The Ramblings of a TV Addict

My dad always had the latest and greatest newfangled inventions when I was a kid. So, we always had a nice TV; hence, my TV addiction. I love to watch TV and yes it gets in the way of things like sleep, housecleaning and even crafting. YIKES! Although since the invention of the DVR, digital video recorder, I have it more under control. My husband hooked me up with a DVR with our cable company for Christmas a couple years ago. I just love it. I basically only watch what I want to now. No channel surging for me. I set it up to record all my favorite shows. Now this has created another kind of bad habit. When the DVR starts to get full... I delete other people's shows. I'm not completely mean... I do ask... sometimes... and it was MY Christmas present... I do have trouble sharing DVR space sometimes.

I really like recording shows that the kids and I can watch together. Being teenagers they are able to watch shows I would actually enjoy rather than pretend to enjoy when they were little. We really like "Last Comic Standing" right now. There are some jokes SO funny that the kids and I will say just the lead in to the joke and we all roll with laughter. We also like "The Big Bang Theory." This is an overlooked show that we find funny and sort of identify with at times. It's about a group of Genius Nerds, who are trying to fit in with the world. I sure hope it gets picked up for another season, but I suspect the humor might just go over some people's heads. Not to say that any of us are Genius Nerds, but all our brains together might make up one genius nerd brain. OK it's fun to pretend.

I really like reality shows that show how everyday life is for a person or persons in a particular situation. Take "Ice Road Truckers" for instance... I really find that whole idea fascinating. That once the water is frozen up in the Arctic trucks start hauling in supplies the one wouldn't normally haul in or could haul in cost effectively. It's very dangerous as they could fall through the ice at any time and then there are things like freezing to death or being eaten by a polar bear. I also like the "Biggest Catch"... a show about crab fishermen fishing for crab off of the coast of Alaska. Again very dangerous, but very lucrative. These guys work SO hard for a few months, but it sounds like they make a good enough salary to live on it for the whole year. Another cold strenuous job. Then the captain of one of the ships was describing the ships as being on the verge of sinking at all times. I guess the salt water they pipe in to keep the crabs alive eats away at all the pipes from the inside out. So, a pipe that looks great on the outside could be on the verge of bursting from the inside. So, the dangers are one could fall off the ship, get crushed by a crab trap, or the ship could just sink. These shows never bore me!

I also like watching shows that have families with unusual circumstances. We have the Gosslin's with 2 sets of multiples. The Duggars, who are expecting their 18th child soon. The Roloffs, who are married dwarfs with 4 children one being a dwarf. We have the Miami Ink and LA Ink "families", who are making the world a better place one tattoo at a time. I just can't get enough of this kind of TV.

I hate shows like American Idol, Big Brother, The Bachelor or Bachelortte. The really odd thing is those are the shows a lot of my friends like watching and I just can't get into them. I don't like watching people get humiliated for no good reason. Is there a good reason to be humiliated... how about the burglar, who falls through the ceiling of a store while trying to steal and then can't figure out how to get out of the store. All of this being caught on tape. Don't mind that so much.

My first love though is old movies! I used to watch the AMC (American Movie Classics) channel. All movies no commericals... just loved it. They changed formats and have commericals now. I don't watch them anymore and have moved to TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Still no commericals. The latest old movie I watched was "Son of Fury" with Errol Flynn. Really enjoyed it and Errol Flynn is such a great actor. What a love about black and white films is the richness of the pictures. Don't get me wrong I love color, but the B&W distracts less from the story and in a way it makes the pictures more deeper in detail. I also like the ability to leave a lot to one's imagination in the creation of a story. Now a days they show you everything... blood, guts, sex when really we don't have to see it all to know what's going on in a story. Again it can be distracting from what's really great the acting. I also love catching great actors in their first bit parts. You see them all young and acting their hearts out for a split second they not knowing they'd go on to be rich celebrated actors later down the line.

So, am I entering a TV 12 step program... not any where in the near future. Like most addicts I don't think I have a problem.