So I’ve gotten used to flipping on the TV just for the background noise. Funnily enough, I can’t work to the sound of the radio. Talk radio, even my beloved NPR, is distracting, music even more so. Music flips on the wrong side of my brain for my more technical freelance work, and interferes with my thought process when I’m working on a story. Probably because I’m so musically oriented. When I’m performing, my whole being is focused on it.
But TV? Easy to ignore, easy to stare at mindlessly while the back of my brain works out a problem or a knotty sentence structure. My husband fusses at me for having it on all day, which he says will burn out the screen. But hey, isn’t he about ready for a flat-screen? I’m just helping things along!
Having said all of the above, I have a few guilty pleasures.
Ghost Hunters - though my family groans when I remind them it’s Wednesday night, and constantly mock me and the show in the background while I’m trying to watch. I don’t care…it’s still the best ghost hunting show on TV, all others are pale imitations or just plain annoying (*cough*GhostAdventures*cough*).
(Trivia: Did you know Jason has an amazing smile? I never knew he COULD smile until I saw him as a guest on Millionaire. It's actually quite brilliant.)
Supernatural - Despite my issues with the show’s tendency to wander off the main story line, it’s still a riveting story arc. I rarely watch it on TV anymore, though – I wait and watch it online later.
Vampire Diaries – Actually this show is too teeny bop for me, but day-um, Damon is hot… :D
America’s Next Top Model – Every time I watch this show, I wonder why. LOL I’m kinda winding down with this one, however back when it first started a friend of mine (*cough*JCWilder*cough*) and I would watch it together – by instant messaging back and forth while it was on. How geeky is that?
Project Runway – I think this show falls into the same category as ANTM, at least on one of the reasons why it’s fascinating. It involves a creative process where the participants literally have to bust out a finished product in an impossibly short period of time – flaws and all. It’s not unlike NaNoWriMo. Puke it out, even if it’s ugly. Put it out for critique and learn to listen, even if it’s bad. Chances are better than excellent that you’ll take away something from it that’ll become your signature style. Like Say Yes To The Dress, or What Not To Wear, throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
Anthony Bourdain/No Reservations – I mean, really. Who wouldn’t want to have a job where you get to travel the world, experience the best (and maybe the worst) of each region’s food and culture, and write about it? I want to BE him. (Okay, maybe I just want to be as TALL as him.)
Deadliest Catch – Bait the pot, drop the pot, pull the pot. The breathless anticipation of what’s in the pot wore off a long time ago. What keeps me coming back are the human stories. Though I’m the first one to recognize that these things are heavily edited for drama. Now I just want to be there when Keith finally gets a handle on his temper – or strokes out. Root for the Harris boys to rise to the challenges before them. Look for Edgar to be standing on the dock when Sig brings the Northwestern home. And you know what, I’d really like to see the right woman bring that hard-ass Johnathan to his knees.
So readers, since most of the above shows are going to be winding down, help me pick out something new to obsess about. What do you like?
In fact, let’s have a contest! Leave a comment and I’ll draw a winner. I brought back a bag full of books and swag from the Authors After Dark con, and it all needs a home!
Happy reading,
Carolan
www.carolanivey.com
10 comments:
I admit, like you in general I hate TV, but I have a few guilty pleasures over the years. MIne right now are True Blood and Ru Paul's Drag Race. :)
I've never seen Ru Paul's Drag Race! Sounds fab. :)
I love Ghost Hunters. My DH continually slags me about it. Unless they're ghost hunting in an Irish castle! ;-) And yes, Grant has a great smile. He's very 'boy next door,' which I love in a guy!
I'm currently researching for a novella about a ghost hunter so I've been recording Ghost Hunters like crazy. There's a marathon session in my future :-D
I don't really watch TV that much. We didn't have a TV for the first ten years of our relationship, and only got one when the inlaws upgraded theirs. I think we're the only people on the planet who doesn't have flat screen now ;-) AND we only just got satellite so TV is like a new invention to us. And naturally we gravitate to the crap!
We used to be all about the CSIs, but now it's the SVUs. And for me personally, it's all about Castle. OMH, Nathan Fillion grew up to be SO cute! (I used to watch him on One Life to Live before leaving the US, and he was great in Saving Private Ryan, even if it was a small part) That relationship, Castle and Beckett, is everything a romance novel should be . . . amazing chemistry, a little humor and a sneaky snog every now and then. {sigh} Season Four where are you?!
Well, I tivo Cops, People's Court, and Judge Judy, which I watch at night when I finally get home. I prefer to watch them that way, even over watching on hulu, because I can fast forward through the commercials!
I love House and Deadliest Catch, too, but I didn't get to watch last season so I'm completely lost now on what's happening there.
I can't wait for season 7 of Supernatural to start! I'm also looking forward to Castle. Knowing they're on the way made it a little easier to say goodbye to Covert Affairs, Royal Pains, Burn Notice and Eureka.
I don't watch reality shows unless they come on HVTG, Food Network or the Discovery/Science channel, so no guilty pleasures to speak of. I should find one, because, you know, I don't watch enough television as is. *grin*
I adore Castle, but for some reason...maybe the night it's on or the time...I've fallen behind. I'll have to see if I can catch up on Netflix. Right now I've finished the first season of Sons of Anarchy. O.M.G. I love that show. :D
Carolan, I just started watching Sons of Anarchy. My husband-like-person caught it on Netflix and just got sucked in.
I'm trying to get into the show but I don't do well with certain levels of violence and it's been slow going. I plan to give it a few more episodes, I'm very intrigued by the book from Jacks' father, so that's carrying me through. :)
~X
Yeah, I hear that. :) I waffle between getting sucked into the story and characters, then they do something horrifying and I'm sitting there with my hands clamped over my mouth, eyes wide like saucers.
I've read some review of the show that liken the story line to that of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and if you pay attention you really can see the parallels.
I actually saw the Hamlet overtones during the first episode when his mother is talking with his step-father about wanting Jacks to follow the right father. And that contrasted with his father whispering to him from the grave through the book.
I assume it would take many more episodes than the two or three I've seen to get the rest of the parallels.
It's difficult to watch some scenes and I don't really like the characters beyond Jacks at this point. And just two episodes in, I want...tigger or trigger or whatever his name is, I to die. He's a complete sociopath and creeps me out.
I could not get into the Sons of Anarchy. I didn't like the characters in the episode that I saw. I WANT to like it, because I like the concept, but the characters just didn't pull me in.
My husband loves the Ghost Hunters! He and my stepson love to watch it together, they really get into it. :)
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