I don't get cable TV; I rely on an old fashioned and very long pair of rabbit-ear antennas. Since I live near a mid-sized urban area, I get a few channels with more or less snow: ABC (very clear), UPN (variable), and WB (quite fuzzy). (Alas, no PBS.)
Here is a list of the TV programs that I watch, currently:
- This Week with George Stephanopolous - my liberal-slanted news medium
- Desperate Housewives - bubblegum for the mind; sometimes I'll "watch" this while doing housechores
- Grey's Anatomy - ditto
- Girlfriends - a step above bubblegum
- Gilmore Girls - clever dialogue
- Lost - love the X-Files like plot
- Alias - love the kick-ass action; but it's going off the air, in any case
It goes without saying that I record these shows on my VCR and watch them afterwards, skipping over the commercials, as a general rule.
It's hard to keep a real interest in these shows, no matter how much I like them. They don't keep to any reasonable schedule; it may be three or more weeks of repeats or specials before a new episode airs. By the time the new episode is on, you've forgotten what was going on when the series left off.
Some people claim that they're not watching TV when they watch a DVD. I don't see the sense in that. I go through phases when I watch lots of DVDs, and I'm not going to fool myself into thinking that I'm not watching a lot of TV when I do that. Yes, I could probably develop an engine that runs on water in all that time that I waste in front of the tube. The world will have to wait.
7 comments:
My brother caught me up with season 1 of Lost (on DVD), and I'm disappointed. It doesn't seem to have much that happens. Just a lot of dramatic build up.
I guess I'm participating in TV turn off week. I don't even have rabbit ears attached to the TV. It's there for DVDs.
You have to be an X-Files fan to like Lost. If they actually resolved anything they'd have to end the series! I find it pretty entertaining.
I think TV turn off week is bogus unless you keep the TV off all week, which means no DVDs to me. But really, what's the point? I've been through years in my life when I lived without a TV altogether. I can take it or leave it, I guess. It's a convenient form of entertainment, and nice to have for my rowing workouts!
I never saw an episode of X-files, either. From your description, it sounds like I'd be very frustrated if I tried to watch it.
I don't think I turned on my TV all last week either.
What kind of movies do you like - or do you just not like to watch movies much?
So far as TV shows go - I like shows that explore characters and human interactions - so generally I like ensemble casts. If a show has clever dialog in addition, all the better. I also like a good action show, provided the protagonist is a female (Buffy, Alias).
Was last week typical for your TV viewing habits? You just don't enjoy watching TV or DVDs as a rule, or you don't have time for it?
Indeed, last week was pretty typical. I do watch movies --- between Thanksgiving and New Year's probably the only time in the year I get to watch movies (I see you've found that part of my blog), because the rest of the year is tied up with outdoors activities. (Between cycling, hiking, sailing, and a full time job, it's hard to find time for quality TV)
This April has been an exception because of an unfortunate encounter with Strep throat followed by a cold that lasted 2 weeks! That's 3 weeks just shot to hell for outdoor stuff.
I think my favorite TV show today is still Buffy. It turned me into a Joss Wheldon fan, so I watched Firefly, Serenity, and Angel too. I'm enjoying Battlestar Galactica quite a bit too.
The movies I enjoy: Lord of the Rings, nearly anything by Hayao Miyazaki. Since you like female protagonists, don't walk, run to the nearest place you can and rent Nausicaa, easily his best movie. (And don't bother with the butchered English version, Warriors of the Wind)
I was a big anime fan in college (you'll find my name attached to a TeX package used for typesetting scripts published years and years ago), and I like it, but I've been out of touch for years, so I'll date myself with these titles: Macross (I have the AnimEigo DVDs), "Gatchaman" (seasons 1 and 2 were amazing in story and plot, but season 3 was a disaster), and Vision of Escaflowne, which I think you'll like.
I'm still a geek at heart, so a lot of the obvious Geeky films like "Spiderman" and "Batman Returns" appeal to me, but I manage to find time for the occasional foreign film that wins good reviews. One particularly geeky one is Whole Wide World, about Robert E. Howard, the writer who created Conan. It's a movie very much worth watching.
Lisa & I also got horribly addicted to Veronica Mars on DVD last year, so it's a good bet that we'll be renting Season 2 during our month of Netflix or Blockbuster subscription this year in December.
I also watch a lot less TV during the summer, when I'm outdoors more. Broadcast TV during the summer is mainly reruns anyway, and I can't tolerate that.
I watch TV during two activities, mostly: eating and exercising. I find it annoying to read while eating, I can't explain why. I kind of like sitting on the couch and watching something while I eat dinner. And then during the indoor rower season (say, Nov - Apr), I'll spend several hours per week rowing. I've rowed without any entertainment at all in the past, but I've come to prefer something: TV, music, or language CDs. It all depends on my mood.
I'm a big Joss Whedon fan too. I don't see the attraction in Veronica Mars; I did watch it a couple of times but found it kind of boring.
I've been snooping around your blog and find our movie tastes are in many ways similar (despite our divergence on Veronica Mars and Lost), so I'll definitely try out some of the things you've given positive reviews.
My latest attempt to rent "Slacker" and "Waking Life" failed, though - I couldn't find them. Instead, I picked up season 5 of "Six Feet Under", which has just become available.
There's another thing that's got me watching more TV: for the past year I picked up a Hollywood Video subscription. Essentially "all-you-can-eat" for $16. This means I get more bang for my buck the more that I rent. I've been renting everything I've ever been curious about, movies that friends recommended, etc. However, I've been running out of things to rent for the past few months, so I figure at some point I'll drop the subscription and then I'll watch much less.
The Netflix-for-a-month deal sounds good, maybe I should try that in the winter for my rowing.
I do most of my exercise outdoors and weight lifting is the only thing I do indoors, and I only do it for about 20 minutes at a time. I just haven't found TV to be great value unless I have something compelling that I want to watch, in which case I'll make the effort to get it on DVD during my "once a year" Netflix marathon. (Though in recent years it's been Blockbuster because they've been cheaper)
My eating habits --- morning with the newspaper, and then evenings usually at Google with colleagues, so no opportunity for TV there!
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