My last blog post was a long time ago, back around Thanksgiving. I've been back from my trip to Utah for quite a while but I just haven't been motivated to write a blog, and when I've wanted to I just simply haven't had the energy - it seems like I'm always drained from work.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get to doing blogs soon. It's almost 2008 - I can't believe it. 2007 flew by EXTREMELY fast, I mean I remember January of 2007 like it was only last month! It's sort of scary how fast time goes.

For the past week I've spent my television viewing time to Lost, I rewatched the entire series from "Pilot" to "Through the Looking Glass" and am all freshened up and ready for the fourth season in a month. Rewatching the series in such a short period of time has confimed for me that this is simply th best show on television. Anyone who thinks the the writer's are making the whole thing up as they go is either crazy or does not pay attention very well...at all. The characters have such depth, they are so realistically played, the show is so intricately plotted and well-crafted. Of course there are a few missteps here and there but no show is perfect. The show perfectly blends genres and real-world emotion with an otherworldly mythology and mysteries. While I admit I may be in a minority, I don't mind the slow-reveal process the show takes with unveiling its mysteries. I admit that sometimes I want the answers immediately but overall I think I feel more satisfied getting hints and teases before finally seeing the truth. I think, that once this series is over and people are able to view it as a whole, that many of the naysayers won't have a leg to stand on any longer and this will be known as a show as influential and important as Twin Peaks (although...I'm not a huge Twin Peaks fan, I think it's only okay).

Other than Lost, I've been watching season one of One Tree Hill through Netflix. I must say that while it's a far cry from genius storytelling it's a decent show and even when it's cliche and cheesy, I still feel compelled to watch it. I like the characters and the down-to-earth feel of the show. When I pop in a disc I fly through the episodes fairly quickly, and I should be done with the first season by Thursday or Friday (I have to send these discs back and wait for the last two; I've been getting two at a time with a movie because I have a 3-disc-at-a-time plan) and I'll start season two shortly thereafter.

In case I don't get to write a New Years blog later today, Happy New Years!

Tonight my family and I are leaving for Utah, we'll be gone until roughly December 1st. We're driving so it will take a few days and I doubt I'll be able to get online while we're there. I'll see you guys then, hopefully while I'm gone the strike will be resolved, that will be a nice Christmas gift.

Anyway, bye you guys!

Well, the strike has only been going on two days, but it's already forced me to make drastic changes to my viewing habits. Almost every new show I was watching this season has been getting mediocre ratings and I figure the strike will probably kill them off for good, so I'll be dropping a lot of shows until after the strike is over. Except for ABC's amazing Pushing Daisies and Chuck and Gossip Girl and Dirty Sexy Money, but those shows will run out of scripts soon.

I'll also continue watching most of my returning shows until they run out of episodes: Ugly Betty, Supernatural, Desperate Housewives, The Office, and CSI to name a few. But I probably won't feel the urge to keep up with them...I can let them gather on my hard drive and watch them when I feel like it.

But for the most part my television schedule has cleared up significantly. If the strike lasts a while, what will I be doing?

Catching Up on My DVDs

I have about 15 movies I've bought that I haven't watched, most I've had for a YEAR or longer. I'll use my free time to watch all of those. I also have several seasons of shows to watch.

Cleaning Up My Hard Drive

I have hundreds of episodes of various shows on my hard drive that I need to watch, from things such as Arrested Development to Battlestar Galactica to the first season of Dawson's Creek. I'll be giving a lot of these shows a watch now, and the ones I dislike, I can delete the other episodes of said show and for the others, just watch as many as I can while the strike is going on.

Doing Other Stuff

Reading, cleaning, writing, working out...ah the stuff I'll have time for.

...Shows I'll Be Watching/Rewatching

During the strike, I plan to rewatch some DVDs I haven't seen in a while and catch up with other shows. Here's an incomplete list:

- Lost (Rewatch my first two season DVDs)

- Desperate Housewives (Rewatch my first two season DVDs)

- Roswell (Watch my season three DVDs)

- Smallville (Watch my season five and six DVDs)

- Veronica Mars (Rewatch them all)

- Dead Like Me (I saw the episodes before but haven't finished watching my DVDs since I bought them)

- The X-Files (I have the first five seasons, since buying the DVDs I've only watched the first two.)

- Millennium (I've seen all the episodes a long time ago but since buying the DVDs I have yet to watch them)

- Bones (season 2)

- Nip/Tuck (finish season 2)

...........

So that's basically MY plans for this strike. Might as well make the best out of a bad thing.

Wow, not even a month into the television season and I've already fallen way behind. I guess I might as well not bother trying, I guess I'll stick to the shows I definitely want to keep up with and as for the rest, I'll just stay behind and on the weekends I'll try having mini-marathons. So far this is what I've been making absolutely sure I watch within a couple days of it airing a new episode:

Sundays: Desperate Housewives, Cold Case

Mondays: Chuck, Heroes, Journeyman, Aliens in America, The Big Bang Theory

Tuesdays: Reaper

Wednesdays: Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, CSI: NY, Gossip Girl, Bionic Woman, Back to You

Thursdays: Ugly Betty, CSI, Supernatural, 30 Rock, The Office, Survivor: China

Fridays: Nothing as of yet, but I plan on getting into Women's Murder Club, and as soon as I catch up on Ghost Whisperer I'm going to keep up with that this season

Shows that are getting slightly left behind? The Simpsons, Prison Break, K-Ville, Carpoolers, SVU, Bones (only because I have to finish s2 first), Life, Criminal Minds, Big Shots, Moonlight.

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Right now I suppose I could be watching an episode of a show I've fallen behind on. Or I could be watching one of the many unwatched movies on my hard drive. But instead, I feel like...I dunno, laying on my bed and reading a book, or working out, or something. It seems like whenever I have the time and oppurtunity to watch a ton of TV I feel like doing something else.

Wow, I had no idea how hard it would be, trying to be an avid TV viewer.

Last season I gave almost all of the new shows a chance, but I didn't like most of them and most of them were quickly canceled so my list of shows to watch was drastically cut down, and I didn't have much to worry about. So far this season, none of the shows I've bothered giving a chance have been given the axe, and most of the new shows have aired three episodes so far, and usually by then at least one show has been canceled.

And on top of that, so far I'm not disliking anything enough to flat out drop it.

I had also decided to pick up a bunch of returning shows that I'd fallen behind on and I'm liking most of those too.

New Shows I'm Definitely Keeping:

Pushing Daisies
Dirty Sexy Money
Women's Murder Club
Chuck
Journeyman
Bionic Woman
Life
Aliens in America
Gossip Girl
Reaper
The Big Bang Theory
K-Ville
Back to You

New Shows I Haven't Hated Enough to Drop Yet:

Cane
Moonlight
Big Shots
Carpoolers (def. on the fence)
Private Practice

Returning Shows That I've Been Watching Since They Were On:

Supernatural
Desperate Housewives
Brothers & Sisters
Ugly Betty
Bones
The Office
30 Rock
My Name is Earl
Heroes
Ghost Whisperer

Returning Shows I've Started Watching:

Everybody Hates Chris (fell behind during s1)
Cold Case (always liked, never got to keep up)
CSI (stopped watching regularly after season 4ish)
CSI: NY (like the darkness of it)
Survivor (originally stopped watching after season 4)
House (stopped watching after season 1)
Prison Break (fell behind after season 2 began)
L&O: SVU (have never watched regularly)

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I'm thinking of dropping Brothers & Sisters because it's just not that compelling and it's a tad too pretentious. I might drop House and then catch that later on DVD...same with SVU even though I do love that show. Private Practice may eventually go soon, not because it's bad, but just because it's not special enough to keep. I stopped watching Grey's Anatomy for the same reason.

My work schedule now has me getting off at 11 or 12 on Fridays. At least, until I get a second job. I think until that happens Friday afternoons will be my general day to catch up on TV, and during the week I'll just watch the major must-see shows, namely Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Reaper, Gossip Girl, The Office, Desperate Housewives, Supernatural, Dirty Sexy Money, and Heroes. But gee, even that's a lot.