Watching Sitcoms

So I sat down and wrote out a complete schedule of all the shows I want to watch coming up in the next few weeks and I realized something.  I’m not gonna be able to do it.  There just isn’t enough time in the day for it.  Especially since I went back to work full-time.  *sigh*

Here’s the breakdown:

Mondays (7 hours)
8:00 pm - Chuck (NBC), House (FOX), The Secret Life of the American Teenager (ABC Fam), The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8:30 pm - How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
9:00 pm - Heroes (NBC), The Bachelor (ABC)

Tuesdays - (4 hours)
8:00 pm - 90210 (CW), American Idol (FOX)
9:00 pm - Fringe (FOX)
10:00 pm - Law and Order: SVU (NBC)

Wednesday (2 1/2-3 hours)
8:00 pm - American Idol (FOX), America’s Next Top Model (CW)
9:00 pm - Lost (ABC)

Thursday (4 hours)
8:00 pm - Bones (FOX), Smallville (CW)
9:00 pm - Kitchen Nightmares/Hell’s Kitchen (FOX), Supernatural (CW)

Friday (4 hours)
8:00 pm - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
9:00 pm - Dollhouse (FOX), Monk (USA)
10:00 pm - Psych (USA)

That’s over 20 hours of television. There is no way I’m fitting that all in, still working full-time, maintaining two blogs and having a life besides. Some shows are gonna have to go, but I just don’t know which ones. Monday is the worst. I was just coming around to being OK with the fact that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles had been banished to Fridays, mostly because Monday’s wouldn’t be so crowded anymore. Then they moved both House and The Secret Life to the same time slot on Monday. So now its gonna be even harder.

I guess I’ll just have to watch some shows online, since I can only DVR two things at a time. But when will I have time to watch these other shows. They kinda frown upon that sort of thing where I work. (”Gee, boss, I’m sorry, but I didn’t have any other free time to watch The Bachelor. I didn’t think you’d mind.”) *sigh*

I think I’m a TV junkie. I may need help.

I was talking to some friends about shows we watch in common, and it was pointed out to me that I watch a lot of TV. I didn’t really think so, well, I guess I did, but I didn’t think it was that noticable. Anyway, it got me to thinking about (more…)

I didn’t get it. But sometimes that happens when you just see one episode of a show. Especially a show that’s clearly going to be complicated and has just started out. But I so much wanted it to be good. I wanted to get it.

I watched the first episode of Fringe (”presented with limited commerical interruption”) and maybe I was just expecting too much, but I wasn’t thrilled. I purposely haven’t read any reviews about the show, since I wasn’t able to watch it right when it aired and I wanted to see it without seeing what everyone thought. I’ll read other reviews after I write this one, so I know this is my opinion and not anyone else’s.
(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?

I watched a couple eps of Miss Guided last Thursday. It was actually two episodes back to back which aired on ABC before Lost last week. They are doing the same thing this week, two back to back episodes, starting at 8:00 pm ET.

I don’t know what I thought this show would be like, but it was actually kinda cute. Becky Freeley (played by Judy Greer), was a gawky, insecure high school student (weren’t we all?). She has now returned to her alma mater as a guidance counselor hoping to have finally overcome her awkward, traumatic high school experiences.

Also on staff is Tim (played by Kristoffer Polaha), a school mechanic who has been recruited into a position as the substitute Spanish teacher. It’s clear that Becky is in love with Tim, but unfortunately, although he treats her as a friend, he seems unaware of her attraction to him. Also, unfortunately, the hot new English teacher, Lisa Germain (played by Brooke Burns), is her past high school nemesis, and it forces Becky to relive her high school neurosis, as well as giving her a rival for Tim’s affections. Miss Guided also stars Earl Billings as Principal Huffy and Chris Parnell as Vice Principal Bruce Terry.

One episode, “Hot Sub” was about a new substitute Spanish teacher (played by Ashton Kutcher, an Executive Producer of the show), that Becky is determined not to like, because it appears that he will be replacing Tim, forcing him back to his position as school auto shop teacher. Ashton’s character is universally liked at the school, because of his laid back, friendly persona, and his ability to connect so easily with both faculty and student. However, then he makes it clear that he prefers Becky to Lisa.

The other ep, “The List” was about their school’s gossip website and Becky’s crazy machinations to move up on the hottest teacher list.

You can see the the full eps at the ABC website. Also, you might want to check it out this Thursday.

I just found something new online. It’s a site called Hulu.com and it has lots of tv shows and movies that you can watch for free. Some are just clips, but there are lots of full episodes and full movies on the site. And not just new stuff, either.

For example, I just watched an old episode of Barney Miller and really enjoyed it. I used to love this show and it was fun to see an ep from back when. I’ve considered buying the DVDs, but never did because I knew I’d probably just watch them once. Now, I don’t need to spend that money, I can just watch them on Hulu. Now, not all the eps from all the seasons are there, but still there were several to choose from and that was good enough for me.

The episode I watched, The Ghost, was from the third season and starred a recurring character that I remember well from the series. His name is Kenneth Tigar and he played various crazies in several episodes over the course of the show. I remember one episode he was in where he said he was a werewolf and the way they played it, you almost believed it yourself. In The Ghost, he plays a man who claims he is haunted by the ghost of an ancestor and suddenly strange things start happening at the precinct. Very funny.

In all honesty, for years I believed that the guy who played those roles was Sam Anderson, who presently plays Bernard on Lost and also had a recurring role on Angel. The two actors do look something alike and I never thought to look it up. So, see, I learned two things this week. Apparently, you are never too old to learn.

So go check out Hulu.com. It only takes a moment to register and the site is free, so enjoy!

Now that the absolute end of the strike is in sight (yay!!!), here’s some news about when shows are gonna be back on the air. I love Michael Ausiello, don’t you? He always has all the answers.

So I checked out his list for all the shows I’m watching, and I was interested to see that some shows still have pre-strike episodes that haven’t aired yet. Somehow, I thought everything that was out there had already aired, with the exception of those few shows that are presently airing new eps, like Lost, Smallville, Supernatural and whatever else there is . . . they know who they are. For instance, I didn’t realize that there are still eps of Back To You and Bones that haven’t aired. So that’s fun. Hopefully, those will air before Spring.

It was sad to see that both Chuck and Moonlight are not going to be back until Fall. I love those shows. Along with Big Bang Theory, they were my favorite new shows of the past season. At least Big Bang will be back by April or May. I guess it gives me something I can look forward to. I have some questions about those shows, though. When will the first season DVDs come out? And when they do, will it be just these few episodes? I mean, they won’t hold off on putting out the DVDs until after new episodes air next Fall, will they?

Well, the exciting news is some of the shows we’ve come to know and love will be back soon. And right now I’m busy pretty much every night of the week watching American Idol anyway.

Woo and hoo!! New episodes are back. At least for a couple of weeks. And you can color me happy. Not that I’m not enjoying all the stuff I’ve been watching on DVD, but I’d just like to see something filmed after 1989. Its been so long for some shows, I’m not even sure I can remember everything I watched before. Which is a bad sign, cause it obviously means I don’t need to watch anything I don’t remember. And there’s also the fact that even when I remember which shows I was watching, I’m pretty sure I don’t remember what was happening when I saw them last.

I already mentioned Chuck, which will air the last two taped episodes tonight on NBC at 8 pm and 10 pm (this is lovely, cause I really, really miss Chuck) and Torchwood’s new season, which starts on BBC America on Saturday, January 26 at 9 pm. My watchingcw blog also discusses the new eps of Smallville and Supernatural, which start airing on Thursday, January 31 at 8 pm and 9 pm, respectively, on the CW.

And in other very exciting news, also coming back with new eps is (yay!!) House, three weeks in a row, starting Tuesday, January 29 at 9 pm, following American Idol. It will be so much fun to finally see how the new team works out, since we just got them picked when the last ep aired.

Finally, season four of Lost is starting on Thursday, January 31 at 9 pm on ABC, preceded by a recap episode entitled Lost: Past, Present & Future, at 8 pm. I’m really looking forward to Lost, but I’m not exactly positive why. I guess I just keep thinking that some day I’ll understand it and then it would have all been worthwhile. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you should go watch the “Missing Pieces.” They are a little confusing as they’re in no apparent order and they deal with stuff that happened over the past three years, but they are still fun. It only takes about 20 minutes to watch all of them that are up at the ABC site, so you should go see them before the season starts.

Chuck, Torchwood, Smallville, Supernatural, House, American Idol, Lost