Well, it’s 2007. Seems like just yesterday I was ushering in 2006 and hoping that with the new year would come great things in television. And here I am again, hoping against all hope that this year will be no different. That this spring will bring great TV and that the shows that have pretty much disappointed me so far will redeem themselves and make the first half of the year a good 6 months.
Everyone makes resolutions for the new year. Last year, I resolved to dance everyday for at least 15 minutes. I lasted 12 days before I realized that wasn’t really going to work out, because I got bored about 5 minutes in each time.
That said, I’ve decided to make resolutions for the next 6 months; July 1, I’ll make new resolutions to finish out the year. I am again attempting to dance, for at least 15 minutes, but when I only last 12 days this time, I won’t feel as bad as I did last year, because I’m hoping to make it to June, not December. In my head, it makes me feel better ha! My 6 month resolution idea has me thinking about the TV-related resolutions that I’d like to make for the rest of the 06-07 season.
Without further ado, Amrie’s Seven Resolutions, January-June 2007:
1. To watch Jericho’s first 11 episodes, and be all caught up before the season ends in May.
It seems like it should be an easy task to accomplish, but the first 11 episodes have been on my TiVo, untouched, uninteresting to me, since they aired. Each weekend, I look at what I have on my TiVo, and see what I need to watch to be completely caught up. I watch the latest Friday Night Lights again, and the few SVU episodes that my TiVo chose for me. But I’ve been avoiding Jericho like the plague. No reason really. I enjoy Skeet Ulrich tremendously. I love Sprague Grayden, and have since her Joan of Arcadia days…and Major Dad is the coolest man alive. I just can’t convince myself to get caught up. It almost seems futile at this point, but I feel as though I owe it to CBS to pay attention to the show that they’ve believed in so strongly. Check with me when the show returns to see how this resolution holds up!
2. To avoid American Idol at all costs.
I don’t like Randy Jackson. Something about him and his name dropping and his cooler-than-you attitude pisses me off. Paula Abdul is off her rocker and, in my opinion, needs serious mental help. Simon Cowell is pretty awesome, because he’s so incredibly sure of himself, but even Simon and his faux-hatred for Ryan Seacrest can’t keep me interested. I was a huge fan of the first season, and even the Clay/Ruben season kept my interest, but since then, I’ve watched, painfully, and not enjoyed a thing about it. Did I think Eliot Yamin was fabulous? Yes. Did I think Chris Daughtry was mondo-attractive? Yes. Do I think that we need another American Idol who will release a mediocre CD and eventually fade away (Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood aside, has anyone been able to pull off anything truly fantastic….and no, I don’t count a Made-for-TV movie starring herself as a huge fantastic thing for Fantasia Barrino….)? No. This year, I resolve to not watch it, any of it, and not care what happens in May when the winner is “chosen.”
3. To avoid spoilers.
Remember a few months ago when I went spoiler-free? It didn’t last nearly as long as I wanted it to. I couldn’t tear myself away from the spoilers on what’s in store for our beloved Starbuck on Galactica. My addiction to BSG spoilers led me right back to spoilerfix.com. I vow, as we enter 2007 to avoid any and all spoilers for the remainder of the season so that I enjoy TV as a completely unbiased viewer. It will probably be my most difficult resolution, but I’m sticking to my guns on this one. I’ll keep you updated on a weekly basis with my progress and how I’m holding up ha!
4. To start and/or join a Friday-Night-Lights-deserves-better fan club.
I re-watched all of the already-aired episodes this weekend and was reminded once again how simply fabulous this show is. I want so badly for this show to succeed. I want people to watch it, and love it, and worship Kyle Chandler (Coach) and Connie Britton (Mrs. Coach) and Taylor Kitsch (my love Tim Riggins) and Zach Gilford (my love Matty Saracen), etc. I have forcibly made my family watch this show and they are all hooked. Corinne has vowed to watch it with me when it airs Wednesday nights throughout the spring and I’m going to forcibly hold her to that. (I’m not a violent person, but FNL brings out the need to make people watch!!) I would like to be a part of an FNL worship/fan club. If someone is a part of one, or has started one, let me know. If not, I’m starting it tomorrow, and I expect you all to join!!!
5. To watch Lost expecting nothing in the hopes that something good is delivered for the rest of the season.
I’m one of those people that watched my favorite shows hoping to be impressed and shocked, and thrown into a tailspin over amazing stories, etc. I watched the first 6 episodes of Lost this season with those expectations. That they’d shock me, and amaze me, and make me scream and cry for more when the Fall mini-season was over. What the writers did for me was make me say “well, if there’s nothing else on Wednesdays, I’ll force myself to watch it when it returns.” Coming from a person who once sat in the freezing cold early December weather to watch someone show Lost, via projector, on the side of a giant white RV in the middle of a grocery store parking lot, that’s saying a lot. Where I would have used to do anything to not miss this show, I find myself forgetting it’s on, or avoiding watching it until the weekend. I’m resolving to watch the upcoming second-half of the season with absolutely no expectations so that they don’t have to live up to anything spectacular, and that way, if something is spectacular, it blows me away.
6. To stop hating Gilmore Girls just because Christopher makes my skin crawl.
There is still so much to love about this show. At the core, it’s still technically a show about Lorelai and Rory and how they interact with the world. I still like Lauren Graham’s portrayal of the elder Lorelai, and I think Alexis Bledel grows season to season, and really has come into her own, and gotten comfortable with the role of the younger Lorelai. Emily and Richard are two of the greatest characters ever created. Liza Weil (born and raised 5 miles from me – yay!!) brings something to the role of Paris Gellar that cannot be compared to anyone else on the small screen. Matt Czuchry has made me rethink my disgust at pompous pompous Logan. And Luke’s love and interest in fighting for his (plot-contrivance) daughter is admirable. I just wish that Luke and Lorelai would get over it, get over themselves, drop whatever is holding them up (in Lorelai’s case, it’s a 160ish-pound man with a daddy complex; in Luke’s, it’s an 80 pound nerd-lette with a mother with a heart of steel). I’m going to stop groaning every time the show starts, and I’m just going to accept that GG of seasons past is gone, and we’re stuck with what we’ve got. I have faith it will end how LL shippers think it should, and I’ll accept it and move on.
7. To worship all things Jack Bauer for the remainder of my days on this planet.
Seriously, that one goes without saying, but with the upcoming premiere of 24, it’s important to note that he is my hero, and will remain so, until the days that 24 is unceremoniously shipped off to the cancelled-too-soon world of syndication. It’s important to note that it’s not to say that I won’t miss Tony Almeida fighting side-by-side with my Kiefer, but in season 6, Milo is back, and everyone knows I love Eric Freaking Balfour, so 24 will be the highlight of my January!!
What about you? What are your Jan-Jun resolutions 2007?
In other news….
After what feels like a decade of reruns, all-new programming returns this week, starting Monday 1/1 with an all new season of Wildfire on ABC Family and Tuesday Jan 2 with all new Law and Orders on Tuesday night NBC. This month, along with new episodes of Friday Night Lights, Battlestar Galactica, Prison Break, The Office, Veronica Mars, and Gilmore Girls (to name just a small few), we’re treated to the new season premieres of Rome and Extras on HBO (Sunday 1/14), the aforementioned Wildfire on ABC Family (Monday 1/1), and Monk and Psych on USA (Friday 1/19), as well as the new series premiere of Knights of Prosperity on ABC (Wednesday 1/3, which I’m giving a chance because Donal Logue is awesome….).
Stay tuned in the weeks to come as I give thoughts on what I’d like to see in the upcoming Spring seasons of our favorite shows, my reaction to the Golden Globes (Who should have won? Who should have stayed home?), and a follow up interview with everyone’s favorite inept Sheriff – Michael Muhney (Don Lamb from Veronica Mars). He and I discuss Lamb’s future on the show, as well as where he sees himself next month, next year, and a few years down the road.
Hope you all have a safe and healthy 2007; I look forward to a great year with you and thetvaddict.com!
As always – mytakeontv@thetvaddict.com
Thanks, Amrie