A Statement About Me Being Late to the Party. Per Usual.

I think I have officially given up on television.

And now I have to clarify, because considering that my last post was about Lost, you realize that that statement cannot be as absolute as it first appears.

Here's the thing: watching shows when they air on television is kind of stupid, inconvenient, and a waste of time. The fact that I have to adapt my increasingly erratic schedule to when the networks deem is the proper time for me to watch a show (and they show such excellent judgment-- I'm looking at you, NBC) is just... not cool.

So this is what people have been talking about ever since the Writers Strike and the AMPTP announcement that there was no proof that alternate media would prove viable and monetarily fantasmagorical. The AMPTP, I think we can all agree, was incredibly, stupidly short-sighted in this regard.

No one watches every show they love in the original time that it airs anymore. Between the much more important and time-sensitive matters in people's lives and the counter-programming of the aforementioned favorite shows against each other (Hi Lost and American Idol. Sorry, AI. I'm done with you for the season because you'll actually be back next year), it's simply impossible to watch everything as it airs.

I personally have not seen my favorite shows on television since I returned home from The West. Thursday nights are one of my only "quiet" nights of the week, and sitting down to really enjoy an ep of 30 Rock and The Office is just not in the cards. Why am I not freaking out about this? Because Hulu exists. And if the eps start disappearing off of there, iTunes sells them for $1.99. And if I am still not in that much of a rush, they're on my pre-pre-order list on Amazon. We don't live in the time of "if you miss it on television, you'll have to try to catch it in reruns." We live in the time of "I'll definitely see it one way or another."

Which brings me to my final piece of wisdom for the day: New shows. I recently saw a Tweet by a romance author (apologies-- I don't remember which one) who said that she uses the lapsed time between the release of a book in hardcover and its release in E-Format to read the reviews and to decide if she really wants to read the book. I feel the same about television shows. I'm not going to commit myself to something that's a) going to get cancelled after 5 episodes or b) could have an amazing pilot and nothing else going for it before knowing what I'm getting in to. I just finally downloaded The Good Wife, because it's now a well established fact that it's a kick-ass show and will be picked up for next year.

So who cares if I'm a little late?

A Statement About Lost (and the Oscars. Sort of.)

It's been a while, movie friends! I should be writing about the Oscars, and explaining the reasons I didn't live-blog (I started, really I did... but then I just wanted to watch the show. Is that such a crime?), and the reasons I didn't post my picks (I just wasn't that into it... and then everyone who was supposed to win, won. How interesting is that?). So instead of trying to push through a post that I'm not interested in writing and you're not interested in reading (after all, the Oscars were over a week ago), I'm going to take a minute to write about Lost.

Yes, that's right. Lost.

You know, that of the "Final Season," mind-frak glory. Firstly and foremost I want to address my biggest issue with this last great season:

Tuesdays? Really??

I get it. ABC has a great new comedy lineup on Wednesdays, and Lost didn't do so well that one time they pushed it to 10pm. But I want to go on the record and say that Lost does not air on Tuesday nights. It's not a Tuesday night show. If they had done this in the earlier days it would have been cancelled for lack of viewership. The only reason this works now is because we're all so hooked, we'll watch or record it if it's on at 2pm on Saturdays. It just needs to be said, though, that Lost is not a show that belongs on Tuesdays.

It's been a slow start to the season. The flash sideways is interesting and weird-- I think it's safe to say that all of our characters who were touched by Jacob are living their lives differently from the moment he touched them. What's fascinating though is the difference and presence of the other characters who were not touched. At least, not that we know of. Obviously there is such a thing as the butterfly effect, and obviously the ones he touched are "candidates" (except Kate...?) but it's weird to see everyone else show up as well with drastically altered futures.

Which is almost too convenient. I get that seeing these lives intersect "no matter what" is important to the show and to the general mythology, but it's getting old. It's not surprising or fun at this point to see Charlotte show up in Sawyer's flash-sideways... Surprising to see Charlotte, yes. Surprising to see a familiar face? No.

There also needs to be a moment taken in memory of John Locke. Whoever this smoke dude is in no way makes up for the loss of a complex and compelling character. He was occasionally annoying and grating, but John Locke was a great man. And let's also say that Terry O'Quinn is an amazing actor-- there are not a lot of people who could pull off that kind of switcheroo.

I have complete and utter trust in Team Darlton (Carlmon?), but there are only 8 episodes left, and I'm ready for some answers. On a Wednesday or Thursday night. Maybe next weeks Richard-centric episode will open the can of worms...

But it's still on Tuesday night, dammit.