Checking the Television and some Star Wars

Last year, I realized many of the TV shows I was watching were shows that were great when they started, but have noticeably declined in quality since then. I decided, if a show is in its eighth season on later it is OK to stop watching it. Unless I still enjoy the show a lot, I do not need to contribute to marginal shows staying on the air just to make money for the network and people who make the show.

Instead, I watch early seasons of shows that friends have recommended to me. Last month I felt like I was in November of 2007. I was watching episodes of Dexter and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that originally aired then.

Dexter follows the title character, a seemingly harmless blood spatter expert who works for the Miami police department. However, Dexter has a secret. He is a serial killer. I have watched the first two seasons and it is a great show. Unfortunately, Dexter is an example of a show that started out great and then crashed in quality. Aden suggested I stop watching after the fourth season.

As for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it is a dark comedy. The Unnamed Geniuses describe it in more detail.

The series follows "The Gang," a group of five depraved underachievers . . . [who] run the dilapidated Paddy's Pub, a bar in South Philadelphia. They are dishonest, egotistical, selfish, greedy, unethical, lazy, manipulative, deceitful, hypocritical, self-centered, vain, disloyal, unremorseful, overly competitive, immature, vengeful, antagonistic, and arrogant. Episodes usually find them hatching elaborate schemes, conspiring against one another and others for personal gain, vengeance, or simply for the entertainment of watching one another's downfall. They inflict physical and psychological pain. They regularly use blackmail to manipulate one another and others outside of the group.

After reading that, I might be a horrible person for enjoying the show.

There are some good things coming up soon. Mark your calender for:

Justified January 17 on FX
The Walking Dead February 12 on AMC
Mad Men March 25 on AMC

Take some time to check out Justified Tuesday night on FX. The seasons have story arcs, so the start of the season is a great time to pick it up. You can also learn why one of my friends wanted to be Raylan Givens for Halloween.

On a side note, if you want to make friends in graduate school talk about AMC's original shows like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. It worked great for me. Well, reevaluate great after this, but I did make a friend in another class.

I recommend all of the shows I mentioned in this post.

There is one more thing I must tell you about.

The Star Wars Holiday Special

If you are a big Star Wars fan, you should see this. It aired on TV once in 1978. The reaction was so bad it was never shown again, never released on video, and George Lucas has done everything short of denying it ever happened. While I heard about it a while ago, I only saw it this past Christmas.

The only copies that exist are private VHS recordings of when it originally aired, so the quality is bad. However, the extant recordings have the original commercials, which are almost as interesting as the special itself.

If you are interested (and have over an hour and a half of time), there is a YouTube video for you to check out. If I had to explain the special, I would guess a lot of drug use was involved when they were creating it.

On a less abrasive Star Wars holiday note, Did you know they released a Star Wars Christmas album? I only learned of it when my friend Sidney shared some of the songs with me. Since the album is not currently for sale, you will have to make due with these recordings. If it were not for this, how would you know what to get a Wookie for Christmas (when he already owns a comb)?

A few mornings I woke up with one of those Star Wars songs playing in my head. A couple of times I had Charlie's "Dayman" song instead.