Thursday, December 09, 2004

Sucked in

Tonight, while in a local area chatroom, one of my friends was talking about the vote about to happen on survivor. Like a fool, I turned it on to see the vote. It is the only 4 minutes of the series I have watched all season. When it was over, I went back to chatting in the chatroom, but didn't turn the TV off. The next time I looked up, CSI was coming on.

I like crime dramas, but rarely watch them. We watch about 2 or 3 hours of TV a week, excluding what the kids watch, or movies on DVD or VHS. If there was a Crime Drama Channel, I might be in trouble. (There may be one already. I don't have cable or satellite.) Most of the rest of TV doesn't interest me. Sitcoms are mostly dumb. Soap operas are .. Well .. They just don't make sense to me. Everyone has married and divorced everyone on the show. We won't even go there with the resurrections on these shows. There is more dead raising, lame walking, dumb talking on these shows than at a faith healers convention.

Regardless, I was sucked into watching CSI, which I enjoyed. Then came Missing Persons. I have seen it a time or two. Also, not a bad show. I like the stand alone ability of the shows and the continuity of a regularly appearing cast. Regular fans get things that the casual watcher might miss, but the plot and action of each episode stands alone so it is enjoyable for all.

Soon, Tammy and I will return to our regular TV watching. We like the FOX series "24" with Keifer Sutherland. Come on January 9. Two seasons ago, I was working in Indiana. Tammy would visit on Tuesdays so that we could watch it together. (I highly suspect that there were other reasons for her visits, but 24 made it Tuesday.) On the rare occasion that she could not come up on a Tuesday, we would call each other and 'watch' the show together over the phone.

Anyway, back to tonight. One thing I noticed, that perhaps one can become desensitized to over time, was the volume and annoying nature of the commercials. WOW! They were annoying. When the kids are watching something while we are in the room doing other things, the TV becomes a background noise. It blends in and becomes part of the roar that exists in the back. These commercials defied that. They refused to be relegated to the back. They had just enough volume to make them stand out and just enough of a "claws on the chalkboard" quality to grate on the nerves of a saint. Oh my gosh, it is terrible.

Thanks to that grating quality, I am once again reminded of why I do not like watching TV. The beast has been silenced. The demon has been exorcised. The noise has been pushed to the back with the help of my whip and chair. Peace has descended. Well, as much peace as one can find with teenagers in the house.

Good night all.

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