Amy Reads the Week (of October 12th, 2008)

Mea culpa, Gentle Reader. Mr. Reads mocks my inability to begin blog posts with anything but an apology for my recent abandonment of You, Most Constant Of Readers, but I am, dare I say? Too Busy to even dabble in pop culture, much less read comics. I watch my shows, and that is all, so thus, I offer you these pieces of insight.

Where have all the good shows gone?

This is not a judgment on New TV. I believe that several new shows have brought an extraordinary amount of talent to the scene. The Mentalist, Fringe, and Life on Mars (although We Reads are such a fan of the British version that we may sour of the American version quickly) are all Rather Good, and demonstrate the Potential For Greatness.

Nor is this a judgment on Old TV. Supernatural is a show that just gets better and better each episode, so much so that We Reads find ourselves comparing it to That Giant of Television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Office gets better each episode, and we eagerly anticipate the return of 30 Rock.

Of the new-ish shows, j'adore Life, and The Middle Man (any word on its return, Friends?), and Terminator, and Pushing Daisies. But I find myself straying from Tried and True shows such as Heroes, which has recently (just!) been dropped from Our Weekly Lineup.

Why?

Because it bores, Friends, truly, utterly, and completely. It has lost sight of what is interesting and has instead gone for what it thinks the fans want. On the cusp is True Blood, because while I very much liked the early books in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, I find the television show to focus less on the neat oddness of this world she had created, and more on the sex oddness of the world it adapted from Harris's vision.

Mr. Reads and I take guilty pleasure in culling series from our Lineup, because as one can see with the rather long sidebar to the right, we have many, many series to choose from. But I do not enjoy losing a series, because Gentle Reader, that implies that perhaps, just perhaps, some quality has been lost.

I am out of town next weekend for a Blast from the Past, so I will attempt to offer a mid-week column instead of my (somewhat aberrant) weekly column. Until then, Friends, happy pop culturing, and happy presidential debating.