Summer Voyeurism
Traditionally summer is the time when we catch up on the movies we missed during the fall. Summer TV is usually so banal that it isn't worth wasting time on and we make regular tracks to the video store. But this summer has been the summer wherein we have succumbed to the lure of the trash TV programming of Monday night.
It has been the sordid tale of any addiction. First we watched one because everyone else was and we wanted to be able to share in the experience at the water cooler on Tuesday morning. And then it became a little obsessive as we started to shape our schedule to it. Finally, we have to recognize that it has gotten out of control. We don't do it just on Monday anymore; there's voyeuristic TV to be found on Tuesday nights as well. Fear Factor, Meet My Parents, For Love or Money, Last Comic Standing, What Not To Wear, Dog Eat Dog, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Where does it end?
Thankfully, next Monday night. Will Erin pick Chad or Ward? Will either of the two men take the money and run? Is Rob and his "big eye! big eye!" affectation gone forever or will he make a last desparate end run plea for Erin's affections? Will someone finally beat Jordan with a pool cue for always been so gleeful about delivering bad news?
God, I can't believe I care. I didn't watch the Blackadder documentary last night. I was too busy getting it on with the glass teat. (Going on forty years with that phrase, Harlan, and more right than ever.)
In a couple of weeks I can get back to the really important things like what did happen to Sydney at the end of last season and why did Vaughn bury his grief by marrying another woman? Or, can the writers of 24 actually find an interesting sub-plot for Kim or will they just cut her entirely and focus on what we all want to see: Jack having a kidney and maybe a lung snatched by rogue organ-leggers and still being able to kick ass. Or, how badly will The West Wing tank now that NBC has driven Sorkin off?
Gah, I should be writing.