Addiction, Thy Name is Television
by lazys ~ March 11th, 2008. Filed under: Ramblings.
Remember these bumper stickers? When I was younger and far less secure in myself, I would dread meeting some interesting new person and seeing one of these babies on their car. We might have shared the same taste in clothing, lifestyle choices and freewheeling philosophical concepts, but my own insecurity would leave me awash in shame, knowing that however much I might try to hide it, I love TV. Its a guilty pleasure that I have no intention of giving up, but for a long time, I tried.
With motherhood came the double whammy of letting my kids watch TV. We keep a tight reign on what and how much the kids watch but I have to say that the advent of the DVR has brought our television viewing habits to a whole new realm. Pre-DVR, I was guilty of letting my kids watch The Simpsons or whatever other mind junk (albeit highly entertaining mind junk) happened to be on when I needed to relax and unwind. Mostly because they were little, and much of the saltier humor passed right over their heads, but I still felt slightly off about it.
We are a pretty typical American family. The girl and I stay home all day, me working and doing housewife stuff, her coloring, playing with her dolls and generally making as much of a mess as possible. She loves Dora & Diego (Um, hello? At 4, my daughter can converse with our Spanish speaking neighbors solely on the influence of these shows!), Charlie & Lola (We have EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE. “Please mommy don’t erase any of my loooooo-la’s!!” is a common phrase around here), SuperWhy & Curious George. I’ve struggled with being one of “those” moms, whose kids always have the TV on, but Ivy is nothing if not active and I have no worries about her becoming a couch potato. When Ozzie comes home from school they spend at least a few hours playing outside, doing homework and practicing keyboard and guitar. I make dinner, the Mr. comes home and we eat. He’s worn out, I’m worn out and the kids need to relax. This is usually when we geek out to whatever we have recorded. Family favorites? Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Modern Marvels, Planet Earth, Smash Lab, The Universe, The Most Extreme, anything about the human body, Survivorman, Crocodile Hunter, & yes, Spongebob. I have to admit, Spongebob makes me giggle.
We recently watched the National Geographic series about the Bunlap tribe with the kids. It was a great way to expose them to a culture completely alien to ours and to compare the differences in our lifestyles. Ozzie noted that, all in all, we are pretty much the same and was very envious of the fact that they got to run around naked everyday.
I’m not saying its the best way to live your life, but frankly, I like the fact that my son can accurately describe the composition and function of a white blood cell, even if he learned it from watching the Magic School Bus. (I don’t know about your school district, but its not like he’s learning any of this stuff at school. Grumble.) And here’s a radical thought… how about exercising your choice, as an individual, to decide what you put in your head? Just because there is a all night marathon of Keeping Up with the Kardashian’s doesn’t mean you have to watch it. You could learn something instead.
Or you could just be entertained. My current favorites?
I’m not cool or trendy so I had never heard of these guys until the recent New Years Eve marathon on IFC. Besides being an incredibly funny group, Trevor is super hot in a lanky geek kind of way. Oh, and “Gettin High with Dinosaurs”… possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. Want to gross out your husband? Show em Slow Jerk. Ohgod.
This show had me hooked before I even saw it. I pretty much have a weird crush on Bryan Cranston (he was adorable as Hal on Malcolm in the Middle!) and the story is very sad and uplifting in a strange way. Walter is so… repressed and depressed and nice and normal, and its interesting to see how he deals with everything in his life as he is forced to confront all of his issues. Oh, and cook up some nice clean crystal. And if you really are dumb enough to want to go out and use crystal meth after watching your a loser and good riddance. Just sayin… its a tv show man!
I rented the first and second season last year and was instantly engrossed. My husband finds it very amusing that I have OCCASIONALLY participated in throwing theories around on various message boards. But man, I love this show, as soon as your getting fed up with lovey gooey stupid Jack stuff here comes a SMOKE MONSTER! And I love love love the new time travel direction its taking… Daniel is one of my new favorites. Sawyer. Sayid. Need I say more?
Slightly cheesy, but good fun nevertheless. And they have Alpaca’s in the backyard! Whee!
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
They will probably cancel this show and I’ve gotta tell ya that as a huge Terminator fan (totally weird because I’m not usually into action movies, but Dad and I used to watch those movies all the time back in the day…) nobody can do Sarah Connor like Linda Hamilton. Nevertheless, I was excited to see Summer Glau (God I wish they would bring Firefly back!!) as a terminator and her combat scenes did not disappoint. All in all, I liked it. They need to smooth out some kinks and maybe with a second season they can pull it off.
Overacted with a somewhat disjointed story line… still, I’m hooked. And the second season is proving much better. I love a good modern day Armageddon. I could do with less of that blond chick though. Uggh.
I just started watching this show and I’m intrigued. Is it weird that none of it grosses me out? Even when he has them taped down to a gurney?
