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?
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.
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