your latest television obsession

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Last night I got to see both "Greed" and "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire." I also watched "Friends," the special "Friends" (which had that great "Stay tuned for a very special 'Friends' that shows how all of the Friends met with some lost 'Friends' footage" tagline), and "ER." I wasn't even planning on watching television. I've got to stop flipping channels because I always find some show that I can't stop watching. I mean, Jeopardy can't get your heart pounding like "Greed" and "Millionaire" can.

What shows are you obsessed with?

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999

Answers

CROCODILE HUNTER!!! I can't get enough of the shows on Animal Planet. That and Sex and the City on HBO, and I"m a happy girl.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999

THIS LIFE on BBC/BBCAmerica....I'm addicted!!! Learned how to program the VCR for this and this alone! :-)

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999

Now that I've got Cartoon Network, I've developed a taste for Dexter's Laboratory and the Powerpuff Girls. The Upright Citizen's Brigade kicks ass, too, but I usually forget to watch it.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999

Friends reruns. Actually this has been going on for some time. I hardly ever watch the new episodes, but I plan my early evening around the two Friends reruns our local WB affiliate shows every weekday. I check the listings on Yahoo to see if today's episode is one of the ones I haven't seen too many times, and then I decide whether to walk the dog during or after Friends, or during the late one or the early one.

It's a sickness, I know.

And of course I'm still obsessed with all things Buffy, but that's ongoing. I'm also obsessed with hating Ally McBeal and Third Rock From the Sun, but I've mostly got that under control.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999


I actually used to make a HUGE effort to be home every Tuesday night to watch The Real World. I don't know why I love that show so much, since I always spend the half hour yelling at the tv about how much I hate all of them, and also how mad I am that the commercial breaks are 8 minutes long each, and I only really am getting 6 minutes of quality time to hate them properly.

My newest obsession is Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I could have walked away with $250,000 the other night, dammit. That money should have been mine. I am so sad the show is only around for sweeps. I don't try to get on the show, though, because I know the questions are only easy if I am sitting on my own couch.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999



New to the United States, and loving the bad tv here. Well, and the good tv. I adore Sex and the City, which didn't play in Canada when I was there. Also, I love that bad 80's tv is all over the place, daytime, and I usually tape Kate and Allie, and Different World for those days when I am too tired to do anything but watch the television.

I love hating Ally McBeal, although I do like the Georgia character. And I discovered Real World, and live to hate that show. Kim from www.fresh-hell.com does the most amazingly bitter recap....she rules!

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999


Pokémon.

Actually, I think my overall TV consumption has dropped, since I've cut all sitcoms, except for The Simpsons, Futurama, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, and Stark Raving Mad, all dramas, except for The X-Files, Chicago Hope and Now and Again, and I watch both 60 Minutes. And Pokémon twice every weekday and Saturday. So that's about 11-13 hours of TV a week.

But even though half of my viewing week is Pokémon, I think I can attribute the overall cut down of my TV viewing to that show. Most of the characters sacrifice a lot in personal comfort to pursue their respective disciplines. I also like what the show says in terms of restraint. The Pokémon that evolve too quickly tend to become corrupted, and the Pokémon that choose to delay evolution learn to compensate internally for what they lack externally. I find that to be consistant with real life.

That, and the Pikachu is a happy breast-like creature. When I see more than one Pikachu, I lose control.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999


Oh yes, I loved the Real World, as much as I hated everybody on it. Also Downtown, that stupid cartoon show on MTV, I just adore. I hope it's back on soon!

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999

The two best shows on TV are "Sports Night" and "That 70's Show." (I'm sure I'll draw fire for that proclamation!) But, besides those, my other "must-see" TV includes "Sex & the City," and "ER." "Try-to- see TV" includes "Spin City" and "Friends." My favorite shows that I unfortunately tend to watch sporadically because I never remember they're on are "The Practice" and "King of the Hill." I also obsessively watch "The Real World," and I think I'm the only person in America who liked Amaya!

I hate AT&T Digital Cable in Dallas. The lineup is awesome, but the newfangled cable boxes have no timers! Who ever heard of such a thing! I play bar trivia every Tuesday night, and it's rough getting all those great shows in. Thankfully I have two cable boxes/VCRs, and my friend tapes "That 70's Show" and I tape "Sports Night" and "Real World," then we try to get together later in the week to watch them. But what a hassle.

I don't get "Dharma & Greg." It has good moments, but for the most part it leaves me cold. "Will & Grace" was so awesome last season, but the only times I've gotten to watch it this season it's sucked pretty hard. I miss when "Third Rock" was good. I don't get the whole phenomenon of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" It's painful for me to watch. Used to love "Drew Carey," but it's gotten kind of long in the tooth. And too bad they put the great "Whose Line is it Anyway?" on Thursdays.

I dare NBC to move "Jesse" to another night besides Thursday. It would die a slow, painful death, just like "Suddenly Susan" and "Veronica's Closet." All three of those shows never should've even been put on the air!

I used to be addicted to newsmagazines, but now they just get on my nerves.

I don't think I've ever watched anything on UPN or the WB. Very little on Fox. Am I missing anything good?

Shows that I've heard are great, but either (a) never remember to watch, (b) think it's too late to start watching now, or (c) am afraid to get caught up in: "Oz," "The Sopranos," and "Law & Order," and "Freaks & Geeks." Should I start watching any of these? Which ones, and why? Is there anything else out there that I'm missing that I should be watching? I LOVE TV! I need more shows to watch!!!

-- Anonymous, November 19, 1999


The new Sopranos season starts in mid-January on HBO. I am keeping HBO for that program. It is worth it. Other than that (and it's not on the air right now) there is no program that I feel I have to watch. I almost never turn on the tv unless I am either going to pop a rental movie in the vcr or if a bad storm has been forecast and I want to check the weather channel (and now that I've got cable internet I'll probably just check online instead.) Most tv that I watch is because someone else in my family is watching and I come into that room and get interested. I do like to watch Simpsons but usually forget about it unless one of my kids turns it on.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 1999


Hmmm...I only have 3 shows I watch religously: "Friends", "That 70's Show" and "The Simpsons". But I do have stuff that I'll watch whenever, like I've taken up watching "Talk Soup" because the reruns are on right when I get home from school and because Hal Sparks is hot:) However, I plan my homework schedule around my 2 episodes of "Simpsons" and 1 episode of "Friends" on local UPN from 6:00-7:30. Unless its a crappy Sideshow Bob episode on "Simpsons" or an early (re: Pre-Monica and Chandler) "Friends" episode...then I just continue on with homework. I also like VH1, MTV, E! and Comedy Central and usually flip through those 4 when I'm bored...

-- Anonymous, November 20, 1999

i live in new zealand. u americans probably have no idea what the hell nz is but its by australia if you have figured out where that is. we only have 4 channels here which is shit and there is shit all on most of the time but um i like simpsons, futurama, friends (isnt on anymore), all the lame sitcoms i like for some reason and yeah thats about it.

-- Anonymous, November 20, 1999

dawson's creek. hardcore. and i second beth's friends reruns obsession. i have one of those, too, and i've finally gotten it under control (i work during that time slot two nights a week) but for a while it was really taking over my life.

mostly dawson's, though.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1999


Felicity. I don't know why. I can't help wonder what's going to happen to her next. And that hair cut. I could NEVER have done that! I give her props. And, just to go along with other people, the Friends reruns.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1999

Pokemon. (Please, HELP ME.)

There's a bunch of other cartoons that I like but won't go into here. (I'm assuming we're talking about shows for grown-ups, yes?) Red Dwarf, The Red-Green Show, Nature, Nova, Antiques Roadshow... Can you tell I watch a lot of PBS?

The X-Files, The Simpsons, Futurama. The whole sci-fi thing on Saturday/Sunday afternoons. (I don't have cable, so my choices of channels is limited. My TV is usually off.

Oh, and I hate Buffy. (*DIVES* out of the way!!)

she's actual size

-- Anonymous, November 21, 1999



wellll, we just got a sattelite system and mtv and vh1 again after so many years...and i have been watching that show the list too and its pretty cool, but mtv is very dissapointing now....mind you when i was into it i was four, i was not a sesame street kid i was a madonna and the bangles and mtv kinda grrl :) and i hate to say it but i do like the real world, and daria, but mostly i watch the sundance channel, i loooove documentaries hehe. anyway uhmmmm and the gameshow network...YES MONEY MONEY. i will be a game show queen i WILL I WILL. *sits down*

-- Anonymous, November 22, 1999

Of course cartoons count! They're not just for kids! (Although I did have a 30-minute conversation about pokemon with a 4 year-old at the laundromat today while his dad just looked at me and laughed) Hell, I was Jiggly-Puff for Halloween. For 2 months I was glued to Cartoon Network to see how the big fight on Dragonball Z would turn out (I knew the good guy would win, but they have a way of dragging everything out).

I think my love of cartoons stems from the fact that they aren't trying to be too serious or pretend like they're not following a formula. Sit-coms (other than the Simpsons- which I don't include in that catagory) are generally horribly forced and hokey. I do love Law & Order and Homicide reruns, so I'm not a total kid; but I guess cops & robbers isn't necessarily a big step towards maturity.

I need to get HBO so I'll know what all the hype around the Sopranos is about. I already missed out on the Mr. Show boat, dammit.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1999


It's all about "That 70s Show" and "Millionaire" (except you have to root AGAINST the contestants).

Since I work the second shift, I also found myself drawn to bad daytime television.

Especially the craft shows. There is nothing better than "The Christopher Lowell Show" unless you consider "Aleen's Creative Living."

That's some kitchy crap, baby. And only one of them is on purpose! -ericka

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1999


I'm obsessed with OZ. The show is so friggin horrifying. Why do I do it? I have no clue. It certainly deters me from committing any sort of crime. I'm like,"Jaywalking is only a couple of court dates away from getting raped by the white supremacist who was in the Broadway revival of 'Guys and Dolls'. Just wait for the light to change." That guy was in musicals. He scares me more than the "Thriller" video.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

Jeff -

I am so with you on Oz. Whenever he strolls up with the lipstick for his nerdy, white-collar crime, cellmate bitch - I cringe so hard I have to change the channel.

Eek.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000


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