Wednesday, April 8, 2009

What I'm watching

As many of you know, I am a BIG fan of television. For many years, I've always had a few "Oh-My-God-This-Show-is-So-GREAT!!!" shows at any given time, along with shows I enjoyed and followed as time allowed. In the spring of 1995, I began taping every new episode of Party of Five, and have always had a couple shows each season to which I was devoted. That devotion might shift back and forth between shows, but always there was something to deeply touch my heart, or in some cases to take me as far away as possible from the stresses of my daily life (thank you, 24 and Alias).

This spring, there are three shows making me giddy:

Lost - Wednesday nights are for watching Lost. I think that colleges and universities with strong film/media departments will be adding this show to their curriculum after it's over. It is that great, and that rich; it's a live-action epic novel. Only an hour and a half till the next episode!

Friday Night Lights - I don't know much about football, and have never had a desire to learn more about it. But, after hearing critics praise it and hearing how devoted its fans were, I started watching late in season one, and was a nearly-instant convert. I just love these characters, and the casting is perfect, and the actors embody the characters so completely. Every time I watch, I'm amazed, amused, touched, and entertained. One of the best and most realistic character-driven dramas I've ever seen. The season finale is THIS FRIDAY on NBC, and wonderful news, it's been renewed for two more 13-episode seasons, same way they did this year: on DirecTV in the fall, and on NBC starting in January.

Masterpiece Classic - They've been doing the tales of Charles Dickens, and while Oliver Twist was much better than I expected, and the encore of David Copperfield (with Daniel Radcliffe in his first role) very good, I have been blown away by the first two parts of Little Dorrit. I'm so excited to find out what happens, but also glad that there are five episodes to enjoy - still three to go, psych! After falling in love with Bleak House a couple years back, clearly I need to read a lot more Dickens novels!

What I'll be watching this summer: all the episodes of The Office I've recorded this year, in big gleeful gulps of guffaws. It premiered the week after Papa died, and comedy just didn't feel right for a long time. But I've been saving up, and how I've missed you, Dunder-Mifflin. It's not over; we've just been on a break. ;-)

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