There’s a subject line I never thought I’d type. For a long time there wasn’t much on TV that we watched. Usually just a handful of programs. This last season has been one of our busiest. Many of the shows we started watching to see if they would be any good, ended up canceled (Nightstalker, Threshold) while we still have many more that we are watching. I would say that a very large chunk of shows that we now watch were discovered in hindsight. We let everyone else suffer through the crap and wait to see what seems to consistently rise to the top. Eventually there are always certain shows that we can’t seem to escape. Everywhere we turn, we hear or read constant praise. When this happens and we finally decide that we must check out this show that everyone’s raving about, we will usually download or Netflix all the previous episodes, get caught up and then start recording new episodes as they air. This is how 24, Lost, House, Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica and possibly a few other shows came to be in our regular watching schedule (if you want to get technical, I think we actually caught up with BSG when they re-ran all of season 1 before season 2 began).
Our latest addition is Arrested Development. As with most of the other shows, I had been subtly inundated like Chinese water torture with references to how great this show was. I was always reading about how, despite its greatness, it was on the verge of cancellation because television can’t possibly let something good and original survive. Only the most cookie-cutter, bland, lowest denominator pablum was fit for our airwaves! When I heard it was canceled, I decided to finally give in and check it out because now I knew there was a finite quantity, and therefore I wouldn’t be investing myself into another indefinite television relationship (the small irony of that being now that I’m watching it, there are rumors that some other networks may pick it up).
I gotta say, I think it’s worthy of every nugget of praise that has ever been lodged into my brain. Very original and hilarious.
A few other grains of sand which have settled in my oyster hoping to irritate their way to making pearls are Scrubs and Deadwood.
With Deadwood, we don’t get HBO, so we have no choice but to download or wait for DVDs. Catching up and watching live isn’t really an option. We’ll see if Scrubs is persistent enough to break my resolve. Usually, once I’m aware of a program’s presence in my psyche, it’s only a matter of time before I give it a go. We shall see.
23
Jan
2006
9:02
So on the “Arrested Development” subject, I was reading this post, which talks about a Fox executive’s comments on the likelihood of not cancelling the show, and it seems it all hinges on the performance of the remaining 4 episodes – which they’re airing in a block, against the Olympics opening ceremonies.
See, when all that shit went down with Firefly and I was as much on the conspiracy bandwagon as anyone, I always thought I was maybe being just a leeetle paranoid. That they were doing it thoughtlessly, not consciously. Or something. But this? Dude. This is malice aforethought.
Scrubs rocks. I have been a longtime fan of the series and think it is probably the funniest thing on the regular networks at the moment. If y’all need a quick fix, I have the first 2 seasons on DVD. Looking forward to the third in a few months.
I read in the paper this morning that the future of Scrubs hangs in the balance. It was an article about the end of my beloved West Wing (*sob*), and among the list of other shows that might get cancelled was Scrubs. Which is a shame. I don’t follow it religiously, but I do think it’s hilarious.
I would not worry about AD, rumor has it that showtime and a couple of the other networks are already in line to buy the show. The problem is its not funny in the traditional funny way, there is no canned laughter and people are sheep, the do not know if its funny or not untill there is the canned laugh to follow. That being said its clear fox is trying to shoot itself in the foot by putting it up agasint the olympics, even Amazing race is delaying shows untill after the closing events. I am worried about scrubs, i would hate to see JD and Elliot not hook up one last time and think that Dr Cox has to go back to supporting roles in movies. I was hoping that with the movie out that firefly might find its way back on the air, maybe, but not yet. I agree about Deadwood, its so good its hard to not watch an episode if you have not see the previous ones. You should also check out Canivale from HBO, really good, very mystical based. So far no new seasons and the really left it unresolved.