Ok...I don't believe it's a secret that I am a TV addict and have been since my early days of game show and sitcom watching i.e. Match Game '75, Password (with Allen Luden and a young Betty White) and of course That Girl, Bewitched and the like. As I've gotten 'older' I strayed away from television and became a 'movie snob' seeing at least 5 movies a week in the theaters back in the 70's and 80's and then when Indie's became 'the thing' my snobbery only heightened as I 'swore' I would never (if offered) write for TV - 'so beneath me' - and would only write hardcore, very dark plays and/or screenplays.
This being said, nowadays I can barely keep up with the saved shows on my DVR and the list is long. I look so forward each week to the following REALITY SHOWS: ANTM, Survivor, Project Runway (which does involve a lot of talent - COME ON !), The Celebrity Apprentice, A.I. (can't let this one go, it's killing me)... Shear Genius and so forth. My rationale is that I watch to view the psychology of people, some regular and some yes celebrities without a script... Oh I forgot to mention Celebrity Rehab and Celebrity Fit Club - haunting and mesmerizing.
What I've recently noticed about my reality TV watching though is is this. That 'man' (Yvonne) cannot live by Reality TV alone and after viewing about 2-5 different shows consecutively, I start Jonesing for some 'ART' - good writing and real acting by 'real actors' as it were. I'm not sure if it makes me appreciate the stellar shows that I back this junk food up with but it's akin to reading a bunch of Harold Robbins or Jackie Collins and then dying for some Hemingway or Joyce Carol Oates. (Present day authors for me would be Jerry Stahl or David Sedaris).
So then I ravenously partake in the following shows of substance: Mad Men (in season), Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie, Diary of a Call Girl, and good to great comedies such as: Modern Family, 30 Rock, Community, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, CougarTown (it's good I swear) and some 'talk shows' i.e. Daily Show, etc.
So my point is: Do I really need the junk food to appreciate what's good/better for me? Can 'good' alone subside without 'evil'? Not sure but for today it is what it is and I am what I am (Popeye - great cartoon of the what? 40's? 50's?).
