Fall TV Fun

By Kevin Williams

Ah, it is autumn which means the new TV season arrives.  I don't know about most of you, but TV is something that I don't think has necessarily improved over the years.

First, there is the issue of control. Literally. It used to be we had one remote to turn on and off the TV and to change the channels and that was that.  In fact, I remember years ago my grandmother having a "cable box" that sat on the end table next to her big easy chair and we'd just press a button for the channel we wanted.  Today, there are TV sets that have three or four remote controls and enough buttons to send up the space shuttle. All I want to do is turn the TV on and off and watch my favorite show.  Now we have all of these gadgets, programs on demand, etc.  and we can fast-forward through the commercials.  You know what?  I used to loathe commercials, but now that I rarely watch them I kind of miss them.  No wonder I never know what products are new, I never watch commercials for them anymore....I remember commercials growing up: the classic Mean Joe Green Coke commercial, the corny Folger's "Peter, You're Home!" Christmas commercial, the uncomfortable hygiene products during dinner. Okay, maybe I don't miss them that much.

I don't watch TV much anymore, especially not since Aster arrived.  But my childhood is full of fond memories of "appointment TV", classic sitcoms like The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Alice, Family Ties and Too Close For Comfort.   Dramas like Little House on the Prairie and The Love Boat were favorites also.  Fortunately, there are some shows in today's fragmented and tasteless TV landscape that remind me of yesteryear.  So assuming I can find the right control and the right button, here are my five fall favorites:

THE MIDDLE:   I hate it that I like this show, but I love it.  I hate it because the fact that I love it so much means I can relate to it.  And I don't even know what night it actually airs because we never watch it when it does. Rachel DVRs it and we watch it whenever we have the time.  No more having to be home by a certain time.  I'm not sure whether that is good or bad.  Anyway, the show is about a fictional family in fictional Orson, Indiana who are muddling through a middle class existence, but they manage to get by.

MODERN FAMILY:   I wish I related to these people more than The Middle, but I don't.   No one is ever really working in this show.

BIG BANG THEORY:  This is just a classic comedy.

THE VOICE:   I enjoy watching this show.  Not 100 percent sure why. Aster enjoys the singing so I guess if she enjoys it I do too.  I kind of miss Christina Aguilera as ajudge this year, though.

NASHVILLE:  I hate admitting publicly that I watch this show.  One, I don't really like country music.  Two, the acting - if you can all it that - is really quite awful.  But it's an intriguing, hour-long escape into silliness.

Okay, anyone watch these shows? Or I am I all by myself?