I intend, each year, to take inventory of my Television Watching Time Wasting. Each year I forget. This year I'm determined not to forget.
Lost
The new season hasn't begun. That's OK though. I haven't cared much about what's happening for at least two seasons. The Island has become a TARDIS, Locke is an analog for God and the Devil, and I lost interest. The TiVo will still record it when the new season starts, and I'll watch it. I'll be complaining the whole time though.
Heroes
Why? Why am I waisting my time with this? The show started with an interesting premise in Season 1. Then it got dumb. And then dumber. And then dumberer. Make the pain stop.
Dexter
I came to this show late. I didn't watch it slowly change over four years. Instead I've watched it from the Beginning to Now over a few months. Some of the conceits used to justify Dexter not getting caught have worn thin quickly but overall the show remains enjoyable. Sadly this season has yet to have a "pardon my tits" moment.
Weeds
As with Dexter the premise of the show has worn dangerously thin. The show is fading but it's still freequently good for chuckles. I am looking forward to the new season scheduled for June 2010. That's right. June. 2010. Eight fricken months away.
24
Why am I wasting my time with this? Why? WHY? Seven seasons so far. Another starting in January. How many bad days can this Jack Bauer guy possibly have? And why am I still watching? WHY?
Caprica
The series has not yet started. I am cautiously hopeful.
Doctor Who (2005)
Cute and harmless science fiction. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. It doesn't take itself too seriously and there is a surprising lack of Big Helmets, Bullet Proof Vests, and Guns. I am looking forward to the new season and seeing what the new Doctor is like.
Torchwood
Doctor Who, but ostensibly with more adult themes. It's entertaining. If more shows up on the TiVo I'll watch it, but it won't make me sad if it's gone forever. Incidentally it got much better once the writers got over their obsession with "LOOK! OUR PROTAGONIST IS GAY! DID YOU NOTICE? GAY!"
Fringe
I have been hovering over "Cancel Season Pass" since the first episode. Why I haven't managed to actually bonk on the OK button is a mystery to me. This season (Season 2) seems to be marginally less absolutely terrible than the first season the same way that shoving needles into your eye is less terrible than shoving an ice pick into your eye.
Lie To Me
"Tim Roth? Huh. This might not suck." I was wrong, yet I still waste time with it. I am a glutton for punishment.
Mad Men
It took some time to get into this program. It's well written, well produced, well acted, etc. The pace is slow, many of the characters are not particularly interesting, et cetera. The Cons make it really hard to see the Pros. One thing I DO like about it is that characters leave without getting killed. They get new jobs, they have lives that take them elsewhere. This season just concluded with a (marginal) cliff-hanger. I'll be watching when the next season starts.
The Prisoner (2009)
"Nooooooo! ... Wait. Ian McKellen? Jim Caviezel? Could perhaps not suck." And? It kinda didn't suck. Sort of. It's unfair to compare it to the 1960s classic The Prisoner. This is an entirely different program that just happens to share a name and some concepts, but it's its own program. The Prisoner (2009) just never started. I never cared who No. 6 is, or why he's in The Village, or why he wants to escape. In fact I never particularly cared about any of the characters. This minisereies had potential that it squandered and ultimately became 6 hours of my life that I will never get back.
V (2009)
I don't know what I expected from this show. It's a re-tread of a mediocre set of mini-series and an absolutely terrible regular series from the 1980s. I suppose I was hoping they'd pull off another Battlestar Galactica and take some mid-grade source material and turn it into something much better. After three episodes, though, I really have little hope. I will not be surprised when it is canceled mid-season. The actress portraying Anna (Morena Baccarin) would make a fantastic Servalain should Blake's Seven ever be updated.
30 Rock
Entertaining comedy fluff. It's a sitcom but at least it doesn't take place in a middle-class suburban living room. I look forward to each week's newest installment.
Family Guy
The same joke. Week after week. Over and over. And yet I still watch it. Clearly I am dead on the inside. I refuse to watch American Dad or The Cleveland Show though. A man must have limits.
The IT Crowd
A sitcom for nerds. It consistently makes me laugh, and I'm pleased that the writers/producers/set dressers know enough of nerd culture to get small touches right. There are EFF and FSM stickers on the back wall of the set and an entire episode was dedicated to the Internet being in a black box with a red blinky light. Good times.
The Simpsons
After 20-something years it seems like it would be a sin against nature to not be watching this venerable institution. So, you know ... Yay habit.
South Park
Like The Simpsons ... Habit. South Park does manage to be "edgier" (a polite way of saying "offensive to everyone") than most other shows. I hold the theory that Matt and Trey, the writers/creators, are trying to get fired.
Robot Chicken
Stupid fun. I look forward to new shows.
The Office (US)
In its first season The Office (US) struggled to find its own voice distinct from the fantastic original The Office (UK). It HAS found its own voice, and it's been a fun show. Like Weeds and Dexter, though, it is wearing thin. The barrel is beginning to be dangerously over-scraped.
The Daily Show / The Colbert Report
What's there to say about these that hasn't been said before? I'll keep watching as long as they're on.
Lucy, Daughter of the Devil
I really enjoyed this short series of cartoons. If it ever comes back I'll watch it.
The Demetri Martin Show
I am conflicted. Demetri Martin lives in a land somewhere between self-consciously hip & funny, and self-consciously as funny as a root canal. If this program restarts I may watch or may viceously mash the Cancel! button.
Hell's Kitchen / The F Word / Kitchen Nightmares
Gordon Ramsey is a guilty pleasure. These shows are trash and I should not waste my time with them, yet it's cathartic to watch Ramsey yell the things you haven't had the courage to yell at co-workers.
Mythbusters
The best of the "let's blow shit up" programs, but that bar is very low. This hour-long show could easily fit into a half-hour slot if they'd cut out all of the terrible "after the break!" "before the break!" "Tonight we're going to...!" "Tonight we're working on...!" interstitials and the terrible terribly written and acted interludes. Just tell us what we're testing, show us the build sequence, and then let's blow stuff up.
Penn & Teller's Bullshit
Penn & Teller's schtick wears thin quickly. Their level of research and reporting of their selected subjects is abysmal. Still - it's better than most investigative journalism you see out in the world. I'll be watching when the next season starts.
NOVA
NOVA is, you know, NOVA. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but still one of the best documentary programs out there.
History Detectives
Good for a slow night at home. With hot cider and rum. That's about it.
Time Team (US/UK)
The UK version of this show ALMOST makes archaeology look exciting. There's Tony Robinson running about excitedly, and saying things very enthusiastically, and backhoes digging through layers of stuff while the historians say "that's just Renaissance. Keep digging." A fun show that is, sadly, not on much any longer. The US version of this show is terrible. Avoid it.
Scrapheap Challenge
Stupid fun. The show has changed a lot since its early seasons though. I miss those early seasons. The early 2000s were also the era of robotic-fighting shows (Battlebots, Robot Wars, etc). I miss that stuff.
Californication
After two episodes (I'm starting at the beginning) this seems like an entertaining show. Who knew that David Duchovni was actually doing something in between his engagements being wooden and dull on The X-Files?
I feel like I'd be being neglectful if I didn't mention some shows I've also recently watched but which are no longer commonly available.
Dead Like Me
This one is pretty old in the big scheme of things. I still enjoy it though, and it sometimes makes a return to the "something to watch" list. There was recently a Dead Like Me movie made and broadcast. It was terrible. I hope everyone involved with it is ashamed of themselves.
Rome
An entertaining two-season series. Worth watching.
The Wire
It has just completed its fifth season. It took some time for me to develop an interest in the show. The first several episodes of Season 1 were a lot of introductions, laying foundation, exposition, etc. Toward the end of the season it grew on me though. I'm very much enjoying it as I move into season 2.
I find it really surprising and just a bit disappointing that the best programming is coming from HBO and Showtime. Once-upon-a-time these network were just for reruns of Beastmaster and original programming came from the other networks (though at this point in history MTV also plaid actual music videos).