Tuesday, December 30, 2008

One of television’s great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs

I like TV. I especially like TV when it comes in series form in a dvd box.

We're ten episodes into the second season of the West Wing. I think we've seen six episodes today. This is what passes for vacation for me, and I absolutely adore it.

However, I couldn't stomach another episode today. Instead, we turned to comedian Jeff Dunham's Comedy Central special that we recorded while we were away at my parents' place. Why? Because I needed the break, I needed comedy instead of intense drama, and I needed to disconnect for a while.

Because there is TV and there is TV. There is stuff that I can watch without any kind of emotional attachment besides the smile on my face, and then there's stuff that I can't watch without getting tears in my eyes when they pluck at the right (or wrong) emotional strings. West Wing falls into the latter category, as does Six Feet Under, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and a few others.

I'm not saying I dislike it. Not at all. I'm just saying that sometimes, a smile is the best thing there is.

(and did it work? Yeah, kind of, though Dunham isn't as funny as I would have liked...)

4 comments:

mistlur said...

i don't think i watched anything serious for two weeks after finishing the last series of the shield. it's common, it's normal, it's... oh my god!! you're common and normal?? i didn't see that one coming. ;)

norier - nor a man, nor a woman. just a norier. such as pat, from saturday night live.

beardonaut said...

Season 7 of The Shield should be out this spring. Then I need to watch it all again.

EGE said...

Ooh ooh ooh! I'm so jealous you're watching West Wing for the first time (or isn't it? doesn't matter). Two things:

1. Promise me you won't watch past Season Four. That's when the writer (Aaron Sorkin) left and it all went to hell. And then promise me that when you ignore my advice and watch it anyway (because I'm the only one in the universe who kept this promise), you'll report back here about how right I was.

2. If you like West Wing and Studio 60 and comedy, then you should get Sports Night! Aaron Sorkin wrote it, too!

(In another lifetime, me & Aaron Sorkin are going to live together on a desert island with reams and reams of paper and he is going to write just for me and I am going to pay him in impure acts.)

beardonaut said...

It is the first time.

1. No promise, except that I will report how right you were. Others have already informed me of these facts.

2. I know, and I probably won't. It has a laugh-track, which just ruins it for me, plus I have a boatload of other shows waiting in my shelf.

(sounds like a good lifetime)