Nee! And Huzzah! And It's just a flesh wound! And welcome to this week's MamaPop Roundtable, where the MamaPop writers answer enmass a single challenging, thought-provoking, or otherwise engaging question. We then ask that you, the reader, contribute your response to the same question in comments.
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This week's Roundtable question is:
Q: Which shows, past or present, are for you "appointment TV" — ones you make plans around so that you can watch each new episode live?
Jodi: Friends-Always, always made me laugh. And sometimes you just need to laugh.
Sex and the City-I just fell in love with the Characters. And if I'm going to watch something live it better not have commercials.
Grey's Anatomy-I know this show has a tremendous amount of backlash but it still sucks me in. Every week.
Sarah: 1) Top Chef – I love this show. And seriously, God forbid you miss an episode or even try to watch it 30 minutes later. Twitter spoils everything.
2) The West Wing – Probably the best show ever on network tv.
3) Any Tampa Bay Buccaneer's football game.
4) The Sopranos – Probably the best drama ever on cable. (forgive me, I'm only on episode 2 of The Wire)
Kelly: Disclaimer: I do liberally make use of DVR/OnDemand technology because stupid life/childrearing sometimes gets in the way of showtimes.
Present:
True Blood – several reasons for this. 1) Eric 2) Naked Eric 3) Lafayette 4) it's just awesome 5) it's my job 6) SOOKEH
Mad Men – several reasons for this. 1) Don 2) Joan 3) it's just awesome
Entourage – this show has been consistently good for quite some time. it's not deep, but it's clever and often hilarious, and manages to develop without losing sight of what it is, unlike…
Weeds – I had to stop recapping this show halfway through this season because typing out what transpired from week to week just made me feel silly. And that's coming from someone who recaps the hijinks of vampires and shapeshifters and polygamist Mormons with vaguely organized-crime-esque ties. This show has definitely gone way downhill, but the dialogue is still pretty fantastic, so that will keep me watching.
Californication – Though I fear that this show will also fall prey to the absurdity that seems to befall all Showtime shows. For now, it's still pretty great.
The United States of Tara – I'm basically Diablo Cody's bitch. If she ever gets a hankering to write a screenplay for the phone book, I'll watch that, too.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl – This show is already going down that Showtime ditch, but again, the dialogue is still witty, so I'll still watch.
Past:
The Wire – Do I really need to go over this again? Just go back and read the dozen or so posts that Tracey and I wrote on this site over the past 3 years on the matter.
Carnivale – Still SO pissed that they canceled this when they did. Same goes for…
John from Cincinnati – A bizarre little show, but it was getting really interesting.
Rome – This show was the perfect length for what it was. And it was sexy and entertaining and enthralling and Attia is my GIRL.
Six Feet Under – I can't talk about the series finale. I'll start crying.
Sex and the City – Always a good time, even if the movie kind of tainted the series for me a little by SUCKING HARDER THAN A DYSON IN DIRE NEED OF BLACK TAR HEROIN. For the sequel, I might just get drunk and go to the premiere to talk shit and piss off all those assholes that got dressed up to go see that shit at the multiplex. Start saving bail money now.
Twin Peaks – Yes, I was probably too young for this show but I really liked it. I still can't believe it was on network TV.
Roseanne – That show was amazing and one-of-a-kind. My TV comfort food.
Dallas – My mom and I used to make an event out of watching this. And the theme song is amazing.
Golden Girls – Hilarious bitches.
Sweetney: Surprisingly enough, I think the only show in the age of DVR (and VCR before it) that I feel I *MUST* watch live — to the point of scheduling my life around it — is LOST. There are ones I PREFER to watch live — True Blood, Entourage, Project Runway, Top Chef — but I wouldn't change plans to make myself available to watch them.
Someone told me that having a DVR would change my life. I of course laughed at them. But, uhh, they were kinda right.
The only other show I can ever remember feeling appointment-y about was Buffy. Both LOST and Buffy were/are plot-driven shows, ones in which actual shit is gonna go down in each episode — events that will alter the course of the show and our understanding of the characters for all time, in some cases — that you, the invested viewer, do not want to miss. Most shows sort of plod along, a minor development here, a character tweak there, but they save The Big Mindblowing Shit for the season finale. Not true of those two shows, however. And so now, where LOST is concerned, I must be there in real time, so that as bizarre plot twist upon bizarre plot twist unfolds I can yell aloud to no one in particular "LOMGST!!!!"
Amalah: Pretty much anything ever that airs on HBO's high holy day — Sunday night. Sopranos, Big Love, Conchords, True Blood. The only non-HBO show we'll watch live (or close to it) is Lost. We'll never miss a new episode night, but we will wait a good 20 minutes to get behind the commercials. Everything else we watch at our elegant leisure, according to our v. busy and important schedules, or depending on how early one of us falls asleep on the couch.
TwoBusy: You can trace the course of my life through the ebbs and flows of my appointment TV habits. In junior high and early high school, it was the 8pm-10pm rock-you-down-to-a-nub block of "Magnum, PI" and "Simon and Simon." They taught me everything I needed to know about being a badass. Then I segued seamlessly into Wednesday nghts at 10pm: "St. Elsewhere," which taught me how to feel empathy for my fellow man.
As I made my way into college, where cable was not available and signal reception was sporadic (at best), the only program that ever established itself as appointment TV was epoch-spanning "The Jacksons: An American Dream" mini-series. I still remember ducking out of the library for two hours each night so I could head over to my friend Demoncrat's dorm room and watch – on his tiny, cheap-ass color TV – Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs scaring the bejeezus out of everyone. From this, I learned that for every story we know, there are hidden depths we only dream possible. Also, that "Boy — go fetch me a stick so I can beat you with it" is a line you can bring into conversation under any and all circumstances.
From there, you had a couple of embarassing but highly entertaining years of "Melrose Place" as must-not-miss TV (was I the only straight guy chanting, "Kiss the scar! Kiss the scar! Kiss the scar!" way back in the day?), which taught me that trash can be fun, followed by a smooth segue into several years' worth of mid/late-20s embracing-my-inner-nerd via "The X-Files," which taught me that you really can have thoughtful, intelligent conversations about giant leech-men who live in the sewers.
This brings us to modern-day me, which begins with my plunge into the depravity and brilliance of "Homicide: Life on the Streets" (still, for my money, one of the best TV series of all time, and one criminally underrated/forgotten these days), which reminded me that not all life is pretty, and found full expression in my subsequent embrace of "The Sopranos," which brought the intricate complexities of Scorcese-quality cinema to weekly, episodic TV and taught me the meaning of family.
And now? Now, it's just "Dexter." Genial, devious Dexter. Reasonbly successful worker bee. Adored parent figure to adorable young pixies. Admired by peers. Beloved of a beautiful woman. And, beneath it all… a monster. As I cannot imagine how this applies to my life, we'll just say that I am entertained, and leave it there.
Jenn: I'd say most of our premium cable shows since there aren't commercials to bore us to tears (thanks DVR for turning our attentions spans to mush!) So, True Blood, Weeds, Entourage, Dexter, The United States of Tara. All of those we usually watch live.
Additionally, the ones we watch right on the hour, even if they're jam-packed with commercials: The Office (because I don't like reading the jokes on Twitter before I fully understand what they mean and because it's just THAT show for us, the one we always watch and will be loyal to until the day it becomes solely syndicated forever), Top Chef (it comes on far too late to wait until the next day to watch it and my love for Tom runs deep), The Amazing Race (no reason, except it usually comes on Sunday nights and by then I need a little good reality show fix).
Aidan: There's not much on right now that I need desperately to watch, and since I'm not willing to lay out the kind of cash that lures Mad Men and True Blood to my television, I can say that nothing currently compels me to sit and stare, drooling slightly, ignoring the phone calls from friends and the endless appeals from my wife for sexual gratification (she has a lot to learn about guys – for example, we hate sex). I still watch True Blood and Mad Men, but they're laptop TV for me.
Last season was full of the must-see, though, and it was damned inconvenient. Every one of my favourite shows landed on Friday night, which meant that I had to make a choice between real people and the tiny fake ones drawn with excited electrons. Damn you, Battlestar Galactica, for keeping me home on Fridays. Damn you, Dollhouse, for those terrible early episodes that I sat through nonetheless (because the second half of the season was fantastic). And damn you Terminator, for ending on a cliffhanger of epic proportions. Damn you and such.
Whit: The only shows that I must watch live are sporting
events, like the one where my team beats yours. Everything else goes
straight to DVR. Even shows that I love and watch the same night that
they air are recorded first. I'm not a fan of the adverts, so I
buffer.
I buff. That sounds naked.
Lena: In my teens: "Melrose Place" and
"Beverly Hills 90210". Wednesdays at 9:00. I would call my best
friend and we would watch both shows together over the phone providing
commentary to each other during commercial breaks.
In my
20's: "Ally McBeal". Monday nights at 9:00. I had ridiculously thick
hair which I would wash once a week, on Monday nights and spend the
entire hour from 9:00 – 10:00 blow drying my hair while watching Ally
McBeal, the volume turned all the way up on my first TV in my first
apartment. My friends knew not to call on Monday nights.
In my
30's: "Grey's Anatomy". Thursdays at 9:00. I pour myself a glass of
wine and/or a party platter of spinach dip and lock myself in my
bedroom. My husband and daughter know better than to knock.
Motherbumper: The earliest memory I have of "appointment
TV" was racing home in junior high to not only watch live, but also
tape on the world's biggest VCR, Video Hits. We didn't have MTV and
Much Music didn't even exist, so the only way I could witness the
latest music videos was through that lame-ass show hosted by Samantha
Taylor, Video Hits. I taped it so I could later review the nuances of
newest Duran Duran offering. And hell hath no fury like a teenage girl
from the '80s, if I missed even a minute of that show.
In later
years, the same methodology was applied to both The Wire and Sopranos
where I'd pay top money too keep all interruptions at bay. Including
dates. Dude, if you didn't like those shows, I wasn't going out with
you especially when those shows were on.
These days there isn't
much I won't send to the DVR (Tivo) so I can watch them at my
convenience but of course there is one exception: LOST. I will not miss
one live minute of that show, even if it means duct taping some
individuals to their bed to sleep (I'm kidding but don't tempt me kid).
Amber: Because I am a luddite with neither a Tivo nor a VCR, most television shows I watch regularly are appointment TV. However, I only really schedule my life around a few shows. Top Chef and Project Runway are programs I absolutely have to watch the day they air, or I get very cranky. This is partly because the potential for spoilers is so great, but I also enjoy making an event out of watching. While the medium used in each is very different, each competition focuses on showcasing raw, undiscovered talent and artistry. There's something compelling about making two basic necessities of life—food and clothing—into works of art.
However, I also tend to rearrange my schedule for other competition shows that display less artistry unless drinking tequila or hitting on women is something one could call an art. I can't miss Rock of Love or The Pickup Artist whenever VH1 drags them out of the closet, and I'm also hopelessly devoted to Celebrity Rehab. VH1 – please call me. I'm ready to do one of your countdown shows!
Catherine: Lost, because, duh. Do I really have to explain that?
Otherwise, I *have* been known, from time to time, to hooked on, say, America's Next Top Whatever, and to get the kids to bed early for the purpose of seeing who gets voted off the island or banished from the house or exiled from the runway. You know, for schadenfreudish fun.
About Sweetney
