I am watching television RIGHT NOW. I have a remote control. I am watching all the crap I can find. I just watched Project Greenlight and was beyond happy. I watched a bit of April 1865 on the History Channel, and I also watched a bit of While You Were Sleeping on some random movie channel. I actually own that movie already (ahem. I love it. I love Bill Pullman. I love the Chicago setting. I love the whole damn movie.) But it didn’t matter that I already own the movie. I watched some of it again because IT WAS ON TELEVISION.
This phase will pass, eventually. But for now? I will babble about what I am watching on television ad nauseum. I love how not used to television I am. It’s hilarious. I flip around the channels using the remote and I am happy as can be.
Simple pleasures for simple simple people. I’m glad I’m not complex or deep. How boring that would be.
Okay, gotta go! Gonna catch some of The Outsiders on A & E! Stay gold, Ponyboy, stay gold.
Careful with those things. They’re powerful and they’re not alone. When the TV is on, the furniture suddenly becomes more comfortable and everything moves to within arm’s reach. Next thing you know, couch potato.
Woo-hoo!!
Babble about what you’re watching on TV?? Ermm.. Nope. NEVER done that.. *ahem*
“Don’t look at the light!”
Oh boy, Sheila, there’s so much crap on TV – you’ll have a ball!! Plus I’m looking forward with glee to your observations and insights on all things television. Maybe a weekly column?
Stevie – I think it might have to be a daily column, actually. Or even hourly. At least in the beginning.
I’m like a little kid. I’m even into the commercials. I got misty-eyed at one of them.
HAHAHAHAHA
I did the same a lot the same thing when I got the satellite dish hooked up a couple months ago. It waned a little, but now that baseball season’s rolled around, the boob tube’s on all the time.
My favorite is the SVU channel.
Sheila,
Some recommendations for viewing:
I already know that you like Arrested Development, but I want to remind you to not miss it tonight. May you revel in it’s insanity. I will be curled up in a ball on the floor in laughter, with only the commercials to keep me from seizing up in whole body cramps. Damn commercials.
For the wackiest 15 minutes on television, you must turn to the Cartoon Network and catch Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The original concept for the show – A pistachio milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball solve crimes in suburban New Jersey. Only, I’ve never seen any crimes being solved. They mostly just hang out and cause their neighbor Carl much grief, basically a show about nothing. Kind of an animated Seinfeld on crank and shrooms. Also catch Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Sea Lab 2021, all created by the same psychos.
And a dire warning – do not turn on C-SPAN2 on the weekends. Two words – Book TV. If only you had been set up last weekend, you could have watched Robert Kaplan for 3 hours on In Depth. Good stuff. I suck.
Well, I have to tear myself away from The Masters and go running in the park. It’s 80 degrees here! Enjoy to the fullest the black hole that is cable TV.
I can’t tell you the weird joy I get from reading this post. As previously confessed, I don’t have cable. But I house-sit a lot for people who do (because everybody but me has it. The single mother crack whore who can’t afford rice for her kids up the street has cable. I don’t), and I do love the certain fun I feel at being able to catch those shows or the movie re-runs I never can see without it. I watch hours of “Law and Order” and learn things about the marriage Brad and Jen from the E! Channel that only they their loved ones should know. And I am happy.
This is why I will not allow myself to have cable.
“they AND their loved ones.”
Sorry for pulling a Pete Baker.
Oh, Emily. It’s just heaven. I watched the last 20 minutes of Groundhog Day. I watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and wept a little tear at the father-son reunion. I watched David Duchovny on Inside the Actor’s Studio. It’s glorious.
The mania will pass and I will be back to normal. But for now? Gimme all the crap!!!
Jay –
Your tips are awesome. I will take them under advisement. :)
Ah, Space Ghost…that reminds me just how much I miss Cartoon Planet.
Hey.. I make one* typo, one* time, and I’m never allowed to forget it.. sheesh..
[* alright, maybe more than one]
So I take it bookblogging will be on hiatus for the next few days?
I haven’t had cable since I moved last month. Not such a bad thing, really – I’ve been reading more, and doing all my TV viewing via Netflix… The only thing I miss is my cable modem, but I’ve been working 70 hrs/week and can use my office connection.
Independent George:
It’s so weird – people seem to generally think that one cannot be a TV watcher as well as a book addict at the same time. People tout “TV TURNOFF WEEK” as though you OBVIOUSLY aren’t reading books if you’re also watching a lot of TV. This has never been true for me. I can’t live without reading books and having a TV won’t make any difference in that regard.
I read 4 chapters of Great Expectations yesterday. It’s my second-time through the book and I love it. Makes me laugh out loud.
I’m also reading Miracle at Philadelphia, which already is giving me goosebumps. Love Catherine Drinker-Bowen.
Sheila,
You’re right, of course, that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
I think my perspective is a bit off because I work in tax, and so typically have about 2 hours between coming home from work and sleeping. When I had cable, my reading time was limited to my 1 hour daily commute, and maybe 30 minutes before I going to sleep. Basically, not having the key to my building’s control box allowed me to double my daily reading time.
My views on Greate Expectations have been permanently skewed as a result of the terrible illustrations that accompanied the text we used in high school. In particular, Miss Havisham’s demise is permanently burned into my mind, and not in the intended manner. The picture I remember from the textbook vaguely resembled a giant chipmunk dressed as either Elvis or Liberace, flailing around a Victorian living room. Even our English teacher couldn’t suppress her laughter whenever she opened that page.
Amen, baby. Despite the ungodly amounts of TV that I watch, I still manage to read at least one book a week.
I call this “2004”.
Sheila, don’t forget American Idol on Tuesday & Wednesday…you won’t believe what a twit Paula Abdul is, and how freaking hilarious Simon is. Plus, Bo (one of the contestants) is pretty damn hot.