It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had TV to watch.
I mean, yeah, it’s there as a physical object, but I’ve been pretty busy this summer and I’ve never really been a big fan of just sitting and watching whatever’s on.
Combine that with real, visceral hatred of reality shows and talk shows, and there really isn’t a hell of a lot to see during the summer. I work on my projects, pick up more projects, work on those, and before you know it I’ve filled in all the ‘TV hours’ with other stuff. It’s not even hard.
Time is like money: if you get more of it, you’ll spend that too and in the end have about the same amount left over.
Then fall comes along.
Tuesdays are really bad (three one-hour-long shows that I want to see playing in a two-hour block); Fridays are annoying (a show I want to watch during a time period where I’ve already commited to having people in the house NOT watching TV), and Sundays suddenly suck because they moved Angel on top of Alias (and there’s a picture for you). At least every day isn’t suddenly full with stuff.
But that’s not really what’s bugging me. That’s a total of seven hours a week and really, what’s seven hours a week? I waste more time than that from 9 to 5 on a Monday, just in meetings with Sales.
What’s bugging me is that I’m not used to it. I watched two WB shows last night (and UPN in our area went kerflooey and we couldn’t even tape Buffy let alone watch it) and the entire time I was watching the clock; watching the precious minutes of my evening tick by while I sat on my tuchas and did nothing but … well, nothing.
These are good shows - stuff I enjoy: Buffy is what it is, Angel is something else and equally enjoyable, Firefly is new and fun and v. v. amusing, Gilmore Girls has some of the best character and dialogue writing I’ve ever seen in any medium, Smallville has… well, John Glover and the guy playing Lex Luthor basically save this one from the cut-list, and Alias gives me my espionage fix.
I swear, I avoid having the TV on when good new shows are advertised to be playing — I can’t afford to become interested in any more than I already am.
And even then, I look at the clock and watch the minutes tick by. At least on some shows.
Maybe that’s what I should do — cut out the shows where I find myself watching the clock. Smallville’s out for sure at that point.
Damn shame, too. Lex and his dad are good.
I hope this is Buffy’s last season, I really do. That’s one less show to watch.
