Alicia posted her planned fall tv schedule, which made me realize how incredibly lame my own tv viewing habits are:
Every night: We usually watch Ninja Warrior during dinner. Because we can both agree on it, and it's guaranteed not to include anything we wouldn't want to see while eating (not true of other shows like Tony Bordain). Plus it's on eleventy-thousand times a week and will fill up the DVR if you don't stay on top of it.
Monday: I Wanna Be a Soap Star. I've already written about what delicious trash this is. I forgot to mention the editing device which I absolutely love: Like all judged reality shows, they maintain suspense by coyly showing only part of the judge deliberations. For instance showing negative comments but not revealing who the judges are talking about. But on this show, after the loser "has been killed off" (yes, that's how they say it on Soap Star) they go back and reveal exactly and clearly the reasoning behind the judges' decision. If the judges disagree, as they did this past week, they'll show several minutes of conversation while they come to a consensus. (It's probably staged, but I still appreciate them explaining so clearly.) It's really, really interesting and I wish all judged reality shows would do it this way.
Tuesday: Nothing good on. I usually watch a movie or more Ninja Warrior.
Wednesday: America's Next Top Model. I can't resist this show no matter how much it goes downhill.
Thursday: Survivor. It had gone way downhill, then got really good again the past couple of seasons. Here's hoping that trend continues.
Friday: Probably a movie.
Weekends: Movies, Gardening By the Yard, and catch up on the week's soap operas. I started watching the week's soaps all in one go because I wasn't finding time to watch them every day during the week. And I find I enjoy them more this way. Mainly, I think, because I'm totally spoiler free, and saving up five episodes means 80% fewer cliffhangers. Plus with 5 hours worth of shows on the DVR (actually 3 1/2 hours without commercials) I feel much freer to fast forward the characters who annoy me. Sometimes the show just flies by!
Also, on Sunday night we usually watch Rick Bayless during dinner.
Looking over my schedule, I realized that I'm not watching any nighttime TV dramas. I can't think of the last nighttime drama I watched. Firefly I guess. I've been thinking for a long time that I should watch Battlestar Galactica on DVD, everyone says it's so terrific.
Thanks for the shoutout! Also, I highly recommend BSG. I think it was Lisa/Bunch of Pants' raving that convinced me to watch it and I ended up buying season 1 b/c it was just that awesome. Season 3 goes a little downhill toward the end, but I loved the finale. and 1 and 2 are just amazing!
With the DVR, we're less tied to watching stuff on the actual day of broadcast. While you're correct that our viewing of actual drama/comedy series is virtually non-existent, we do watch the Simpsons. Back to the "reality" category, there's also Mythbusters and Iron Chef America. And the new Next Iron Chef is starting up later this month as well.
Alicia: I put Battlestar Galactica in my queue!
Georg: You're right, I forgot about The Simpsons, Mythbusters and Iron Chef America. Of the three of those, I'm probably most interested in Mythbusters. It would be Iron Chef America if Morimoto were ever on.