Off the air

We did it--we are officially TV free! Well, we still have a television (one), but no cable, no antennae. Dean and I were looking at our cable bill last month and realizing that we were paying $75 a month and watching TV maybe three times. That's $25 a shot. Ridiculous. So it's gone, baby. It'll be DVDs and downloads from here on out.

We weren't following any shows anyway. There are three uber-popular shows on that I have actually tried on multiple occasions to watch and enjoy...and I am horrified. The writing is terrible, the storytelling is clumsy, the acting is wanting. Why don't movie and TV makers invest more in a good script? It's shocking.

Okay, in my idea of good writing, anyway. I feel a little discouraged that shows I think are brilliant tend to be canceled before their time. Are my standards and likes so much different than everyone else? Off the top of my head, some of my favorite shows from the last few years:

• Firefly
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Angel
• Arrested Development
• The Office
• Wonderfalls
• Battlestar Galactica
• Justice League (and Justice League Unlimited)
• Veronica Mars

The last one we just discovered, watching the DVDs. The acting is tremendous, the dialog is top notch. It lasted three seasons before getting the boot. It makes me sad that those storytellers who are doing such a brilliant job and not stooping to cheap thrills and formula aren't being rewarded. The medium of television discourages risk taking, because it must be popular on a wide scale to be successful. As downloadable shows increase, there will be a much wider variety of entertainment. I'm willing to wager that in ten years, the way we view television will be revolutionized.

More author interviews to come...