Reason #3 Why I Love TV

The New Fall Season

I have been a TV viewer since I was a little kid and one of the best times of year has always been September and the new Fall TV Season.

Now, I know things are different these days. With so many cable channels and so many shows, there is more than one "TV Season". And I'm fine with that, love the variety that is available to us today and some of my favorite shows are no longer located on the broadcast networks.

But being a kid from the "old days," I still get that feeling of excitement when we get into this month and a bunch of shows start premiering all at once.

The herald for this time used to be the Fall Preview issue of TV Guide, which I would scoop up at the grocery checkout and read like a book. Loved seeing what new shows were coming to the small screen, what actors and actresses were going to be appearing weekly and which old favorites were facing changes, in format or time slot, or weren't coming back at all. Remember, this was pre-Internet. Sometimes you didn't know your favorite show was a goner until this issue arrived!

In fact, I remember reading that Gates McFadden wouldn't be back as Dr. Crusher for the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the Fall TV Guide "Returning Favorites" section that year. I was NOT happy. But, she was back for season three, so all was right again.

Some of the shows I am looking forward to this Fall include Terra Nova (Monday on FOX); Unforgettable (Tuesday on CBS); Ringer (Tuesday on CW); Person of Interest (Thursday on CBS); Grimm (Friday on NBC) and Once Upon a Time (Sunday on ABC).

I wanted to like ABC's Charlie's Angels remake, but after last Fall's failure Undercovers, I am not holding out much hope. The cheesy days of TV when this worked may be gone for good.

You can check out TV Guide's Fall Preview Online.

Here's to a great Fall Season and good luck to the new shows. Not all of you are going to make it to June. But that's part of TV life!

Reason #2 Why I Love TV

For my second post in this not-so-regular feature here, I am going back in time.




Reason #2 Why I Love TV: General Hospital.

This is better categorized as a "Why I USED to Love TV".


See, I was a GH fan for decades, from the mid/late 70s up until the early 2000's. I watched through a lot of ups and downs. But in the early part of the previous decade, the show lost its focus.


No longer did history, long-term characters and family matter. Instead, it was all about the mob. Granted, this was interesting. At first. But the show became all-mob, all-the-time. And to make matters worse, death became a quick-hit story plot device instead of something that mattered.


Long-term, important characters were killed off, either for monetary reasons or for supposed story advancement. But all that ended up happening (besides saving money in the budget, I suppose) was a bitter distancing of long-time fans.


After too much bloodshed and character assassination, I gave up. The show - whether it was the writers, producers, whomever - no longer cared about the fans who had been around so long. Budget took priority. The "hot" mob took center stage,  apparently permanently. And I, sadly, said adios.


But now I have read that the long-time head writer of the show was dumped and replaced with someone else. For the first time in a very long time, there is new blood in the writing room. I gave thought to revisiting the show I had watched so long. But, still I hesitated.


Then I started to read a few fan reviews. They seemed positive. Also, a long-time character (Dr. Monica Quartermaine) was being brought back. Things seem to be looking positive.


Of course, this comes at a time when it may just be too little, too late for the show. Daytime soaps are falling left and right, including the other two ABC shows, All My Children (off the air in September) and One Life to Live (off the air in January 2012.) There has been news that those shows will be moving online, in some format. And there are also rumblings that GH is poised for a similar fate, if and when it leaves the broadcast airwaves. Seems like a last-ditch way to try and hold on to the shows. But for some fans, better that than nothing at all.


All of that doom-and-gloom aside, we have DVR'd the last two episodes of GH. Will it be the show I remember? Probably not. But I am willing to give it a try, at least for old time's sake.


Maybe it will be like catching up with an old friend.  Hopefully it won't just be to say one final good-bye.

New Feature: Reasons Why I Love TV

Over at the great Michael May's Adventureblog, he did a post about 100 things he loves about TV. He was inspired by Siskoid's Blog of Geekery and his 100 things he loves about television.

I love their lists, and agree with a bunch of their choices. So, I wanted to follow suit but hesitated, for two reasons. 1: I was afraid I would forget things, people, moments - whatever - and I would hate that. And 2: I would take forever to get it done.

Instead, I have decided to turn it into a feature here. When I think of one of the things I love about TV, I will do a short post and share. Hope you enjoy them and hope they bring back some memories for you, as well!

Reason #1 Why I Love TV:

Start this off with something near and dear to me: Friday the 13th: The Series.



Michael May had this show at # 64 on his list, saying "That Friday the 13th: The Series was way better than the movies it got its name from." I think the show and the movies are enjoyable in their own rights, but I am just so glad he mentioned it!

Too many times it gets knocked for either being "that Friday the 13th show" or "having nothing to do with Jason." I truly think this is one of those times when a show's title was both a boon and a curse. Having that name certainly brought eyes to the show in the beginning. What horror fan didn't want to see what this was all about? And, to this day, it gets mentioned merely for that association with the Jason Voorhees' franchise.

But it was also hindered by that title. Being unrelated to the movies turned off lots of fans, people who didn't stick around to see what the show had to offer on its own merits. And non-horror fans just disregarded the whole thing based on that name alone.

I admit that I tuned in at first because I was curious. Friday the 13th on the small screen, every week? Interesting. But I fell in love with the characters, the setting, the premise - all of it - from that first episode. Jason wasn't there, but there was a new, strange, dark world there that fascinated me. And I was hooked.

The show should have gone on longer, but that is ancient history now. We have the three seasons and can enjoy them again and again now, thanks to the DVD releases.

Friday the 13th: The Series. The #1 Reason Why I Love TV.