Friday, December 09, 2005

screen bunny

Today is the first real drop of snow. It's measurable. The first day is a sight to see: thick, white, pure, fluffed. However, unless there's a board or poles involved, I'm an indoor snow person, I'm no snow bunny, too Californian for snow frolic. Snow outdoors is paired with sleds (I'm small but I'm grown), snowball fights (I'd rather get hit than throw one. I'd rather a snowball bust on my waterproof Northface than chill my hands through my wooly gloves while making one), snow angels (I don't do this either unless my hair is up), and the curb corner slush is bad for denim ends. Snow indoors evokes ideas of a blanket, blended frothy hot coco,and classic movies. It's always movies, isn't it? Rain out: movie. Date activity: movie. No date: movie. But what about TV? I suppose it's because now the airwaves are filled with people eating slugs for a hundred grand and former kid stars coming out of rehab or going on a group diet. Not all is bad on TV (albeit, the savior comes mostly through HBO) Wired, Six Feet, Oz, then there's also Lost, My Name is Earl, Prison Break, Everybody Loves Raymond (all 840 emmy's won are so deserved), Amazing Race, Will and Grace, That 70's Show, Arrested Development, Nip/Tuck. But there aren't 'lineups' anymore. Remember that anticipated eight to ten o'clock block?. It was four episodes back to back of solid entertainment.



My childhood TV favorites: Cheers, Night Court (if all judges could be like Harry and where did John Laroquette go?), Who's the Boss? (Brooklyn meets Connecticut, bound to succeed), Too Close for Comfort, (Remember Monroe? The original queen to hit the airwaves. Now, HE was way before Jack Mc Farland, Will Truman, Sanford Blatch, and Carson Kressley (Ted Allen, the food and wine conossieur is who really should be leading the queer eyes), Bosom Buddies (I always wanted to my hair to wave like Donna Dixon's. And, I didn't know what bosom was when the show was on so I asked Angela Wynstra, my second grade best friend, to be my bosom buddy. Now, I have buddies, I just need a bosom. Fortunately, I can now wave my hair for attention), Head of the Class (Eric and Simone, great couple. Alvin and Dennis, greater couple. A show about a high-school class of 'too smart for cool' and the zip code was anonymous and J.Crew didn't sponsor them), Mr Belvedere (the dude was a plus size Mr. Rogers with a British accent, does it get better than that?), Perfect Strangers (when Angela and I played flight attendants, I was Jennifer and she was Mary Anne and I'm almost certain that Mr. Twinkasetti has guest-appeared in every relevant sitcom show), Second Chance (ooh this is a good one, one that went under the radar. Matthew Perry stars as Charles, aka Chazz, and he gets killed in a car accident. He's too good for hell, too bad for heaven so the show's about his limbo. Each week he goes to correct mistakes from the past but the best part was that sometimes he doesn't change anything. He thought not everything he did was a mistake. So he's chillin' on the bench right at the pearly gates. Brilliant), Family Ties (Malorie is a stunner, Nick was a high-school dropout artist, Skippy would have been a good match for Monroe and Alex P. Keaton, I kept a Tiger Beat issue in my desk of Johny Depp on the cover because there was a corner photo of Micheal J. Fox) and the parents were hippie liberals that went to UC Berkeley...I say no more), Roseanne (Lanford rules. The Hobo Lounge, they didn't even try. The episode where the Roseanne, Dan and Aunt Jackie get high in the bathroom. One of the best television sitcom scenes ever done).

Shows I wish I got into: WKRP in Cincinnatti, Cagney and Lacey, Mork and Mindy, Knots Landing, Northern Exposure (John Corbett's debut, holler) and Hill Street Blues.

On days like this, I aim to watch a movie. I open the red envelope, set the DVD on the tray and slip under the down. Then, it takes about two hours to start the movie, I can't seem to hit the DVD button right away. What might I be missing out on the tube? I shall explore until the Food Network changes to shopping and Conan goes to Carson. It's really coming down hard out there, thank God for two in one remotes.