day 4: favorite tv show

You know those people who are always like, "I don't watch TV"? And you read their facebook profiles and under "Favorite TV Shows" they actually write "TV is a waste of time." And those people who are like "TV is crap, I watch movies snoot snoot snoot." Or people are even just kind of indifferent about television, which is fine, but still makes you feel kind of like maybe you're 8 years old again, stressing over whether to use your 1 hour of allotted television time a day for Doug and Step-by-Step or Clarissa Explains It All and Pete and Pete. I was a child of Nickelodeon. What about it.

But about a year ago, as I was frantically catching up on weeks of The Office, Ugly Betty, Gray's Anatomy, America's Next Top Model, The Tudors, etc., I stumbled upon the realization that I like TV. I like it. I do. A lot. TV is not always the crap people chalk it up to be. I mean, sometimes it is crap. There's lots of crap. But there are also a lot of crap movies, making film no better than TV, frankly. Good TV is good, and I like it, and I do not apologize for it.

And because I like TV, I don't think I can choose a cut-and-dry "favorite." I just bought Doug season 1 on DVD because I think it's just about the greatest cartoon series of all time. I follow a lot of shows. I'm really fond of Ugly Betty, even though I haven't watched any of season 6 because we haven't had cable and didn't have the internet for 9 weeks (a story for a rainy day). Since this blog is supposed to be about favorites, however, I'll mention a few.

Okay I admit it. I'm one of the Arrested Development posers who came onto the scene after the show was canceled. In fact, it had been canceled for YEARS. In fact, I only ever saw the credits of the first season while it was actually on TV because I recall it airing around the same time as Seinfeld reruns, which is what I was actually watching. Having that confession out of the way, Arrested Development is absolutely up there on the top of the Favorite TV Show list. C'est hilarious in every single way. I think Gob and Buster are my favorite characters, but the beauty is, you can never really choose a solid favorite because they're all memorable. Highly quotable, this show. I still need to get my parents into it, now that I think about it.

This is how Ames and I spent our Christmas vacation. Praise the heavens for Netflix, you guys. We watched all five seasons in about three weeks, and you'd better believe we'll have cable before the final season starts in February. LOST is the kind of show I knew I wouldn't be able to handle watching week-to-week, simply because I know I would have been frustrated having to wait every week for the next episode. And what would have happened during the writer's strike?!?!?!?!?! Watching it rapid succession has lead to many interesting conversations and will benefit us watching season six because we know everything that has just happened. It's really very engaging. But then-- everybody knows that. And hopefully season six will answer the question that is killing me at this point: why the hell doesn't Richard ever age?

You had better believe that I would own every season of Wishbone if it were available on DVD. And I'm not just posting this for nostalgia's sake (though I'm sure that has something to do with it). The fact is, Wishbone is the primary reason I was an English major. I actually read most of the books featured in each episode. And if I didn't as a child, then I read them in high school and even college (I used Wishbone in a paper about Victorian crime literature, no joke). I am living proof that this television show did exactly what it intended to do. And I had the biggest crush evar on Joe, you guys. David bugged the snot out of me, but I wanted to BE Sam. Oh Sam and her allergy to peanuts.

So basically what it comes down to is this: I have a college degree because I watch TV. Take that.