Television Inanities

EDIT/UPDATE: Completely forgot to add Dexter to the list of must-watch shows. Apparently Season 3 starts in September.

I’m being extremely lazy this Sunday morning. Slept ‘til 9 (which is very late for me) and spending my morning computer time deciding what I’m going to watch this TV season. What can be lazier than figuring out your schedule for laziness?

I’ve already set my TIVO for True Blood and Fringe, but I suspect I’ll be cancelling that after a couple of episodes. I have a strange compulsion to try any vampire-related show, and keep watching it well after it’s worthwhile. But none of them ever match up to BtVS and Angel, so I’m always disappointed. I just wish Joss would come out with something, anything, new! Same with Aaron Sorkin. Fringe got good reviews as the next X-Files, so I’ll give it a shot. I’ve avoided most of the X-Files-like shows since it went off the air (and avoided the latest movie, too), but it may have been long enough to come up with a decent new show in that genre. And oh my, they’re doing a new Knight Rider. Must check it out. At worst you’ll get the cheesy factor. At best, cheesy factor.

Returning shows will be Smallville, Heroes (best show ever after BSG), Battlestar Galactica (whenever it gets around to scheduling the final episodes), Law & Order, SVU (new episodes only; when you find yourself sucked into a L&W marathon, you know you’re in the bad place), Bones (and catch up on previous seasons, in order, via Netflix), Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Dexter. I don’t know when/if the BBC America’s Robin Hood is coming back. The last episode of the second season fell off my recorded shows on my TIVO while I was traveling. I can probably Netflix the first season and that episode as well.

At some point I’ll Netflix Weeds, as I was too late to the game on that show. Plus I have borrowed The Wire, as it is highly recommended.

Obviously with it being an election year and with a lot more free time on my hands, I’ll be watching The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Bill Maher more regularly. Bill Maher I already watch regularly, as its weekly. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report don’t get watched every single time.

That’s about 11 hours of scheduled TV time per week not counting Robot Chicken which we have a tendency to save up and watch in one big batch.

I’m not one of those people that have a guilt thing about whatever amount of television I watch. TIVO changed my world, actually letting me watch less/better TV than random channel surfing. Though random channel surfing has its place. The fiancé and I did that last night. Got sucked into two episodes of Project Runway (god I HATE reality show formats, even when the topic is good—like fashion—the format is unbearable) and Pink Floyd’s The Wall and subsequent documentary. I’d never seen The Wall, so that was a good outcome of channel surfing. And now I know—despite all recommendations—that I will not end up watching Project Runway. I may get addicted to their website as the outfits they come up with can be truly amazing. But I don’t have to endure the god-awful reality show format/fake dramatis that goes along with it. I’m still resentful over the one season of The Apprentice I had to watch because I used to know one of the contestants.

By all means, if I'm missing out on the next fabulous show, do let me know. I have a tendency to miss great ones (like the aforementioned Weeds and like when I didn't catch on to The West Wing until four seasons into it).