MIGHT-AS-WELL-SEE TV
Stephen Green writes,
Friends was new last night, so Melissa and I settled in on the sofa to watch. (In my defense, I know that it isn’t as good or as funny as it was the first three or four seasons. But I’ve got nine years invested in the show, and I’ll be damned if I’ll stop watching now. Besides, after that uninteresting second season of Enterprise, the only shows I still watch are Friends, Will & Grace, QE, and E/R. (And yes I know E/R has gotten old, too — but the same argument holds for it as holds for Friends.))
I do the same thing: Watch shows that now suck just because I want to see what happens with the characters. It’s like those color episodes of the Andy Griffith show from after Don Knotts left the cast–I know they’re not going to be funny, but I watch them anyway.
Damnit, James — I should have come up with that headline.
In my house, a long-running series usually tends to go through a fairly well-defined progression:
Occasionally a really long-running show will get to #4 but instead of advancing to #5 will somehow revert to #2. “The Simpsons” has done this a couple of times.
My husband was very devout about the X Files, which led to us watching it for the last two seasons–after it had clearly died. I tried at one point to tell the spouse I didn’t want to do it anymore, but the Sunday evening TV night habit was too ingrained.
Now we watch the Sopranos, and it’s a beautiful thing.
I remember the old days when the X-Files (when it was fresh and hot) was aired on Friday nights right after the short lived “Strange Luck” series. Two great shows, and then afterwards I would drop by my college’s campus grounds to play some late night football. Man that was LIVING.
But alas all good things must come to an end, which is why reality shows will stay with us forever.
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