August 29, 2014

T.V. Viewing For My T.V. Dinners

One of the few ZZ Top songs that I like

My t.v. viewing habits have taken a 245 degree turn into strangeness.

Back in the day, (like before cable) I used to watch everything under the sun. Even when I got cable (around 1978 or so), I used to watch everything under the old network sun. However, by the late 90's/early 2000's, I pretty much abandoned network t.v. for the greener and edgier land called cable.

How little do I watch network t.v.? I have yet to watch a prime time show of any kind on any of the 6 major networks since early last decade. So I have no idea on what's on, what's popular, what's must see t.v.

What do I watch? Mostly reality, along with regular series, both on cable and the movie channels (i.e. Showtime). I love watching regular short season series on cable because not only can you get away with more, but the shows are a lot more realistic for what they need to be.

However, like most things, I am very picky about what I watch for series programs. I watched all but one season of Dexter; when we had HBO, I watched Sorpranos, Deadwood, and Carnivale. Didn't like Power (Encore), couldn't really get into Spartacus, and was one and done with True Blood.

My current episodic faves are: Ray Donovan and Penny Dreadful.

As for reality t.v., it's kind of a mixed bag. I'm picky about what I watch for reality and I get really turned off if the network in question overkills the show in between seasons (Bar Rescue, Storage Wars, American Pickers). I also get turned off if the show goes off the deep end (Braxton Family Values anyone?). In no particular order of importance, here are the shows that I still watch:

1} Ax Men
2} Deadliest Catch
3} Swamp People (on the fence with this one now)
4} Preachers of L.A.
5} Mary Mary (if it comes around again)
6} The Millionaire Matchmaker (on the fence with this one too).

For non episodic t.v., I usually stick with almost everything connected with the Discovery family of channels, as well as a few on TLC, and whatever else happens to catch my fancy on DIY and Food Network.

So as you can see, my t.v. viewing isn't what you would call normal. If anything, I would call it eclectic (Joseph Gordon-Levitt's new t.v. show for example).

So my friends, how about you? What's your guilty pleasure?

(c) 2014 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

8 comments:

  1. Points of interest. 1.) The "F" word is used in the Deadwood TV Series over 2500 times. 2.) My husband used to be a co-owner of The Wizard on the Deadliest Catch.

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  2. I admit, I still watch shows like Bar Rescue and Restaurant Impossible. Or Motel Hell. But they do overplay the repeats.
    I've never been a car guy, but I dig the car shows like Counting Cars.
    You gave True Blood one more episode than I gave it...

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  3. I don't watch any reality shows except Amazing Race Canada. The only series I'm watching at the moment is Outlander, although I have in the past watched and loved the Sopranos, House of Cards, Homeland, etc.

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  4. G.A.: Yeah, the F bomb was dropped almost every other word and that is a really cool bit of info about you and Ron.

    Alex: There a few car shows that I like, and Counting Cars is one of them. I used to like Fast N' Loud, but sadly, it was overkilled as well.

    I thought True Blood was really good. Then I saw the previews for season two, and it just didn't grab me like season one.

    Debra: I heard about Outlander and sounds like an interesting show. Not sure if I can get into time traveling like that.

    Most of the main network reality shows I've never gotten into, but my family has gotten heavily into those.

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  5. My guilty pleasure is Honey Boo Boo. That family is nuts! But loveable. Other than that I don't have much patience for reality TV, or series for that matter. I'm all about nature shows and documentaries.

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  6. S.R.: I tried Honey Boo-Boo, but that was too bizarre, even for my tastes, although I will give the mother credit in establishing a trust fund for her daughter from the money that she earns from the t.v. show.

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  7. BBC murder series. I'm addicted, except I don't know why they constantly need to show white, middle-aged mens' butts.

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  8. M: Sounds very cool. I haven't been able to get into any of the BBC series much. I guess it's because I haven't found anything to pique my interest.

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