Comments on: What are you watching?

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:37:42 +0000

As a fan of “who-done-its” I spend my summer with Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson and The Closer on TNT. I’m a fan of the Law and Order franchise and don’t miss Cold Case on Sunday nights. Starting to get into Without a Trace as well. However during the summer months all the latter are repeats. Fresh episodes of The Closer make for an entertaining few weeks as we anticipate the new fall season.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:02:12 +0000

Kell,

I really gave Studio 60 a try, but I just didn’t like the characters. I guess I thought it was going to be a comedy, but it wasn’t. To me, these characters just weren’t fun to watch. I don’t know why. It seemed pretentious to me. I really like Bradley Whitford, Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet, but they just never clicked for me.

I’ve watched the BBC version of The Office. My friend thinks its the best show ever written. I just don’t get it. I think Dwight Shrute is a classic character. I can’t wait for him to be on the screen, and Kelly with her sing-song voice and vapid conservations.

Tell me more about what you like. I love to debate tv.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:04:32 +0000

It seems like I’m always hawking this show to people, but if you haven’t checked out the BBC version of The Office, it’s well worth the time.

By: Barb

Barb — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:18:07 +0000

Cindy,
I’m with you regarding things suffering, blood, and gore. I even had a problem with some of the Planet Earth shows on Discovery that Wendi mentioned (you must watch them if you get the chance, and they are even better if you watch them in HD). I never wanted the leopard to catch the gazelle or whatever. Of course, then I was sad because the leopard babies would go hungry. So, I hid my eyes until the hunting part was over and then got back to watching the show. I actually hide my eyes alot with some movies and shows, such as Rome, or the Sopranos, even some of the CSI shows tend to be a little graphic for me. It helps to watch with someone else who can tell me when it’s OK to start watching again.

By: kell

kell — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:39:59 +0000

I seem to be in the minority, but I really liked Studio 60. I’m sad that it’s gone. Any mention of Paddy Chayefsky in a pilot episode wins me completely.

I agree with Barb about Netflix. That’s absolutely the best way to watch several series. I highly recommend Slings and Arrows–it’s a Canadian series that has come to an end, but the three seasons are available on DVD. It’s especially good if you like Shakespeare or live theater. Mark McKinney from Kids in the Hall has a starring role.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:38:34 +0000

You’re right Barb. It’s the type of violence. Rome just seems to have big scenes of gushing blood. They sacrificed a cow or something in one of the first episodes and blood pouring down on someone like a waterfall was enough to turn me away.

I really don’t like shows with a lot of violence, but if it has it, I prefer something quick and non-torturous like a gunshot. Knives and swords really ick me out. I always turn away when Al Swearingen breaks out his knife because one way or another, someone’s throat is going to get slit.

I have a general policy about torture scenes in general. I don’t like anything to suffer. If I’m going to kill a bug, it’s quick, no crawling on its one good leg trying to make it to the tall grass!
So, I don’t watch a lot of shows that show torture and you simply couldn’t pay me to watch those torture-porn movies like Saw or Hostel. I like suspense, but I get no enjoyment seeing someone suffer.

Also, Wendi, I could never get rid of HBO. Give me a rerun of the Sopranos or Six Feet Under any day instead of that plot-less reality shows with the big ba-dum music at critical scenes and people who totally play to the cameras.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 02:28:33 +0000

OK – don’t mean to sound all “holier than thou” and stuff, but I’ve pretty much stopped watching TV over the past couple of weeks. You might say “sure – that’s easy now that there is nothing on”, but I really, truly hope that when the juicy shows start back up I’ll resist the urge to “turn-on and tune-out”, because that’s what I realized I was doing. Life is fast and furious and I feel like I’m going a hundred miles-an-hour most of the time. I’d come home at the end of a grueling day, turn on the tube and veg out for a couple of hours (one of the luxuries of being an empty-nester with a spouse who is never home). To be honest, many days I still come home and veg out – but at least I don’t have the background noise and mind numbing busyness – now it is a choice to deliberately take sometime for myself and just “be” in the moment. Amazing what you will learn about yourself when you are all alone… might just find out that you don’t need Tony – you can be your own best friend!

By: Barb

Barb — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:17:27 +0000

I, too, love Deadwood. The language is a bit jarring at first, but after a while, you sort of listen through all the profanities. I can’t believe you thought Rome was too bloody, but you were OK with the Sopranos? Different kind of bloody, I guess. I like both those shows, too.

This summer I’ve been watching Traveller, about the guy that sets up his friends and blows up a museum in NYC. When it starts back in a couple of weeks, I’ll watch Eureka (on SciFi) – about a bunch of geniuses living in Eureka (of course), who goof around with their gifts when they are not working on super-secret government projects. Not really much of a narrative, but its a fun show (a geeky show, as my 21 year-old niece calls it). I haven’t gotten in to America’s Got Talent on NBC (haven’t had time, yet), but last year’s show was great. You could use the summer to catch up on Desparate Housewives, or Jerico, or Friday Night Lights, or any other show you didn’t get time to watch during the regular season. Or, subscribe to Netflix and catch up on all the movies you wish you had seen – we do a lot of that in the summer.
~ Barb

By: Wendi Thomas

Wendi Thomas — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:47:41 +0000

OK, maybe I watch as some sort of insurance policy that I won’t let myself get so big I need bathers to come wash me – but I like Big Medicine and the show at the Andover Retirement Community for obese people and shows like, “I lost 800 pounds,” and “The Biggest Man in the World.”

Now, when I watched that last show, I did notice that not only had this 1,200 pound man been married, but he had a new girlfriend, even though he couldn’t get out of bed. I do believe firmly that everyone needs love – but how did he manage to get in the love line twice and I haven’t made it through once?

Give some of the reality shows you didn’t watch the first time around a try – I like all the weight loss ones, Biggest Loser, and see if you can find The Planet shows that were on Discovery. They were fascinating.

I miss Weeds too, and the Sopranos and am thinking of cancelling my HBO and Showtime because there’s nothing on there that I watch regularly.