Watching Sitcoms

Also along the wall in the autograph area of Artist Alley were several more people. Some I even recognized. It was pretty much lunch time by now and we saw Robert Culp but he was eating so we went away and when we came back down past we had a chance to see him. He seemed nice, but a little distant. He looked older than I expected, but I think maybe it was just cause he was so thin. His cheeks looked hollow, if you know what I mean. Talking with him was a bit awkward, since even I’m not old enough to remember I Spy, Anne is too young for Greatest American Hero, and one can only talk about Everybody Loves Raymond for so long. We didn’t get an autograph, since he was charging.

Down that same table, there was also Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica). The line was kind of long at that point and since neither of us watch the show, we just moved on. Besides, after him was John Noble and Jasika Nicole from Fringe and that show I do watch. Jasika wasn’t at her spot - probably at lunch - but John was and the line wasn’t too long. I’m guessing cause (more…)

So, what am I watching now? I thought I’d make a list, cause I’m getting a little confused myself. Especially cause it seems like shows are ending and starting all randomly every week. Here’s my rundown (all times are ET):

Monday
The Big Bang Theory - CBS - 8:00 pm
New Amsterdam - FOX - 9:00 pm
The Bachelor: London Calling - ABC - 10 pm

Tuesday
American Idol - FOX - 8 pm
Beauty and the Geek - CW - 8 pm
Reaper - CW - 9 pm

Wednesday
America’s Next Top Model - CW - 8 pm
American Idol - FOX - 9 pm

Thursday
Miss Guided - ABC - 8 pm
Lost - ABC - 9 pm
Smallville - CW - 8 pm
Supernatural- CW - 9 pm

Saturday
Torchwood - BBC America - 9 pm

That’s about 12 1/2 hours per week. That’s not too bad, is it? But, wow, that’s a heck of a lot more reality TV than I realized. And this Tuesday night (April 1) is the start of Hell’s Kitchen on Fox at 9:00 pm ET, following American Idol. That will be at least 6 hours of reality TV a week. I say “at least” because both American Idol and The Bachelor are sometimes longer than an hour.

Of my TV watching time, only an hour and a half is devoted to sitcoms. But, at least its 5 hours is on the CW, and since I write the watchingcw.com blog, too, I feel reassured by that.

Also returning soon are some other shows I’ll be watching, like House, Bones and Law and Order: SVU. Which puts me at a total of 15 1/2 hours per week. That’s not too bad, only a little over 2 hours a day. Of course, that’s only prime time, and it doesn’t take into consideration my regular daily routine while making, eating and cleaning up dinner, from around 5 pm to 8 pm. Then I usually watch, in this order: Everybody Loves Raymond, Everybody Loves Raymond, Judge Judy, 30 Minute Meals, Judge Judy, and Jeopardy. So that’s another possible 3 hours per day. But who’s counting?

To keep going with the sitcom stereotyping, if you go back a few years, women were actually portrayed as the weaker sex, and as needing the strong male role model. Look at I Love Lucy. She was always getting into scrapes and needing to be saved by Ricky. (”Lucy, you got some “splaining to do.” Insert your own fake Cuban accent.) Now, compare Lucy to Raymond (this has apparently become our standard sitcom, against which all others are judged), who plays the buffoon to his strong wife, Debra. Although, that might just be Patricia Heaton, cause she pretty much emasculates Kelsey Grammer in Back To You, as well.

How about looking at parents and children. There used to be shows like Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver and Happy Days where the parents were shown as actually being a little smarter than their children. As actual authoritative figures. Compare those shows to something like Married With Children or Aliens in America. I’ve already commented on how obnoxious and annoying the parents came across on that show. I suppose you could argue that the parents of today’s shows are part of the Me Generation (which as far as I’m concerned is a label for the Baby Boomers, and which should not be confused with Generation Me, a label now applied to people born in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s, but only cause they are even more selfish than we Boomers and want the title for themselves) and as a result, they are more self-involved than the parents of the 50s. That probably started with Michael and Elise Keaton. Clearly, Alex P. was much more evolved than his parents. (But then they were all Boomers, right?)

Obviously, it’s a new world and maybe kids are smarter than they used to be. So what examples can you think of that prove or disprove my point?

I Love Lucy, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Kelsey Grammer, Father Know Best, Leave It To Beaver, Married with Children, Family Ties, Alex P. Keaton, Micahel J. Fox

To carry on with this Men are Dolts theory, I was thinking about other sitcom men. Someone has already commented about the men in Seinfeld, which probably requires a completely separate blog, cause don’t even get me started about George. I was never really a big Seinfeld fan (even though I find Jerry Seinfield’s stand up comedy very funny), just because I can’t take George. I’m very easily embarrassed, even for and by other people, and George is all about embarrassment. Plus, I hate whiny men.

But, in any case, I was thinking about something more modern, like the men of The Big Bang Theory. Obviously, these men are not stupid. But do they lack commonsense? Will they ask for directions?

What have we seen so far? Well, I’ve already made mention of Sheldon asking Penny for advice about the tie on the doorknob, so clearly, they ask for information they don’t already have. However, when it comes to matters that they believe they know about, they do come across as pretty smug.

As far as commonsense goes, I’d have to say they probably don’t have any more than any other sitcom man. Maybe even less, because (and this is borne out in real life, as well) ultra smart people tend to be generally unconcerned about practical matters. Probably, they over think things, which doesn’t allow them to see that some situations could be more quickly and efficiently resolved than that realize.

Not that Penny comes across as being all that sensible. But neither is she the wise-mouthed, bossy, strong woman persona that many other leading sitcom women seem to portray. So I guess that’s another blog entirely as well. If the men generally aren’t too smart, are the women then too bossy? On Raymond, Debra was pretty bossy, and always considered herself much smarter than Ray. But not Penny, she comes across as sweet and friendly, but not too bright. Which I guess is the point of the show. So it doesn’t fit with the theory entirely. Any ideas out there? What shows fit and which don’t?

Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, George Costanza, Eveybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco