Summer syllabus

The calendar may not officially declare summer here, but going by the academic calendar at my place of employment, it's less than a week away. My job doesn't necessarily change, but matters on the whole should be less urgent than they can be in the midst of the terms. There's no question that I live the year according to the rhythms of the university, and I like it that way. Perhaps it's what I'm used to, but it provides a seasonal structure to work that I don't know other jobs have. If you're working in an office, is any week drastically different from another based on where you are in the year?

So, with the summertime mindset taking over, I'm considering what to do as "projects" to fulfill myself during these months. I'm not necessarily talking about what to knit, although that can be entered into the mix, but what I want to read and watch. Now's the time for catching up on things I haven't had time for or never gotten around to.

Approaching television shows as something worthy of study isn't unusual among many I know, but I realize it might sound ridiculous to some. In other words, I won't apologize for what I intend to do. TV has been incredibly rich over the past decade--yes, in spite of plenty of garbage--but there's a fair amount I haven't seen, especially the HBO series. (I've never seen an episode of The Sopranos, for instance.) For starters, I've decided to plow my way through all three seasons of Deadwood, if for no better reason than I found a great deal on the complete series on Blu-ray.

I've been feeling the itch to rewatch Veronica Mars, and The A.V. Club's summer-long revisiting of the first season seems like a good enough reason to return to it. I've had a love of mysteries for quite some time, but somewhere along the line I sort of lost that stuff to read or watch. Veronica Mars hits a sweet spot for me, and I'm curious to revisit the high school noir. It took me until the first season came out on DVD to catch onto the show, but it quickly became a favorite that I wish had lasted more than its three seasons.

I was a big fan of Alias when it was on the air. Since it's getting The A.V. Club treatment too, I might try to take another look at it if time permits.

As for books, I've decided to dive into the young adult The Hunger Games trilogy. Maybe the choice is due to sheer bombardment of information on the upcoming films' casting. I'm a chapter into the first book and am interested enough that this seems like something worth reading.

I've had my eye on The Complete Calvin and Hobbes for years and finally picked it up when spotting a deep discount on the hefty set's price. And I'm not joking about hefty. The three-volume set is heavy. The comic strip is one of my all-time favorites, if not the favorite, so it will be fun to flip through these pages.

I made it about halfway through the graphic novel Bone last summer and then got distracted, so I'd like to finish it. There are recent books (or two) by favorite authors that I bought but haven't read. Such is my inconsistency as a reader. In keeping with my love of mysteries and childhood fondness for Agatha Christie books, maybe I should re-read some of them. I probably haven't picked them up since junior high or high school.

Obviously I could go on and on, but it will be ambitious to get through everything I've listed here. What do you want to read and watch this summer? Or am I just weird for planning these like assignments?

Looking back

In the article tied to the archive TV news report about the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, the incident is called "the beginning of the age when the whole world knew what happened as it happened." The main reason why this tragedy earns that distinction is because many schoolchildren were watching the launch live since the shuttle would be carrying a teacher.

As a member of Generation X, of course I remember where I was when I found out: seventh grade, sixth period, biology class. I did not see the live telecast. I don't know if anyone was watching it in the junior high school, although it would make sense for a science class to have it on.

The details are fuzzy. Given the time it occurred, chances are I was at lunch or in one of the home economics classes. (The rotating series of courses--typing, cooking, sewing, metal shop, and wood shop--wasn't called home ec, but the name escapes me.) The biology teacher told us what happened. Random remembrance: I think we were studying reproduction that day.

If the explosion happened at 11:38 a.m., I didn't find out about it until sixty to ninety minutes later. For 1986 that certainly would have been fast-spreading news, especially inside a school's walls. Think how slow that would seem today.

Rewatching the TV news report above, I'm struck by the relatively leisurely cutting compared to the style of today. Perhaps the nature of the story slows it down, but I'd venture to guess that the pace is typical of that time.



To end on a lighter note, here are The Today Show anchors in January 1994--or so the clip info says--trying to figure out what the internet is and how to read an e-mail address. In fairness to Bryant Gumbel, the @ is a lowercase a in a circle, possibly because the symbol wasn't in the graphics program at the time, which is revealing enough in its own right. That said, the woman who isn't Katie Couric knew what it was.

As funny as this clip is now, seventeen years ago I think I would have been just as bewildered as they were.

Update: Although I referred to what happened to Challenger as an explosion, National Geographic says that it is a myth that the shuttle blew up. The problem is that it was often characterized as such in reports, and it certainly looks like that's what happened. The article clarifies it as breaking apart.

The article also claims that reports of those who watched this incident on live TV have been greatly overstated.

Small talk

The Golden Globes are pretty much a joke of an awards show from a sham of an organization. The group's network television contract and the awards' value as another accolade for trumpeting in marketing campaigns are the main reasons why they have any traction. I watch the awards show, not because I grant it any legitimacy but because it's part of the conversation...and there's usually nothing else on television.

Unlike the Academy Awards, I don't really know of people holding parties to watch the show. I imagine it happens, just not on the same scale. No, the place to get together, make snarky observations, and maybe gripe about the worthiness of winners is on Twitter.

Unfortunately my contributions to the stream weren't very inspired. Guess I wasn't on tonight. Nevertheless, for all the talk of interactive media, this was the way to view the program (and NFL playoffs and the recent college football bowls). It's strange to think of such broadcasts as the canvas on which friends around the country can joke around and chat in real time about, yet that seems to be an increasing attraction to them.

Oh, and for what it's worth, this awards season is pretty predictable. Get a jump on your Oscars pool by picking these near-sure things to win:

Picture: The Social Network
Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter (upset special: Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech)
Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

The nominees haven't even been announced, but at worst I've just predicted four of the winners. Maybe one of those will be wrong, but it's not looking that way.

Lazy Sunday

This morning I dragged myself out of bed to go to church. What with it being the Christmas season, I felt like I needed to make an extra effort, especially since I've been bad about attending all year. (I blame my failure to get to the services in part on the sleeping problems I've had for most of the year, but maybe that's simply a way of justifying it.) I expected to see a snow-covered parking lot, but nope, all we were getting was rain.

About midway through the service the rain changed to snow. It was coming down steadily when I carefully made my way to the car across the quickly becoming slick pavement and asphalt. As I drove to my next destination--the movie theater--I got stuck behind someone driving about 10 miles per hour. I'm all for being careful, but the roads were totally clean. Plus, not that many vehicles were on the streets yet.

By the time my showing of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader had ended--the film was tedious, by the way--the car required a decent excavating. With it being around 12:30, traffic was heavy and slow-moving on the snowy streets. Not that I had plans to go anywhere else, but this sealed the choice to hole up at home for the day.

Watching football and napping, with an emphasis on the latter, gobbled up the majority of the day. It is one of the pleasures of living in a cold weather state during winter that watching sports all day long on the weekend isn't something to feel ashamed about doing. I imagine it's harder to justify doing this when the weather outside is hospitable.

The TV remained on to watch the season finale of The Amazing Race. The global game show is easily the pinnacle of reality TV fare, and it's the one program of these I'd be interested to appear on. While it must be exhausting to run around the world and be thrown into stressful situations, how else could one get the quantity of experiences and passport stamps that the participants get while doing it on someone else's dime?

The Amazing Race is certainly molded as much as any reality TV show, but I appreciate that its intent isn't to show people at their worst. Sure, sometimes the contestants display cultural insensitivity and tempers flare. For the most part, though, this is a relationship program in the form of a game show travelogue, and those partners who remain patient and good-humored tend to perform better. (I think the producers learned a lesson several seasons ago when they cast a couple in which the husband seemed verbally abusive. People will get testy under the circumstances, but that extreme kind of reaction has virtually vanished.)

The snow has returned, I think, and is to continue to some degree through the night. And that was Sunday.

Cuckoo for Coco

Conan O'Brien returns to hosting a TV talk show this evening. My years spent invested in late night television were back when David Letterman was on NBC and eventually moved to CBS, but tonight's occasion can be observed by pointing out needlecraft Conan items.

First, there's a pattern for a crocheted Conan amigurumi. Then there's the (presumably) crocheted Conan yarn blimp.

So there you go.

Joan of Needlearts

News came across the ol' twitterstream today that Mad Men's Christina Hendricks is a knitter. Clearly this needs to be worked into the show.

While searching for articles that might have a little more than a passing reference to her knitting, I stumbled upon this days-old piece that reveals the actress is modeling a knit scarf for sale on Etsy.

But let me guess, this has been all over Ravelry for a long time, and I'm just out of the loop.

Last

The series finale of Lost will be broadcast tonight. I've been watching since the beginning and look forward to seeing how it all wraps up, but I won't pretend like I've been able to keep all the mythology straight in my head. I wasn't exactly sure who some of the people were in this season's premiere episode, for instance.

I've watched the show and read some of the voluminous coverage of it, but I'm by no means an obsessive viewer. It's one of my favorite shows on the air right now, but I'm not poring over episodes frame by frame for clues or scouring message boards for all of the fan theories. I'll leave the heavy lifting to others and simply enjoy the ride.

The end of Lost brings to mind the conclusion of other popular television programs. I remember watching the final episode of M*A*S*H, probably the standard bearer for event TV, although I don't recall much about it. I went to parties for the last episode of Cheers and Seinfeld. I traveled out of town with some friends to see the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation so that we could see it in a market showing it before Columbus. (The syndicated show didn't play the same day or time everywhere.)

TV is thought to be a solitary activity, yet the experiences of watching those shows coming to a close was anything but. One movie theater in town has been showing Lost episodes on the big screen all season and been doing phenomenally well with it. (I believe the same success is occurring with Glee.) I know of at least two places showing the finale and expecting full houses.

Although I'll be watching the last Lost alone and from the comfort of home, it's neat to know that in today's fractured media landscape, there are still a few things that can draw together millions at once. Whatever happens on the show tonight, it will be a shared national, if not worldwide, experience for those tuning in. Don't believe me? Just listen to the chitchat at work tomorrow and see how many fail whales emerge around 11:30 p.m. (I expect Lost's conclusion might melt Twitter.)

A knitting Community

Tonight's episode of Community begins with Britta, played by Gillian Jacobs, knitting what turns out to be an eye patch for her new shelter-rescued kitten. I have no idea if the actress knits, but whoever arrived at the decision to make the character a knitter couldn't have found a better hobby for her.

Britta defends herself against charges of being an old cat lady by saying that knitting is hip--and yes, fellow knitters, we know it is enjoying renewed popularity--but this character also tends to be tone deaf to how others outside a subculture perceive things. This defense struck me as similar to a sentiment I've run across every now and then on Ravelry threads: don't people know that knitting is cool now? (Answer: not really.)

What makes the hobby such a perfect fit for the character is that she is a feminist and progressive who can be painfully earnest about saying the right things and living the right way. If Britta had said something about the yarn being cruelty-free fiber, then you would have had proof someone had done their research. (Again, I'm just saying I've read some stuff on Ravelry.)

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that younger knitters are humorless, liberal feminists. What I am getting at is that the knitting resurgence started, in part, out of a feminist impulse to reclaim traditional women's activities.

It's in such a spirit that it makes complete sense for Britta to be a knitter. She would see knitting as a political act and appreciate the self-sufficiency the craft allows one to demonstrate by making things. I could easily envision her making small knitted gifts for the rest of her study group.

See, knitters get excited about seeing their hobby depicted and even write crazy blog entries about something that amounted to thirty seconds at most of TV time.

Still more K Factor

Part three of The K Factor is now online. And that's all for today.

The K Factor

I assumed The K Factor was just a parody sketch on a British show. Apparently it is an actual competition for knitters on show called TV Burp. I didn't read the rules, but the official website will only play video for those in the UK, so I'd wager U.S. knitters are out of luck.

There's even a Facebook page for The Knitted Character, although if you want more information about that, you'll have to check it out yourself. (I don't have a Facebook account.)

I can't say that I know what to make of this, but I imagine it will lead to some pretty wild projects.

Knitting TV

While scrolling through the on-screen TV guide I accidentally stumbled across the offerings on my local PBS affiliate's secondary digital channel. I don't know if today's schedule is representative of their usual programming, but Knit & Crochet Today! was enjoying a marathon run. (Apparently the title has been changed to Knit & Crochet Now for its third season.)

I watched parts of a couple episodes and took in the entire "Projects for Guys" episode. First observation: this would be an excellent show to have on in the background while taking a nap. That's not meant as an insult. It just has a soft, soothing quality, especially in the audio production.

I was somewhat surprised at how basic the instructions are. In second season episodes there are still descriptions of how to do knit and purl stitches. Maybe I should have been paying more attention when they were crocheting.

Although a man showed how to make a sweater and scarf that would meet with male approval, make no mistake that the "Guys" episode was aimed at women wishing to find projects to make for the men in their lives. (Fair enough.) In my opinion the patchwork scarf was kind of ugly and way too busy with the different stitch patterns. The sweater had far too much ornamentation for my tastes. (C'mon, they were doing a variation on bobbles.)

They would have done well to heed Debbie Stoller, who was interviewed about Son of Stitch 'n Bitch in the middle of the episode. She said that most guys like plain clothes--this one does--even though that may not thrill the knitter.

Based on this sampling, the show would seem to be more for novices, not anyone who's been knitting for any substantial length of time. Still, I might take another look at it again at some point.

The late shift

It's been more than a little weird for late night talk shows and their behind-the-scenes politics to be a hot topic these past couple weeks. I haven't watched any of them with regularity for at least ten years. It's probably been more than that.

I'm not sure why I drifted away from watching them. It's not like I'm sleeping then or don't have the means to record them. Somewhere along the line they lost their immediacy, and I didn't make a habit of tuning in.

In my high school and college years I was a frequent viewer. I was into Late Night with David Letterman pretty seriously and would record the show each night. I might watch some of it in the morning before going to school. I certainly recorded the prime time Letterman anniversary specials and had a friend who showed me most of the special episodes he had on videotape, such as the upside down show. I followed that friend's lead and also started writing Top Ten lists.

I kept up with the industry news when Johnny Carson's replacement was being selected and when the ensuing publicity war popped up in the wake of the decision. I watched Carson's last week as The Tonight Show host. It was a big deal when a band I liked played on any of these shows, especially if the group or artist wasn't somewhat popular. You just didn't see them on TV otherwise. Plus, in the '90s late night talk shows were being mounted by anybody and everybody, although many of them--*cough* Chevy Chase, Magic Johnson *cough*--didn't last long.

With the ubiquitous movie star and other celebrity appearances on talk shows of all stripes, not to mention the internet, there's something less special about them being on the late night shows. Maybe it's because their converations often feel canned, as though they've worked out everything in the pre-interview. Maybe it always was that way, but I didn't see it then. Whatever the case, I do think these programs have lost the luster that they had in a smaller media world.

So it's been strange to revisit The Tonight Show for the last few evenings to see what's what. Conan's O'Brien's farewell lap this week has displayed more devil-may-care attitude than I suspect the rest of his seven months' run as host did. (I wouldn't know. Unless I'm mistaken I, along with much of America, had not watched a full episode until this week.) Honestly, that looseness was what was most appealing about it.

Next week will I go back to ignoring late night TV for the most part? Probably, at least until Letterman is close to signing off. But like those people who got up in arms about O'Brien's ouster but also didn't watch, I like the idea of it being there, just as long as it isn't Leno.

Knock 'em flying

'Twas one of those long days where I definitely earned my paycheck, so the ol' blogging energy is flagging. But the daily entry beckons...

I was surprised to see handknit socks on last night's new episode of Mythbusters. (I imagine it will air a few times yet this week if you missed it or want to see it.) They were testing whether one's socks can literally be knocked off. Can they? What do you think?

Can't say that I'd want to donate any socks I'd made, even if they were less than successful projects or heavily worn. Maybe that's because it can take me awhile to finish a pair.

Gone, or almost gone, but not forgotten

The Beloit College Mindset List comes out every year as a reminder of the cultural reality of entering college freshman. For instance, one of the items on this year's list is, "They have never used a card catalog to find a book." (I will take issue with #51: Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations. I think they meant pop/Top 40/CHR/whatever the format is called nowadays.)

Going along with that, I also recall hearing something on NPR a couple years ago about sounds that will be lost to history, like what you hear when a dial-up modem is connecting. I can't find specifically what I wanted, but perhaps it was part of a packaged collection that is being sold.

In the spirit of the list and that radio piece, I've been trying to think of things that are obsolete and will vanish in time or on the verge of disappearing. I've come up with:

-The sound of turning the radio dial. I was thinking in terms of cars, where digital tuners have reined supreme for a long time, but I guess that standalone radios may still have dials. Tied to that...

-The sound of a tube radio warming up. Growing up my dad had an old radio with AM, FM, and shortwave bands. In the morning I would hear him turn it on, which was usually a signal that I needed to get up (or would need to soon) for school. You could hear the voices go from deep and distorted to the warm analog sound when it was properly warm.

-The rotary telephone and the sound of dialing it.

-A dial on a TV for changing channels and the sound of turning it.

-The wired TV remote. When we first got cable TV at home, we had a keypad remote control with a wire running to the box.

-The console TV with wood paneling.

-The Cassingle.

What else should be on such a list?

For your eyes only

A blogging theme ended up developing this week. I've already covered what I'm reading and what I'm listening to. Today I'll cover what I'm watching.

When it comes to movies, I can pretty much say whatever is in theaters or opening soon and have it covered. Of course, that's not of any use to anyone. Up, the latest film from Pixar, doesn't arrive until May 29, but I can tell you that it's, umm, up to the studio's high standards. Even if a documentary about a heavy metal band doesn't sound like your thing, Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a sneakily inspiring story of two guys doing what they love and hoping for a breakthrough thirty years after they started playing.

TV-wise, I've been watching my fair share of Cincinnati Reds baseball. Of course I've been keeping up with the season finales of the shows I follow all season. Lost had an interesting end to its next-to-last season. Survivor wrapped a strong season that had plenty of drama from strategic play rather than interpersonal hatefulness. Fringe set itself up to go in a fun, new direction next year if it chooses to do so. The Office was at its cringeworthy best, especially in the second half of the season.

And of course there's American Idol. Kris has been quietly consistent and shown some ability to step outside the prefab Idol box, whether it's a different arrangement or choosing to sing a song from Once. I don't care for Adam's need to bludgeon every song, but I'll allow that he's been better than this year's (weak) competition.

END

More projects at work await, but for now I can sit here and breathe a sigh of relief that the most demanding portion of this time of year passed earlier this evening. Four half-hour TV shows in three weeks--double the usual load--is a lot of work considering all of the writing required, to say nothing of the editing and general busy work that is involved as a hyphenate. I'm not totally thrilled with everything, be it my writing or performance, but it doesn't matter because IT IS DONE.

Sure, things never seem to slow down, but I know I am through the worst. To top it off, I turned out decent final products. I guess I know what I'm doing after all. With more time I might have been able to do better, but these days I'm resigned to "good enough" as the standard.

If left to my own devices, I would probably be tempted to tinker and refine indefinitely. I have a very strong perfectionist streak in me, and while it can be helpful when it comes to the details, it can also be paralyzing. The need to finish something, to proclaim it done and leave it at that, helps offset the perfectionism. It's why deadlines are a saving grace and why the immediacy of blogging allows me to loosen my grip and just put whatever out there.

It's why I have a deep appreciation for productive artists. Give me a band or a film director who release new works every year or two than those who take a decade between projects. Succeed or fail, I'd rather see the work than go without while they toil endlessly trying to craft something just so. There are bound to be missteps, but the stumbles aren't as big when another effort will soon follow.

In my own work I feel like I do more of the stumbling, but I suppose I'm willing to accept looking bad as I plug away at what I'm doing. It doesn't mean I'm satisfied with the miscues or lesser attempts--far from it--but at least I feel like I'm trying to get somewhere or, on fleeting occasions, have reached it. Tonight I arrived at one of those destinations. I'm going to enjoy it for the brief time I can.

Down by the old mainstream

Thoughts from an evening wasted watching the Grammys...

It's been years since I've watched this awards show, but I'll give them credit for devoting the bulk of time to performances. More rock, less talk indeed.

How high was Whitney Houston? Moderately, I'm guessing.

Man, is that stage patter some lame stuff. That general store joke Justin Timberlake read was deemed worthy?

There were a fair number of brief audio dropouts during the telecast, especially during the performances. Is it possible that these aren't technical malfunctions but anti-piracy measures?

I'm assuming the switch to black-and-white during the hip hop summit was purposeful, but it sure didn't seem to have a reason. (I've since been informed it was established as a Rat Pack tribute, but they didn't even stick with b&w through it all.)

If a pregnant M.I.A.--due today, by the way--was going to perform, couldn't they have given her a little more time to strut her stuff? I'm a little surprised they didn't censor "get high" from "Paper Planes", although she never got to the parts (gun shot sound effects, weed references) that probably wouldn't have made the cut.

Katy Perry's fifteen minutes are due to be up any day now, and her thoroughly uncharismatic performance at the Grammys ought to hasten her departure. Yeah, yeah, your song is "controversial". Enjoy it while it lasts because this is exactly the sort of thing that will be mocked five to ten years from now in a "what was the public thinking when they made this a big hit?" way.

When people recite songs lyrics to make them sound important, they almost always sound stupid, not poetic.

Is Robert Plant going to let Alison Krauss speak?

RADIOHEADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!

Seriously, Radiohead--or Thom, Jonny, and the USC Marching Band--were killer.

Other best performances: Estelle and Kanye West and Paul McCartney backed by a Foo Fighter while he sang "I Saw Her Standing There" as if it were still fresh,

I could really do without the march of CBS stars introducing performers. ABC doesn't send out the cast of Grey's Anatomy on the Oscars.

They really don't give away many awards on the show, do they? This is more like a multi-act concert interrupted by trophies being handed out.

I see, Robert Plant was just waiting until they won the night's final award to let Alison Krauss get in a few words. I've read that their album is a good one, but once again the Grammys go with the choice of something safe and irrelevant as far as the scene is concerned.

Super Bowl shuffle

Thoughts and observations from tonight's Super Bowl XLIII telecast...

For all of the reminders about getting 3D glasses at the grocery for best appreciating two of tonight's ads and tomorrow's episode of Chuck, I never saw any of the red and blue specs or a display.

Despite being eight years younger, John Elway sure looked a lot older than Lynn Swann.

It's a sign of the times that a song (U2's new single) appears in an advertisment (an NFL spot) almost a month before the album is in stores.

Madison Avenue has tried to convince us that the ads are just as important as the game, but if that were true--and I don't think it is--they sure laid an egg with the mostly uninspired bunch that aired tonight.

I thought the blatant product placement was kind of questionable in last night's Saturday Night Live MacGruber sketch, so I really don't know what to think now that I see that it actually is an ad.

Is Toyota aware that transmission isn't the first thing that comes to mind when some of us hear "tranny"? Do gearheads call it that?

Instant replay appeared to get the calls correct--I'd quibble with the fumble call on Arizona's final possession--but talk about draining the urgency out of what happens on the field. All the calls upstairs kills the excitement of the moment.

I really didn't want the Steelers to win, but at least the game was in question down to the final seconds. That's two Super Bowls in a row that have had pretty good finishes, which isn't typical for the championship.

The host network places such importance on the show they air after the Super Bowl, but it might help if the thing started on time or at a reasonable hour in the Eastern time zone. Tonight's actually started close to on time but still didn't begin until after 10:30 p.m.

The facts were these

Last week Pushing Daisies was canceled, but the airwaves will still see the remaining completed episodes. The news that the show will be no more may be sadder for fans because with the November 19 episode and tonight's it really was hitting its stride. The scene with Ned, the piemaker whose touch can bring dead things back to life, entering a trophy room full of pelts and taxidermied animals was a hoot.

Of course, the reason I bring up the show--aside from my lack of blogging material today--is that knitting again was on the periphery of tonight's episode. The victim in the murder mystery was the inventor of the mechanical ball winder. (I wonder, do they exist? If so, is it really that hard to crank it yourself?)

I got a kick out of seeing a ball being wound in Emerson's office while he met with a client. With the occasional knitting asides in Pushing Daisies, someone involved with this show must know his or her way around a yarn store. This quality doesn't make or break the show, but such flourishes seem a little like winks to those who enjoy spending time with needles and yarn. Enjoy 'em while they last.

Running in place

I feel like I'm living at 500 miles per hour right now, which is probably why I feel more behind on things than I actually am. I see the unread blog posts counter ticking upward in Google Reader and try to clear enough of my DVR's hard drive so it can record more without deleting anything that I might want to watch but haven't. I feel too distracted to catch up on either in the evening. Sleep comes in fits and starts. (I'm blaming too much work and election craziness that broke my BS detector weeks ago.)

So, because I need an entry today and it's the only topic that occurred to me, I present to you some of what I'm watching--or not watching, as the case may be--this fall TV season.

The Amazing Race and Survivor: As far as I'm concerned, the blooms are off the roses for these longtime reality TV programs. I'm still watching, but the thrill is gone, especially in regard to Race. I suppose there's only so much that can be done to keep these shows fresh, but the biggest shortcoming is that the cast members fit into prescribed roles that lack any surprise. Regular viewers know the templates cold, so without any people who pop on screen, what else is there? Before episodes are over I'll often pick up my knitting to entertain me.

Pushing Daisies: I finally caught up with the strike-shortened first season and am up to date with the series, tonight's episode excepted. The comedy, romance, and general whimsy distinguish it from anything else on TV, but this is a dark, twisted show if you stop to think about it. Fun stuff.

Heroes: I lost interest in this in the second season, but with the relatively new HDTV, why not try to get back on the bandwagon? Maybe because the show is terrible? I don't particularly like the characters, who seem to change drastically from week to week anyway, and the plotlines aren't interesting. I dropped this one from the DVR record list, and it's not going back on.

Worst Week: So far this comedy of discomfort has been able to sustain its concept of a well-meaning guy messing up everything possible over the course of different weeks. It's consistently funny and mortifying in that oh-no-I-feel-bad-for-him way. Yes, for some reason that last quality is a good thing.

The Ex List: I'd read some positive early takes on this show, so I figured I'd take a chance even though it hadn't looked like my thing. I haven't watched a single recorded episode, and now comes news that it's been cancelled. Looks like there's four hours I can quickly clear off the DVR.

Fringe: This potential X-Files wannabe hasn't totally won me over like the show that's influenced it, but of the new shows I've watched this season, it's probably my favorite. At this point in time I'd be perfectly happy with "monster of the week" episodes rather than an overarching mythology, but it seems like the creators are trying to balance these qualities.

Life on Mars: I could do without the on the nose period references and dialogue in this time travel (?) cop show--a modern day New York City policeman wakes up from an accident and finds himself in 1973--but overall I like what I've seen. The cinematography has a nice, burnished look, and I'm curious about the central mysteries that have been introduced.

Life: I didn't have strong feelings about this Los Angeles cop show during its first season, but there's something appealing about its procedural sturdiness and just-quirky-enough characters that has me watching this before other programs on the DVR. I'm hoping they've ditched the documentarian interviews because, frankly, I couldn't care less about who was responsible for framing the detective and getting him sent to prison.