I am not a TV watcher. I tend toward anything else really and being a compulsive reader, that is what usually fills my entertainment time. I will pick up anything; a weeks old newspaper, the back of the cooking oil bottle, a book on the Arts and Crafts movement in the northwest. If I want something in the background so it isn’t so quiet, I put on music. Usually Jazz.
My wife, on the other hand, is a TV watcher. She usually has it on in the background when she is doing other things, just for the noise, to keep her company so to speak. And while she doesn’t do this when she is reading, it is on when she is cooking or working her seedlings. Usually it’s a whole series, season by season. Which, as a non-TV person, begins to grate on me. But, every once in a while I find myself really enjoying the show.
Right now she is watching Friends.
As I said, I was never a TV watcher (my older brother had control of the remote when we were kids, so I just found other interests, usually Conan paperbacks), so I never really watched the show back in the ’90’s when it was on. But watching it now, as an adult with a grown child, I am surprised at how much I am enjoying it. Yes, it is a typical sitcom with laugh tracks and title themes, but between this and Seinfeld (my insomnia go to) you can (IMVHO) witness the zenith of the sitcom. Very strong writing, developed characters, impeccable timing, strong physical comedy and most importantly, no references to then current events, or at least not much (did catch a Y2K mention last night.) In short, comedy gold.
So, what are you watching and/or reading?
We will be back with a installment of the Norwegian Wood book club next week.
Dark, post-apocalyptic.
(The Russians really MEANT their subway systems to serve as shelters).
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Tim Allen can play Santa because we’re not asking too much from him, on the small or the big screen. Jennifer Aniston can do romantic comedies because, oh, let’s face it, she’s adorable, in a way that men can enjoy and women don’t find threatening. Ashton Kutcher keeps making movies, but no one knows why.
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But I would still rather watch either of them on TV than on the big screen.
Paul Rudd seems to have made the transition fine, and to a lesser degree Seth Rogen, but they both shifted to movie roles very young… wonder if that has something to do with it.
(As a total aside, holy crap has Rudd been in a lot of things, shifting back and forth from TV to movies seemingly at will. 107 IMDB credits)
And then of course there’s Robin Williams, but he was a once-every-50-years kinda guy…. and he was also quite young when he shifted… hm.
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Paul Rudd was never a TV star. He did 20 episodes of Sisters and 18 of Friends. He didn’t exhaust his repertoire the way most sitcom actors do.
Oh, I’ve got one more for the successes list, though. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Third Rock from the Sun was like a master class in acting given by the great John Lithgow – even though everything looked like it was ridiculous.
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Also, Tom Hanks made the transition. But he wasn’t on TV that long.
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