I can’t do this anymore. I can’t spend my weekends catching up on TiVo viewing I miss throughout the week. I have to cut some shows loose, and I want to minimize the number of new shows I catch.
The casualties:
Category Archives: After the Show
Dark
I just watched the most wrenching two-hours of television so far this fall season.
When producers said the new season of Battlestar Galactica would be dark, they weren’t mincing their words. I haven’t felt such a dark mood after watching a television show since renting Oz many years back.
This show does nothing to bolster your faith in humanity. And oh is it so, so good.
This season premiere used the Lost season premiere to wipe the floor. I know I shouldn’t really compare the two shows, but there’s a very human core to all the mystery and science surrounding both shows. And Battlestar Galactica is far more willing to put the ugliness of humanity in plain view.
I love this show.
Season premieres, part the first
I’ve already written about my impressions of new shows — what about my returning favorites?
Truthfully, the old favorites have been a bit waylaid by the new shows. With TiVo making it too convenient to catch a lot of stuff, I found myself last weekend inundated with catch-up viewing.
I didn’t even take in any of the Law & Order shows.
So Thursday night, I went on a TiVo binge. Man, I hope to write off some of these new shows soon, just to make my viewing schedule a bit more sane.
Progress report
I just watched a good six hours of TV today. Here’s the thing I’ve discovered about TiVo — it lets you have something of a life during the week, but let things pile up and your weekend gets eaten up.
I spent Saturday catching up with The Daily Show and The Colbert Report while I did housework. And today, I watched two new pilots and some second episodes of new shows.
So how are things shaping up? Let’s count the ways.
Series premieres, or why I finally got TiVo
Eight programmable slots on a VCR isn’t very conducive to catching new shows if all eight are occupied by returning shows.
It’s why I didn’t get into Lost till season two. It’s why I didn’t start watching new episodes of Battlestar Galactica till season 2.5. It’s why I waited till The West Wing and Without a Trace went into syndication before I watched either show.
Now that I have TiVo, I can do something I haven’t been able to do till now — catch a series premiere when it premieres.
In the criminal justice system …
So, the start of the season for mothership Law & Order, and the headline from which the writers rip is … Britney Spears’ parenting skills?
I guess that’s a way to speak to younger viewers.
They didn’t leave anything out — Britney and K-Fed, TomKat, Nick and Jessica … at least they were thorough. Next week is the MySpace episode. It does not portend well this season, does it not?
I’m going to wait for a few more episodes before I weigh in on the new cast members. Alana de Garza at least succeeded by not being so obviously bad as LawBarbie.
The season premiere of SVU waits for me on the TiVo, and I didn’t realize I had programmed a season pass for CI, so I missed that premiere. I’ll have to find out when it repeats on USA.
Of delusion and ego
I was sorry to see Kayne do so poorly with the black-and-white challenge since it meant more of Sebelia’s asshattery. If he makes the final three, that’s it — I’m writing the season off.
If he wins, I’m writing the show off. (And it’s the first season I’ve ever watched all the way through.)
Sebelia is too much of a fuckwit to allow me to appreciate his work. Richard Wagner was a womanizing anti-Semite, but he created work of such magnitude, it’s studied by students and professors. Sebelia’s art isn’t good enough to overcome his bullshit.
At this point, I’m not going to expend any time and energy authoring a DVD set from my TiVo MPEGs. I’m not interested in seeing any of the re-runs.
Matter, anti-matter
Last week, a friend of mine commented how she couldn’t savor Angela Keslar’s departure from Project Runway because Penis Neck won the challenge.
This week, it was my turn to feel the same.
I’ve been waiting for that talentless whack job Vincent Libretti to get the axe, and when he finally does, Penis Neck wins another challenge.
God, I’m really starting to hate this show.
The only thing I look forward to is not hearing Libretti open his mouth. My tolerance for delusional bullshit is extremely low.
Zou-san! Zou-san!
I was checking out the guide of my TiVo when I spotted the title Shin Chan listed under Cartoon Network.
"No," I thought to myself, "That’s not Crayon Shinchan, is it?"
I tuned into Cartoon Network and heard the ending theme refain, "Party party join us join us". Oh dear — it is Crayon Shinchan.
Mr. O’Brien, you have to come out of the closet …
I can’t say I was all that interested by the nominations, and I only tuned into the Emmy’s because it was something to watch before the season finale of The 4400.
But Conan O’Brien’s shennanigans reeled me in. I really could have cared less for the awards themselves, but I just wanted to see what Conan had up his sleeve.
Oh dear.