I Watch Too Much TV – The Introduction
Regular readers of my blog might have noticed my â?? some what call it unhealthy â?? obsession with TV shows.
So, to make a long introduction short: Hi, my name is Jamie and I am a TV show addict.
I am not, to make that clear, a TV addict. Yes, there is a difference and it is an important one for us TV show geeks, or at least for me. Because being a TV addict somehow invokes the image of a fat person slumped on a couch with a coke in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other staring mindlessly at the TV. This is so much different from what I do.
Okay, I sit on the couch as well. Often in my pajamas. Often with potato chips (oh my, this is really going in the wrong direction). But not so often with a coke. More like with lemon iced tea. Which I suppose has twice as much sugar, so you see the difference here? And Iâ??m not slumped. More like comfy. Which looks a lot like slumped but really is a whole different thing. Or so I tell myself.
But more than that, I think the real difference is that I care about what I watch. And I choose carefully. Which doesnâ??t mean that I donâ??t choose a lot of things. When I last felt challenged to name all the TV shows I watched last season I came to a total of seven that I watch when they are broadcasted (only about two days later) and some additional four or five that I watch on DVD but usually am pretty far behind. So, yes, that adds up to some hours of TV a week just not to lose track or let movie files and DVDs pile up unwatched.
Over the past few years Iâ??ve grown quite sensitive and now have a few ground rules for my TV behavior that I hardly ever break:
- Watch in order! Order means first season first, first episode first. Thereâ??s no way around it.
- Give a show a try. The pilot usually isnâ??t what a show is all about. It might give you an idea, but thatâ??s it.
- Then again, for the sake of having some time left to spend with the living, if itâ??s not your thing, drop it. Thatâ??s how I sacked â??Jack & Bobbyâ? after just the pilot. Itâ??s quite a contradiction to the second rule, but since itâ??s my times and my rule you have to live with that.
- Networks are ruled by idiots. Thatâ??s not as much a rule as it is one of the things I had to learn the hard way. And yes, Iâ??m looking at you, FOX. In fact, Iâ??m not only looking Iâ??m pointing and screaming in your direction. Also you, CBS. Just saying, that I donâ??t forget so easily. The resulting rule is: Never trust a network. And keep your energy to dance on your desk at work for when you read the networkâ??s official confirmation that show X has been ordered for a full season. Everything before is gossip and believing in it might just as well break your heart.
- Dubbing is bad. Subbing is good. Thatâ??s a rule for us people not living in an English speaking country. Itâ??s an important one though. And it has funny words like subbing.
- The premise of a show? Screw it. Itâ??s the writing, the cast, the producers. A lot really is the writing. Veronica Mars has the worst possible premise and itâ??s one hell of a show. The premise is nothing.
- Donâ??t argue with other people who donâ??t get your obsession with TV shows. Most of them are biased jerks who are firm believers of TV being crap and French movies being good. And while a lot of TV is crap and a lot of French movies are good (give me Truffaut anytime), there are a lot of shows that are great and a lot of French movies that are crap. An open mind is the key. And people who obviously donâ??t have that shouldnâ??t judge anything. You wonâ??t change their mind anyway.
- That said: find the right people to talk about TV. I mean it. I have Andreas and I ramble on my blog and talk in the TWOP forums. Talking, writing and reading about TV shows is what makes the ultimate difference. It takes the often solitary event of watching your show out of its solitary and into the open space of discussion and opinions. Of subtext and the reading of it. Of character development or the lack thereof. Of mysteries solved and unsolved.
- This is a spoiler-free zone. Avoid spoilers at all risks.
That leads us to the next question. Okay, thereâ??s really not much of a leading to, but itâ??s a question worth asking, so it might as well be asked now:
Why TV shows? I could watch movies instead (which I do). I could also watch documentaries (which I do). Or, say, the news (which I do). But Iâ??m not addicted to those.
Thereâ??s something about TV shows that makes them better for me than movies. Thatâ??s not to say that I think TV shows are better than movies. That, after all, is simply a matter of taste and maybe the amount of time you are willing to spend. TV shows are different than movies and they can do different things. I have a theory that movies are more plot-driven while TV shows are more about characters and â?? in some cases â?? dialogue. A movie has to tell its story in roughly two hours. A TV show might have years to tell the story. Which makes it all the more interesting for me.
Hereâ??s a fun fact about my strange media behavior: I love movie trailers. But I donâ??t show as much interest in the movies themselves. I think itâ??s the prospect, the idea, the concept of the story that fascinates me with the trailers. But I donâ??t necessarily have to see the whole story for myself. On the other side I enjoy TV shows although you would think that I could be content just watching the trailers for these ones, too. Well, I canâ??t. Because itâ??s not the concept that interests me in a TV show. The concept is the premise is, like I already pointed out, most probably the last thing you should pay attention to. Itâ??s the characters that drive the show, make it great or horrible. Therefore itâ??s always also the cast. And while a character of a movie stays with you for about two hours, the characters of a TV show can stay with you a lot longer and people like me get attached to them in a crazy, insane and yet strangely beautiful way. Iâ??m still not sure if Andreas knows that Stars Hollow doesnâ??t exist. Hell, Iâ??m not sure if I know.
Basically what I try to say is: I am a TV addict by some kind of choice, although it gets out of hand sometimes. That also means that Iâ??m not telling you how many shows I marked red and bold in that Word document I made with all the dates for the season premieres next fall. Thanks to some genius network decisions half of these shows will probably be cancelled a few weeks later anyway. That leaves me withâ?¦ whatâ?¦ fifteen? Go, do the math.