Television
This was originally a “page” on my blog that I updated from time to time. But I like using the chronological format of a blog better now. Be sure to check out the Reading, Watching, Listening category of this blog!
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1-18-12: I know I haven’t updated this list in a long time. But I just found a show worthy of adding. Just this moment in fact. I just finished watching season 3, episode 12, of Breaking Bad, titled “Half Measure”. (don’t skip to it; you’ve got to watch from the beginning) The show is a tight and twisted moral drama. The moment when Walt hears about the executed kid and knows exactly what is happening hit me like a freight train. A moment of certainty of morality and action like that is rare and powerful.
11-21-08: Stargate Atlantis (I’ve seen most episodes so far. It’ll be sad when the show ends at the end of this season), Heros 1st and 2nd season makes good television.
6-18-06 Justice League Unlimited, 24, Nip/Tuck.
1-29-06 update: Since I’ve moved to California, I haven’t had a television set. That hasn’t stopped me from watching the television programs I enjoy. TV is starting to go through the same upheaval that music has been experiencing for the last 10 years from peer-to-peer file sharing revolution.
I use TorrentSpy, Azureus and its RSSFeed Scanner plugin to get just about all the broadcast programming I want.
Since I’ve been busy living the Vida Cali, I watch less TV.. but here’s my list of favorites:
– The Colbert Report
– The Daily Show
– Scrubs
– 24
– Nip/Tuck
– Mythbusters
– Malcolm in the Middle
I was happy to be able to catch up on
– Dead Like Me
– Greatest American Hero – The show is much worse than I remembered :-( But I’m glad I got to see it. Especially the pilot episode. (which still sucked, but I’m still glad I saw the “creation story”)
The only shows I haven’t been able to catch are
60 minutes – I can’t find a torrent for it on Torrentspy :-(
Bullshit – I can’t find a tor…. wait. I just found a torrent with season 1-3. [Click] I should have it in a week.
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Recently, the cable TV cartel has been fighting legislation requiring that they unbundle their programming. It’s just been unbundled for them. Clearly, a new business model for television must emerge.
3-1-02 update: Tivo hasn’t changed the way I watch television, it has fundamentally changed what television is. Dare I use the phrase “paradigm shift”? I dare.
2-12-02: I got Netflix for xmas. I just started up my subscription. I don’t know how much I’ll use it between Tivo, school and work.
Current Favorite shows:
Joe Millionaire– I’m completely hooked. It’s just so real. I can so project myself into Evan’s shoes. It’s wonderful watching and learning about human psychology with this fishbowl. And I am so angry that Evan got rid of Melissa! How can he hope to live happily ever after with either Zora or Sara?!?!
Rough Science– Still. This show is so much fun and so stimulating!
Nova: Hitler’s Lost Sub – It brought the history of this sub to the present. Three divers lost their lives in the late 1990’s during a personal quest to find out the history of this sub. The sub sank off the coast of NJ in 1942. It was a very intense program.
The Veteran’s Project – Since my Dad was here and he loves shows about WWII, we watched a lot of those shows. The format of this show is very simple. A veteran narrates a 1/2 hour slide show of his war experience. Most of the photos and video clips are of him, his buddies, or his group. The show is only on bi-weekly, 8-8:30am Sunday mornings on the History Channel.
11-14-02: Favorite TV programs: Rough Science, MST3K
6-28-02: More or less in order, here are the shows that I have in my Tivo’s Season Pass Manager:
Movie & Darkstar – TJIC recommended. Someday I hope it comes around on the tube
Babylon 5 & Strife – The very last episode I need to complete my set!
The Prisoner – After seeing about 10 episodes now, I can see the shows lacked consistently good writing. But some episodes, like “Many Happy Returns” blew my mind.
Angel – Shara is a bigger fan than I, but I don’t miss many episodes
Evolution – An excellent educational mini-series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Shara is a bigger fan than I, but I don’t miss many episodes
Marx, Groucho – I hope I hope I hope “You Bet Your Life” comes around again!
Chaplin, Charlie
Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour – I’ve been a fan of theirs for years. Smart guys. Real.
Enterprise – Ick. How did this schlock get here? Shara?
60 Minutes – I Tivo the boring articles, but there aren’t many
Jackass – I’m magnetically drawn to this! It’s far more consensual than America’s Funniest Ball-Busters
Scientific American Frontiers – Yup
Mystery Science Theater 3000 – It’s more fun watching and heckling along with friends. But I don’t have any to watch it with now :-(
Just Shoot Me – When I get around to watching sitcoms, which isn’t too often, this is one I like
60 Minutes II –
BattleBots – Carnage without the meat.
Scrubs – I really like this show a lot. The Scrubs world spins off to the left while the solid ideas hold it right in place. My kind of show.
Nova – Sometimes great topics, sometimes fluff.
Ebert & Roper – Usually pretty good movie reviews. I’m a little partial to Ebert
Sex2K – Infoporn ahhh
Modern Marvels – A good history show
Crank Yankers – I dunno if I’ll keep this on the list. It’s kinda funny….
Harrison Ford – More Shara’s pick than mine
Humphry Bogart – More Shara’s pick than mine
Kenneth Branagh – More Shara’s pick than mine
Insomniac with Dave Atell – Good Everyman entertainment
Friends –
Inside the Actors Studio – sometimes very insightful guests speak
Southpark – Southpark is always insightful
Star Trek: Voyager – slightly less offensive than Enterprise. Good “fall asleep fast” TV
Travel Sick – I dunno. The show has possibilities but I don’t like the omniscient narrator forcing our hapless hero to do gruesome tasks.
Lexx – The pinnacle of stupid sci-fi. I eat it up!
The Practice – I saw an episode or two and I’m trying to get interested in it
The Daily Show – This is honestly really good news! I get more news from these guys than most other sources!
I give Thumbs Up to a bunch of shows that I’m slightly interested in watching:
EGG: The Arts Show –
The Man Show – Unrepentant, unabashed
Ripley’s Believe it or Not –
Mad TV –
Sportsnight –
The Simpsons – Society’s mirror. I’m disappointed when they do random wacky things instead of insightful wacky things. But I guess they have a lot of shows to fill.
America’s Funniest Home Videos –
Iron Chef – Oh, the spectacle of it all!
Victory Garden – I like the old host better. And I like Norm better than Bob Villa
The Osbournes – OK, so I watched a few. It’s only because my sister forced me to! Really!
Junkyard Wars –
Phew! That’s a long list!
Babylon 5 – I watched it from the second season til the end. I appreciate it because it has so very few plot holes, has a contiguous universe, and nice storyline. One of my few concessions to obsession in my life is that I taped (and still have) -every- episode. Of course, I don’t do anything 1/2 way so I got an SVHS tape player for the task. So now I have 120 hours of B5 on 60 tapes… Now what do I do with them?
Xena: Warrior Princess – She can beat me up anytime
You Bet Your Life – with Groucho Marx. He was an absolute genius! Have you ever gotten to watch this show? He Ernie Kovacks – another genius, and a Hungarian to boot!
Mystery Science Theater 3000– Heckling a bad film is one of the purest joys there is in the world. These guys have raised it to a high art!
The Prisoner has a certain allure
Mr. Wizard. I watched Mr. Wizard a whole heck of a lot from middle school all the way through college.
Universe with Walter Cronkite. I looked back for this one and was really surprised to realize that it just ran for two summers. It really had an effect on me. Walter rocks.
Music videos
- Sledgehammer- Peter Gabriel
- Take on Me- a-ha That’s not to say that I’m an a-ha fan, but there is this one moment of… oh heck, if you’ve seen the video, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.