TV

I think I watch the most television of anyone I know. I recently got a DVR from my cable company, and that has actually cut down on the amount a little. (For those who don't know, a DVR is a Digital Video Recorder - Tivo, Replay TV, etc. Basically, a digital VCR) I have wanted one for a long time. You can set things to be taped just once or every time the episode is on. I swear sometimes scheduled things just go away, though. A little annoying. Anyway, I always get the fall preview edition of TV Guide. It lays out a basic weekly schedule of all the new shows, as well as the returning ones. I plan my TV watching with this for the first few months. Right now, my week goes something like this:

Sunday - Futurama, Simpsons, Law and Order
Monday - Still Standing, Raymond
Tuesday - 70s Show, 24, Frasier, Good Morning Miami
Wednesday - Bachelor, King of Queens, South Park
Thursday - Friends, Scrubs, Will & Grace, Coupling, Survivor/Amazing Race
Friday - Miss Match, Grounded for Life, George Lopez
Saturday - SNL, Mad TV

Plus, during the day I tape several reruns of Friends, the Simpsons and Jeopardy. I also watch a lot of mid-level cable, like Travel Channel, Comedy Central, Game Show Network, Tech TV, DIY and HGTV. I wish the Travel Channel would stop being a 24 hour commercial for Vegas, that Comedy Central would have more stand-up and cancel The Man Show, and that GSN would put a Chuck Woolery limit on their daily broadcasts. All of these things would be fine in moderation (except maybe the Man Show, I was so disappointed with that. Don't they know you need a straight man and a foil, and that 2 foils just make for bad TV?) but they get to be too much.

Another thing that bothers me about TV is that the seasons tend to get shorter and shorter. I mean, there are regular shows, not mid-season replacements, that don't start until the end of October. Then there are shows that have their season finale in March! I always thought the TV season should line up with the school year, essentially starting in September and ending in June. Well, I heard that part of the reason there are fewer shows per season is that they're getting more expensive to produce. While that may be true, I don't think they should just shorten the season, or worse, start running reruns in October. I don't know how the Sweeps months got set up, but I think it's time for a change in TV scheduling. I propose a two season per year schedule. Each season would last about six months, maybe an Oct-March Season and an April-Sept. That way, CBS for example, could run Survivor for one of the seasons and The Amazing Race for the other, both in the Thursday 7pmCST "Midas Touch" time slot. The summer season could be used to test out shows that the networks aren't sure about, and if they are wildly successful, a la Friends, they can be moved to the fall season. You could still have a midseason replacement roster, and more turnover in shows would results in the networks being able to respond to trends faster and profit from all the kids that are home from school in the summer. These are some of my more general thoughts on TV. I will continue my TV ranting later, with more specific criticisms and raves.