Television Critic

I used to complain about the sorry state of television critique in the Seattle Times. Kay McFadden, who was the primary TV critic for the Times for many years, is one of those typically cynical critics who absolutely has to find something wrong with everything. I always thought to myself "I could do a much better job than her". Now, however, they have Pamela Sitt, who is great. Her column today was almost exactly the column I would have written if the job were mine. So, now I can no longer hold out hope that one day the Times will wise up and come calling to me to fill the gap.

I can, however, use my blog space to write about TV the way I feel TV should be written about.

I agree with Pamela Sitt, there are too many good shows on now. I can't find the time to watch them all. Especially since some of them are on opposite each other (ex. Kitchen Confidential and How I Met Your Mother) and while I do have TiVo the feature that allows you to TiVo one show while you watch another only works if you have Dish rather than cable and I have cable. Also, I am never home, which is where being a professional TV critic would come in handy as then I wouldn't have to go to work because my job would consist of watching television and writing about it. I am practically foaming at the mouth that I can't watch both Xander and Willow on their new shows. Incidentally I chose to watch Xander on Kitchen Confidential, which so far I'm definitely not regretting.

The line up on my TiVo is as follows:

Monday:
8:00PM - Arrested Development
8:30PM - Kitchen Confidential
9:00PM - Two and a Half Men
10:00PM - Out of Practice
Tuesday:
8:00PM - Gilmore Girls
9:00PM - My Name is Earl
9:30PM - Scrubs (and until it comes on I am protesting anything else in this time slot)
Wednesday:
8:00PM - One Tree Hill
9:00PM - Lost
Thursday:
8:00PM - Alias
9:00PM - Everwood
Friday:
8:00PM - What I Like About You
8:30PM - Twins
9:00PM - Reba
9:30PM - Living with Fran

I'm also pretty upset that Veronica Mars and Lost are on opposite each other. I am a late comer to both these shows. Lost I pretty much caught up with in re-runs over the summer, and Veronica Mars I'm not quite caught up with yet (waiting for the DVDs from Netflix) which influenced my decision to watch Lost instead, but I like them both a lot.

Another conflict I am a little bit upset about is Alias and Smallville. I'm definitely dedicated to Alias. I mean, how could I not be after last season's finale: "for starters, my name's not Michale Vaughn"; there's no way I'm not watching to see what the resolution of that is. In fact, I've never really watched Smallville, but this year James Marsters is joining the cast of Smallville and I can't imagine that not being absolutely fantastic.

One of the most suprising new shows has been Twins, I think. I wouldn't say it's my favorite new show, that honor would go to either Kitchen Confidential or My Name is Earl, but it's really good and funnier than I expected. It deserves a way better time slot than Friday night, but then again it does kind of fit nicely there and if they moved it I'd probably have another conflict in my viewing schedule.

Another thing I really dig about the new television landscape is that Thursday night is no longer the focus. For me Tuesday has been THE night for television for a while, first because of Sports Night and now Gilmore Girls and Scrubs, but I see how Thursday night has been so hotly contested in recent years and I am glad that is finally a thing of the past. I don't know if Tuesday night will become the sought after time slot, but I really like there being great stuff to watch on almost every night, not just one night a week.