My Real Life

One of my 15 Wishes for 2015 was to give up some of my television shows.

Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I love television.

I love the escape.

I don’t actually start watching tv until 9 or 9:30 at night, so most of the things that I watch I’ve recorded and am watching as I fall asleep or while I’m folding laundry, but we upgraded to the super duper platinum ultimate dvr contract so I could record up to six shows at a time, and that, in and of itself, is a pretty good indication of how much I’ve been watching.

There are a lot of things I want to do in 2015, and I really don’t think I’ll be able to do them if I keep up with this television thing.  At one point, my friend, Matt, counted 52 shows that I was currently watching.

That number actually felt pathetic to write.

So, it’s time to pare down and carve out some time for the other things in life I enjoy.

Here’s what’s going:

American Horror Story – I think my relationship with AHS has come to an end.  Season 1 hooked me.  No one loved Season 2 Asylum more than me.  Then Season 3, Coven, showed up.  Eh.  So, I gave Season 4 a good, old-fashioned try.  But, when I realized that I had seven episodes DVR’d and I was willing to watch the shows my kids had recorded, without the kids, instead of AHS, I knew it was time to say goodbye.

Revenge – Oh, Emily Thorne.  Pretty much everyone knows your secret now.  Your father is back from the dead.  Your gorgeous fiance is dead.   Your gorgeous ex-husband is dead.   You aren’t getting together with Jack any time soon.  I think you’ve taken this story as far as it can you.  You got your revenge.  And, I think we’re done.

The Vampire Diaries – Yeah, yeah…it’s not a show for 43 year old middle school administrators.  I get it, I get it.  But, I’ve loved it since it started.  I don’t love it anymore.  How many times can someone switch places with their doppelganger, anyway?  People die on the show, but they are still hanging around.  The story just goes on and on and on.  Enough.

Parenthood – Okay.  This is cheating.  The series is ending.  However, the truth remains that once they broadcast that final episode, I’m not watching the show anymore.  So, technically…I’m cutting it out.  Go me.

Covert Affairs – It’s a USA show and I really enjoyed it, and then they finally put Annie and Augie together and I LOVED it.  And then they broke up and she went dark and it all just got weird.  Covert Affairs…I gotta quit you.

Grimm – I tried to love this show.  I never watched a full season, but I watched a lot of episodes of each season.  I tried, but I never loved it.  I’m not even sure why I kept watching it.  I mean, I know why I kept watching it…I love that kind of stuff, but this just didn’t deliver for me.  Besides, I’ve got enough supernatural stuff in my television arsenal.  This one can go and I won’t miss it at all.

Gotham – I know of one person who is probably disowning me at this very moment (if he actually reads the blog) but I just can’t do it.  I loved the first episode.  I liked the second.  I tolerated the third.  And that’s where I stopped and I haven’t felt like “Ooh…I need to catch up on Gotham” for even one second.  The premise is great.  How did all the villains in Gotham get to be villains, and how did little Bruce Wayne get to be big, tough, Batman Bruce Wayne?  It’s just too much Oswald Cobblepot, who was always the creepiest Batman villain, as the Penguin.  Danny DeVito did such a good job with that role in the movie that I am seriously creeped out by just the thought of the character.  And Donal Logue is just a big jerk.  I like him much better in Vikings, which is a show on the History channel that I am NOT going to let go.

Castle – It actually pains me to write this.  I love Castle.  I really do.  And I don’t feel like the show jumped the shark when Castle and Beckett got together.  I think they handled it beautifully.  I love the characters.  I love the writing.  I love the mysteries.  There really isn’t anything about the show that I don’t like.  But, I don’t watch anymore, and although I have a ton of episodes recorded, I don’t feel the need to watch them.  I’m sure when the kids are out of the house and I’m in my late 50’s, they’ll still be showing it in syndication somewhere, and I’ll just watch it then.

So, that’s what I’m walking away from.

However, there are some shows that I’ll never leave until they get cancelled (which they probably will, because most shows I like get cancelled) or come to a natural conclusion.

What are they?

Here’s a few:

Reign – Another CW show that is probably not for my demographic, but it has totally sucked me in.  Give me kings and queens, and you’ll have me at “your majesty.”  Make them attractive with love triangles, Nostradamus, and some mysteries and I’m a goner.

Outlander – I don’t even feel a little bad about this one because it has a short season, I read the book (three times) before watching the show, and it’s Scotland.  Scotland, people.  Time travel?  I’m in.  And, oh, there’s this:

Oh, Jamie Fraser.  Ní fheicfidh mé a stopadh breathnú ar do seó , which, if Google Translate is accurate means, “I’ll never quit watching your show.”

Game of Thrones – It’s on for, like, three months a year.  I refuse to feel guilty about this one.

Sherlock – Speaking of short series, Sherlock has 3 episodes a season, and it has a season every two years, or so.  Benedict Cumberbatch is so, so good. Martin Freeman is amazing.  I love to watch Sherlock think, and it’s highly entertaining.  Plus, it’s a BBC show, and lord knows I love those Brits.

New Girl – Is it the best show on television?  Not even close.  But it makes me laugh, and it’s utter and complete nonsense.  I feel like so much of my life is serious, serious, serious…sometimes it’s nice to just indulge in some idiocy.  And I like the characters.  Independently, they would probably annoy the heck outta me, but together, they work.  And they care about each other, in their own twisted way.

The Bachelor/The Bachelorette – I don’t want to hear it.  I love this show.  I also love how Real Man “doesn’t watch” with me.  Talk about mindless entertainment; this is it.  I’m surprised I love it because I get so upset because they never pick who I want them to pick.  There were a few seasons where I let my friend, Carolyn, tell me the ending, but I’m back to being surprised and letting the story unfold naturally.  Or, at least, as naturally as one person dating twenty other people at the same time and proposing to one of them in a matter of weeks can be.

There are some other shows in the lineup, but I’m feeling pretty serious about cutting back and spending more time doing the things that I keep saying I want to do.  I’ll never be one of those people who says, “I got rid of cable,” or, “I don’t have a tv,” because, to quote my Grandma, I gotta have my stories.

I love tv.

Not as much as I love the movies, of course, but that’s a post for another day.