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tedium and television
September 16, 2008
Maybe it�s all the dark, rainy days we�ve had this month, but I feel like my brain is broken. I can�t seem to manage to string two coherent thoughts together to put into a post.
Or maybe it�s just a lack of things about which to write. I mean interesting things. I do things, of course�it�s not like I�ve been sitting in a closet with the light off. But it�s stuff like getting my oil and air filter changed, or scrubbing the bathroom, or backing up all my photo files to my new 8-gig memory stick (I basically just described last Sunday). And it�s all so�small and dull. An itemized list of what I�ve been up to.
Bitching about work gets old, too. Hell, just thinking about that place is demoralizing enough, without writing about it, too. The axe fell yet again this week, and more good friends lost the toss. It�s so frightening and depressing. It�s a horrible job, and a horrible place, but the thought of losing my income is so scary it makes my heart pound.
So maybe I�ll throw in a couple of paragraphs on my TV habits to stretch this thing out:
Well, it�s official. I like �True Blood�. Don�t know if I love it, but I�m finding it entertaining, in a �roll with it� kind of way. I usually only get hooked on scripted drama when there is a lot going on to engage me, like set design, cinematography, and superior writing and acting. And I�m not saying TB is a bad show when I say it isn�t the same kind of show as �The Sopranos� or �Mad Men� or even �John From Cincinnati�. It�s more a matter of Brilliant vs. Damn Good. �Mad Men� is brilliant, but �True Blood� is damn good. And as much as I loved JFC, �True Blood� is much easier to follow. I think it�s my new show that I don�t have to spend a lot of time analyzing and can just sit back and enjoy.
Just as MM is my �analyze the fuck out of it� show. The more I see, the more I suspect that this is the best one-hour drama that has ever been on commercial television. This week�s episode, �A Night to Remember�, made me smile, smirk, laugh, gasp, cry, cheer, and shake my fist. Sometimes all at the same time. And it�s such a beautiful show look at that I think I could even watch it every week without the sound on and it would still be my favorite.
But when it comes to sitcoms, the past seems to be my best option for quality entertainment. So I added the second season of �The Odd Couple� to my DVD collection over the weekend. (I�m pretty sure I�ll eventually have the entire series.) Not every episode is an absolute winner, but the adult-oriented humor (adult as in �for grown-ups�, not adult as in �smutty�.) and pop-culture references of the series still hold up beautifully for me. And season two has a number of my favorites, including the �Sleepwalker�, �Security Arms�, and �A Grave for Felix�. Spouse and I have a lot of TOC dialogue in our private language, and I couldn�t count the number of times we�ve referenced lines from those three eps over the years.
Plus, there�s an episode with one of Tony�s Grandpa Unger performances, and which were always delightful and amazing.
The downside? No extras. ZIP. Not even subtitles. Not that season one had such great ones, but I�m spoiled. I�ve gotten used to commentaries and featurettes and interviews on my DVDs. This felt so�well, odd, dammit.
Can�t complain, I guess. I mean�you got Tony and Jack up there knocking them dead�what else do you really need?
And if you get bored with the discs, you can always play �Count the Continuity Errors�. This is a Gary Marshall production, so there are always plenty of them to mark on your scorecard.
Reading: "Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner. The sequel to "Good in Bed".
Beading: no
Surfing: TwoP "Mad Men" Forums.
Listening: Re-stocked Mr. Pilkington over the weekend, so I've been enjoying Duffy, Don McLean, and some vintage C&W (Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton).
At Random: click here
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