Kill your TV!

It's been a long time since I could recite the weekly line up on EACH major television network. I was a child raised in front of the television. Growing up we each had a tv in our room for a total of four colour televisions in our house. Ironically, now I live in a home with only one.

The kids do not have tv in their rooms; they hang with us in the family room and watch whatever we collectively decide to watch. Which I think keeps them from dismissing themselves to Siberia in their own rooms; much as I did as a teen. Keeps the family communicating if only during commercials...LOL!

Anyway, my point on this ramble particularly is, what am I missing? Not so many years ago, I had certain programs I looked forward to and watched regularly. ER, Law and Order and SVU, Ally McBeal, and the Friends, Seinfeld must see tv stuff. Now, I only long for Grey's Anatomy and L Word. That's it, I watch nothing else or care about anything further on the boob tube. Why is this?

I used to live for Family Ties and Magnum P.I.; I couldn't wait for Remington Steele or Cagny and Lacy. I absolutely unplugged the phone and locked my door for Moonlighting and thinking back on this, it's really obvious. Television isn't what it used to be. Reality programming killed the entertainment quality in television. Scripted programming was next to extinct and has just begun recently to make a comeback. If Grey is any indication, they're back with a vengence as much so as Patrick Dempsey (cutie!).

But out of all the programming I indulged upon as a teen, the one I can say I really miss the most and did the most original and fascinating work was Moonlighting. Obviously this is in reference to their first three seasons before the repeating and covering up of behind the scene issues that arose. It was innovative, clever, artistic, new, and twisted. The pairing of Maddie Hayes and David Addison was nothing short of genius. The episodes and their zany meanderings left me laughing my ass off. Every given week they would stumble on a case resolution in error or by
accident and save the day in some funky surprise ending. David's party and laid back nature appealed to my rigid side; urging me to relax and mellow while Maddie's structure and stature spoke to my Type-A 'need to succeed 'mentality. The soundtrack was soulful and current and where else would you hear El Debarge, "You Wear it Well?"

Damn, I really miss that show. Even with the bs programming issued they succumbed to in the end, I was there. Through every painful rerun, or episode run amuck with Agnes, I was watching. But I do recall the gems, dance numberto Mulberry Street, The Taming of the Shrew redux, the veiled woman dressed in black, "Stop that man!", the pie in the face jokes!!!! This was classic and innovative tv all rolled into one. That is what television should be but alas, we now have Fear Factor, Bachelor, and better yet, Crumbs where a woman falls apart because her husband leaves her...YAWN!!

Thank goodness for syndication.