Okay, you’re going to make me admit it, aren’t you? Hi, my name is Nina … I’m addicted to tv. There, you have it. I said it. So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way I can freely admit I’m happy the new season is finally underway. There are a lot of shows I love to watch, but even I have my limits when it comes to certain shows. Here are a few I absolutely refuse to watch …
Please don’t be insulted if your favorite is on here. This is just me! Feel free to add or delete from the list in your comments …
1. Simpson’s – Nope not gonna do it. I think it goes back to the days of Bevis and Butthead … turned me off completely to sick animated humor. I am going to admit I did break down and start watching Family Guy, but only because Mr. Nina is so enamored by it and the tv is right next to my computer. But there’s still a whole lot of “guy humor” I just don’t get.
2. SNL – In the good old days we called it Saturday Night Live. No silly acronyms. Back then it had an amazing cast including Dan Akroyd, Jane Curtain, Gilda Radnor 🙁 , and John Belushi to name a few of its incredible talent. It’s just not the same since they drowned the land shark and Rosanna-Rosanna Dana and Barbwa Wawa left the set. I’m kiveched. Just talk amongst yourselves for a moment ..
Okay, I’m better. Who are the children below anyway?
3. Sports – Yep, any of them. I’m not picky. If it’s got gloves, balls, wheels, bats, nets, pucks, or golf clubs, I’m out of the room faster than a Roger Clemen’s fastball! (I said I didn’t watch them … not that I didn’t understand them!)
4. Supernatural – Okay, I know the guys on this show are just about as hunky as they come (and I wanted to like it if only for that reason), but I’m just not into horror, gore, and being scared out of my britches! And the one time I tried to watch it, because I absolutely love scifi, it was just disgusting. (I’m making a face just remembering.) I can’t do gross and sleep at night. And I’m really not a nice person when I don’t sleep. Mr. Nina actually banned this from my viewing list. Blame him.
7. Big Brother – I love reality tv. But when a station tries to shove this down my throat 6 times a week … What? It’s only on 3 times a week? Well, that’s two times too many for me to get sucked in! Besides, if I want to watch young adults arguing, I’ll sit in the room while my children attempt to have a conversation.
8. CSI – I liked the story, the way they focused on the technique. Cool. I wasn’t big on the whole bullet squishing through the heart visual effects, but I could get over it. THEN they went to Miami … because the murders weren’t gruesome enough in Las Vegas and then … as if enough people weren’t dying, they went to NY. Puh-lease. Two dead, decaying bodies a week was plenty for me. Then, they tried to make it a soap opera on the side. Blood, guts, and bad relationships … nah, I’m good.
9. Maurie Povich – *shakes head* Let’s just not go here people. I won’t have nice things to say about women who aren’t sure which of twelve men is the father to her fourth illegitimate baby. Really … don’t ask me to explain.
10. Bachelor – I write about love at first sight, but with the exception of a small percentage of people, it’s only a fantasy. It just seems wrong to have one man pawing 20 woman to find out who fits the best. And I’m probably old fashioned, but even if I was picked, I’m not sure I’d ever get over the fact that he slept with two other woman the same weekend he made the decision that I was the perfect woman to choose for a life commitment. Not gonna happen.
(* Caveat – I will confess I’ve been watching “Farmer Wants a Wife” which is basically the same thing EXCEPT … and this is big … there’s no sex involved.)
11. Music Videos – I love music. I love videos. But not the two together. Unless someone takes my favorite song and puts pictures or something to it I don’t want to see it. But I’m so visual, when I hear the song, I play the story in my head. A music video rarely lives up to my imagination. Sort of like your favorite book made into a movie!
13. The Office – I know! It’s supposed to be hysterical. I’ve heard. And I’ve tried. What is it with the camera work? I can’t watch shows in that format. It makes me nauseous. Are Mr. Nina and I the only ones who feel this way?
The truth is, I love reality television. I haven’t missed a season of SURVIVOR or AMAZING RACE. Seriously. Not. One. Season.
I can’t tell you who won each one or where they all happened, but I certainly can give you highlights of the last 11 years. Fortunately I haven’t found other shows that have become “must watch”. Of course in northern Maine, it’s so remote that cable and direct television is very expensive. It wasn’t until I moved to southern New England last year that I found fun stations like Discovery and Brava.
So what’s my newest obsession? Orange County Chopper. I have to say they’ve done a wonderful job pulling women in through the relationships and held the men’s attention with the actually build of the choppers. Well, that’s an over simplification, but you get the idea. Both Mr. Nina and I have become enthralled. So when we went away last week, we planned our route on the way home to stop at the actual OCC store/shop where they actually film the show. We got there too late to meet Paul Sr. who had been there in the morning to help organize a road race for the Wounded Warrior Project. But we were able to see many of the bikes in person that we’d seen constructed on television.
Okay, so I know this has nothing to do with writing, but hey, it was a fun trip and I just had to share. So what about you … any reality shows that are a must watch?
I started reading romance in the late 19th century … well, okay, not that long ago, but suffice it to say I’ve been hanging out with sexy heroes and the woman who love them for a really long time.
I’ve always enjoyed the culmination of the romance with the sweet and tender (or very hot) sex scene. But I’ve noticed, as no doubt you have as well, that these scenes in main stream books have become *ah hem* very detailed.
It’s not that it surprises me. What’s been allowed on the big screen without an “X” rating being slapped onto a movie has changed exponentially since I was a kid. I really don’t remember specific titles, but I recently watched a movie and remember thinking that I was glad I wasn’t watching with my children or *gulp* my mother-in-law. It was less the yards of flesh and more the actions, explicit actions, that when watched with Mr. Nina were hot, but I was definitely surprised by how much they got away with. And now that’s translated to the small screen. Less with naked bodies and more with language.
So it’s not really surprising that romance books are following suit. It used to be the hero and heroine would have that one sex scene described in euphemisms. Now it seems like authors are being asked to put the sex in often and graphically. Like … really detailed.
Now here’s the interesting thing. In movies, woman can be shown naked. Everything. Breasts, butt, genitalia. For a long time. Men on the other hand can be shown in all their naked frontal glory for less than a second. And absolutely NO hint of arousal, otherwise the movie loses its “R” rating.
But books seem to go in the opposite direction. All the graphic euphemisms for men’s genitalia are found within the sex scenes. But the women? Nothing. They’re “entered” or “filled”. They have “most sensitive spots” and “tender flesh”. Because this isn’t erotic romance, it’s main stream. I’m currently editing a short novella that I “thought” was an erotic romance. But I think if I just change some of the intimate wording that my story will fall into the realm of just romance. Sexy romance, but not erotica.
But I wonder. how far can an author push the love scenes before a reader decides they’re reading erotica? At what point does it push the line from just sexy to over the top? Has the line become so blurred that even readers aren’t sure what they’re reading? Are there words/acts that you just don’t want to see? Because this whole thing is certainly confusing me and I’d love to hear what you think.
Okay, so the Emmy’s were Sunday night. I watched them when there was a commercial break in the “Bond” movie Mr. Nina was watching. (Now, before you get your panties in a twist, Mr. Nina would happily have watched it in the other room, but I HATE running two televisions and lighting two rooms … I’m cheap like that.) ANYWAY … I’m not usually big on watching the award shows. But I LOVE seeing all the day-after programs with all the fashions.
I don’t always agree with the fashion police. Take these for example …
The fashion police hated them. They thought the one on the left looked too much like a prom dress and the other was too … different. (Plus they didn’t like her hair.)
But they gave this …
high marks. Seriously? Heidi Klum can’t even sit down in that thing. Personally I think she left a third of the dress at home … talk about prom!
And how dare they disrespect Betty White?
“They” said her dress looked tie dyed and wasn’t elegant enough. The woman is 88 years old and still walking the red carpet and winning Emmy’s! Did they expect her to wear the little black number above? Cut me some slack!
There were some misses in my humble opinion …
I’m not sure why Mrs. Hanks liked this look, but I can guarantee she didn’t leave home thinking “wow, I look really crappy, sure hope someone notices”. Yeeeeah, somehow I don’t think that crossed her mind.
And this brings me to the guys. They actually grade them? Why? Because it’s so hard to go to your lailor and ask him to make you a black tux that fits? Ummm … NOT!
Guys have it so easy. No one says anything about their hair or their makeup. There’s no worry about whether or not your nail polish is too showy or whether you should wear the ultra-high heels that kill your feet or the lower ones, that aren’t quite as sexy just so you can walk in the morning. So they have to shave or have that sexy day-old stubble look … wah! Cry me a river. Sure there are those that rip the guys apart because they didn’t polish their shoes or wore a bow tie instead of a skinny one. But really … no one cares.
The guys have it so easy.
I suspect some of those ladies are no different than me after a book release. Crossing their fingers that the red carpet reviews are wonderful and if not stellar … than at least nice. And maybe they take the advice of their publicist and ignore the reviews. The fact is, that dress isn’t going to make people watch a show or buy a movie. I’ve never heard anyone say “Hey, check out this show, that actress has got great fashion sense. She got all “A’s” for her Emmy dress.”
Then again, maybe it’s not the same thing at all.
Okay, I’m going to admit it. I’m addicted to reality television. I know it’s a fad like so many other things that networks grab on to and barf out ad nauseum because it’s making them money, but I’m not sure this one is going away. And you know what? I don’t mind. I’m addicted.
The number one show I never miss is Survivor. I’ve watched it from the first season when Richard Hatch walked nekkid on the beach to this season’s heros vs villains. I’ve cheered and cussed with the best of them. I can’t help it. It’s a dumb show that has pulled me in completely and totally.
The second show is Amazing Race. I put this in the same category as Survivor. A Sunday/Thursday night 8pm ritual. If I can’t be home to see it, I tape it and watch at the first possible moment. Of course with this show at least I’m learning a little geography. But really, I think it has more to do with the host Phil Keoghan than the travel … but don’t tell Mr. Nina. *g*
Now, left to my own devices–namely the remote–I’d watch America’s Top Model, American Idol and Trading Spouses, but Mr. Nina has other ideas.
In the summer we watch a show where newlyweds move into a house and compete against each other to win money. (But at the moment neither of us can remember the name of it.) I can also sneak in So You Think You Can Dance if I can get Mr. Nina hooked on the dancers.
I’m unwilling to pay for extended cable, so we don’t have all the reality shows that inundate the higher channels. But I suspect I’d get wrapped up in others if I given the opportunity. I’m not sure what it is about watching other people, but I love it.
So I’m curious … how do you feel about these reality shows? Are there particular shows you can’t wait to watch every week? Hey, I’m a proud card-carrying member of reality shows anonymous. But please don’t ask me to give them up.
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