What TV is to me.

I am a television junkie.

I am sad to admit it but, there’s no denying the fact that I am certainly addicted to the boob tube. I have a strong sense of why my life has developed that way, it has a lot to do with how I was raised but that’s a story for another day.

In the interim, what I had wanted to talk about today is the weirdness of TV now. I find little on regular broadcast TV which compels me to watch it. This is something you would imagine strange for an admitted TV junkie but, it’s true. Also, I realize the cable networks have gotten infinitely smarter when it comes to programming these days. Basic cable has a lot of terrific programming - shows which I am surprised haven’t made their way to regular (read broadcast) TV.

The thing that strikes me about the cable networks is how they program their shows and season to complement rather than compete with the seasons of broadcast TV.

Case in point, September is upon us and just as the new cars come out every September so too it is time for a new round of TV shows on broadcast television. Simultaneously, several programs I find myself greatly enjoying and becoming both a big fan and regular watcher off, are wrapping up their season just in time for the new broadcast season.

 What shows?

Monk, The Closer, The 4400 and Eureka are all winding down or have just finished original programming until this coming January. That’s okay since other faves (or even newly discovered shows) will be starting up in the coming weeks.

Battlestar Galactica will be getting a bit of a late start (October) and Lost will have a bit of a mini season but, Nip/Tuck which FX has been rerunning episodes in blocks will be starting next week. I don’t know what my selection of shows says about my personal tastes...

This is another unfinished draft from way back in August of 2006 and it’s funny to look back at it only to see what I was watching at the time.

Interesting to me are the series I religiously watched and the ones where I lost interest somewhere along the path.

Monk was always good and was one of those things I would catch when I saw it on. It still is in regular rotation of reruns these days but I don’t find myself watching it.

The Closer is simply one of the best series to come along in the last few decades and I cannot say enough good things about it or its successor Major Crimes. I never saw each and every episode of The Closer until the last year where, locked in like everyone else during the pandemic it happened that one of the local cable channels decided to broadcast the series in order daily (two episodes per day) which allowed me to watch the entire series and then they wound up doing the same with Major Crimes so I was able to watch the entire series in order as well.

If you haven’t seen either, watch them, they really won’t disappoint.

The 4400 really went off the rails. It started out well but lost its way. Oddly enough it’s about to be rebooted on the CW but, it’s more than likely to fail rather than succeed if the casting is any indication (story is taking a back seat to an agenda). The 4400 started off well enough but it just got to be tedious because it became clear that the producers had no endgame in mind.

Eureka is now on Netflix (or maybe Prime) and I keep meaning to make my way through the whole series. It’s a fun concept and everything but somewhere along the way I lost interest.

Battlestar Galactica was great right up until the point they had the Final Five Cylons being lead characters in the series. There was something really cheap about that. The series had moments after that but it never really was as edgy or as good as it had started out. There were some great moments in particular when Michelle Forbes was added to the series briefly.

I have to say though having All Along The Watchtower play during the reveal was probably a great way of signalling that the series was in the process of jumping the shark.

LOST is, was and always will be LOST. One of the great series in TV history. It wasn’t without bumps and bruises of its own but nonetheless it was a series that kept you involved if you were a fan of the show all the way up to the end. The end may have left something to be desired but even so, I can say that LOST was unique and wonderful.

I remember happening upon the first episode when it was broadcast on a Wednesday night and then rewatching it when they broadcast the first two episodes Saturday because it was just that trippy. I was hooked and I was happy too. It was appointment TV for me and honestly it bought me joy. I mean I looked forward to it and I was happy watching it.

Nip/Tuck was just an evil show... it featured damaged people the way Dexter did but you were compelled to watch it because of that very fact.

I hope something else like LOST comes along soon.