Average Jane

Average Jane Has An Incredibly Puzzling Conversation

After the Chiefs game ended tonight my husband came downstairs and I happened to mention that we should watch the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special sometime soon, even though I've heard it's pretty terrible.

Him: "Wow they made a holiday special. With the whole cast?"

Me: "Yes."

Him: "Except for the one who died. Sneep?"

Me: "What? Yes, all the characters who are alive in universe."

Him: "You know, the guy who played Sneep in Harry Potter."

Me: "Sneep? What are you talking about? Do you mean the guy from the Walking Dead?"

Him: "No, the guy who was also in Harry Potter."

Me: "There was no one from Harry Potter in Guardians of the Galaxy!"

Him: ...

Me: ...

Him: "I thought you meant Galaxy Quest."

Me: "Galaxy Quest?! Why would they make a holiday special now from a 23-year-old movie?"

Him: "I don't know why they do anything."

And...scene.

 

Average Jane Watches TV

While we wait for Google Fiber to make it to our neighborhood, I went ahead and ditched my beloved TiVo in favor of the DVR that my cable company provides. I would have kept the TiVo forever, but it couldn't get on the same page with our cable service and I was tired of losing shows and channels. We never watch TV live, so it's a huge hassle when something randomly doesn't get recorded.

Now that the fall TV season has kicked in, we're barely keeping up with the shows we watch. On this year's list:

• Ash vs. Evil Dead (I absolutely love it already, only two shows in)    
• Marvel's Agents of Shield (better than ever)
• Grimm (so far, so good for this season)
• Heroes Reborn (I'm cautiously optimistic)
• Gotham (I was starting to give up last season, but it's roared back with a vengeance)
• Sleepy Hollow (keeping my fingers crossed)
• The Walking Dead (love it) and The Talking Dead (ditto)
• I, Zombie (still quirky and fun)
• The Librarians (yep)

So you might notice a certain theme here. Basically, if it can happen in real life, I'm not interested in watching it. The one fantasy show I did finally ditch is Once Upon A Time. My husband still watches it, but I gave up on it last year for good.

Anything great I'm missing? Not that I have time for more, but I could always pick it up via Netflix over the holidays.

Average Jane Watches TV

My husband and I both have such hectic schedules that we have to use shared Google Calendars to keep track of each other and figure out when we might be able to hang out together.

Thanks to our lovely TiVo, we can (and often do) save up our favorite TV shows and binge watch them on the rare evenings when we are both home at the same time.

Here is our current list of shows, in order of my desire to watch them:

1. Person of Interest
2. The Walking Dead (always followed by The Talking Dead)
3. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
4. Grimm
5. Sleepy Hollow
6. Revolution
7. Once Upon A Time in Wonderland
8. Once Upon A Time (yes, I like the new one better)

I'm sure you can sense the thematic currents here: fairytales, sci-fi, fantasy, post-apocalypse, etc. If it's plausible, I'm not interested.

Person of Interest has been good since the beginning, and even Jim "I Whisper Every Line Like I'm Freakin' Batman" Caviezel proved to have more personality than I would have anticipated. It's also full of interesting female characters and there's even a dog, so why wouldn't I like it?

The Walking Dead has its flaws, but this season seems particularly good in that they're letting some of the characters have a little more personality.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes in third. I enjoy the Marvel universe, the show is entertaining, and the movie actor cameos keep me coming back for more, but I'm hoping it steps up the wow factor even more.

Next is Grimm, which is equal parts police procedural and fairytale. It's a little cheesy, but I like it anyway.

Sleepy Hollow could eventually make its way higher up the list. Despite a premise that probably has Washington Irving spinning in his grave (unless he's been placated by the fact that there's a character named Captain Irving), I'm digging the show. The fact that it features a hot British guy doesn't hurt.

Revolution makes it into the next spot. Initially I mostly just watched it because my husband liked it, but it grew on me.

Then there are the two Once Upon A Time shows. They share an over-fondness for green screen and uneven acting, but I'm a sucker for anything with a fairytale theme. Plus, the guy who plays the Knave of Hearts in Once Upon A Time in Wonderland was Tom on Being Human (BBC version - seriously, watch it on Netflix), so I liked it automatically just for that.

That's really about all the TV watching we have time for. Is there anything amazing I'm overlooking that I might be able to catch up on over the holidays?

Average Jane's Cable-Free TV Watching Update

It's been about four months since my husband and I discontinued our cable television service and switched to a combination of digital antenna and Roku streaming. Now that we've gotten used to the arrangement, I thought an update might be helpful for any of you who are considering the switch.

I'll start with the stuff we don't like about our arrangement.

Mainly, it's the huge number of shows that are available for streaming to the computer but not to the TV. Right now, they represent about 80% of the shows we'd like to watch. If we're really motivated, we'll go ahead and watch them on the computer. If we're really, really motivated we'll purchase them via Amazon ($2.99 for HD, $1.99 for regular, which is plenty good enough) and watch them on the TV.

It's odd that the networks can't work out some kind of advertising model that will make Hulu watching more equivalent to regular cable TV watching. Most Hulu shows have minimal commercial breaks and usually show only one ad per break. That's nice and all, but I'd be willing to sit through a standard number of commercials in exchange for getting to stream all my favorite shows to the TV.

In most cases, we've just stopped watching the shows that are too difficult to watch conveniently. Unfortunately, most cable network shows fall into that category, so I didn't catch the last several episodes of "Psych" last season. I'll probably go out of my way to get "Burn Notice" and "Warehouse 13" when they start up again, but I doubt I'll start watching new cable shows unless the model changes.

Some of our issues with convenience could be solved if we simply hooked our TiVo to our digital antenna. That's my husband's job, so I'm just waiting. The antenna itself is another weak link in the chain: sometimes the reception is perfect but a lot of times the picture is pixellated, the audio doesn't synch correctly, etc. We probably just need to find a better place to hang it.

So on to the good things about living cable-free (aside from saving about $90 a month).

Between Netflix and Crackle, we're pretty covered for movies. We still get one DVD at a time from Netflix, but we could probably do without them considering how long it often takes us to watch the disks. Netflix has turned out to have a great selection of stand-up comedy specials, so that's been our go-to entertainment lately when we can't think of what else to watch.

Hulu's interface is a little awkward (still not sure why Subscriptions and Queue aren't the same thing), but the playback quality is good and they have several of the shows we like, including "Raising Hope" and "The Event" (which just got canceled).

One of the best things about dropping our cable is that we simply watch less television now. When you're paying a bazillion dollars for cable, TV watching starts to feel like an obligation to get your money's worth. Now we only watch it when we feel like it, which frees us up to go live our lives the rest of the time. It's rather refreshing.

Photo credit: Rantes

 

Average Jane Resists New TV Shows

As little time as I have at home these days, it seemed important for me not to get hung up on too many new shows this season. Ditching HBO helped, of course, but I'm also trying to avoid the network shows as much as I can. Even with a TiVo, it can be impossible to keep up.

Here's our current season pass list:
Monday - "Heroes"
Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - "Pushing Daisies" (our one new show so far) and waiting for "Lost" to start
Thursday - "My Name is Earl," "The Office," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"
Friday - "The Ghost Whisperer" (which I really watch on Saturday or Sunday morning)
Saturday - nothing
Sunday - Hubby watches "Desperate Housewives"

And that's it. Sure, I'll watch "Dirty Jobs," "Mythbusters," or "The First 48" if I run across an episode while I'm surfing channels, but I don't have anything else set up to record regularly.

Is there anything in the new fall lineup that I should consider checking out? Are there any good shows out on DVD that I should rent and watch? Just because I'm trying to minimize my TV watching doesn't mean I want to miss out on something good.

Average Jane Cannot Look Away

Yesterday I was at my sister's house and we were channel surfing when we came across the most awesomely bad infomercial ever. Once we started watching we could not tear our eyes away from it and, in fact, we actually backed up the DVR to see more of it.

It was for a product designed to "cleanse" the lower intestine. The presenters included the product's spokesperson, who was way too eager to over-share about the health and function of his own colon. Then there were the two hosts: a prim, blonde British woman and a guy with bad hair plugs.

It was the woman who initially got our attention because she was completely incapable of arranging her face to disguise the disgust and horror that she clearly felt about the topic at hand. You can almost read her mind, "Here I am with a degree in Broadcast Communications, and yet my career is spiraling out of control!"

As the over-eager spokesman went on and on about intestinal mucous and then moved on to parasites (implying that they're not so much a third-world phenomenon, but something with which YOU are probably infested), the female host's features continued to twist into an expression of utter grossed-outedness.

Of course, my sister and I laughed and laughed because we have the sense of humor of 10-year-olds. And, no, we didn't order the product.

Average Jane's Summer TV Picks

Despite the fact that I have had almost no time to watch TV this summer, I've still stumbled across a couple of new faves. 

I don't know how we missed the whole first season, but my husband and I love, love, love this season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."  It's sort of like "Seinfeld" with the misanthropy and moral bankrupcy dialed up to "11."  How many comedies can you think of that make you ask yourself, "Why is it that I know that $200 is too much for a rock of crack?"

I'm also enjoying "Psych" so far, even though it's exceedingly formulaic.  The actors and situation are appealing enough that I can be patient with it.  It also amuses me that Dule Hill's character is a pharmaceutical sales rep who has enough free time all day to trail around while his friend pretends to be a psychic detective.  Pharm reps, your secret is out!

"The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." just came out on DVD, twelve years after it was cancelled for being way too weird for the general populace (that's my interpretation anyway).  My copy of the set arrived last week and my husband and I are carefully considering when we might have time to plant ourselves on the couch to watch many, many hours of our man, Bruce Campbell.

I understand that there will be a DVD set of "The Tick" animated show coming out in August, so that'll be next on my Amazon list.  I have the live-action show on DVD, but I still love the cartoon best of all.  Die Fledermaus, American Maid, Sewer Urchin, El Seed, the Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight...you can't beat the classic characters.

Am I missing any other good summer shows or DVDs?  Once I get back from BlogHer next week, I'll be due to spend some time rotting my brain in front of the TV.

Average Jane, Couch Potato

I picked up this meme from Ben at Old Silly Bear (who picked it up from Daisy).  I think it ably demonstrates why my brain is stuffed with so much useless pop culture trivia.

Here’s a list of television shows. Bold all the shows of which you have seen at least 3 episodes.

24
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Angel
Arrested Development
Battlestar Galactica
Baywatch
Beverly Hills 90210
Bonanza
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle’s Show
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coronation Street
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Danny Phantom
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Desperate Housewives
Doctor Who
Eastenders
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Extras
Family Guy
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Grey’s Anatomy
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hogan’s Heroes
Home and Away
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
JAG
Jackass
Joey
Little House on the Prairie
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married… With Children
Medium
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Neighbours
Nip/Tuck
Numb3rs
NYPD Blue
Only Fools and Horses
Oz
Perry Mason
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Rescue Me
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spongebob Squarepants
Starsky and Hutch
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Good Life
The Honeymooners
The Jetsons
The Love Boat
The Munsters
The O.C.
The Office
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three’s Company
Twin Peaks
Veronica Mars
Weeds
Whose Line is it Anyway?
Will and Grace
Wings

Average Jane Loves Her TiVo

Thanks to my husband, we're the quintessential "early adopter" household when it comes to technology. Our TiVo dates back to when they first came on the market, but we still get a lot of value from it considering that it doesn't have all of the latest features.  As busy as I've been lately, I'd never see any of my favorite TV shows if we didn't have the DVR.

I try to keep my show list to a minimum, but it's really easy for me to get hooked on something new.  That's led me to make a new rule for HBO shows:  wait for the DVDs to come out.  That's why "Big Love" isn't on my list.  I'm sure it's good, but I refuse to let myself get sucked into another show right now.

Here's my current list of favorites:

• Veronica Mars
• Scrubs
• Lost
• My Name is Earl
• The Office
• Ghost Whisperer
• The Sopranos
• The Daily Show (although sometimes I fall asleep before it's over)

I cannot WAIT until the new season of "Deadwood" starts and I'm excited that "Rome" is coming back for another season as well.  Can you see how my HBO rule came about?

I also care a great deal for "MythBusters" on the Discovery Channel and I can spend an entire weekend afternoon on one of the show's marathons.   I've recently discovered "Digging for the Truth" on the History Channel, which is distinguished by its hottie host who travels the world dressed a lot like Indiana Jones, and also the episode subjects, which are fresher than the usual re-hashed "In Search of..." topics a lot of shows seem to keep regurgitating.

When I look over my list, it's hard to believe I ever find the time to watch everything, especially since it seems as though I spend all evening surfing blogs.  I guess I should be glad I don't have one of the new TiVos that lets you record two things at once.  That would really cut into my leisure time!

Average Jane Watches TV

I caught the season premiere of "Veronica Mars" and the second episode of "Lost" last night.  Is it just me, or have Francis Capra and Harold Perrineau both gained a little weight since last season? 

Both shows are still excellent, by the way.  "Lost" is getting to be even more like a soap opera than before, in that this episode mainly embellished upon scenes we'd seen last week and added little new information.

"Veronica Mars" had so many plot twists that you couldn't look away for a second without missing something.  Oh, how I love that show.

This TV season is going to make me have to re-learn how to program a VCR.  The TiVo is set to catch "Lost," but "Veronica Mars" is on at the same time and our old TiVo can't record them both at once.  I'm seldom home on Wednesday nights, but I don't think I can wait until next summer to watch this season.  I have the same problems on Tuesday nights with "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" on one channel and "House" on another.

Speaking of shows that used to conflict with other shows I watch, what the heck has happened to "Scrubs"?  It's not even on the schedule and its NBC website is quite vague.

I'm trying to concentrate all my show-liking on network TV to prepare myself for cancelling our cable service.  So far it seems to be working.