TV doesn’t suck anymore

A few years back -- I believe when I was in college -- I came to the conclusion that TV sucked. I tried to fill out a primetime schedule with shows I watched regularly, and it couldn’t be done. There wasn’t enough on television for me to have something interesting to watch every night from 8-10pm, and that was with being liberal on some selections.

Now, well, I still can’t fill out a full primetime lineup, but I do have at least one show to watch 5 out of 7 nights a week, and there are a handful of shows that excite me greatly. Here’s the rundown of my DVR schedule on a daily basis:

Sunday
9:00 - Family Guy - FOX
I was so happy when the put this show back on the air and it hasn’t let me down yet (OK, well there was the Patriots episode, which sucked big time, but otherwise, quality stuff). The jokes are consistently funny and you can usually count on one bit a week that will have you dying laughing.

9:00 - Desperate Housewives - ABC
Yep, they’re both on at the same time. I’ll usually watch Family Guy, then catch up with DH on the DVR. Honestly, this show took a step backward last season, but has been outstanding this season. Every twist in the plot keeps me guessing, and it’s darkly hilarious. Usually the “emotional” moments are the low points, but even this season they’ve been tolerable.

Monday
8:30 - How I Met Your Mother - CBS
I started watching this show last season just for Alyson Hannigan (put a former “Buffy” star in a show, and I’ll tune in at least twice, I promise). I stuck around for Neil Patrick Harris. He’s easily the funniest man on television right now. And while season 2 started slowly, it’s picked up of late (the Wayne Brady episode was freakin’ awesome).

9:00 - Heroes - NBC
I almost made the mistake of dismissing this show after one episode. The Pilot was actually kind of boring and slow to establish the characters. But the story picked up in week 2, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The mystery behind the show is almost as good as the one from “Lost” in season 1, and the characters are fantastic. Plus, there are some really solid actors and actresses. Ali Larter is proving she can kind of act; I was already a big Greg Grunberg fan from “Alias”; ditto Leonard Roberts (another “Buffy” alum); and who could forget Hayden Panettiere’s work in “Ice Princess” (yes, I’ve seen it. Like I said, put a “Buffy” star in it -- in this case, Michelle Trachtenberg -- and I’ll watch it). In fact, I’m watching a little Heroes mini-marathon right now, leading up to tonight’s episode.

Tuesday
9:00 - Veronica Mars - CW
This is one of those shows that my “Buffy” friends told me I’d love, but I didn’t believe them at first. Then, just like with “Buffy” I bought season 1 on DVD, because it was on sale for less than half price. I watched it and loved it. I caught up with season 2 on DVD, then watched season 3 as it unfolded this year. To be honest, just like most “VM” fans, I haven’t liked season 3 at all. Of course, it’s for a different reason. I miss Duncan. Veronica belongs with Duncan, not Logan. Logan’s an ass. Besides, with Duncan off the show, there’s no connection to Lilly at all. In fact, the lyrics of the theme song could apply to Lilly Kane (“a long time ago, we used to be friends, but I haven’t thought of you lately at all.”). I’d be thrilled if they’d just make some reference to Lilly, to prove that Veronica hasn’t forgotten her. Also, bring back Charisma Carpenter (another “Buffy” alum. Sense a trend yet?)

Wednesday
8:00 - Bones - FOX
This is my one “procedural.” I hate the CSIs, and most of the other ones on TV (NCIS, Without a Trace, etc.) bore me to tears. But there’s something about Bones that keeps my interest. Maybe it’s because the show gives me my “Angel” fix (i.e. David Boreanaz, yet another “Buffy” alum) or maybe it’s that the women are pretty attractive. Plus, Hodgins is another in the line of great characters on TV. He always has a great one-liner to say. Of course, this show seems to disappear for weeks at a time (there hasn’t been a new episode in two weeks, and there isn’t one this week either).

10:00 - Lost - ABC
Speaking of shows that disappear. I haven’t actually “watched” “Lost” in like forever, but soon it’ll be back. For the first few weeks of the hiatus, I’d basically forgotten about “Lost”, but now that ABC’s running promos again, I’m starting to get excited. Of course, the early season wasn’t really a big deal at all. It was slow and basically had one or two episodes worth of plot, spread over six episodes of mostly filler. Of course, in a couple weeks we get the meat of the season, and it’s what we’ve all been waiting for. Did Sawyer survive? Did Ben? What of Jack? Can Desmond really see the future? Sure, we probably won’t get answers to more than one or two of these questions, but that doesn’t matter. We’re getting our awesome show back.

Thursday
9:00 - Smallville - CW
I started watching this show last season because of James Marsters (yes, another “Buffy” alum) and for some reason, I’ve stuck with it, despite the fact that it destroys every little bit of the Superman mythology on a weekly basis. I think I’m just hooked on Erica Durance. I want to stop watching, but I can’t. I need help. Also, I want to see how they end the story and get Clark Kent to become Superman. I guess that’s another thing that keeps me tuning in weekly.

9:30 - 30 Rock - NBC
At the beginning of the fall TV season, I started watching both this and “Studio 60”, figuring I’d stick with “Studio 60” and this would fall by the wayside. It’s been quite opposite. Not only have I stuck with 30 Rock, but I think it’s one of the better comedies on TV today. Tina Fey is a smart writer, and for the first time ever, I actually find Tracy Morgan funny (I hated him on SNL). Alec Baldwin is right up there with Neil Patrick Harris as people playing characters who are constantly funny.

And then, I’ve got nothing on Friday and Saturday, aka the wasteland of Television. Of course, that’s not a bad thing, since I’m usually working those days anyway, and it gives me time to catch up, since I pretty much have to DVR everything I watch, then watch it later.

Any shows out there I should be watching that I’m not? Let me know in the comments.

Back on vacation

Well, I haven’t really updated this since my last vacation back in the summer, so it seems appropriate that I’d finally get around to posting another update during this vacation.

Of course, I managed to wait until the 2nd-to-last day of my vacation before posting, but that’s besides the point (and while technically I don’t return to work until Tuesday, my vacation week ends on Saturday).

Of course, if you want to know what I’ve been up to of late, well, honestly, it’s been more of the same, though things are definitely looking up at work.

On the personal life side of things, again, it’s more of the same. I still live by myself in Manchester, I’m still single, and I’m still very obsessed with Buffy. My living room gets more and more Buffy-centric on a daily basis (check the Buffy section for extensive updates -- and I have been keeping that section up-to-date throughout the past few months).

Other things that have happened in the past few months that you might have missed:

• I got a Nintendo Wii. Actually, this doesn’t cover it. I camped out overnight at Target with Pooz and Will to get a Nintendo Wii on launch day. Geoff and Henze were there for part of the night, but they left early since they weren’t buying the system. I’ve been pleased with my purchase so far. Wii Sports is lots of fun, Zelda is great and having access to some of those classic games is incredible (I’ve been playing way too much “Ice Hockey” for NES).

• I continued writing my comic. Pooz is taking his sweet time drawing it (and to be fair, the art SHOULD take a lot longer than the writing. I can always go back and change dialogue later. He can’t really change the look of a character once it’s on paper). I’ve written about 15 issues. Hopefully Pooz will finish drawing the first one soon so we can have something to show you.

• I got a new couch. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I finally ditched the futon (or, more accurately, moved it to the basement). Now my living room feels like a real living room, not some upscale dorm common area (plus it helps that I replaced the cheap coffee and end tables I had with a nice set from Ikea).

• I’ve collected a whole bunch of Spider-man comics. I don’t have any section on the site for them, like I do with the Buffy and Angel comics, but I’ve got a bunch of older issues, including Amazing Spider-man #121 (pictured above).

Well, um, that’s it for now. I know I suck at following through when I do this, but I’m going to try and post again this weekend, because I want to talk about the ‘06-07 TV Season, and I want to give that its own post.