Floor Potato

So, yeah. Now that I don't play WoW anymore, from being burnt out, to save a few bucks, along with the intention of getting a part time job, I have found that I have more time to watch tv, blog, and not work on preparing my taxes.

My line-up is limited by no longer having satellite tv. A little over 10 years ago, I realized that paying $20/month for 200 channels of uninterrupted rubbish wasn't really worth it. The prices have gone up since, I hear. While it would be nice to have Military, History, and Sci-Fi channels running in the background all day and night, it just plays into the stereotype of our nation's love to consume resources unnecessarily. I'm not saying that my current tv habits are scholarly either.

I really hate reality shows and let's-find-the-best-[enter entertainment profession here] shows. I don't care for sit-coms, nor dramas. I've also grown to dislike game shows, with the exception of Jeopardy! This leaves the 2,536 crime shows and PBS.

I love travel shows, but not all of them pull it off well to keep me pining for more. Of course, the more foreign the location, the better. Globe Trekker is a marvelous travel program showing a balanced exploration of culture, food, and the environment.

The show is paced well so there's rarely a feeling of being rushed, nor a feeling of "let's get the show on the road." Megan McCormick is my favorite traveler. Her naturalness is perfectly suited for hosting this type of show. It is amusing to see her remain polite while enduring some bizarre situations.

NCIS, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is a crime show involving naval and marine criminal cases. I initially gave this show a try because Michael Weatherly starred (still does) in it, being a "Dark Angel" fan. Fortunately, his character, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, is a goof and a cinephile so it makes this show all the more enjoyable.

I have enjoyed crime shows in the past that center around profiling. I was a big fan of the first couple of seasons of Profiler and Millennium. The Mentalist stars Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, a former celebrity psychic turned police consultant after his wife and daughter are murdered. Due to his acute observational skills, he is able to solve whodunits. It's a watchable show because the characters are likable, and the show, while dealing with murders, has a whimsical outlook.

I still follow CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a forensic science crime show that takes place in Las Vegas. The draw to this show for me initially was the filming style, location, and the rather exaggerated modernization of forensic science. I have always liked shows that centered around forensics, like Quincy, or even forensic anthropology.

I also enjoy House. Hugh Laurie's character, Dr. Gregory House, is hilarious, mainly because I am married to someone just like him, a cynical curmudgeon (is that redundant?), minus the doctor bit, the cane, and the addiction to pain pills.

Each week there's a main story with someone in a baffling and critical condition that the team has to solve. House usually comes up with a bizarre etiology with an even more incredulous means to test whether his hypothesis is true. His proposed etiology is often correct, but proven only via a strange and seemingly accidental angle. There is also a goofy outpatient story interjected into each episode taking up no more than 7 or so minutes for the initial consultation and follow-up visit.

It's kind of funky to look back at what I was watching a year ago. I wonder what I'll still be watching a year from now...what will still be on the air?

- Cassaendra