Sweet, sweet banality

I'm not a huge tv watcher, particularly since I cut myself off from cable upon my move down south. The basic channels (except for the ever-lovable PBS) just do not offer much to the world. I do watch TV on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the most part. And I'm starting to figure out a few things as a result.

Tuesday: You can learn a lot about a person by what they watch on Tuesday nights. I spend the entire night clicking between stations, because it's the one night all the really well-written shows come on. I'm talking about, of course, House. Can't miss House. But then there's Veronica Mars, which has moments of true brilliance. It's a tasty po-mo teen fest. And finally David Mamet's The Unit, which has emerged as a rather marvelous show in my mind, even though the title still makes me snicker every time I hear it. So the 9 pm hour gets a little crowded for me. Inevitably, though, something on House irritates me (overwrought decision or crisis inflated by Cameron's huffy face), so I click over Veronica Mars. Then I get wrapped up in that show until the ad, and I'm still irritated at House, so I click to the Unit. Something on that show makes me nervous--it's rather too good and upsetting at times--so I click back to House. I never see a full show of anything, but it suits me.

It does puzzle me that I can enjoy a medical drama, a teen drama, and a military drama all at once. Honestly, it concerns me a bit. I need focus, right? Wouldn't House diagnose me as ADD if he had his shot?

Speaking of medical dramas and what caused this truly vacuous post, I watched Grey's Anatomy last night. I've grown to love this show. It pleases me no end. (I guess I should say "spoiler"?) As an open letter or note or memo to what was my favorite show until last night: YOU ARE NOT ER. YOU ARE A CUTE SHOW ABOUT WACKY INTERNS. YOU ARE A BUNCH OF ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE WHO HAPPEN TO WORK IN A HOSPITAL.

Things I don't watch Grey's to see:
Smushed pregnant ladies with no face
Painfully-dying nice black men
Mute, traumatized little girls who have wet their pants
Gushing leg wounds
Interns being hurled off of piers.

It was this last bit--when Meredith (she of the squinty-eyed smile who can be either compelling and likable or truly smackable)--gets knocked into the water by a demented patient, unnoticed by anyone, that sent me off a pier of my own. COME ON, Grey's Anatomy, (I said to the screen) I stopped watching ER because it gave me bad dreams and stressed the hell out of me. I do not watch this show for gripping drama! Never! Your drama is like baby food served by lovely people. GIVE ME MY BABY FOOD.

But, no. Grey's wants to be someone else. And this leaves me on a Friday morning still filled with images of smushed and sad people. Thankfully I'll be dressed as mid-80s Madonna in 36 hours, so all this will fade away.