Monday, January 28, 2013

Dr. Danny Castellano or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Television


For the past 15 years or so I have taken great pride in not watching much television at all.  Really for most of my life I cannot remember ever rushing to the TV set on a nightly basis.  Sure, there have been shows that I grew attached to.  I still remember the tears streaming down my face after the first big Ross and Rachel breakup on Friends, while only understanding the other 30% of the show.  Then there was the unexplained phenomena that was Sex and the City.  Not so much that the show was a phenomena (though it very much was).  I just still cannot connect the dots in how I went from not having access to HBO to suddenly needing the whole bible (the complete series set in a pink velour cover) immediately.

Other than those two intimate relationships though, just a few brief flings have scattered themselves here and there.  Until now.  It seems that I have wound up in a very polygamous situation with my television.  I have become someone I never understood.  I am a person with shows.

It all happened so innocently.  My Wednesday nights typically spent with Modern Family soon extended into Nashville.  Because I enjoyed this night so much, I decided to start my television watching even earlier and became an avid watcher of New Girl and The Mindy Project.  Then there was the Friday night I decided to stay in.  Ironically enough, the next morning I woke up with the feeling I had four new best interesting friends: Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna of Girls fame.

When the Golden Globes aired just a couple weeks ago, I started feeling a little more like myself.  The occasional television viewer who was sophisticated enough to know and care about award shows. Something happened though in that three hours because when the show ended I felt nothing but an overwhelming anxiety of all I was missing.  How in the world could I be completely unaware of what people are calling Claire Danes' finest performance?  And who is her adorable co-star that no one knew was actually British?  I don't even want to mention the name Downton Abbey as it is still a large shame I am dealing with.  It was happening.  Or rather, it happened.  I became a person with shows OnDemand.

It must be said that I have not become one of those people who ditch their plans because they "forgot to turn their straightener off."  It's just that I have become more "organized" (don't make me say "OnDemand" again).  The truth is, I get it now.  That feeling that's escaped me for so long, I feel it now too.  It's rest.  It's relaxation.  It's love.  It's television.

Oh, and one more thing...

68 DAYS UNTIL MAD MEN!!!!!!!!!

1 comment:

  1. This is cute! Saw your comment over on Simone's blog and decided to come and visit. A friend once told me that tv was something to do when there was nothing else to do ~ I should not plan my life around my shows. That being said I would never give up my PVR/DVR ~ well maybe for 1 million dollars but then I would go out and buy a new one! I too have shows and am a proud tv watcher.

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