Confessions of a TV addict: A Guide to Choosing What to Watch by Day of the Week

Pin It OK, I must confess:  I watch WAY too much television.  

The invention of the PVR (personal video recorder) has taken the television watching experience to a whole new level.  Gone are the days of being limited to whatever's actually on.  Gone are the days of having to sit through endless commercial breaks.  Gone are the days of having to listen to some host drone on and on so as to get to the part of interest.  Now all you have to do is hit fast forward, and you can skip all of that.  With a PVR, you can record all the television shows you love, and watch them at your own leisure.  I have tons of children shows for the kids (who are completely spoiled and don't understand that when we go to someone else's house, you can't always just choose what you want).
I hardly ever watch live TV any more. Why would I, now that I know how much better it can be? ;)

Anyway, so I realize this is a totally subjective subject, but here are the television programs I watch and would recommend, by day of the week:

Sunday 

1. Deperate Housewives, which I only started watching last year, but the whole dead body disappearing storyline has me interested enough to keep watching.
2. Dexter: A loveable serial killer... who'd a thunk it?
3. The Good Wife: Always did love a good law show... LA Law was the main reason I was convinced I would be a lawyer from age 8-18. 
4. Drop Dead Diva:  The premise of the model (Deb) dying and being brought back in a different body (Jane) is pretty funny in itself.  The show really cracks me up, and I love how Jane acts all cute and cocky when she scores a point in the courtroom.  Can't wait to see if she can get Parker back, who was her fiancé when she was still Deb. 
5. Covert Affairs:  Piper Perabo, who you might remember from Coyote Ugly fame, plays an undercover CIA agent that seriously kicks ass.  

Monday

1. Gossip Girl:  OK, I realize I'm a little old for Gossip Girl, but I can't help it.  There's still a teenage girl trapped in me somewhere. 
2. House:  I only caught on to this craze a couple of years ago, mainly because the first time I tried to watch it I came upon an episode that started with these people in the most disgusting of places, surrounded by bugs, and ... ewww.  I got totally turned off and changed the channel.  Little did I know that each episode starts with the scene where the episode's patient get's sick/injured.  I tried it again on a day when I was bored, and was pleasantly surprised!  This man may be brilliant, but he is a world class jerk, and his jerkiness has just gotten worse this season.  While I usually find him amusing, I felt he'd sunk to an all time low when he tried to blackmail a patient a few episodes back.
3. Two and a Half Men:  While the show just isn't the same without Charlie, what could be dubbed a spin-off is still rather promising.  It feels a little like Ashton Kutcher has reprised his role as Kelso, all grown-up and with money, but he is quite funny, and I always liked Kelso. :)
4. Weeds:  A hilarious comedy-drama that focuses on a family trying to make a living off of selling marijuana.  

Tuesday (Such a busy night, good thing I have a PVR, I don't know how else I would keep up!)

1. Glee:  Yes, I'm a Gleek.  Deal with it.
2. 90210:  Yep.  Deal with that too.
3. Raising Hope:  It's a great sitcom that plays at 9:30 on Fox which I don't feel gets enough credit.  Red necks at the their very best!
4. Ringer: New series this season on the CW with Sarah Jessica Parker.  One twin fakes her own death, the other takes over her life.  Little does she know the trouble she steps in, her sister having left quite the mess behind.  Very interesting, though I don't know how long they will be able to stretch the concept!
5. Parenthood:  Possibly the best family show on television today.  I can't tell you how much I love this show. The cast is comprised of an entire family: the parents, their grown-up children, their spouses and offspring.  One of the couples struggle with a son who has Asperger's, it's incredibly well written, and very touching.  As an added bonus, there's a star studded cast: Lauren Graham from Gilmour Girls fame, Erika Christensen (Swimfan) and Craig T. Nelson (Coach).  I'm still trying to get through at least one episode without tearing up. 
6. Real Housewives of New York:  I know, I know, but it's such a guilty pleasure!!!  I love all the money being thrown around, the  total lack of class, the backstabbing, all of it.  The show was so much better when Bethenny Frankle was on it, she's hilarious.  I miss her, but I'm also happy for her that such big things have happened for her, as I felt like we were very similar creatures.

Top 5 movies that will make you cry like a baby

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Well, maybe that's just me.  But surely you'll shed a tear or two.

You just might be heartless if you don't. ;)

1. My Girl

I was only 13 years old when this 1991 production came along.  The star studded cast, with Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Macaulay Culkin and then newcomer Anna Chlumsky, was wonderful.  It's a beautiful coming of age story, and it ends well, but when Thomas J, played by Culkin dies, and the young Veda (played by Chlumsky) loses it at his funeral, well I sobbed.  I didn't just tear up a little bit.  I'm talking waterfalls and heaving.  "Wake up, Thomas J, let's go climb a tree...Where are his glasses?  He can't see without his glasses!..."  To this day, I still can't watch that scene without losing it.

2. A Little Princess

A remake of the Shirley Temple classic, this is a story about a young girl sent to live at boarding school while her father goes off to war.  But when her father dies, she's forced to become a slave in the school where she was once one of the richest girls in attendance.  It's a beautiful movie, very visually stimulating, with a few magical scenes.  The scene at the end, where she finds her father alive and he doesn't recognize her, tore my heart out.  "Daddy!!! Daddy, it's me!  Don't you recognize me!?" More heaving, more sobbing...

Having seen both versions, I definitely recommend the newer production.  Shirley Temple was really cute, but she wasn't much of an actress, at least not by today's standards.  

Top 10 Chick Flicks Ever - Well, According to me Anyway...

Pin It When creating this list I asked myself:  what are the common qualities that make a chick flick great?

• Obviously, you need a heroine we will like, and a hunk we will want, but that goes without saying, now doesn't it?

• I think as a common theme to most of my choices, the soundtrack is crucial.  The music has to be amazing, and perfectly harmonized to the emotions being portrayed.  A musical montage helps a lot, especially if it includes shopping or many costume changes, and dancing is also good.

• If the woman is at some point empowered, or gets to "stick it" to a man who's done her wrong, all the better. 

All of or a selection of the criteria above is important, but the storyline is crucial.  The love story needs to be amazing, complicated, funny, and, most importantly: it must end well.

When all of these elements come together in the perfect combination, well, the right chick flick can leave us feeling almost euphoric, stronger, even more hopeful for the future.

Anyway... without further ado, here are My Top 10 Choices for the Best Chick Flicks Ever (in no particular order):

1. Pretty Woman
This, to me, was the original chick flick.  This movie had it all:  a beautiful love story, an amazing soundtrack along with a great shopping montage, the most amazing date you could ever imagine, diamonds, and an amazing ending, what more could a girl want?

 I was only about 11 years old when I saw it in the theatre.  I ended up renting it about 30 times before my sister bought it for me for Christmas one year, tired of seeing me spend money on it.

2. Dirty Dancing
I must have been about 14 years old before I ever saw this one.  This is the actual original chick flick.  Music, dance, costumes, love: it's got it all; even Patrick Swayze, all young and hot looking.  I think the part I liked best about this movie was that Baby wasn't too much of a looker.  It made a girl hopeful, you know, that even if she wasn't the prettiest, maybe she could get the hot guy.

3. Raising Helen
This little gem with Kate Hudson also features hunky John Corbett, whom you may remember as Aidan from Sex and the City.  When her sister dies suddenly, single girl played by Kate inherits her three children, and her life of course, is turned completely upside down.  In comes Pastor Dan (played by Corbett) to save the day.  With Hayden Pannetiere and a very young Abigail Breslin, the kids just stole my heart.

4. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Ladies, if you haven't seen this yet, it's high time you do.  Especially if you're single, because you might just find out why you are from watching this film.  Kate Hudson graces us again with her dazzling smile, but this time her co-star is the MEGA HOT Matthew McConaughey! The storyline is hilarious, and their chemistry is amazing: this is definitely a "must-watch" film!

Lady Gaga: Artist or Gimmick?

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The very first time I saw Lady Gaga, I was just tuning in to something that was already in progress.  The camera was very far from the stage, and all I could see was blond hair. I thought at first that it might be Christina Aguilera.

So obviously, the girl's got chops, 
but being a singer alone does not a true artist make.

The next time I saw her, she was wearing a hugely outlandish costume, and it was completely unflattering; she started to remind me of a cross between Marilyn Manson and Madonna, and I was less than impressed.  It felt like a gimmick to me, not true creative expression.  She didn't have her own identity, she'd taken over two others.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one who saw the resemblance, I found this photo and many others by putting their two names together in Google.

Her first hit that I really knew about was Poker Face, and while the tune was catchy and the lyrics OK, it felt like another "flash in the pan" dance remix that makes a lot of money but makes no difference in the long run of the history of music.

Anyway,

My point is I didn't really feel like Poker Face was exactly going to become a classic, to be played on golden 00's in 30 years, you know?  Not exactly Hotel California material.  Just sayin'.  Although we are still occasionally reminded of NKOTB, so what do I know about staying power? 

As time goes by though, I gain more and more respect for her.  Her music is mostly very good, especially when you strip away that "boom boom" dance club remix it seems songs need nowadays to be a hit.

*What ever happened to the value of great lyrics?  Case in point:  Chris de Burgh, a true lyricist wrote such beautiful words as "For it's a different world when I look into your eyes, it's the closest thing I have seen to paradise, and I know that with you I will be in love forever".  Now those kinds of lyrics can stand on their own. 

The lyrics to "Born this way" are very good, and I'm stuck on "You" right now, which I actually feel has staying power to be played as a classic, and have been hearing on a continuous loop in my head for the past 5 days (it's starting to get to me)

So maybe she's not just a "flash in the pan" after all.  

In conclusion,

I think she truly is an artist.  Tortured and insecure, and the gimmick was just her way of being known.  Now I think it's just fun and too late to turn back.  One thing I'll never understand though, why do the costumes always have to make her so dang ugly??? 

I mean I could see the girly girl in me getting really excited about playing dress up all the time, but it seems to me like I would choose things that would be crazy/beautiful not crazy/ugly:

See what I mean?!

Sometimes I wonder if it's insecurity that leads her to want to hide herself, as we saw in her Monster Ball movie.  

I'll leave you with a link to the video of "You and I", so that you can have it stuck in your head too, isn't that nice of me? ;)  Plus, more crazy costumes.  I do find she looks beautiful when they show her au naturel though.

Thoughts?