RANDOM THOUGHTS #124

Steve Cole discusses the TV shows he watches: The last time I did this, people said I watch too much TV. Maybe so, although given the fact that some of these shows are short-run and others are on only sporadically, and some of them are the ones I watch to fall asleep and never finish, and I watch some while I exercise, it's not so bad as that.
 
NETWORK TYPE-A TELEVISION: This season has been, well, disappointing, with most of the new offerings pleasantly boring and many old favorites dropping into that category. I won't mention several shows I tried and dropped.
   
AMAZING RACE: I gotta admit that I sometimes fast forward through challenges and just see who got kicked off. Then again, I frankly don't care and probably wouldn't watch it except to get to the part of the recording that has Good Wife. (Because the football games often make this show late, we set it to run longer.)
   
ARROW: I hate "dark" shows but this one is actually pretty good, even if the combat scenes are just silly.
      
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: I could do without the military conspiracy to create super soldiers plotline, but love the two lead actors and their respective sidekicks.
        
BECKETT: The best TV cop show of all time, if only they'd get rid of that annoying mystery writer and let Kate do her job.
      
BLUEBLOODS: Consistently good writing makes even the family drama stuff interesting.
    
BONES: Will she just get over herself, realize she has fallen in love, and marry Booth?
 
CSI: NY, VEGAS: These have fallen into the pleasantly boring category. I probably would not watch at all except for the cute blonde whose dad is becoming sheriff of Vegas.
     
ELEMENTARY: This modern spin on Sherlock Holmes is delightful and probably the best new show of the season.
     
GOOD WIFE: Good writing makes it watchable. She needs to go back to her husband and be nice to mom-in-law.
      
GREY'S ANATOMY: Once a major favorite, now little more than a soap opera with too much sex, I watch it as soon as it shows up because it's as comfortable as a pair of well worn shoes. It has unfortunately been fairly insulting to Christianity and shoves too much social commentary down my throat.
        
GRIMM: One of the two or three best shows on TV.
        
HAWAII FIVE OH: Overall disappointing. And everybody knows that McGarrett and Wo Fat are half-brothers, right?
  
LAST RESORT: How is it possible to do a submarine show when the writers have no clue how a submarine works? The background is so inane that it's easy to see why this nonsense was cancelled.
   
MENTALIST: Patrick Jane is just annoying but I watch it for Lisbon and to see if the two junior agents hook up again.
   
MOB DOCTOR: I loved this show when it came on but somehow I lost the will to watch the four episodes stored on TiVo.
    
NASHVILLE: Not a fan of country music, but the show is at least pleasantly boring and sometimes better. It is, however, somewhat more of a soap opera than I prefer.
    
NCIS: This is the top rated show of the year but frankly until DiNozzo asks Ziva to marry him I will find it boring.
     
ONCE UPON A TIME: One of the most cleverly written shows on television. It is a delight to watch.
       
REVENGE: Season one was interesting but season two with it's off-the-deep-end conspiracy theory sits unwatched in a folder on my TiVo.
  
REVOLUTION: I love post-apocalyptic shows but really, this one is so off-the-deep-end that six episodes sit unwatched in a TiVo folder.
 
RIZZOLI & ISLES: I love the two actresses and the cranky sergeant and this clever show goes to the top of the watch-now list whenever it shows up on my "now playing" screen.
   
SCANDAL: I cannot stop watching this clever show even if the insane plot about Republican vote-rigging is insulting to my intelligence.
 
SPECIAL VICTIMS: I'd watch Mariska read a phone book, but the constant political propaganda has worn thin.

MALE SOAP OPERAS: I love these, being an engineer.
      
AX MEN: It's back but could they not have gotten rid of Shelby and those idiots from S&S Aqua Logging? What happened to the guys from mule logging and helicopter logging? They were fun.

        
DEADLIEST CATCH: Won't be back for months but I have seen so many that it's becoming boring.
    
GOLDRUSH ALASKA: The Hoffmans seem to have gained some experience and learned how to do it.
     
HOW THE STATES GOT THEIR SHAPES: The first season was actually about the title but the second season is about all kinds of other stuff and just isn't as interesting.
   
ICE ROAD TRUCKERS: Won't be back for months, and if they don't get girls back in the driver's seat I won't watch it any more. Last season was boring for just that reason.
      
JUNGLE GOLD: Even I can see why their wash plant isn't recovering any gold. It's all set up wrong, and has no riffles in the sluice box. They got flim-flammed by Chris, who made money billing them to mine ground he knew was worthless.
 
BUSINESS SHOWS: If you own a business and are not watching these, you're doing yourself a disservice. The ones I follow include Bar Rescue, Hotel Hell, Hotel Impossible, Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant Impossible, Restaurant Stakeout, Shark Tank, and Tabitha Takes Over. Not exactly business shows, but Princess, Holmes Inspection, Holmes on Homes, and 'Til Debt Do Us Part are also favorites, being shows from Canada. Project Runway, Sister Wives, and The Will: Family Secrets Revealed, are what I call "sort-of-business" shows.
 
CABLE SHOWS: I catch these now and then for pleasantly boring nighttime fall-asleep fare.
       
AMISH MAFIA: This show is a total hoot. Who knew those Amish were such fun?
     
COVERT AFFAIRS: A silly romp but fun to watch.
  
BURN NOTICE: I really don't know why we need these conflicting double plots every episode (where one is him trying to get back into the CIA and the other is his private detective company) but whatever. I watch it for the Irish girl.
        
HAVEN: While I'm not a fan of Stephen King but I really do love this show and wish she'd get with Nathan and live happily ever after.
   
LEVERAGE: A very clever show with good people.
  
NIKITA: I like Maggie Q and the new plotline, but for some reason I just never watched the eight episodes stored on TiVo.
       
PSYCH: The original and better version of the Mentalist, but I have something over 40 unwatched episodes on TiVo, but I love the show and am watching them slowly over time.

REDEYE: About the only news show I watch any more. Gives me all of the day's news and makes it funny.
   
WALKING DEAD: Despite the bad writing and plots full of holes, I do watch this every week as soon as it shows up, if only to make fun of their silly combat tactics.