TV, even good intelligent witty TV, makes me stupid. If I want to turn my brain off for a couple days the fastest way is to watch some television. I'm not only stupid when I'm watching the shows, but for a couple hours afterward. So you would think I would turn the TV off and get things done. You would think that I would just avoid watching anything. You would think.... And you'd be wrong.
Cast of White Collar
The problem is that cable channel USA has developed a number of original series that are so fiendishly addictive that I am powerless to their pull. It started with NCIS, my gateway drug into the USA world. I started watching NCIS reruns on USA and then started seeing ads for some of their original programming. The first one we tuned into was White Collar. I've talked about my nearly obsessive addiction to White Collar here. That show lead us to Burn Notice, the series about a burned spy who is working to get himself back into the good graces of his employers. With a great cast and an engaging ongoing story, Burn Notice is intelligent narration and dialogue mixed with explosions and car chases. How could I not be hooked?
Then last year after watching a White Collar episode, Jeff and I stuck around to catch another of USA's originals Psych. This humorous police drama about a fake psychic detective and his partner quickly became my new favorite show. Shawn and Gus are hilarious and the rest of the police force play straight man beautifully. It's quirky and witty. I've been thinking about going back to the archives and watching the first three seasons, since we only started catching it in the fourth.
Cast of Psych
The last of the shows, and the most recently one to have been added, is Royal Pains. A medical drama/comedy about a concierge doctor in the Hamptons, has a great cast of characters, some beautiful scenery, and a lot of humor. Jeff fought watching this one for a while but I think we both have finally become hooked. But this leads me to my issue. This is the season for new episodes. White Collar has a new episode every Tuesday night, Psych is Wednesday night, Burn Notice and Royal Pains are Thursday. So every night this past week I have plopped myself in front of the TV to watch these shows. And that means that I'm not getting anything else done.
The even sadder thing is that once the new episodes are over, I stick around to watch whatever rerun is on. I've watched the new White Collar episode three times this week, including twice in one night. And the worst part is that I'm not looking to change. I've never been a huge TV fan, but suddenly I'm looking forward to "my shows", a phrase I had hoped never to utter. I used to get so frustrated with people who would run home to catch a particular show on TV and now I'm the one doing it. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. My brain is officially heading downhill. Thank god I'll be entertained on the way down.
4 comments:
I was invited (due to some mailing list I subscribed to) to attend a red-carpet event for CBS (I'm not going).
I read the celeb list and the television shows they are from, and I realized...I don't have a clue who these people are or what the shows they are from are about.
...and I'm ok with that. :-)
And I think you should be okay with that. I wish I couldn't tell you who the characters are on these shows. I wish I could say that I was doing something more productive with my time.
I would love to see that list. I'm not sure I could name any of the characters on a CBS show. I haven't watched the major networks in what seems like decades. But it might be fun to see what I know...or don't know.
I love White Collar and Psych! I have recorded some of the others that you mentioned...have seen a few episodes of Royal Pains...and understand completely how addicting they can be!!
They really are addictive. I would claim White Collar and Psych as my favorites. Sounds like we have similar taste in shows. Good taste.
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