The last thing that any of us faithful TV viewers out there want to do is to think while we watch our favorite shows… or whatever happens to be on at that moment. Second only to that is the hassle of trying to schedule your life around these shows. Honestly, who wants to be boggled down with the obligation of going to a loved one’s funeral if that means you have to miss an episode of CSI: Miami with the enigmatic and ultra-dramatic Horatio “Hornblower” Kane? *Note: This author neither encourages nor condones the viewing of CSI: Miami and its inane plots and gaudy overacting.*
Well, thankfully science and technology solved that horrible dilemma years ago with the creation of the digital video recorder, better known as the DVR or TiVo. It really is difficult to comprehend how we managed to cram so much television into our lives before this little box came along. How did we survive for so long without it?
Now, instead of going outside for a walk or taking in a ballgame at the park, which is like watching sports on a very realistic, very large, three-dimensional 1080pi flat-screen TV, we can catch up on all of the fine hillbilly gene-activating programming that escaped us during the week when re-runs of Tool Academy were on.
No longer shall we needlessly be annoyed by the time-wasters that are conversations or exercise or, GULP!….. reading throughout our hectic TV-watching week. Because viewing that much programming is like a second job, that is of course implying that you have a first job. It takes a great deal of commitment and fortitude to follow the storylines from last season, forget about your favorite shows that were canceled after last year and begin new and exciting relationships with shows making their debuts this year.
If you are worried about any of these problems that you might face, I suggest you continue reading because I have all of them solved for you. No need to fret over over-lapping shows or missing that premiere, because here is a day-by-day breakdown of your weekly television viewing. Feel free to send thanks in the form of cash.
Sunday
It’s a good thing that football is starting soon. What would you do between the hours of noon and 6pm? Yardwork? Spend quality time with the family? Philo Farnworth’s genius invention is all the family you need.
Of course after stuffing your face with chips and dip and mini weenies, there’s a good chance you’re still going to be hungry. Hopefully you have a TV that is viewable from the dinner table, so you can watch people fall down and get hit in the crotch for the 21st year in a row on America’s Funniest Videos at 6pm.
At 7pm, you have the standard staple of Fox’s Animation Domination with the Simpsons and Family Guy, the only two that need to be watched out of the four and the Simpsons is quickly losing it’s hold on a must-watch.
At 9 you can switch to Showtime to watch Agent Mulder, er, I mean David Duchovny as a depressed sex-crazed maniacal writer in Californication, which is entering its third season and if the first two seasons are any indication, the writing and acting will be brilliant.
Since you were watching Family Guy at 8, you missed the best show currently on TV, that of course being Dexter. Thankfully, Showtime re-airs this original and emmy-winning series at 10pm, so there is no need to worry. After last season with the performance of Jimmy Smits, it will be hard for the writers to do better, but with a little bundle of joy now in the serial killer or serial killers’ life, this 13 episode arc is bound to be interesting.
Monday
This day has held steady the last decade or so as a great night for TV, from 24 to Heroes to Chuck to the cancelled series of The Black Donnellys and Journeyman. However, this year seems to have knocked the first day of the work week of kilter.
Heroes is in a downward spiral that shows no signs of turning that whirlpool around, especially when the writers are resorting to WWE like tactics of girl-on-girl action as a ratings ploy. The show should have ended last season as the final group stood around the burning pyre. Heroes is still a watch for the moment at 7pm on NBC.
One show that will satisfy the guilty pleasure in all of us, as well as test our tolerance for cliché intake, is ABC Family’s hit series about college life, Greek. While it is not a great show and has shown some tendency to lean on the same storylines, there is no denying that this show is entertaining and will be a welcome break at 8pm.
Since Jay Leno has decided to take over 5 hours of programming each night on NBC and bump network TV’s best show, Chuck, back to march, the 9pm hour should be used to watch your DVR recordings of two of the funniest sitcoms on right now. CBS’s How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory are truly the only two shows left that can be handled with either a laugh track or live audience and this is only because they are so damn funny. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson in HIMYM is worth the watch as is Jim Parsons as Sheldon on Big Bang.
Tuesday
With The Shield ending it’s run last year and Damages not returning until later this year, FX is leaning on their motorcycle club drama Sons of Anarchy to take the reigns as the network’s next big hit, cutting-edge drama. It certainly worked last season and there should be no signs of stopping now, considering how things were left between Clay and Jax.
Sons of Anarchy is the only show worth watching on a Tuesday night, so I would suggest using this day as a catch-up on DVR responsibilities or even a family DVD night, if they are still speaking to you.
Make sure, however, that you tune into FX at 9 to watch you things will shake themselves out in SAMCRO.
Wednesday
More guilty pleasures abound on hump day. While no one would ever confuse ABC’s Wipeout as emmy-worthy, it certainly should be deemed time-worthy. The whacked out contestants and the insanely difficult obstacle courses lead to some of the greatest hits and falls to ever be aired on TV. While this show is finishing up its summer run, make sure you catch the new ones at 7pm before Wipeout’s time is up.
NBC is looking to replace its most decorated series ever, ER, with another hospital drama in Mercy. While it is not given the Thursday 9pm slot, Wednesday at 7 is not too shabby either. However, the story seems to be straight out of ER and the set looks to be straight out of Scrubs, I guess this economy is hitting the originality bank as well. Still, Mercy is a watch and see.
Also, making its way into the guilty pleasure catalog is Fox’s new smash hit Glee, which has already built a cult following from its preview episode. Fox has slotted this in at the 8pm hour and it has certainly build an audience from just one airing and looks to gain a lot more once it hits its regular schedule.
ABC is looking to gain a bit more popularity with a few shows of the half-hour variety instead of all of their hour-long programming. Modern Family and The Middle look like they should succeed at doing what they have failed at before, having a successful half hour show, seeing as how Scrubs, Better of Ted and Surviving Suburbia bit the dust. The Middle, starring Everybody Loves Ray alum Patricia Heaton (Debra) and Scrubs Alum Neil Flynn (The Janitor), is a watch and see, but this viewer is hoping for good things out of another vanilla family comedy airing at 7:30. Modern Family (8pm) looks to be anything but vanilla and with Ed O’Neil and a fairly unknown but solid cast, this show looks to be the best new show of the Fall season.
Thursday
Do not schedule anything other than TV viewing for this day, make sure that your calendar is always clear. NBC takes over from 7pm to 9pm with the new hit Community, which will be sliding in after SNL: Weekend Update runs its course. Joel McHale of The Soup and Chevy Chase headline this new 30 Rock-like comedy dealing with life at a community college.
At 7:30pm, Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones of I Love You, Man, are back and are taking on the system, in so many words. Parks and Recreation coming straight out of the womb of The Office showed last year that it can build an audience and maintain that following thanks to the comedic work of Miss Poehler.
Nothing needs to be said about what airs at 8pm, other than if you are not watching The Office by now, than you should stop reading this article, go to the nearest store that sells DVDs, buy the first five seasons and then thank me later. Pam is pregnant and sorry but there is no mystery surrounding that not yet revealed revelation. The antics of Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute along with the in the camera looks of Jim Halpert are reasons why this show became so popular in the first place and they will not hurt this comedic masterpiece now.
While 30 Rock doesn’t hit the airwaves until October 15th, it should still be programmed into your TV viewing calendar, so you do not make a mistake and slot something else in that time period. Fey, Balwdin, Morgan and McBrayer make this comedy and the supporting cast is there to hold them up. Just like The Office, this show was on the verge of cancellation before the critics saved and NBC must be glad they did.
Once again, there is nothing watchable at 9pm seeing as how most networks have given way to Jay, but make sure that you DVR ABC’s new series Flash Forward and watch it in place of the big-chinned hapless wonder. From David Goyer, Flash Forward looks to be the most intense and mysterious series since LOST and with that not coming back until 2010 and entering its final season, now is the time to find another show that will leave you cursing at the television when it is over.
Friday
Friday is a very patriotic day, as you will spend your night watching USA. With Monk in its final season and Psych showing that it is one of the funniest and best shows currently going, you’re going to be saying “Yes we can!” to Uncle Sam from 8pm to 10 pm.
Tony Shaloub has been fantastic as the obsessively compulsive detective Adrian Monk and it will be great to see how they end this series that revitalized the USA network.
Aside from that, James Roday as Shawn Spencer and Dule Hill as Burton Guster or Fannypack Meriwinkle or any other hilarious nickname that Shawn might improvise that day, make for the best on screen duo right now. Spencer is a psychic detective who is not really psychic, just ultra observant and extremely wise-cracking.
Both shows are must watch.
Saturday
Ah, the day to relax and catch up on those show you couldn’t watch because you were busy watching other shows. Don’t worry, it is completely normal and rational to feel overwhelmed by the amount of programming you’ve deemed necessary to watch.
Saturday should be spent watching DVR’d episodes of Ace of Cakes and the Rotten Tomatoes show which air on the Food Channel at 9pm and Current TV at 9:30pm on Thursdays respectively.
Do not forgot to tune into Saturday Night Live after your local news. The new season premieres September 26th.
No comments:
Post a Comment