Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hobby Discussion Day 4: Television

I figured I couldn't really discuss reading without also discussing its slightly less wholesome counterpart, television.

I have always loved television. When I was a kid, adults were always telling us that television rots your brain, and that made me feel guilty. (I think, in retrospect, I was probably an overly-conscientious child. What a waste of the carefree years of my life.) Anyway, nowadays, it feels like TV has experienced a bit of a resurgence, and that watching TV is considered a worthwhile way to pass the time again. (Not that anybody ever actually gave up on watching TV; there have been hit TV shows in every era. I'm just saying that now, TV is cool again, because somehow the consensus is that television's quality has improved.)

Everyone who knows me knows that my favorite show of all-time is Seinfeld. I could watch every episode of Seinfeld one hundred times and still not get sick of it. I can find parallels between Seinfeld and everyday life, even 11 years after the show went off the air.

Another fun fact about me: My favorite show when I was a teenager was Murphy Brown. And I'm sad because they almost never air reruns of that show, nor do they have DVDs beyond the first season. I guess that Dan Quayle lobby is pretty powerful.

Let's move on to current TV shows. (Not to be confused with Current TV, as invented by Al Gore. How many former VP mentions can I get in one blog post? Walter Mondale, Spiro Agnew, Hubert Humphrey!) Anyway, I have to admit that TV and I are on slightly bad terms now. I used to love, love, LOVE both Grey's Anatomy and The Office. Now I'm totally bored with both. I'm not at the point where I have canceled my DVR recordings of either show, but I am at the point where I usually just delete them without watching.

Nowadays on Thursday nights, I watch 30 Rock (because I have a girl crush on Tina Fey, and kind of want to be her) and Community. My husband and I both like those shows, which is rare because we don't have too many overlapping TV interests. Wednesdays I watch Glee (or, as I call it, Ally McBeal with teenagers), although I am going to get disgusted soon if they don't clear up the pregnancy storylines with both Quinn/Finn and Will/Stupid-ass Wife.

The only other piece of episodic television I tune into is Mad Men, which is wrapping up its season this week and won't come back on again for like another !@#$% year.

So, to sum up, I don't have that many shows left. But I still end up watching a lot of random TV, stuff like The Daily Show and pointless crap on cable like I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant. Actually, pretty much anything with a title relating to some crazy medical malody will grab me, such as My Giant Legs, Half Man-Half Tree, and 650-lb Virgin.

Lately, however, I think I have been spending my nights reading more and more. It's not because I'm becoming one of those annoying smug people who thinks she is above watching television. I think it's because reading is quieter. After a long day with my loud toddler son and his loud toddler cohorts, sometimes I need a little silence.

If you're sick of my discussions about my hobbies, I am only going for to go for two more days with this theme. Tomorrow I will discuss flower arrangement, and Saturday I will discuss blogging.

No comments: