Weekend Rewind

At this point, I am like a political blogger not watching debates. I am a restaurant reviewer who has been making his own dinner, I am a gardener who put a sport court in the backyard, I am an auto racing writer on a bike ride.

I am just not watching any scripted TV right now. A lot of it can be blamed on the baseball playoffs and the NFL/College Football season. I am sure some of it can be attributed to age – I used to be able to stay up and watch TV until 2 AM, I can’t even come close to that anymore. Some of it is due to just general responsibility as some kids’ dad and some lady’s husband. Turns out clothes don’t wash themselves nor do houses clean themselves nor do lunches get made magically. Although growing up, I could have sworn that all the above was true.

But here is the real reason….is there anything compelling on TV right now? Is there a water cooler show that has to be watched in real-time, or at least that night?

There is only one in my world – The Office. It gets discussed, broken-down, quoted, re-quoted, and misquoted over and over again beginning Friday morning. I went to a party Saturday night and I think I talked about it for an hour. 30 Rock comes close, its fun to talk about that show too, but the urgency isn’t there.

What else is there? Heroes? Do people get all excited to talk about it? Is there a buzz around this show such that every move is documented in the USA Today and online news services the next day? Nope. There are really only a couple of these shows besides the aforementioned workplace situation comedy:

-Dancing with the Stars (reality, no thank you)

-American Idol (ditto, and not on TV yet)

-Lost (please come back soon!)

-24 (lost its way last year, but ye shall have faith)

I only watch the last two, and right now I cannot wait to start breaking down Jack Bauer and finding out what unbelievable, unfathomable, and utterly improbable scene is coming next. Same for Lost – you know if you miss it on Wednesday night you better stay off the internet until you do. USA Today usually leads with Lost information like its real news.

Anyway, all I am trying to say is that I still plan to knock out my current rotation of seven comedies and nine dramas – its just that none of them make me want to come home, put the kids to bed, turn off the computer, and sit down and watch TV.

Here is what I did see this weekend:
-'Til Death' - Haven't stayed awake through an episode yet. Didn't even make it to the second commercial break this week.
-'Curb Your Enthusiam' - Good as usual, always laugh out loud funny, always uncomfortable. I will miss this show when its gone, but I think at this point it has run its course.
-'Mad Men' - I am about 4 shows behind right now (anyone can catch up on AMC On-Demand). I really, really like this show. As I have said before - very stylish, well written, well acted, very interesting. Nothing ever happens really, but this week once Don Draper got busy with what I believe is his first Jewish sexual conquest, he subsequently began to open up to her about his childhood and get in touch with his feelings for the first time. Surprise, Surprise...