Sunday, June 18, 2006

Wishy Washy Watching

You know how much I love TV, that pretty magic box with the pictures and twinkling people. But these days, well, I can't seem to find *my show.* That said, here are the shows I'm watching.

*Kathy Griffin's My Life of the D List. I think KG is really funny, and at times pretty darn radical. This week the episode is about the time she spent in IRAQ, and that promises to be pretty compelling. I'm curious to see how a show that is basically about Hollywood will depict the war.

*The Hills. Okay, I watch this show. Partly because LC is like this little trembling deer, and partly because Heidi seems to be the first graduate from the Kristen Cavallari School of Acting. These girls are not really interesting, and all the boys on the show are hardly distinguishable from orangutans, but still I will watch. Although I hear Jason is coming back this week and I think he is really really boring, so...

*Making the Band. This first episode of this season was really weak. I just can't get into Shannon. She seems like a nice enough girl, but she lacks charisma. Aundrea is my favorite. The focus of the first episode was on the girls' trip to NOLA for Mardi Gras, and to be honest, it seemed really strange. And sad. Dawn is from NOLA, and the cameras followed the girls into her neighborhood that is basically a huddle of moldy debris. And then she went to her high school, and the girls made a donation of 5k. I have no idea what sort of money the Making the Band girls have, but it is for sure a helluva lot less than Diddy, who owns single pieces of jewelry that could probably fund that school for a year. But that isn't even the point. The point is that Mardi Gras, and the whole push to revive NOLA through tourism seems really fucked up. And the Making the Band girls couldn't really hide their bewilderment and confusion. Dawn especially, who has since relocated to Baltimore, seemed troubled. I mean, she basically went to her old neighborhood and her mom's old business -- both of which were in tatters -- and then got on a float and danced for a handful of white tourists. It just seemed odd. And confused. And sad.

*At some point, I'd like to write more extensively about VH1's Can't Get a Date and National Geographic's The Dog Whisperer, which both seem to be a new kind of self-help show. I like both of these shows very much.

That's all for now. What are you watching?

6 comments:

Karen M said...

I am thoroughly addicted to Deadliest Catch, the show about crab fishing. I can't decide how it makes me feel, but for the most part, since there are not any women on the boats, except the "mom" on one who does all the cooking and makes sure everyone wears a life vest, there aren't any women being portrayed as objects instead of people. Everything else I've seen lately on tv reeks of misogyny, so I watch nature shows, instead.

mzn said...

We are almost at the end of season one of Everwood on DVD and lamenting that seasons 2 and 3, most of which we missed, aren't available (they might air in syndicated reruns, though). This show was much better at the beginning than at the end despite what most of its fans seem to think. When we're through with it we're moving on to more TV on DVD: perhaps Battlestar or Northern Exposure. For me summer is for catching up.

I'm also loving the World Cup.

porkmuffin said...

woah, i totally went to the comments page to say Deadliest Catch! looks like ren beat me to it... part of why i like it is that it's a glimpse of a whole masculine culture--like a wreck i can't look away from..

Karen M said...

p muffin--another fender-bender of masculinity is Ghosthunters on the sci-fi channel. No mediums or psychics; just a couple of plumbers and a lot of electronic equipment, investigating "hauntings."

Elka said...

we have been watching on DVD or the pooter (in order of likedom):

big love
scrubs
deadwood
weeds

How about a post on the false culture of consumerism and classism promoted by the premise of Weeds--that one would rather illegally sell drugs than sell her house and move to a crappier neighborhood? Ick. Dan loves Weeds, but I have a hard time with it.....

femme feral said...

wow! Thanks for all the comments! I will def check out deadliest catch. I have not seen weeds. I did watch big love. And of course the sopranos and VM and GGs, even though I'm fed up with the GGs. I've heard the american office is good, and I saw an ad in EW for some BBC called Hex -- it looked like it was about some teen witch. Did anyone see that?