Fall Television!

The first week of October, my BFF and I submitted our book’s manuscript to the publisher, so now we play the waiting game. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted much lately, and that is the reason why– during crunchtime of the book, I didn’t do much besides write, edit, and argue with Word ‘07. Plus, on Sept. 8, classes started at Milwaukee School of Engineering, where I am teaching humanities and speech this quarter. I have 75 engineering students relying on me! That’s a big job. But since the book has been FedExed (which coincided with fall [the most depressing time of the year] happening in Milwaukee), I have been able to check out some new shows and get reunited with some old favorites.*

THE SIMPSONS

Okay, obviously, as a Simpsonologist, I’m excited for the 21st season of The Simpsons. Matt and Co. have great treats in store for us, including a contest to create a a character and work with the creative types at the show to help design the character. Seth Rogan appeared and co-wrote the season premiere, and this Sunday’s Treehouse of Horror looks terrific. Also, Morgan Spurlock is directing a documentary to air in January that Karma and I have tried desperately to be a part of, but with no success. Yet.

PARKS AND RECREATION

I’ll admit, last year, I mainly watched Parks and Rec because because I really like that plucky Rachida Jones and it was on at a very convenient time– I can say it– The Office isn’t just a television show; it’s a part of my life. Surprisingly, the second season so far of Parks and Recreation is terrific, and gets my vote for most improved show. Although I can do without Saturday Night Live crossovers (Fred Armisen was on this week’s episode), the writing is clever and Leslie Knope is a loveable, clueless optimist.

COMMUNITY

As a proud product of a community college, I am compelled to like this show. Afterall, how many shows have there been where a community college was the main set? (The only one that comes to mind for me is The Parkers, but I’m not going to take the time to google it, I admit). But while it definitely has its moments, and Joel McHale is wonderful, this show is not super great. But it just might need some time to come into its own (and maybe they’ll ditch Chevy, who adds nothing to the show, IMO), so I’m going to keep watching, at least for a bit. It could just surpirse us in the future, like Parks and Recreation does now.

THE GOOD WIFE

Juliana Margulies is terrific as Alicia, the wife of a cheating bastard of a politician. She goes back to work to bring home the bacon while her husband waits for her to visit him in jail (played by Chris Noth). He seems flummoxed, by the way, that she is chilly towards him on her visits. But it’s understandable to the audience that she would be, knowing as we do that she found out on CNBC that her husband was cheating on her and their kids have seen the video of a hooker sucking his toes. The framing family story is compelling enough, but the juice of the show is that it’s a courtroom drama, with the mystery of interesting cases unfolding before the eyes and the intrigue and backstabbing we expect from our lawyer shows. Don’t be deceived by the title- the show is as much a chick show as Law and Order SVU is. And the supporting cast is nothing to scoff at– Chris Noth, as I mentioned, as well as Christine Baranzski, Matt Czuchry (who will always be Logan to me) and Josh Charles (from the beloved Aaron Sorkin show, Sports Night.

I still can't believe they broke up!

ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE

I admit, I have a soft spot for Jenna Elfman. I loved her as Dharma, and Keeping The Faith is one of my all-time favorite movies. So I really want to like this show. And it does have its moments, but it’s not rocking my socks off. I’m giving it one or two more chances, though, and we’ll see. I am really missing Samantha Who?, and I was hoping this would be a replacement. So far, I have no replacement.

EASTWICK

I had read or heard or something that the critics weren’t liking it. I also heard it might not be on much longer. BUMMER! I love this show! Yes, it’s a chick show. Yes, it’s coming from a place that has been explored already. But it’s good, I swear! It’s well written, funny, clever, and has really, really likeable characters. I never realized until a couple of weeks ago that I like Rebecca Romjin. Who knew? Also, don’t think that I’m judgemental about love or anything, but I was watching one night and it occurred to me that Lindsay Price looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it. So I IMDbed her, and check this out: her parents were siblings! Her mother had been adopted and her mom and dad got together as adults. Wow! Kind of blew my mind a bit. (Oh, and it turns out, it was Coupling, I think, that I remembered her from).

MERCY

I’d been looking to scratch my ER itch, and I really can’t like Grey’s Anatomy (I’ve tried), so I thought I’d give Mercy a go. I’ve always liked a good hospital show. And this one has the added interest of a tortured Iraq vet. Plus, it has that adorable Michelle Trachtenberg. I like this show, too! (She likes it! She likes it!). I don’t quite look forward to it the way I look forward to The Good Wife, but the stories are poignant without being overly pathos-filled, and the heroine, Veronica, truly rocks.

GLEE

Yeah, I’m watching it. Most of us Americans are, I think. Now’s the time to decide whether I have anything new to say about it . . . well, probably not, but let me say this: I encourage anyone who has not yet watched it to give it a try. Even if you think you hate glee clubs. The dialogue they give Jane Lynch is enough to make it worth your while; I promise you.

MONDAY NIGHTS ON CBS

If you’re not watching HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and BIG BANG THEORY, what the HELL is wrong with you? These are two of the best sitcoms. Comon– don’t you miss scripted TV?

TOP CHEF

My guilty pleasure. I generally have a disdain for so-called reality shows. They’re not real at all, and I generally hate any show that has “I’m not here to make friends” as a mantra. But Top Chef rocks. Maybe it’s the foodie in me who wishes she’d gone to culinary school. I wish I could do those quickfires! Maybe it’s my massive girl crush on Padma, or hearing what snarky thing Toby will say next. But what it comes down to is that I really like rooting for someone, and for me, that someone is Kevin. Go, Kev!

*Yeah, that’s right. I’m a college instructor, I’ve co-written an academic book, I occasionally use big words just to annoy people, and I watch TV. I think there are few things more d-baggy than people who want to seem like academic types who say they don’t watch TV. Let me let you in on a little secret: Yes, they do. Most of us who read nonfiction and Margaret Atwood instead of beach novels are secure enough in our intellects that we can admit we watch and enjoy television. And if someone really doesn’t have a TV, they do sometimes miss out. Just ask Matt Selman, who has one of the best stories of stinging a non-television watching tool that I have ever heard.

HIMYM: Not since Ally McBeal have Mondays been so tolerable

As a pop culture junkie and borderline geek, I am certainly NOT one of those people who “doesn’t watch television.” Actually, I get annoyed with people who say they don’t watch TV or don’t have a TV because usually those are the people who simply want people to think they don’t watch TV, thinking that the lack of TV somehow makes them more intellectual.*  In reality, the absence of TV doesn’t make you smarter; the lack of other things (like, oh, reading, communication with other human beings, and doing Sudoku) makes you stupid. Some shows are better than others, of course, and sometimes a fun, well-written sitcom hits the spot. And for me, examples of those shows are Scrubs, 30 Rock,  and How I Met Your Mother.

Best show you're not watching.

Last night’s episode was an example of what a sitcom should be: inside jokes that play off the personalities of the characters, comforting predictability with a little twist, and even some humor based on stereotypes. Last night HIMYM even came through with its characteristic Canadian stereotype humor and with a terrific bit of  ”kidding on the square.” (That’s where you’re telling the truth, but you say it sarcastically because you want the listener to think you’re joking. I do it all the time when I joke about my sex life and debt).

Since Alyson Hannigan announced her pregnancy, the show has been playing with how/if they might write in a pregnancy for her character, Lily. But now both HIMYM female lead actors are pregnant, as Canadian hottie, Colbie Smulders,  recently announced her pregnancy too. Luckily, if they choose not to write hers into the show, it will be easy enough to keep her hidden in the booth at the bar, and just maybe Robin will get another news job where she can be safely hidden behind a desk.

We'll be seeing her, but not much of her.

In the year between undergrad and grad school, I had a job that I detested, and Mondays made me depressed.  Not like the usual Monday blahs I get now, but severly bummed out. And I would look forward all day to watching Ally McBeal on my snowy little television in my apartment in St. Paul. This is the story: I was a long-term temp placed at an insurance company in the middle of a huge class-action law suit. Turns out, in the 80s, a bunch of crooked insurance agents realized that they could use dividends earned on one life insurance policy to pay premiums on additional policies. This put extra commission into the pockets of the agents and rendered the original policies useless so when the person died, there was little or no payout to the beneficiaries. There was indeed a paper trail on all of this, scanned in by some unfortunate soul. I used excel spreadsheets to trace the funding of these fraudulent policies, and a bunch of interest was added on and many checks were cut. It was a slight consolation to me that the harder I worked, the more the company was screwed.

It was soul-crushing work.  At the time, I thought it was merely having a cubicle that destroyed my gentle spirit, but it was that job.  It was a depressing conglomerate that hired temps on full time if they were male, had smoke breaks with the managers or went drinking with them after work, or went golfing with them on Saturdays (preferably all of the above).

I was not hired on, and was thrilled when the job ended and was even more ecstatic when I moved to Tallahassee, was teaching and in school again, and got cable.

Mondays aren’t nearly so miserable for me now; I sometimes dislike parts of my job, sure, but I like it overall. And with loved ones and strangers out of work not by choice, that’s a pretty good place to be.

*That reminds me of a friend I had who was one of those “I don’t like TV” people, but whenever I wanted to know what was going on on Days of our Lives, I knew she could give me the skinny. I never had the balls to call her on it and she never seemed to figure out what I was doing, even if I asked her about it right in the middle of one of her anti-TV rants. We’re all hypocrites in some ways, but that was just rich.