The Top 10 television shows I'm glad I don't watch and other television thoughts

Television and TIVO can be a burden - or eye-opening.
Last year, I found myself with a series of shows on TIVO, each with multiple episodes, thinking I'd wait for a rainy Saturday and enjoy a marathon.
I discovered, though, that some shows were so unappealing (for one reason or another) that even in a torrential downpour, I didn't watch them.

I took them off my Season Pass and I don't bother watching them anymore. I'm FREE. It feels good. And its not that I no longer feel bad, its that I'm actively HAPPY not to watch these shows. If I kept a gratitude journal, the fact that I don't care about these shows would be one of the things I'd list. Multiple times.

And its not because they're all bad shows or anything. I just feel like I was tied to them more like an addiction than a choice. Which is why I feel free. And I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

If you like these shows - I'm happy for YOU!

Here, in no particular order, are the 10 SHOWS I'M GLAD I DON'T WATCH.

1. HOUSE - House gets it WRONG four out of five times. And yet they still think he's so good they put up with his rotten, nasty, arrogant attitude? He jumps to incorrect conclusions because he's blinded by his own outsized ego. His helper doctor's don't even use their brain - they try to offer solutions, but he ignores them and they do whatever he says. What a boring job that must be. He's mean just to please himself; he gets pleasure from insulting people and taunting them with their own weaknesses. Ugh - why would I want to watch that kind of behavior on a weekly basis? I started watching the show because Ellen DeGeneres said she watched it a lot. I TIVO'd the repeats and marathons on USA. At first I enjoyed it. But, soon the ridiculousness stood out like a big goiter on a little old lady. I'd say I watched just over one season's worth of the show.

2. 24 - Along the same lines as House. Jack Bauer is wrong most of the time. He moves from person to person, beating and torturing to get him just enough information to find the next person. Until finally, someone 'surprising' turns out to be behind the whole 'can you top this?' plot. I watched Season 4 in a marathon, and season 5 in real time. It was fine while it lasted, but two 'days' was enough for me. There was too much Bush/Cheney drama in the real world to be entertained by that macho attitude in my leisure time.

3. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - Very enjoyable actresses and some engaging plot lines, but after last year's 5 year jump, I felt comfortable letting it go. Lynette's rotten kids bore me, and Susan's stupid romantic choices bore me, and the next sinister person who insinuates his way into the group bores me.

4. LEVERAGE - I gave this show 2.1 chances; I watched two episodes and a few minutes of the third. I couldn't take anymore. I like Timothy Hutton - but not as this character. He doesn't fit the mold that I'd like to see. I watched Eyes starring Tim Daly and Hustle on BBC. I believed the characters on those shows were experts at their craft and had fun. That's the tone Leverage is trying to achieve, but, for me, it misses on every level. Timothy Hutton's character is supposed to be smart and he acts smug. The other people are supposed to have quirky characteristics and extreme talents, but they're cardboard cutouts of the same characters I've seen before. In the pilot episode, Timothy Hutton's character is trying to deflect attention from his people rappelling from a roof (as I recall), so he uses a baseball bat to smash the windows on multiple cars in front of a big office building in the middle of the day. The camera shows people in the lobby of the building running to the window to look outside and see what all the commotion is about (car alarms are blaring). But, nobody goes outside, and Timothy Hutton keeps smashing cars - not disguising himself, not trying to hurry, and when he's done he just walks away with an "I'm too cool, too edgy, too smart to get caught" look on his face. That scene alone is worth not bothering with the show anymore.

5. DAMAGES - Glenn Close is a great actress. And I watched the show all last season. Even though, by the end of the season, I was often only watching the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes. The story was often compelling, and the acting was very good all around. But, the characters are just too amoral, and the 'layers' of the corruption are too convoluted for me to be interested in spending my leisure time with these people. This is one I wasn't quite as eager to give up, but in the end it didn't seem like a good use of my time. Damages is another victim of my Bush/Cheney era exhaustion.

6. RESCUE ME - Same as Damages. I'm overwhelmed with corruption and sadness and negativity in the news. I can't take it anymore as entertainment. The acting is powerful and raw, and the episodes are often both intense and comical. Denis Leary does a good job. I watched this for a couple seasons and then last season I had to watch just the first and last of several of the episodes (and its a testament to the show that sometimes after watching just a bit, I decided to watch the whole episode). This is another show that if it were airing in a different year or if there were more comedies to soften the edge, I'd have the emotional energy to watch it.

7. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - Ditto on this show. I have watched it and found it intense and stirring at times. I think many of the characters are real and the actors do a nice job. But, last year it got a little silly, I thought. I saw one episode where the cheerleader girl (who's name I forget) is leading a Christian group at a prison. Huh? A minor child - she's still in high school - who is obviously sexually attractive, is going to a men's prison to participate with male prisoners in a Christian group? That seems outrageous and irresponsible on the part of the adults in her life and the wardens in the prison. I don't know the full story so I could be getting it wrong. In any event, it was getting a little too soapy for me. This was the first show I realized I could understand what was happening from week to week just by watching the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes of the show. Once I'd reached that point, it wasn't hard to realize it might not be something I needed to watch. Also, it was the curse of 'too many sad and depressing shows on television when we have a sad and depressing reality via the Bush/Cheney WhiteHouse'.

8 - GREY'S ANATOMY - Now, this show is just plain silly. I stuck with it for a long time. But, after the first Izzy and Denny storyline - she loved him, he was sick and dying, she did an illegal operation on him, he died anyway, she didn't lose her license or her job, and then she became a millionaire so she could fund the 'clinic'. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Not to mention I was never, a fan of Meredith and Derrick. Even though Meredith is overly angsty, I could maybe deal with it. Its Derrick that I think is a horrible character. I really, really don't like him. I hated that he acted like he was so noble and good and was always trying to do the right thing, but then he'd be in Meredith's face begging her to love him and manipulating her and pretending its her alone with the problem. What an ass. And I hate that people call him McDreamy and then every other male in the cast has to be McSomething. Blech! As a sidenote, I watched the preview of Private Practice with Tim Daly and although he had a really sexy, really hot kiss with Addison that gave me shivers, the show also seemed silly so I don't watch that either.

9 - MAD MEN - I don't like television shows in which people do strange things that I can't understand for what appears to me to be no good reason. I watched this show the first season. I can see why people like it - good visuals, great mood, fantastic acting. But, on some level I don't understand Don Draper and his wife. Or maybe I do understand and I'm bored of that personal intrigue. They have too many hidden secrets that I don't relate to.

10. AMERICAN IDOL - The only season I watched a little was Season Two when it was Clay Aiken vs Ruben Studdard. And the only reason I watched it was because the nerd kid kept moving on so I'd be curious. I know I watched the finale at least, but I don't think I watched much of the other shows except the one where I saw Clay Aiken audition and that other kid who turned out to be a bad singer but they made him a household name because he was that bad. Of course I can't remember his name now. Anyway - I think this show is boring. I like singing and dancing, but just singing? Not so much to watch. And the songs aren't that interesting. And really, what do I care about another 'nasty for his own enjoyment' person like Simon Cowell? And I don't understand what the story is between him and Paula Abdul, not to mention the overuse of 'Dawg' by Randy. I also think Ryan Seacrest is overexposed to the point of obnoxious. I don't even watch this show, but I keep tabs on pop culture type stuff so I kind of know what goes on. The fact I know as much as I do bothers me a lot. This is the only show on the list I never intended to watch anyway - but because the rest of the country loves it so much it gets talked about and referenced all over the place and I feel like I've seen it much more than I have.

*****

There you have it folks - the top 10 SHOWS I'M GLAD I DON'T WATCH!!!!!

And I could add the CSI shows, but I've only seen about 15 minutes of them so it's not like I purposefully stopped watching them; they're not on my radar. I'm glad I don't watch them the same way I'm glad I never started drinking coffee - why bother at this point? The 15 minutes I saw had a silly Grissom moment: From across the room he spotted some kind of bug and spouted off with a bunch of technical information about it and I thought that seemed like all these other 'expert' shows where no one has to look anything up - everyone is so supersmart they're hardly human and because they're supersmart they don't even have to be considerate of other people. Though I don't know if that's who Grissom was. So, there you are with that!

*****

I'd also like to make note of two shows I watch, but I have mixed feelings about...

1. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - I've watched it both on DVD, TIVO, and weekly. I get angry at this show a lot. Its way too 'mysterious' and the people don't behave in a way I find believable. So, the world you know has been nuked? You're in spaceships running away from a vengeful race of Cylon who want to exterminate you? Yeah, I'd care about the black market and electing a quorum, and political intrigue, and blah, blah, blah. Not likely.
Civilization as we'd practiced it in the past would disintegrate. The old institutions (maybe except religion) would be gone. The central government would not hold together. Many people would be devastated to the point of not being able to function. That's what I think anyway. I just can't imagine blithely accepting the same old authority figures again.
I think the 'messages' of the show about politics in the aftermath of 9/11 were too obvious for someone who already disliked the policies of the Bush/Cheney administration.
Of course, this is science fiction so its just speculation on my part...what would I do in that situation?
There was a spiritual side of the show that intrigued me (what makes us human?). But, they're not (so far) making a case for any particular point of view yet. They made it mystical, jus cuz.
I read an interview in which one of the writer/creator/producers said the 5th cylon wasn't planned or finalized until the end of the 3rd season. That tells me there has never been a central plan or storyline for the religious aspects. They've made it up as it goes along. They went for the easier, more obvious, political message.
I mostly don't like the main characters and sometimes their characteristics are changed to suit the plot.
Why are the 4 unknown Cylons having such an easy time accepting that they're cylons? One scene of anguish and its over.
When I watch the show in a marathon, its better. Watching it weekly - I have less patience. The music during the battle scenes is great. That's my favorite part. Maybe my opinion will change after the final 8 episodes are shown. If I get resolution for the parts of the story I enjoy - the mystical stuff - then I'll consider it a success. Otherwise - eh. Not a waste of time, but not as good as other people think. By the way, I'm a fan of Deep Space Nine - also produced by Ronald Moore.

2. LOST - I never watched Lost because I felt when I tried it out early on, people kept unnecessary secrets. But, last year, when the strke was on and I heard there was time travel stuff in Lost (I'm a huge sucker for time travel) I decided to give it a try. I watched via a combination of Netflix and iTunes. And I loved it. (Except Jack - he's my least favorite of the leading characters). I was hooked. Until it came on this year and I was watching it weekly. I wasn't sufficiently intrigued and I was sufficiently irritated by the secrets of the new scientist people and Jack's decisions so that I couldn't summon the emotional energy required to care if I saw the show the next week or not. I still haven't watched the last 5 episodes of last season. But, I have them on iTunes. And I'm TIVO'ing the show now, so I'll start it up again.

*****

A couple other thoughts about Television that I've been holding onto - and am ready to release...
1. I'm getting older so one reason I don't like television shows is because I've seen it before in other eras: China Beach, Hill Street Blues, LA Law, St Elsewhere, Twin Peaks, etc. Everything old is new again.
2. If there was a nice mix of comedies and dramas I might enjoy the dramas more. I like sitcoms that center around adults - Frasier, Mary Tyler Moore, Wings, Bob Newhart, Newsradio, Dick Van Dyke, etc.
3. I'm kind of addicted to televsion. I watch it to take my mind off things, to procrastinate, and to live in other people's worlds.
4. I wonder if there will come a time when nothing on TV sounds interesting to me anymore.
5. My television attitude has been affected by the political environment of the last 8 years. I've been drawn to DVD's of sitcoms from a simpler time.
6. I TIVO some documentary shows that look interesting to me - I really want to know the information they're going to give me. But, when it comes down to it, I'm not always in the mood to sit patiently and listen. I hold the show for a long time hoping the time when I'm in the mood will happen before the time I need more space on my TIVO hard drive. I'm usually quite happy to have watched the show. But, sometimes I just have to say "I can't watch everything!" and delete it.
7. I know none of this is important. It really isn't. But, I wanted to say it. I'd be interested to delve into why it was so important that I 'tell somebody' what I think of television, but that's for another blog entry.