(Transferred from www.rerunproject.wordpress.com)
Television always had its place in my youth. I had my favorite shows that I watched religiously for the purely visceral rewards they offered children. It started with MacGyver — a show I now find horrificly unwatchable. I still understand why I enjoyed it, but it’s entertainment value has been greatly diminished as I have matured and television has reached a golden age of storytelling.
The last MacGyver episode I encountered was one I watched repeatedly on my extensive betamax recordings — the race episode. This ”very special” ep featured MacGyver on a personal quest after a black friend – a proprietor of a boys and girls club – is murdered (martyred). By the story’s end Mac has the evil culprit cornered and proceeds to shake him down.
“Why?!? Why did you kill him?!?!?”
“Because he was black,” the villian answered.
For an eight year old, that was enough. But twenty years later, after witnessing the brutal realism of The Wire and the dynamic multi-cultural cast of Grey’s Anatomy, MacGyver’s “very special” episode is rather quaint.
Ten years later, those of us who love TV are in the middle of a Golden Age for the medium with a number of gifted visionaries giving us deeply layered stories and richly drawn characters. It offers the breadth of literature with the visual quality of Hollywood’s best blockbusters. Of course, if you’re reading this, you probably know all that. But the impetus of this site was my quest to convince somebody dear to me of its reality.
After falling in love with a smart and sassy broadcast major, I realized that an important part of our relationship would be how she reacted to my TV obsession. I knew it was true love when we spent the first few months of our relationship catching up on Lost before it’s January premiere. She started off willing and then became insistent that we keep plugging ahead.
After plugging through Lost, she wanted to know what else I had. With the writer’s strike thinning out the spring schedule with summer on its heels, my girlfriend Randi and I have started our own special TV schedule based around my massive DVD collection. I intend to use this site to review shows I love as I watch many of them for a second and third time. Plus, I’m sure I’ll include my girlfriend’s thoughts. I’m always up for conversations about my favorite shows.
So here’s our tentative schedule for the week. We’re already in full swing so I’ll have to be doing a little bit of catch-up. But here’s what to expect.
Sunday – House, M.D.
Monday — The Wire
Tuesday – Gilmore Girls (her favorite show which I have never watched)
Wednesday — Movie Night
Thursday — The Office, Lost (New Episodes)
Friday — Battlestar Galactica
Saturday – SNL (New) + Movie Night
Once we get through those shows, new ones will take their place, and there’s a long list to get through (as you can see from my coming soon section). Stay tuned.
