In an attempt to do something a little different this year, I'm going to list the television shows past and present (and even future) that I am most thankful for at this time. Some I review for TV Squad and some I don't. Some I used to and some I would if I were asked. Some I will never review because government agents have come to my house and pretty much told me forthright that if I reviewed them, they would have me detained. So, here goes:
South Park - The most insightful show on television. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are willing to take issues that the rest of the more liberal Hollywood view as simple and show their complexity by taking other sides. I don't think they're invited to a lot of Hollywood parties as a result, but it makes for great television.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles - it's been hit and miss story-wise, but the overall arc has been satisfying. Hopefully, the series will develop a reasonable ending to satisfy the fans once it is canceled due to poor ratings as a result of Fox moving it to the Friday Night Death Slot.
This doesn't seem like the brightest of TV seasons right now, does it? The fall season wasn't the best to begin with, and now the writers are on strike. But there are many things about the TV biz that a person can be thankful for, especially someone like me who is lucky enough to cover television for a living:
Late night talk shows: All of 'em, from The Daily Show to The Colbert Report to Letterman and Leno to Conan and Craig. The writers strike has made it painfully obvious to me that the landscape of late night TV is pretty much a wasteland without these shows. Sure, I could watch the same Seinfeld and Scrubs reruns I've seen dozens of times, but those aren't nearly as entertaining as the fresh and topical material I see on the talk shows (even Leno's).
I've got plenty to be thankful for in my life, but -- pffft! -- y'all don't care to hear about that! This is TV Squad after all, so let's get down to what I'm thankful for when it comes to all-things television:
Damages getting uber-renewed As the first season of Damages ticked down toward its finale, I wasn't the only one afraid that F/X was being quiet about the show's renewal status. It wasn't until recently that we were blessed with the news of not only one new season, but two! Many of us fans have already gone into speculating what the major plot will be for the second season, but to now wrap our minds around a third ... wow.
The Shield having all remaining episodes in the can The WGA strike is obviously going to be a huge downer for TV watchers everywhere, if it hasn't been already. Some shows will take months to reappear, possibly if at all! Thankfully one of my beloved shows, The Shield, apparently won't be affected by the strike, as it has its final season all wrapped up for us like a fat present under the tree (even if it does air in the spring).
I may not celebrate Thanksgiving today (as Robin from How I Met Your Mother would say, "The real Thanksgiving was in October!") but that doesn't mean I cannot take part of TV Squad thankful post series.
Television is a big part of my life. I've grown with it. I spend hours with it every day. So it's about time, I give thanks for having television in my life!
We're all thankful for many things in our lives. Good health, family, friends, our homes ... those often come to mind when Thanksgiving rolls around.
But sometimes it's the everyday things which we take for granted -- things like entertainment and television -- which get overlooked. I've been a reading fanatic and a television fan all of my life. Without those two mind diversions, my life would be very different ... perhaps not a good different.
So when I heard I had a chance to write about what I'm thankful for in (or on) television, I jumped at it.
Thanksgiving is about overindulgence; cramming our bodies to bursting with turkey and potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce and just when we think we're going to heave if we have one more bit, it's the one day in which it is socially acceptable to unbutton your pants so you can squeeze in that last slice of pumpkin pie. Gluttony with approval, thanks be to the cook! As it turns out, TiVo is about overindulgence too, which is why it tops my list.
Now I can follow Everybody Hates Chris, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Chuck and Prison Break (Curse you Mondays 8/7 Central!) without missing a beat. Of course, one night of primetime television takes eight hours to watch, but isn't it worth it in the end? "I love you, honey, I should be done here by two am!"
Eat. Sleep. Pepto Bismol. Television. The four things that describe Thanksgiving for me. They all go hand in hand really, but let's be honest -- TV is the one that really matters. I can have turkey any time I want, but I can only watch my favorite shows once a week. Despite the WGA strike putting a wrinkle into my winter viewing plans, there's still plenty to be happy about.
Thanksgiving is more than a time when families force members to tolerate each other for a few hours to get through a meal with minimal bloodshed. Oh, no. It's so much more: Thanksgiving is when TV Squad does these nifty lists of what we bloggers are thankful for in the TV world. My list will never be complete, because far into the new year, I will continue to think of the thousands of tiny things that should belong here. Of course, I don't have the time, space, or energy to make a thousand-item list, so an 8-point piece will have to do.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving Day, you wonderful people, and don't forget your stretchy pants.
Let me be honest here...I got thanks coming out of the wazoo. I have a wonderful family, a good job, food on the table, clothes on my back, and a roof over my head. Plus, I am dashingly handsome, which allowed me to obtain the wonderful family, the good job, etc. But, since this isn't Slashfood or ParentDish I'm really not going to list why I am thankful for the items I listed.
No, this is a list describing why I am thankful for the most important piece of my life: television (Uh, don't tell my wonderful family about that). I mean, without television I would probably be an incredibly literate scholar of 17th century mathematics who is a hit at social gatherings. And, that would pretty much suck, wouldn't it? Television is where it's at, baby, and here are some reasons why I'm thankful for it.
Several of my colleagues here at TV Squad have listed personal video recorders as one of the things they're most thankful for this holiday season.
I wholeheartedly agree with them and think the list could even be extended a little bit further.
We live in an age where our televisions, computers, cellphones, PDAs, PMPs, video game consoles, and a myriad of other products can all communicate with other devices wirelessly and at broadband speeds - all in the pursuit of making the TV watching experience as convenient as possible.
From a technology perspective, it's never been a better time to be a fan of watching TV. Here is a list of the TV related items I'm most thankful for this holiday season.
'Tis the season to be thankful and, more particularly, to perform an inventory of what we are thankful for. The list can be a bit overwhelming, so I'm happy to parse it down to what I am thankful about television-- and not just what's on the air now (which is fortunate, considering the current WGA strike).
In contemplating the issue, I've found seven things that I'm thankful for relating to the television medium. There could be more in the future, but these are the ones I've come up with at this time.
As I get older I begin to realize the crap what is the entertainment industry and getting ready for my journey to decrepitness, old age and senility, I am fully prepared to give vicious criticism and back-handed compliments now to avoid the rush. I'm sort of like those vindictive commenters you see on Internet message boards, except I give my real name.
Ah, Thanksgiving. My second favorite holiday after Christmas.So much to be thankful for, and they all sound like cliches: family, friends, health, happiness, pizza. But what about the stuff that we really can't do without, television? Below are a half dozen things about TV that I'm truly thankful for this year.
1. A second season of Mad Men: You know how it usually goes. You love a TV show like it's your wife or husband, and then the show is canceled after its first season because of low ratings or some other reason involving numbers. But that's not the case with AMC's Mad Men. I'm not completely surprised it was renewed, because when you have a period piece drama on one of the niche cable channels, there's a hell of a better chance of it getting renewed than if it was on NBC, Mondays at 10. Most times when a show is called "adult" that just means there's a lot of violence or a lot of sex or it's on cable so they can swear a lot. Mad Men is adult in the truest meaning of the word: intelligent, well written, well-acted, and focusing on adult themes of relationships, society, and the workplace.
There's so much on television for which to be thankful: the returning favorites, the new obsessions, the comedic, and the dramatic. Fresh faces work with old pros to bring us shows ranging from artistic masterpieces to guilty pleasures. On a basic level, I'm thankful that I had some difficulty choosing only five things on TV to praise. Specifically, the five things that I chose have given me hours of thought-provoking, laughter-inducing entertainment.
Anotherbrilliant season of Ugly Betty: There's nothing worse than watching your favorite new show lose its touch in the second season. Like all Ugly Betty fans, I'm thankful that the sweetest comedy on television has avoided the sophomore slump. The best elements from the first season--clever one-liners, heartwarming moments, and top-notch performances from the ensemble cast--have remained intact.
In an attempt to do something a little different this year, I'm going to list the television shows past and present (and even future) that I am most thankful for at this time. Some I review for TV Squad and some I don't. Some I used to and some I would if I were asked. Some I will never review because government agents have come to my house and pretty much told me forthright that if I reviewed them, they would have me detained. So, here goes:
This doesn't seem like the brightest of TV seasons right now, does it? The fall season wasn't the best to begin with, and now the writers are on strike. But there are many things about the TV biz that a person can be thankful for, especially someone like me who is lucky enough to cover television for a living:
I've got plenty to be thankful for in my life, but -- pffft! -- y'all don't care to hear about that! This is TV Squad after all, so let's get down to what I'm thankful for when it comes to all-things television:
Thanksgiving is about overindulgence; cramming our bodies to bursting with turkey and potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce and just when we think we're going to heave if we have one more bit, it's the one day in which it is socially acceptable to unbutton your pants so you can squeeze in that last slice of pumpkin pie. Gluttony with approval, thanks be to the cook! As it turns out, TiVo is about overindulgence too, which is why it tops my list.
Thanksgiving is more than a time when families force members to tolerate each other for a few hours to get through a meal with minimal bloodshed. Oh, no. It's so much more: Thanksgiving is when TV Squad does these nifty lists of what we bloggers are thankful for in the TV world. My list will never be complete, because far into the new year, I will continue to think of the thousands of tiny things that should belong here. Of course, I don't have the time, space, or energy to make a thousand-item list, so an 8-point piece will have to do.
Let me be honest here...I got thanks coming out of the wazoo. I have a wonderful family, a good job, food on the table, clothes on my back, and a roof over my head. Plus, I am dashingly handsome, which allowed me to obtain the wonderful family, the good job, etc. But, since this isn't 
'Tis the season to be thankful and, more particularly, to perform an inventory of what we are thankful for. The list can be a bit overwhelming, so I'm happy to parse it down to what I am thankful about television-- and not just what's on the air now (which is fortunate, considering the current WGA strike). 
Ah, Thanksgiving. My second favorite holiday after Christmas. So much to be thankful for, and they all sound like cliches: family, friends, health, happiness, pizza. But what about the stuff that we really can't do without, television? Below are a half dozen things about TV that I'm truly thankful for this year.
There's so much on television for which to be thankful: the returning favorites, the new obsessions, the comedic, and the dramatic. Fresh faces work with old pros to bring us shows ranging from artistic masterpieces to guilty pleasures. On a basic level, I'm thankful that I had some difficulty choosing only five things on TV to praise. Specifically, the five things that I chose have given me hours of thought-provoking, laughter-inducing entertainment. 
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