As Seen On TV

I've said it before. I love a good story. I love to read a good story. I love to watch a good story. It can be a movie. It can be a great Broadway Play. It can be a television show. There's a lot of good television shows out there that I am just discovering in the past year or so. And they are all on cable.

There's very little worth watching anymore on the regular old school channels (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC). Everything is pretty much reality tv and I'm beginning to get all realitied out. I was an avid American Idol fan from the beginning. The key word in that sentence is "was". I gave up on it this year. Ellen's funny, but she's not helping the show and the talent this year is pretty much non-existent. You know...Paula Abdul always annoyed the crap out of me, but now that's she gone, I have no one to make fun of. And I can't help but think about the lack of talent and the lack of crazy Paula. Is it a coincidence? Maybe she had better judgement then we realized.

Around this time last year, we switched from a Dish for our tv watching pleasure to a Cable Company. It was also around this time that I came down with that dreadful flu, since my neighborhood was in the heart of the whole panicky "epidemic" since a whole high school came back from Spring Break with it.

As I lay on the couch, miserable for days, I discovered the On Demand feature with our new Cable Company. I browsed, not really interested in anything more than getting rid of my flu and my prized pig collection in my office when I saw that I could watch an entire season of True Blood. I had heard about it but never had the time to become interested. I decided to try the first episode. Just to see what the hype was all about.

Twelve hours later I decided that if anything should ever happen to DH, I would like to replace him the Sheriff Eric Northman, the Vampire Viking. The show was great. I was hooked.

The next day, still feeling listless, I decided to venture into another made for cable television show. I decided to try Dexter. I was pretty much set against watching Dexter because I knew it was about a serial killer. I didn't like the idea of giving a serial killer a show. I thought it was glorifying murders, making fun of victims. Boy, was I wrong.

I am now Dexter's number one fan. I have a Dexter Bobble Head. I have Dexter trading cards. I live and breath Dexter. I rooted for Dexter and the cast at the Golden Globes. I count down the days until the next season.

I also discovered Nurse Jackie, The Tudors, and United States of Tara. All made for cable. All raunchy and funny in a way the old school channels could never be. I love being shocked. Old school channels just can't shock you the way Cable Channels can.

Yesterday, I decided to try WEEDS. Let's just say that I have watched the first 10 episodes in the last 24 hours. My daughter is having a playdate this afternoon. House needs to be straightened up. Dog crate needs to be cleaned. I need to shower. I will get that done, but I cannot wait until my daughter's friends go home so I can sit down and start watching season two of WEEDS.

Good stories on cable channels. God, I love that On Demand button.