As long as I’m in this drop the pretenses mood, I might as well confess to something else. I watch television. Yes, I know some circles consider television to be for low-brows. I’ve picked up this disdain from some writers—serious literary sorts. Ah well. I never claimed to be an intellectual.
Okay, okay. I’ve been known to watch a few documentaries. And I might have caught a PBS and/or BBC mini-series or two.
Really, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t watch a lot of television. I spend a lot more time in front of this computer. A lot. But there are a few shows I try to catch.
I’ve mentioned The Sopranos, The Wire, Big Love and Lost as some of my past faves. I also enjoyed Men of a Certain Age, before they cancelled it. I can’t wait for the next seasons of the top-notch series Treme and Mad Men.
Currently, I’m watching Boardwalk Empire, but this season it’s become too fascinated with the bloody and gruesome, and that’s annoying me. Two new shows I’m watching this season are Person of Interest and American Horror Story. Those two, The Mentalist and Harry’s Law I’ll classify as guilty pleasures.
I’ve learned aspects of story structure and characterization from the excellent writing of some programs. They teach while they entertain. The others mostly just entertain, but what’s wrong with that? Say what you will. My forehead is still pretty high.
So. I have to ask. Do you watch television?
Linda Cassidy Lewis 
I remember old lady Wier down the block. She would let 2 dozen of us kids come in every Thursday night it was, I think, to watch Batman. You see she had one of those color TV’s. RIGHT THERE IN HER HOUSE ! It was liike being in the movies.
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Oh, Carl, I still remember getting our first color TV. Heck, I remember getting our first B&W set. It looked about like that one in the photo. Wow, how much has changed in our lifetimes, huh? Remember all the “snow” and ghosts … and the sign-off every night? 🙂
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I think knowing what is on TV these days, same for knowing sports scores and the news, is part of cultural knowledge. Not to be ignored entirely but taken in with care, like junk food.
One book I read on writing recommended “seeing” the whole incipient story as a movie, with at least ten scenes. That helped me a lot planning out a long project.
Personally I favor this year CSI and Last Man Standing plus Mentalist and Body of Proof. I love the “catch up” mode on my cable TV service!
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I do think, Mary Jean, for the realism in our writing, we have to keep in touch with the outside world, and television is an easy way to do that. Sometimes I extend my writing to my viewing in that I try to analyze why a particular program or even just a scene worked, or didn’t.
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I try to break it like a bad drug habit, but I get drawn in. My family are TV hounds and it is on. We did get rid of cable, but we have Netflix and Hulu. I don’t know which is worse. With cable, you watch a show and it’s done unless there is a marathon weekend or something. With Netflix and Hulu you can watch a whole season in one sitting or at least two or three episodes. Honestly, I like a show for about two or three episodes then I get frustrated because I miss one or two and I stop watching. You’d think that Netflix and Hulu would solve the missing episode problem. Nada. My dh watches them back to back to back to back. I just can’t sit for that many episodes in a row. Anyway, I am trying to kick the habit, not that I hate it or anything. I really am happiest when I am writing, so that’s what I am using TV time for.
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I understand, Cristina. My husband watches far more than I do because I’d rather be writing … or reading. 🙂
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I don’t watch TV, no, but that was a choice years in the making and the fact that we don’t have TV – well, cable, and the stations we do have are fuzzy. We have Netflix, but honestly, I’d just rather be doing other things. My hubby and I do watch some TV seasons (like he’s watching Battlestar Galactica right now) after they’ve been out for awhile. I think we are going to watch the one about the spy who gets information downloaded to his brain (oh, gosh, I can’t remember the name of it), soon.
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I guess a lot of people are doing it your way, Michelle. I admit, when my husband isn’t home, the TV is rarely on. I don’t know the series you mentioned, but I’d love to have books downloaded to my brain. 😉
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Is that Chuck? Chuck is good 🙂 We watch that one too!
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According to Wikipedia, yes that’s Chuck. 😉
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yes, I do. But I usually watch documentaries on National Geographic or on Discovery. I dislike the fast change of images typical for modern movies.
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Yes, Christa, much (most?) of television is geared toward those who grew up on fast-paced music videos and video games. It can be stressful rather than relaxing.
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