SquawkRadio

I used to be a huge movie and theater-goer.  I saw pretty much everything, even if I had only marginal interest.  But gradually over the last three years or so, my movie and theater attendance has dropped dramatically.  With theater, a lot of it is expense.  Even with half-price tickets, you’re looking at fifty bucks minimum, so I want to know a show is going to be at least somewhat worth my while.  But frankly it usually isn’t.

To paraphrase David Spade, I’m starting to feel like movies and theater should be called “not tv” because that’s what they are.  Books can still be called books—I generally get the same satisfaction out of them that I always have.  But more often than not, after a night or afternoon at the theater or movies, I think to myself, “Well, I’ve got half a dozen things on my Tivo that would have been more enjoyable than that....”

Which brings me to my first reason for why I’m all about television these days.  I knew even before I got Tivo that it was an invention that could have been created solely for the delight of Shauna Summers.  Yet it’s still so much better than I ever could have imagined!  Whenever I have a tv watching friend who is thinking about getting a Tivo or a DVR (I have both), I say to them, “You think it will change your life, but you have no idea.” And everytime they come back to me and say, “I know you said it would be great, but it’s so much better than that!” Thanks to Tivo, I watch at least three times as much television as I ever did before, and I try to convince myself it’s okay because at least I’m watching more effectively and efficiently—I only watch what I really want to watch and no commercials.  I pretty much never channel surf or lay around watching nothing.

The second thing that makes television the best of all entertainments is DVDs.  I ask you, what is better than an entire television series on DVD?  I watched the first five seasons of X-Files on DVD several years ago, and I have to say, it was one of the most satisfying entertainment experiences of my life.  DVD is how I discovered Sports Night and Joan of Arcadia (is Season 2 ever coming out?), got caught up on Gilmore Girls, and savored all over again the genius that is Buffy, Angel, and Veronica Mars.  It’s so much better to have hours and hours of great stories and characters, rather than just two.

The third and very personal reason for my bloated television viewing schedule is knitting.  I’ve really gotten into it since I moved back to NYC, and it’s the perfect thing to do while I blaze through The Daily Show, House, Lost, Men in Trees, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol and my Sunday news shows (just to name a few…).

But the biggest reason I think television is the best is because that’s where the most innovative, fresh, and compelling storytelling is happening.  The number of A-list movie stars who are moving to television support this theory (just this morning at the gym I saw an ad for a new TNT show starring Holly Hunter).  If you don’t believe me, then you haven’t watched recently.  And here are three shows that I feel prove my point, the shows I feel are not to be missed.  And yes, it was very hard for me to narrow it down to three…

1.  Friday Night Lights--the best and most realistic portrayal of a good marriage ever
2.  Battlestar Galactica--religion, politics, good vs. evil, and the most layered and compelling characters ever
3.  The Office—I could watch the first five minutes of the Season 3 opening episode (“Gay Witch Hunt”) at least once a day, and I often do.  Every single episode delivers some kind of satisfying Pam and Jim moment and then there’s Dwight—I actually do a pretty good impression…

So here are my questions for YOU:

This summer I will be watching on DVD The Wire and the last two seasons of La Femme Nikita.  What about you?