I acknowledge the fact that we all have very personal tastes in what we like to watch on television. Even within my own family I doubt that one could get a 100% con census on what is good TV viewing. Fortunately, for those with cable or there are a gazillion channels to choose from. Or at least it seems like there are. If you discount the ones that are not broadcast in English, that are local cable access, that don't have a plethora of infomercials or are just so esoteric that you have to wonder what prompted them, well, you still have a pretty good selection to choose from.
Back in the dark ages when I was young it used to be that summer offered nothing but reruns, news and old movies from the 40's. Today, the stations have smartly moved seasons around and have made TV viewing much more user-friendly. Whereas; traditionally, all new TV shows used to start in September, we now get new seasons of series and shows that start year round. This is a good thing.
So what has summer wrought on TV? Well, depending on your tastes, it has served up new episodes of shows like "Wipeout", "America's Got Talent", "Storage Wars," "Sullivan and Son", "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" "Four Weddings and "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" just to name a few. If you haven't heard of some of these, in some cases, you're lucky! But at least we are being offered some variety...and new episodes!
As you can tell by my aforementioned list, it's a little heavy on the "reality show" side. That's because we seem to be getting more of those shows whether we want them or not. That's because reality shows are much cheaper to produce. Personally, I could live without things like "American Hoggers" and "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo", but I solve that problem by just not watching them. They must be working for someone because they stay on the air!
Maybe it's my ancient perspective that's influencing me these days but I am finding that I'm watching things on PBS and the Travel channel more these days. Oh, I do have my guilty pleasures: "Storage Wars", "Hell's Kitchen" and "Master Chef", but finding something to challenge all parts of my brain is getting harder and harder to find! I don't mind mindless entertainment, but occasionally it's nice to watch something that makes me have to think. My friend recommends that I watch the first season of "Homeland" and "Newsroom". They are definitely on my "to watch list"...just as soon as I catch up on my "Master Chefs!"
