on with the show this is it

Running On
Since this is my first unprovoked entry (and it's been sitting here as a draft for more than a month) I want to make a few points...

1. I watch what can only be described as a LOT of television. During the beginnings of each TV season I set all three of my VCRs every day (for at least the first month) and there's still stuff I would have like to have taped that I don't. Even right now (back then), in the middle of the summer, I find enough stuff on TV to require two VCRs on most nights. I'm not going to get into what I like on TV. That will be discussed much, much further detail in future postings.

2. I think I'm in love with Zap2It.com's TVGal Amy Amatangelo. I always knew there were girls (ahem, women) out there who like TV as much as I do. It's just hard to find them since if you like TV as much as I do you stay home a lot. There's a lot of TV to watch. And she likes most of the same things I do. We have slightly different prime time tastes (she likes Alias and I don't - at all, positively gushes over Arrested Development which I like but not quite as much and thinks 24 is really great tv while I think it's about time Kiefer Sutherland did something again but this show is too hard to follow - especially when I make a VCR mistake and miss an episode) but that's to be expected. First it's her job, she has to watch critically, I get to watch for pure enjoyment. Second she gets to watch everything (in most cases before it comes out) and I have to make (sometimes very hard) choices. But we agree on a lot of things. Our shared belief that there's no such thing as too much TV, that the best made-for-tv movies are on ABC Family and a mutual love for 90210 (and almost everything Aaron Spelling touches) that is akin to a shared moment.

3. Shows I've been (or at least was) dying to see week-to-week this summer

The Days - I don't know what it is about this show but it's got me hooked. I think it's a bit "My So-Called Life" (read: smart teen angst mixed with interesting parent stories as well) meets something like, say, "Popular" (but without the weird story lines). But now that summer is over, I've heard this show has about zero chance of getting renewed for the new season. This sucks. I'm not happy (a la "Jorge").

Nip/Tuck - So what if this show is going off the rails like a crazy train (speaking of which, I heard a unique take on this song on Emerson College's radio station the other morning. Female, mostly acoustic-ish. Really different. But I digress...). This show is totally great. From Famke Janssen and Natasha Richardson, the guest stars are great. The (recognizable) plastic surgery patient guest stars have all been nearly inspired choices. This show is fantastic. A little too much blood but at least they distract you with a well-chosen musical selection.

Rescue Me - Another FX show gone good. I always forget how good Dennis Leary is and then I see him again. The fire station banter, the spying on his nearly ex-wife, making fun of the "dumb" guy - all serve to make it good but the weird twists and the walking dead are what make it more than just another show. I am getting a little tired of his (dead) cousin's missing finger though.

I'm still watching all of these shows and now many, many more as the new tv season gets under way. I'll be back with more and I'll try make sure I put in at least a few TV picks while I'm at it.

talk talk...and then some

This first one will be mostly to reference the ramblings of my little buddy Josh.

I'll start where he started and then move on...

1. I'm not sure why this Uncle Kracker development comes as a surprise to the French Cheese but, as I'm sure several other people are aware (maybe not too many but still...), Mr. Kracker has been a VH-1 staple for a quite a while now (since that sappy love song that wasn't a love song but instead was all about adultery). Perhaps you recall the ubiquitous "Drift Away" cover. Now I've been a fan of the Dobie Gray classic for ages (I bought a compilation disc just because that song was on it) and the only thing that saved the former Kid Rock DJ's version is that he recruited Mr. Gray to tag along on the remake. Still it wasn't the original. Like I said, I'm not surprised by this "development."

2. WNBA? Okay, I admit I can get behind anything that's entirely populated by women but it'd be nice if they showed a few of them off a little. Can anyone say Playboy spread? The women of Enron did well enough and they're gonna have Olympians in the next issue so why not some of those WNBA ladies? On a separate tangent, did anyone see Charisma Carpenter a couple of months ago? You may remember her from "Buffy" and then "Angel" but that doesn't make it any less WOW! Moving on...

3. If you don't like TBDSS, and I don't really, don't watch it. Although I think John Salley's pretty funny (even on the apparently short-lived NBC sitcom "Come to Papa" - he was the mailman) but honestly sports shows don't do it for me. If I were going to watch one (and this doesn't happen too often) I'd pick "Cold Pizza" because somehow this show has become THE showcase for upcoming emo artists. Dashboard Confessional played one morning a while back and I ran out and bought the cd. Back to the point though, the words "bring back Tom Arnold" should never be uttered. How many more "jokes" about how painful it was to be married to Roseanne Barr do I have to hear? Oh yeah, and how do you not know who Michael Rappaport is? I thought you modeled yourself after his "Eraserhead" character. Seriously, his little soliloquoy on supermodels in "Beautiful Girls" is timeless. Nearly poetry. And he made "Boston Public" good again (before it finally got axed last season). There's more I could say since I really like the guy as an actor but I'll leave it off there.

4. I saw a guy with a bumper sticker today that said "I support two teams. The Red Sox and whichever team beats the Yankees." I'm gonna let Pazzy and Meo field this one.

keep jabberin' Nason, I'm still here.

jason

P.S. This is fun. I've got so much more to "give."