I no longer rewatch every episode of Alias. I know, that just makes me semi-normal, but it's a significant marker of the stage of this show. I do still tape it, but just in case the phone rings or one of the kids interrupts and I miss something. These days, if I rewatch an episode of something, it's Lost. I will be very surprised if Alias makes it to a sixth season. It has me thinking back to the history of my television addiction (yes, Lynn, I know. I'm sick.) Since about 9th grade, I have almost always had a show that I was addicted to. What I mean is that I have had one show that I never missed, taped if I was out of town (or in labor as it so happened), etc. There was a brief time during college where there wasn't really anything that great on, but Lynn and I watched The Improv and Saturday Night Live together consistently. So as I went to bed last night pondering the demise of Alias and grateful that Lost is there to pick up the pieces, I tried to recollect the various shows that I have traveled, so to speak. And here they are, in order of addiction:
Tour of Duty
The Young Riders
E.R.
The Pretender
Alias
Lost
Is there a pattern there? Cute guys, maybe. No Little House on the Prairie, for sure. No Lifetime for Women, either (sorry, Amie).
Posted by willa at Octubre 7, 2005 11:51 AM | TrackBackI was hooked on all of those shows except for Young Riders and Lost (yup, I haven't gotten Lost yet). Knowing that the premise of the show is that they're all in Purgatory, kind of ruins it for me. At least, that's the theory I heard.
The Pretender...now that was a show that could have gone a couple more seasons.
Posted by: Scott at Octubre 7, 2005 12:46 PMOh, Scott, the purgatory theory was a good one, but a very early one which JJ has categorically denied (though he liked the idea of it, but hadn't thought of it himself and was not his intention with the show).
There is so much more to it. You would love it. There is an existentialist debate, the tug of war between science and faith, the hint of the supernatural, literary allusions. . .Or you can watch it like Stephen and refuse to read into it "all that crap you English majors think has to be in everything" and just enjoy what the producers originally intended to be "a scripted version of Survivor."
I must admit that I'm not surprised you didn't watch Young Riders, since the main appeal of it was that of a primary cast of 6 characters, 5 of them were really hot teenage boys dressed like the Marlboro man. At 15, what more did I need in a show?
And yes, I wish Pretender had lasted longer. It's a shame it didn't have a better following. I think it reruns on PAX, though. :)
Posted by: willa at Octubre 7, 2005 01:59 PMI just remember when Alex died on Tour of Duty and you cried and mourned for days! When you were in elementary school you watche football and kept stats, does that count too?
Posted by: Mom at Octubre 7, 2005 03:12 PMYour new format looks great! I think you should count the V mini-series and which Olympics was that? I think Mom and Dad still have those tapes.
Posted by: lynnp at Octubre 7, 2005 04:52 PMP.S. I made Andy watch V:The Final Battle with me when we were first married. I think "painful" was one description.
Posted by: lynnp at Octubre 7, 2005 04:53 PMGROAN. Lynn, I had totally forgotten about V the Final Battle. I think the most embarrassing part looking back on it, is that I thought Donovan was so cute.
um, 1984. But that actually wasn't because I was that into the Olympics so much as the fact that we had just bought the VCR, which at that time was cutting edge technology and it totally fascinated me. It gave me such a sense of power to be able to tape it and play it back whenever I wanted. Control!!
I actually remember an episode of Buck Rogers (anyone, can I get an AMEN?)when I was about 8 where they put this little black box into a slot in the wall and it played video footage. It was sooo cool. And then we got a VCR and I was totally like, wow, this is just like Buck Rogers!
Posted by: willa at Octubre 7, 2005 10:43 PMps. Thanks for noticing the new look. Credit to mi esposo, of course. The pic is one I took several years ago at Dan and Courtney's beach house, and it just makes me happy.
Posted by: willa at Octubre 7, 2005 10:44 PMBTW, we've still got that VCR. The on/off switch is a little sticky, but it still works. "They don't make 'em like that anymore."
Posted by: gcw at Octubre 8, 2005 06:39 AM