I’ve been craving TV for awhile. I mostly haven’t missed it since the first few weeks in January, but, every once in awhile, I get a craving for a nice, short beginning-middle-end-type show with some comic relief and cathartic, vicarious blood-letting shoot-em-up action.
I’d heard a lot about the show Alias. And Jennifer Garner was really cute in 13 Going on 30 (which is not exactly the same genre as Alias, but still). So, we rented the first disc of the first season. Wow. Riveting. Am Riveted. RIVETED. But Dick and I quickly learned that we had to stop watching an episode in the middle if we wanted to not have to watch the next episode. (So much for beginning-middle-end).
I like Alias because it stars a strong, intelligent, resourceful woman (I know, those adjectives are redundant, but I wasn’t sure we were all aware of that, even on this blog) who wears awesome (though often a bit slinky) clothes (but dang, it’s only television, and it’s not like I’m gonna run out and buy that dress for myself tomorrow — it probably wouldn’t fit me anyway). And I love her hair! Looks so natural and yet so … so shiny. And she’s smart. Did I say that already?
Man, am I glad that things have changed in the past 100 years. What would life be like without television? I mean, really! What would I do to stimulate my mind?
Subscribe by email
It’s on my Blockbuster list too. Fun, fun. We are just living the life here with tv for the first time in 3 years or so–DVR’s (TiVo’s) are really fun, and love the Blockbuster online service. It’s just the easiest form of entertainment for a family with young kids after you tuck the kids in bed.
josh and i enjoyed the first season on alias, but it sure went downhill from there. we like 24 or LOST much better. you can rent those too. of course we have to rent everything because we dont have a tv and never plan to have one.
sylwia
We love our DVR and our blockbuster online membership (try only watching ONE episode of LOST at a time when you have 3 discs with 6 episodes each), too – they are great “escape” mechanisms. BUT, I feel so much better when the TV hasn’t been on all day or all weekend and I’ve read a book. Guess that’s the answer to the 100 year question? And people had more kids back then, too (sorry for embarassing you, Susan).
I’ve never seen Alias but we love LOST.
I’d probably get a little more attention if 24 didn’t exist! Ha ha–hubby probably won’t read this.
i have to say that, so far, i prefer alias to lost only because (besides the focus on one strong female character), it is not so darn confusing! i want to be entertained, and, have SOME unanswered questions, but Lost got too convoluted/confusing for little ‘ole me.
um, Sylwia, so, you rent the dvd and then stare at it? or do you mean you use your computer monitor as a TV? or, you rent a TV every time you also rent a dvd? see, i get confused really easily.
Shannon, we don’t own a TV either, and don’t plan to. We have an extensive DVD collection. We have a very nice computer moniter, we can watch movies on that, or on my laptop, or on our portable DVD player.
Where would we be without TV? The library! There was a story in the news (et all my news on the internet
) yesterday about a bookseller who was burning books he couldn’t sell, to demonstrate the waste of the mind that goes on when people reject literature for TV.
Here’s what I have against TV. Some book exists to entertain, yes, and there are some rather mind-numbing books (I just finished reading a ridiculous romance novel last night!). But even if you read a Harlequin romance, you are using your brain. This stupid book I finished last night was one my MIL sent me with Max’s birthday present, and I got a kick out of how stupid it was, it made me think of all the ways I would have written it so much better! Which got me thinking about story ideas, and chracter sketches and such.
Before Brad and I abolished the TV, I would come home from work and turn on the TV and just watch Dharma and Greg re-runs. They allowed me to unwind, but does it really take 5 hours of re-runs to unwind every night? The first hour would have done it, but once it’s on it’s on, it can’t be turned off. Next thing I knew it would be 10 PM and all I had to show for it was an idea for my next haircut.
I don’t think every single thing we do has to be socially redeeming or educational. Everyone needs to be able to just stare at something and drool every once in awhile. But the majority of TV watching goes way beyond that.
In fact, we may have our DVD collection, but we hardly ever watch anything. Our preferred method of brain-rottage is MMORPG gaming (we play Lineage 2 online). When we do throw in a video it’s something for the kids. Mostly I read and write.
I think DVDs of TV shows are great though, and the advent of DVRs, they allow people to watch a particular program they’re interested in without getting sucked into what’s coming up after the commercial break.
yes shannon we watch movies on computer monitors. we have 2 laptop computers. one josh got for “free’ form his school. the other one my father bought for my son. he thinks his grandchildren need computers. he also bought us a 20 inch monitor to attach to the laptop so we can watch movies.
so you can see we did not spent any of your tax dollars on these luxuries:))))
Sylwia,
i wasn’t referring to taxes or anything. i meant to poke (gently) about the apparent discrepancy between your virtuous “of course we have to rent everything because we dont have a tv and never plan to have one” and your renting of TV shows.
that is, existentially (or some other long philosophical word, i am not a philosopher), in using a computer monitor to watch tv shows, i believe it is somehow a “TV” for the duration of that use. i.e. it’s function determines what it is.
well, the virtues of TV could be another topic for discussion. there is a lot more to tv than the 3 or 4 shows that i have rented in the last 4 years.
i didn’t mean that I rent everything that is on tv, i meant that anything I watch, i rent because i dont own a tv
i dont like tv for several reasons, one- it’s a waste of time, two-it has commercials, three-there isnt very much entertainting and wholesome on it, four-i don’t like backgroud noise in my house, five-i dont want my kids to ever have the option to turnt the tv on because they need to read and play outside. there is only so much time left after school and tv is probably the worst way to spend it.
my computer of course is password protected so the kids can’t get on it without my permission and supervision.
which bring me to my last point. not having tv has elimilated any fights over when or who or for how long tv will be watched. it doesn’t exist!
it only exists when the kids are in bed and josh and i watch some entertainment together.
or it exists when josh and i nap, and the kids watch and stay quiet.
hurray for computers!
sylwia