Friday, August 10, 2012

Deep Thoughts...Not

"Grandpappy Amos and the Girls
and the Boys are the Family
Known as the Real McCoys"
What does it mean when suddenly out of nowhere you start humming and singing "...Grandpappy Amos and the girls and the boys...." ?!?!?!?!?  That happened to me last night at 1:00 a.m.    I posted this on my Facebook status (something I rarely do) because it was so weird.  Apparently nobody on my friend list was up OR if they were, they had no idea what I was talking about. 

Well I'll tell you what it means:  It means that I've been a TV-holic for over 50 years!  "The Real McCoys" was one of the earliest shows I recall watching, along with "Ozzie and Harriet"  (my favorite because I had a crush on Ricky Nelson when I was 5 years old).

So sue me, I'm still watching TV!  Current favorites: "The Good Wife," "Modern Family," "The Middle," "Person of Interest," "CSI", and "So You Think You Can Dance".  Oh, and reruns of "Monk" and "Law and Order".  I really am trying to cut down so I try not to watch any new shows unless I inadvertently stumble upon them and get hooked.  There are fewer and fewer shows that hook me lately.

I just saw someone on TV who works at home and has "a couple of internet businesses." Hmmm! We have a little in common maybe since I work at home on the internet?  She's shopping for a house and has a "budget" of one million dollars.  Ok, nothing in common.  Does that qualify as an oxymoron ("budget of one million dollars")?  I changed the channel.  Why torture myself?

I feel very fortunate to own a house--ok half a house. It's nothing fancy and I'd say 99% of the time I'm satisfied.  The 1% of the time is when I'm watching HGTV.   I blame my husband.  He loves watching that stupid channel.  I don't know what's worse, having to watch HGTV and experience house envy, or the reality shows like the ones on the History Channel--what I call Redneck TV.  It's kind of funny because it's like going from one extreme to the other.  As much as I don't like seeing how wealthy people live, I dislike even more seeing people getting their cars towed away, looking into some misfortunate's forfeited storage container, or watching cussing shirtless perpetrators being arrested. 

Ok, I did enjoy "Dog the Bounty Hunter," because it was taped in Hawaii and they acted tough, but sweet at the end.  Example: "You know what BLEEP? I'm gonna file bond jumping on you, you 9mm packing ice head. If you wanna stay out of jail buddy, you better BLEEP show up right now with your old lady. Yeah, listen, we gotcha... you know what BLEEP? You better come right now BLEEP tweak. You better get her right now. [shouting] GET HERE TWEAK!"  Then at the end "You want a cigarette?  Bruddah, if you get a goal in your mind- go for it- you're not in hell yet, you can still make collect calls, you can still talk to your old lady, you can still have children and you can still love and be loved."  Awwwww.

As much as I hate the reality cop shows, I love the make believe ones.  Except for a couple of pet peeves: If you watch police shows on TV, did you notice how TV cops (like in "Law and Order") will approach a suspect and from fifteen feet away yell the guy's name?  As in "HEY! Jimmy Mafusco! We want to talk to you!!"  Then the guy runs away, leading to a fun chase down the street?  Is this some law I don't know about?  "Police are not allowed to utter your name unless they are a minimum of fifteen feet away so as to give you ample time to make a break for it."  I don't see this happening on the real cop shows.

Maria Bello as Jane Timoney,
always appropriately dressed!
NBC recently cancelled "Prime Suspect" before it finished its first season.  Oh...my...god.  How could they do this to my new favorite female detective, Jane Timoney?  It kills me to think it might be because she's one of the few---if not the only---lady cops on television who do not go to work everyday showing cleavage (example: the CSI ladies).  Please, NBC, she can unbutton!  This was an excellent program that grew on me with every new episode.  I think the title was the issue.  So blah and contributed nothing.  The title should've been "Tough Heterosexual Lady Cop" or "Realistically Dressed Female Detective", you get the drift.  All kidding aside, it was a very good program that deserved more time for viewers to find and love it.

My favorite team, Logan and Briscoe!
I'm wondering if people these days prefer to watch law breaking rather than law enforcement.  And if they do watch law enforcement, it's got to be sexy and/or in an exotic location with a young cast, like the so-over-the-top-I-can't-watch-it-anymore "Hawaii Five-O".  Heaven forbid any cop is over forty unless he's the captain!  Lenny Briscoe must be turning in his grave--how I miss him!


And finally, a question:  If the computer is so smart in "Person of Interest," can someone please tell me why it can't tell Harold exactly WHY that interesting person's number showed up?  Puhleez!!  I guess the answer is:  because then the show would last only 30 minutes rather than an hour.

Ok, enough complaining. I'm beginning to  sound like that cantankerous Grandpappy Amos!