Spontaneous Musings

Been thinking about the things looking forward to in culture this upcoming year, now that 2009 has finally been put to rest. Note I sort of skipped over the whole best of lists.
Not sure why. May go back and do it, when I have time. May not. Moving on.

( Buffy fanfic and Buffy comics...never the twain shall meet, wait aren't they the same? )
On TV front - looking forward to:

Caprica, the New Doctor Who - run by Stephen Moffet, actually considering getting HBO for George RR Martin mini-series (but may just wait for netflix to pick it up), Tru Blood S2 and Dexter S4 to come out on netflix, Lost, The Good Wife, Supernatural, In Plain Sight and a couple of others that I can't think of at the moment. Too many tv shows, too little time.

( a bit on the Golden Globes and Avatar and the Hangover...which may or may not piss people off, you never know, hence the cut )

Just saw Project Runway All Stars...while there were some really good designs and several of the designers had grown, I disagreed with the judges.

( spoilers for Project Runway All Stars )

( tv shows I'm interested in or watching at the moment )

Read in the paper this morning that New Year's Eve is perhaps the most overrated and overbloated Holiday...

Decided to stay home tonight, nurse my bronchitis, and maybe watch Mamma Mia, which I bought for myself on the way home from work, because it makes me happy - partly for all the reasons so many critics hated it, the funky singing and dancing, and I happen to love ABBA. Not drinking anything - are you kidding? I'm on antibotics and hydrocodine cough syrup. And it's bitter cold - expected to drop down to 0. Currently 24 degrees. Coldest New Year's in a long long time. Last time got this cold was sometime around 1998, about ten to eleven years ago. 2009 will be the start of my 13th year in this city. I moved here in March 1996 or thereabouts. Lucky 13.

How to pay homage to what I like to call a watershed year? Tough one at that. But all watershed years are - last one was 2001. I knew it was going to be a watershed going into it. Told people as much last January - that this one going to be one tough long weird year - in which things would be turned inside out. And boy was it ever.

Can't really do a best movie or book list, haven't read or seen that many good movies or books this year, or for that matter remotely memorable ones. Of the movies I have seen - I'd say that Persepolis, Mamma Mia, Iron Man, Tell No One and The Dark Knight stick out in my memory. Everything else is a bit of a blur. Quantum of Solace and Australia - while enjoyable, are fading bit by bit, even though I saw them both relatively recently. Of the books? I'd say Kafka on the Shore and maybe the one I'm reading now, Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff. I enjoyed the latest Dresden, Small Favor and the latest Kim Harrison, A Few Demons More - but they don't resonate in quite the same way. Quick, fun, and light reads not meant to stick in the memory. Read more than that, but I either couldn't finish them or I simply can't remember them that well.

TV? Ah. I've watched too many shows and after a while they blur together in the memory. I may write a separate post highlighting the ones that did stand out or rather the episodes that did, for good or ill.

The most memorable thing on TV this year, besides the Writer's Strike, was the American presidential election that appeared to go on forever. Due in part to the Writer's Strike and in part to who was running - it became must-see tv. More people watched the election results and Obama's Informercial than they watched most of the other prime-time shows on. I think only the Olympics and the Superbowl beat the election in the ratings. And the election didn't just capitaviate American viewers, it captivated the world.

The other two memorable tv events were The Olympics and The Superbowl. Both filled with unpredictable twists and turns, and human drama that you could not find in any scripted or reality series. With the Superbowl - a team that hadn't won in years, and was a wild card, beat a team that hadn't lost a game and had the best record. They did it in the final quarter of the game. I'm no fan of football - but that had even me on the edge of my seat, eyes glued to the screen. Jumping up and down like a loony when the Giants actually won. Oh, and the Olympics - the opening ceremonies- eery and beautiful, disturbing and inspiring at the same time. In case you didn't know it already, yes, China was a force to be reckoned with.

Online - there were quite a few posts that captivated me. I don't remember them all. Here are the four I do remember or stick out in my memory tonight as I write this.

* the_red_shoes post about the spontaneous dancing in the streets of Seattle, when it was announced that Barack Obama was elected President of the US. It was the first of many posts about the spontaneous dancing around the world. No matter what your politics, you couldn't help but be moved in some small way. Her posts, complete with video footage, captured that the best.

* scrollgirl's post in support of Gay Marriage from a Christian Perspective. An insightful post that managed to calmly explain why being Christian and supporting Gay Marriage were not contradictions in terms.

http://scrollgirl.livejournal.com/600507.html

* embers_log's videos of her handbuilt and handpainted raki vases, which blew me away with their creativity and innovation.

* fresne's post expressing poetically and rather calmly why Sarah Palin worried her.

While it is tempting to say good riddance to 2008, it was not a bad year - it was like most years, a mix. Both personally and globally, I think.

Five Positive Things That Happened in 2008:

1. Barack Obama became the first African-American elected President of the United States, and for one brief moment the world united and celebrated his election by literally dancing in the streets and setting off fireworks.

2. The Writer's Strike came to an end and the writer's got what they wanted most - a share of internet proceeds.

3. Michael Phelps Won a Record Number of Gold Medals in Swimming and used the proceeds to fund a foundation to aid children in learning how to swim.

4. A Woman came very close to becoming President or Vice President of the US for the first time in history.

5. On a purely personal note - I kept my job, got a great performance review, and a raise for the first time since 2005.

In some ways, for me at least, 2008 was a year in which I was able to heal old wounds, and remove old emotional scars. I asked a guy at work if he was going to bid good riddance to 2008, and he said, no, he was going to celebrate another year he lived. Each year he is alive, is, in his point of view, a good one.

While numerous bad things happened this year, quite a few good ones did too...I think sometimes we get so caught up focusing on the bad we forget the good.

So instead of bidding good riddance to 2008, I will just sigh in relief and gratitude for another year of mixed blessings. Here's to the year to come, while it may not be better or worse than the year that passed, it will definitely be different.

Amazing Sunset. Granted, it is painfully early at 5:14 pm or thereabouts. But still. Outside my windows - it looks like the sky is streaked in blue, gray, pink, red, and orange, all blended, while in the foreground the black silhouettes of buildings, with a few street lights.
( random thoughts about the day, tv, Spike comic, and books...nothing all that interesting, just writing because I feel like it. )

Read most of my flist - or as far back as I could manage. Saw quite a few political posts, so clearly I'm not the only one who is struggling with politics at the moment, but methinks it is time I drifted away from it and focused on well, more, fun things like the upcoming fall TV season.

I swiped this idea from one of the people on my flist. So it's not original.

( First things first: Summer TV List )

Here's my tentative DVR list, I'm going to wait for True Blood, Dexter, and Weeds to come out in DVD via Netflix, because I really can't afford Showtime and HBO at the moment. Nor do I have the time to watch them. As you'll see, I'm watching enough bloody tv as it is. Show's that I'm either looking forward to the most or consider can't miss are in bold. Others are fun/guilty pleasures that I don't mind missing that much. Note, while I have incredibly ecletic taste, I tend to drift more towards serial drama or dramedy's and am really not into situation comedies, reality shows or procedurals with minor exceptions. I miss the situation comedies of my youth - Bewitched, MASH, Cheers, Frazier, Night Court, News Radio, Caroline in the City, Murphy Brown, Mary Tyler Moore...even if I saw a good portion of them in reruns.

( cut for length and potential embarrassement quotia - mine, not yours, which means chances of being deleted sometime tomorrow when I come to my senses are about 10-1. )

I'm in a snarly mood today, although going to the gym after work tonight helped tremendously. Won't bore you with the details in the interests of not oversharing and all that.

At any rate, people are frustrating me again. I keep wanting to slap them upside the head.
It's partly work related, partly hormonal, and partly due to outside annoyances I won't go into.

On the TV front? I'm loving In Plain Sight - finally a heroine that I can identify with. Strong, tall, not into kids, single, doesn't need a guy, a sly/sardonic wit, hates shoes particularly heels, not girly, and great at her job. Rare on tv to find these people. Plus Mary McCormick is a wonderful actress. And I adore the guy playing her partner. The only thing I wish we could get rid of is Lesly Anne Warren as mom, Anne Warren has always grated on my nerves. It's partly her voice - it's sooo nasal. Holly Hunter's also grates on my nerves for much the same reasons. At any rate, In Plain Sight is my new favorite summer series and a good way to bide the time until Burn Notice and The Closer pops up again. In some ways, I prefer McCormick's character to Kyra Sedwicks - she's less girly and tall. It's all about who one can identify with after all.

Regarding Comics? Why is it that so many so called literary/intellectual types and academics know zip about this medium? It should be a required course in any Literature program. It is after all another "written" medium for telling stories. As many stories as novels tell. A comic is basically an illustrated story or a story told 65-90% with pictures. If you are going to have film studies courses in College, I hope you have courses on graphic novels. Academics are traditionally snooty about comics, but then people tend to be about things they do not understand and have little knowledge of.

They haven't read the comics by Harvey Pekar or Marjatap - the writer of the Persepolis stories. Nor seen the graphic novel on the 9/11 Commission Report - which is an astonishing piece of work and in some ways more memorable than any other piece on the topic. They think comics are Archie, Superman, Batman, and the X-men. They don't know about Manga - Japanese comics that contain everything from love stories to sci-fi novels between their pages. I've hidden my love of comics from most intellectuals and literary types, because they frown on them in much the same way they frown on anything that lies outside their own speciality. If it is "genre" and not "literary" - it is beneath their notice. Same deal with animation. For years, if I mentioned I loved animation - people would scoff and say, what a "cartoon"???

It's like the opera aficionda who looks down their nose at jazz and rock and roll. Not liking something is one thing, it's quite another to condemn it because you think what you like is better for some reason. I have yet to see anything that convinces me that Opera is as lofty as everyone seems to think. Or for that matter how it is any better than Jazz. Different, sure, better? Give me a break. Same deal with comics - they are a narrative form, they are not a genre, they can tell any genre. From day to day rigors of getting chemotherapy to being a superhero. If you want to know what a comic book is really like? Step into a comic book store - not Barnes and Noble or Borders, but a real comic book store and stroll down the aisles, pick up the issues, browse. See how many different stories you'll find. Who knows? It may well blow your mind.

But pray do not condemn or look down your snooty little nose at something you have not tried. It's like stating the Shakespeare is boring when you've never seen it performed on the stage. Or saying that Mozart is overrated, when you never listened to any of his music. Or that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is silly when you never watched an episode. And you need to try more than one type of comic, before you know for certain. Not just the super-hero ones or the one's by Whedon. It would be like saying you hate novels when all you've read are Agatha Christie (nothing against Agatha - I read all her novels once upon a time), or saying you hate music when you've only listened to Dan Fogerty or Air Supply.
There are fictional comics and nonfictional comics (9/11 Commission Report is just one example), biographies, romances, action adventure, classics, horror, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, noir, super-heroes, and short story collections or anthologies. There is even a literary journal for comics. Called the Comics Journal. Novels have been made into comics, movies have been translated into comics, as have many tv shows. In most cases the writers use the comics as a means of continuing their story or filling in the blanks, in much the same way people use fanfic. There are comics about the Holocaust such Maus by Art Spieglman. And there are comics about the war in Iraq such as Pride by Brian K. Vauhn, about a bunch of Lions.

[*this is not directed at anyone in particular on my flist, just something I got to thinking about during a conversation in the post below.]

Be seeing lots of posts on lj about racism and sexism in television casting and storytelling plots lately. So I got curious and wondered if anyone had done an objective analysis. Searched the net and found the following articles, sites and data regarding the topic. Demonstrating several things I more or less already knew - the world is made incredibly small by the internet, the US is not the only country who has difficulty with this issue (unfortunately), and we are actually doing much better than we did a few years ago - sort of two steps forward and two steps back then two steps forward again. I'm beginning to think that's life in general - an absurd version of the Texas Two-Step.

Case in point:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired in 1997. At that time, if you read some of the links below or just scan them like I did, you'll realize that the networks were under the misbegotten belief that placing minorities in lead roles was bad for business. The NAACP got pissed and took them to task over this around 1999-2000. There were of course a couple of exceptions - but they weren't young teen shows. The exceptions were ER, Homicide Life on the Streets, the situation comedies on UPN, and the cast of Star Trek Voyager. DS9 was also an exception, but I think almost off the air at that point. Star Trek unlike most genre television, was actually pretty good with minority casting. Gene Roddenberry sort of broke the barrier wall in that regard in the 1960s with the original Trek - airing tales about racism on his show. But most TV shows contained white casts - such as Friends and Sex in the City, which if you live in NYC, you'll realize how unrealistic these shows are. This did not really change until around 2000, when the NAACP and SAG screamed at the US TV networks over it. SAG began to tabulate the number of female and minority roles in TV , Film and Theater in 1993 - releasing reports on the status, every couple of years, their data backed up the NAACP's claims.

Veronica Mars started after Buffy finished its run, in the fall of 2003, hailed by many fans as the new, albeit more racially diverse, Buffy. At the time Veronica aired, another backlash had occurred - the number of female roles and how women were being depicted was brought into question - articles littered the NY Times - blasting shows such as Boston Legal, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, and several quickly cancelled procedurals, as well as Veronica Mars for their lacklustre treatment of women. David E. Kelly got the message and added Candace Bergen to his cast. Supernatural hiding on the CW, then WB, got little fanfair. BattleStar Galatica was raved about as was Desperate Housewives. Grey's Anatomy starting mid-season, surprised everyone by doing much better than Boston Legal. Women, networks discovered, were a key demographic they could not ignore. Just as minorities were.

If you compare the casts of Veronica Mars to Buffy, you'll notice a couple of interesting factors.

Veronica, which began on UPN, which was targeting African Americans, had more men and less women in its lead cast over the three years it aired. It also had more minorities. The male best-bud - was African American, the biker guy, Hispanic. The Cordelia chick - African-American.

Buffy, which began on WB and was targeting a teen white female and male audience - had less men, but few minorities. In fact, you rarely saw any until around 1998 - or Season 3 of the series. Trick - was introduced around that period as a recurring character.By Season 4 - 1998-1999, we had Riley's friend and Gunn introduced in 1999 on Angel. In 2000...before Buffy moved to UPN, there's barely a minority in sight. When Buffy eventually moves to UPN, she stands out a bit like a sore thumb. If you check out UPN's shows during that period - almost all of them with the possible exception of Buffy and one other tv series, had minority casts. The Jamie Fox Show preceeded Buffy. At the same time, the NAACP and SAG were telling the networks that they had to cast more minorities. 2002-2003 rolls along and we start to see the recurring roles filled by minority cast members - including Iyari as Kennedy, Rhona, Wood, Nikki Wood as the First, several of the slayers, and an African American Pop singer who plays a demon that takes an interest in Xander. Buffy premiered towards the end of the 1990s, a period that had few television series with minorities, and in which the networks and advertisers were ignoring the minority demographic. If you look at the young adult and teen shows during that period, which included Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, 90210, Melrose Place, Friends, Seinfeild, Will and Grace... you'll notice that there were few minorities in them. Prior to this period we had Doogie Howser, Square Pegs, and the Wonder Years - which were also minority free or close to it.

In the 21st Century - The higher rated series - are ones that have minorities and women in their casts now. House, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, even BSG which is getting higher ratings on cable. In demographic studies - more African Americans, Women, and Hispanics were found to watch television than Caucasions, and men. Interesting. This may or may not have an effect on the change.

I thought about doing a statistical analysis of genre tv shows, to see how many women and minorities each cast, but I don't the time or energy. Curious to know if anyone else has attempted it - just to see the numbers. The one's I'm most interested in seeing are:

Buffy
Angel
Supernatural
Star Trek the Next Generation
Battle Star Galatica
Firefly
Smallville
Doctor Who

In the non-genre series category -

The West Wing (which I know was too lily white when it began and got loads of criticism, it was one of the shows attacked in the 90s for not having a diverse cast)
Grey's Anatomy
ER
Chicago Hope
CSI

I'd also love to see a demographic analysis of those series. How many whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, women, and men watch and what age groups.

Anywho, for those who are interested here's the links I found worth looking at regarding the representation of minorities and women in television roles from 1973-2007. I could not find any data for 2008. These also serve as my endnotes or references for the points I made above.

Stung by Criticism In 1999 Networks Start to Add Minorities to TV Shows - The West Wing is Singled Out"

The Numbers Game - 1994

Minorities and the Media- Little Ownership and Even Less Control

Anything But Racism: Media Make Excuses for White Washed Line-up - 2000

Census 2006 - Shows Changes in TV and Interactive Media Sectors (UK-2006, British Broadcasting employment stats)

Recognition & Respect: a Content Analysis of Primetime Characters across three decades

Gender and Television - how women are depicted on TV - goes up to 90s

Casting the American Scene - a Look at Characters on PrimeTime and Daytime Television From 1994-1997 - Fairness & Diversity in Television: Update and Trends since the 1993 Screen Actors Guild Report on Women and Minorities on TV

Canadian Law regarding Sex-Role Portrayal Code in Radio and Television Broadcasting"

Media Watch - Associations around the world dedicated to monitoring how women are portrayed on TV and how to correct it"

"Stastical Report on Women's Roles on TV"

Media Awareness Reports - Stats on Minorities on TV from 1993-1994

Representation of Women in TV Writing and Film Writing Sectors

Statistics of Women and Minority Representation on UK TV Shows"

Ethnic and Visible Minorities in Entertainment Media

SAG Reports Roles for Minorities and Women Increasing since 2005

SAG Casting Statistic Reports up to 2006

PDF of SCREEN ACTORS GUILD DIVERSITY CASTING REPORT, Including Stats for 2006

Woke up in an irritable mood for some reason - although did manage to thirty minutes of pilates exercises on my mat after a shower (yes, I know it would have made more sense to reverse the two, which occured to me while I was in the shower). Then made the mistake of reading the reviews in Entertainment Weekly - the reviewers in that mag used to be good, now they just grate on my nerves much the same way someone pulling their fingernails down a chalk board would. The television and movie reviews are *too* subjective, which I didn't realize was possible, and self-congratulatory. Providing me with very little insight on whether or not I'll them. In some cases they read like rants that I can read for free on the internet. Which begs the question - has the internet negatively affected the art of reviewing or was it always like this? Gillian Flyn is the worste of the bunch - she sounds like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City, without the class.

Speaking of reviewing things....this is the first in a series of reviews on lesser known or below the radar tv shows that I think deserve a second look.

Journeyman

I've seen about four episodes of this one so far, which is enough to review it. Not that I don't judge tv shows on the basis of one episode - I do, there's too bloody many of them not to, but the ones that spark my interest - get four or five before I committ to them.

Journeyman on the surface appears to be yet another in a long series of shows about a guy or gal who helps strangers each week often to their own detriment. This trend started with the highly successful men on the run from (you fill in the blank) threat, typified by The Fugitive. It was followed by the man because of a weird science experiment must save others - The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, and then jumped to the man who must redeem himself by saving others - Highway to Heaven, Angel, Forever Knight, and finally the man who gets stuck or lost or is part of an agency that travels through time - must save others to get back to his own time - Quantum Leap, TimeCop, and Time Tunnel.

I have never been much of a fan of this format - find it repetitive and predictable. It also has a tendency to leave me unsatisfied since the show keeps you by never resolving the problem at the center - which is why the person is forced to keep saving people even though he'd clearly be happier doing something else. With Angel - it was the curse and the hope for a possible shanshue which would make him human and allow him to be with Buffy, his one true love. Of course the character never achieves this - an apt metaphor for how life is about the journey not the destination or the proverbial carrot which in truth is little more than an illusion we have created to motivate ourselves. With Sam on Quantum Leap - it was saving enough people or hitting the perfect time solution so he could go back to his wife and family. Which of course never happened - instead he discovered that he became "saved" and left the earthly plain or something like that, the last episode of Quantum Leap was annoyingly surreal. The Fugitive may have been the only series that had a satisfying and/or optimistic ending - and it was a two hour movie event that set a record.

The time travel television series, episode on sci-fi tv shows, book, or film is not a favorite genre of mine either. Because they tend to focus too much on "the coolness" of traveling back in time. The main character spends a lot of time wandering around in the past, may even change a few things, but is the same - that character remains unaffected by what they've done, their lives aren't changed that much, no one seems to have missed them or noticed that they've left, and whatever they did in the past was clearly meant to be. Instead of using the idea to explore the potential problems of traveling through time - this is ignored.The only film I've seen that delved into the problems was The Butterfly Effect - not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it explored what happens when you try to fiddle with your past. And how nothing ever turns out perfect. There is always a trade-off or price to be paid. Tweak one thread in the pattern of life - you tweak them all. Also, the last episode of Star Trek Next Generation - entitled All Good Things Must Come to An End did an interesting examination of how our choices affect what comes next in our lives and how we are the sum of all our experiences not just a few isolated ones.

What never interested me that much in regards to time travel or science fiction tv shows in general is the science. I go into the show not expecting the science to be accurate. Heck, TV can't even do an accurate legal show - why would they be able to do one that deals with quantum physics? As long as it isn't silly or really out there? I'm fine. Also helps that I don't know that much about quantum physics or physics in general - unlike law or criminal procedure, which I do know something about.

Journeyman, despite what it looks like, is not your typical time travel tv show or man saving strangers to his own detriment each week or for his own salvation. It is interested in exploring something the others in this genre weren't - which is what happens in the present when the guy is sucked back into the past? What effect does his absence have on his current life? And does whatever he accomplishes in the past justify what goes wrong when he is sucked backwards? The whole metaphor of losing one's present by dwelling too much on one's past is examined in great depth here. The other issue it explores is what effect does his ability to time travel have on the people he loves the most? How does it help or hurt them? The B plot line is not how saving lives is making Dan (the time traveler) a better person or changing the world in a great way, but how it is affecting his life in the present and his loved ones, how they are dealing with it or not as the case may be.

Unlike most sci-fi/fantasy shows - Journeyman is more interested in examining its characters. The action, the time periods, the science of it - are all secondary to the character exploration. I've never seen a time travel show do this before. It sticks closely to Dan's point of view, only veering to include his wife, Katie, and brother, Jack to get a glimpse of how his travels are affecting his current life. We don't know why he's traveling any more than he does. We aren't given any more information than Dan is given.

Each time Dan goes back in time, his current life is affected but not by what he is done in the past - but by his mere absence. In one episode, his wife finds herself alone on a plane that they boarded together. She has to explain to the authorities how he disappeared from the plane when it was in the air. The result is that both Dan and Katie (his wife) are barred from plane travel and the newspaper where Dan works - does an article on the gaps in security at that airport. That's just one example. Also time works differently - unlike Doctor Who, where the Tardis can take the Doctor and his companion back to the exact time they left or for that matter Back to the Future, where Marty McFly reappears and his family never knew he was gone - in Journeyman three days may have passed when for him it was no more than a couple of hours or vice versa. Also unlike Doctor Who or Marty, he has no control over it and little warning. In the world of Journeyman - time travel is not fun and an apt metaphor for how little control we have over the events in own lives and the lives of others. We are stitches in the fabric of life, not weavers of the fabric. We also get bits and pieces of Dan's life - since he only travels back in time in his own neighborhood and surroundings - so we see who owned his house before he did, what he used to do, what his wife used to do, what his relationship with his older brother had been like and where he came from.

The show is by no means perfect. Some of the A plot lines or savings of the week feel a bit cliche and underdeveloped. The twists are often telegraphed - such as last week's episode where Dan saves a man by thrusting him into danger. Or the delivery of a baby on an airplane during the 70s, they went a bit too far with the costumes, those of us who lived in the 70's know people did not dress quite that colorfully. But those are minor points and are floating more and more to the background as the series advances and its B plot lines come to the forefront. The only drawback of the B plot line taking center stage is that you can't just jump into the series and be able to follow it. You sort of have to watch from the beginning.

If you haven't tried Journeyman yet and have zip to do at 10 pm on Monday nights, now's the time.

Have the worse sinus/tension headach today, so as a result not doing all that much. Dropped laundry at the laundramat for them to do - which ain't cheap. Used to be 13 or 10 bucks to do three loads, now it is twenty bucks. Plus tip. Ugh. I really envy people who have their own washer and dryer, or have one in their building.

Watched a shit-load of tv this weekend and still have four programs I haven't touched on my DVR. (Life, Dirty Sexy Money, Torchwood, and Moonlight - in case anyone is remotely curious.) I am watching too many tv shows - this DVR thing is dangerous. It can tape up to 30 hours before it starts randomly deleting. I get the feeling that Tivo's have better storage capacity. And... I am apparently getting Showtime now. No clue why. They better not be charging me for it. As far as I can tell they aren't. Don't want it. Don't have the time. I've come to the conclusion that it is physically impossible to watch over 20 hours of tv a week without going stir-crazy.

Have now seen the season premiers of both Supernatural and Friday Night Lights, so no longer need to avoid flist spoilers. Adored Supernatural. Friday Night Lights just bored me. I honestly think this may be a one season show. Last season worked as a complete telenovel in of itself. I'm not sure I need or want more story for this baby. Also found some of the story-lines a little sappy and cliche. Will probably nix.

Supernatural on the other hand has much against my better judgement won over my heart. It is fun, sexy, funny, and scarey all at the same time. Reminds me of old school John Carpenter and the Westerns I studied in my youth. I also enjoy the funky Judeo-Christian by way of HP Lovecraft mythology. Is it just a tad racist and misogynistic? Yeah. But, it is also somewhat realistic in depicting the blue collar white male's attitude towards women and minorities - Dean and Sam aren't saints, far from it. They are deeply damaged men. We see everything from their pov. And the writers do a good job of showing how their pov is not always the most reliable. It may be amongst the most tightly written tv shows I've seen in a while. Also I'm enjoying the relationship amongst the characters - Dean, Sam, Bobby - how they relate to each other and the world outside of them.

Plus, much like Buffy did, we have demons introduced that act as metaphors for the characters emotional arcs.

( Supernatural Spoilers )

I may watch Supernatural live instead of Grey's, except I like taping because I like to rewind over certain sections. Grey's doesn't require re-winding or rewatching, it's not that deep. It really isn't. Sigh. The first two seasons of Grey's were pretty good. Now it's gotten very melodramatic and a bit too soapy for its own good. I'm still watching. But how long that will continue? No clue. Having similar problems with Ugly Betty. I found myself somewhat bored with it this Thursday. It was a bit too over-the-top for me.

Is it just me or is LJ slow tonight?

Anyhow, ganked from spacedoutlooney - Time Magazine's 100 Best TV Shows of all Time. I have a few quibbles about this list - "Doctor Who" isn't mentioned for one thing nor is Laugh-In nor The Wonderful World of Disney - which changed TV and was amongst the first shows in color. Also, reading the list? I've become aware of one thing - I have watched far too much television in my life time.

I'm thinking they made their choices based on what changed the climate of television or expanded the form - causing others to copy them. If so, they shouldn't have left ER, Doctor Who, and Donahue off the list. If it weren't for Donahue - we wouldn't have Oprah. Donahue changed the talk show. Also - what about Columbo? The first detective show to last a long time - without that there wouldn't be the procedurals. Law and Order? Which was the first procedural? See this is the problem with coming up with lists, you always leave stuff off and it is all is sooo subjective, rendering the whole biz of list making and reward giving rather silly and pointless in the final analysis. But we're competitive animals - we have to have them, I suppose.

Shows I've seen many episodes of are underlined. Shows seen every, bolded.
Shows I've seen at least one episode of are italicized.

( look and see have much television I've watched, I dare you. )