TV Age

My current TV is a 19" set I bought in 1987 for a couple hundred bucks. It works fine, though the guy who installed the DVR couldn't believe we had a TV SO antiquated that one still has to get up and turn the TV off and on manually, even with a remote control. I don't have a V-chip, or an SAP button to listen to sporting events in Spanish. I know that eventually I will be in the market for a new TV; the incumbent will give out, and mandatory HDTV is finally on the horizon.

So, I'm reading the November Consumer Reports Annual Electronics Issue, and it has an article about plasma and LCD TVs, the CHEAPEST of which is $1000. Sure glad they are other items on the market, because I, and moreso my wife, would choke at spending four figures on a television.

Which got me thinking about the shows I watch, and don't, again. Always at least a week behind, I'm pleased, though confused, to find that there are a number of shows that I watch (Earl, The Office, Grey's Anatomy) that are repeating the season openers next week, six or seven weeks after the original broadcast. In fact, with the Friday night repeats, I think this is the third time Grey's opener has been on.

There are a whole bunch of new shows on that seem interesting that I haven't even recorded: Friday Night Lights (on at the exact same time as both Gilmore Girls and Dancing with the Stars), Heroes (with that guy Jess from Gilmore Girls), Justice (with Victor Garber, who I've liked for years), Twenty Good Years (with Lithgow and Tambour), Smith (with Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen - ALREADY CANCELLED). Or slightly older shows: STILL have never seen Lost, Desperate Housewives, or any number of programs; I could watch a House marathon on Sunday, October 29, but probably won't.

I haven't figured out what, exactly, are my criteria for giving it a try vs. giving it a rest. It's not just critical acclaim, though that does factor in. Casts matter, writers and directors matter. I'm already leaning on dropping The Nine - one episode viewed - for the same reason I don't watch Lost; I don't have the patience for certain types of convolutedness.

I will say that my absolute favorite scene this season was on Brothers and Sisters, where Sally Field, as the recently widowed mother, throws a party for her kids and grandkids and some others, including, it turns out, her late husband's lover (Patricia Wettig). All of the kids, and the mistress, think that mom doesn't know about her; they are mistaken, as they soon find out in a riveting jaw-dropping monologue.
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NLCS Game 7. Defending NL Central champs, STL vs. the best team in the league this season, NYM. I taped last night's game and watched it, mostly fast-forwarded, in about an hour and a half, which was about 50% of the game's running time, slowing down mostly for balls that were hit.

Wouldn't have made choices Mets manager Willie Randolph made. Starting picture Maine bats in the 5th, then in the 6th, he gives up a hit, then gets and out and he yanks him? Bradford gets the next batter, Rolen, to hit into a double play, so it turns out to be the right play. Later, he violates the "rule" and doesn't pitch a lefty vs. a left-handed batter, yet RHP Mota gets Duncan to hit into another double play.

A key of the game is PH Tucker stealing second on a pitchout (C Molina throw is high), and after a Reyes hit, LoDuca hits a 2-run double. Important because Mets closer Wagner gave up a 2-run double to Taguchi, to cut the lead to the final score of 4-2, Mets. if I were STL manager LaRussa, I'd play Taguchi (4 for 4 as a pitcher hitter) and sit Rolen, who can't hit and even made an error last night.