but it so works for House. I miss the ensemble (actually, not that much in this one episode), but I love the House.
  

Wednesday:

• Private Practice. Meh. I'm actually not a rah-rah Grey's fan to start with. Add to that that I've never really like Addison's character in Seattle and, well, I'm not sure why I watched this. I flipped back and forth between this and the Bionic Woman, which started really boring so PP sucked me in. I think next week I'll try Bionic Woman again.
• Life. I didn't think I would like this. I didn't even mean to watch it. I meant to go to bed. But then I watched a few minutes and that was all it took. It fits my TV-watching profile, but adds a little something new. I'm not usually into season (series?)-long mysteries. The whole Lost/Heroes/etc. thing overwhelms me. I want episodes that stand alone so if I miss a week, I can pick up the next week without watching the missed ep. Hmm. I think all of my favorite shows are just like that.

Tonight I'll probably be watching My Name is Earl, Grey's Anatomy and ER. Maybe. I don't know about Grey's or ER yet. I sleep better if I don't watch those types of shows right before bed anyway.

More on children's television...

I can justify anything. Seriously. I have had to eat ice cream every night this week because I have acid reflux (apparently, although my gastroenterologist had to delay my follow-up appointment even further than two months). I mean, I can come up with a semi-logical rationale for doing damned near anything. That includes my parenting decisions. Like watching television.

1. Fact: Television is part of our pop culture. Almost everyone can relate to something on television. It's a unifier. I'm supporting unity.

2. There is no end of children's programming. This is most assuredly true. 24-7. Freaking PBS Kids is on. The point is, if the television is going to be on, it should at least be tuned to something appropriate for children.

3. Most of the television we watch is educational - Animal Planet, History Channel, Discovery Channel.

Got something you need rationalized? I can do it. No problem.

On Children's Television...

I admit it. I'm a total television addict. In a totally dorky way, though. My favorite channels are the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV and DIYNetwork. I only watch a select number of shows on the big networks (House, Bones, Scrubs, My Name is Earl...I can't think of any others. That might be it).

So it seems only natural that my kids would occasionally watch tv. No more than half an hour per day, right? Yeah, sorry, that's not going to happen. First of all, I'm not a morning person, so the hour it takes me to wake up is tv time. And then my almost 2 year old likes to turn the TV on. So I make sure it's tuned to something I don't mind them seeing. Like public television or other programming designed to be educational for toddlers and preschoolers. There's just so much quality television for the under-5 set that I can't see letting them watch shows not intended for little kids (like Spongebob or Rugrats - is that even on anymore?). My only exception is Jimmy Neutron, which is usually clean and promotes child geniuses. Can't argue with that.

Unfortunately for me, I am unable to tune out some of the weirdness of kids shows. Like the Berenstain Bears always makes me question what Mama and Papa were thinking when they named Brother. What if they hadn't had another kid? For that matter, wasn't it rather presumptuous of their parents to name them Mama and Papa as infants?

Oh, there's more coming another day...

I think I might be cured...

It's only taken five years and two months, but I think I might finally be cured of my need to watch television. Partly this is due to the DVR, which - I feel like a total dork for saying this - has changed my life. I no longer feel like I need to be home to watch something. I just set it up to record. If I want to go to bed before e.r. ends, I just hit the record button. Partly this is due to time. One of the reasons I've watched television so very regularly in the past few years was that when 9/11 happened, I wasn't watching anything. So for years, I would click over to one of the major news channels every so often - usually I had to check all of them to make sure they didn't have the same story on (apparently, the benchmark for major disaster in my head).

I've stopped watching the news altogether. And do you know what's happened? I sleep. I fall asleep quickly and I stay asleep all night. I haven't felt this well rested in a long time. It's as if cutting out the bad stuff - that I can't help but internalize and mull over for hours - has actually helped me cut out the bad stuff in my life at night. I used to lie awake thinking of everything that was even a little bad and just getting anxious and nervous and then I would be even more awake and I'd think more. I ended up staying up every night until midnight or later just so I would be completely exhausted when I went to bed and I didn't have time to think.

I noticed this last night because I was awoken by loud sirens and fire engines driving through my neighborhood. I was awake for at least an hour afterward, worried for the people they were going to help, worried that it might be someone I knew. And then once the worry started, I couldn't turn it off. So I'm extra tired today and I have quite a headache. But I've learned something valuable about the way I deal with things. Best during daylight hours.

So I finally got around to Grey's...

and I don't know why this show is so compelling. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm completely captivated by it, but I don't exactly know why. DH asked me why Desperate Housewives (which neither one of us watch) was so popular. I told him it was just a new generation's Dynasty - a total guilty pleasure, mindless escape type of thing. I think that's what Grey's has too. Not much suspense or mystery other than the emotional, just an hour spent in the lives of people in whom we can see a part of ourselves on some level. I have no problem at all with mindless television. Life's hard enough, television should be entertainment. I love a nice documentary and more often than not an educational type channel is on our tv, but when it's 10pm and my brain is fried? I want easy.

So about the show. Interesting with the flashbacks (from someone who watched the first two or three episodes and then picked it up again this past summer with the last few). I don't know how Derek got over Addison's affair enough to even try again. The most emotional moment of the entire episode was Cristina breaking down with Burke at the end. Wow. The whole Meredith has a choice thing doesn't really grab me. Seems like she's already decided, right? Time to flip a coin, my solution to everything. Either way, the coin will tell you the answer your heart knows. If you say A is heads and B is tails and it comes up heads and you're happy, you probably wanted A all along. But if it comes up heads and you say "best two out of three", you probably wanted B. (edited because I just saw a preview where Meredith says she's going to flip a coin - maybe I'm psychic...or maybe I'd already seen it when I wrote this.)