Childhood TV: The Next Generation

mysocalledlife

Oh, my friends, I am getting old.  This isn't a surprise, per se; I have a really good memory for years and dates, and I can do basic math, so intellectually I know that, say, Full House is a good 25 years old, akin to today's kids what The Brady Bunch was to me.  But it's only recently that I've begun to personalize this math, to realize that I am part of a specific demographic. When I was a kid, there was a local chain called Angel's Diner.  It was all 50s kitsch, poodle skirts and shiny … [Read more...]

TV Cancellations: The Final Countdown?

secretcircle

Well, decisions have been made, and hardly anyone is happy.  This week, TV networks have been having their "upfronts" - meetings where they announce their lineups and schedules for the next season to press and advertisers.  That means the hard decisions concerning cancellations have been flying thick and fast.  Now, last season's lineups seemed particularly geek-friendly, with quite a few offerings in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.  Perhaps it's not a surprise, then, that not all of them … [Read more...]

TV That Molded a Geek: Roswell

Roswell

This TV show isn't really one that molded me; rather, it perfectly fit a certain time in my life so well that it might as well have been molded to me.  Everyone can probably find a TV show or movie that just gets everything right - the clothes, the hair, the conversation topics.  For a certain generation, it's John Hughes movies like Sixteen Candles.  For me - a teenage geek girl whose room brimmed with aliens of all kinds, ranging from the neon green plush to the purple inflatable - it was … [Read more...]

Netflix Instant: Feeding My TV Addiction

jekyll

I feel like I've been watching a ton of TV lately.  Here's the thing, though: even taking into account the final episodes of LOST and the new Doctor Who series, a very small fraction of the TV I've been watching has actually been sent to my cable box.  The rest has been thanks to Netflix Instant. I was an early adopter of Netflix; my queue began in 2001.  I can't remember the last time I got a DVD, though - I've been getting more than my money's worth just using Instant.  In recent … [Read more...]