Viewing Habits

What’s on TV tonight? It’s a question that we used to ask all of the time. During football season it was the discussion not on what we would watch but which game we would watch. Over here, we don’t really have that luxury and had to make sacrifices, most notably the change in our television viewing habits. Our “blackbeard” (aarrrrggh!) satellite box allows us to see a few of the channels from the US but we don’t have nearly as many options (but we are thankful to have at least a few English options, if we were in a more remote area of China I am pretty certain we would have zero options). Many times we are actually watching previous seasons of shows rather than the current season for anything. What else can we do to keep up with our favorite shows? Well, there still are a few options on the Internet to watch shows but some (as I mentioned previously) have been blocked by the US Government (thanks again! Way to balance the budget!).

The other option we have here is to purchase DVDs of our favorite shows (or shows we could never watch in the past). Of course, the season may not be the current one but if we show some patience, we can wait until the end of the season and purchase the entire season on one (or maybe two) DVDs. We can also go back and buy television shows that have gone off the air (Seinfeld, etc.) so we can watch them over and over (The Simpsons never gets old…unless you talk to Tammy, she’s about over the Simpsons references). We can also watch the latest movies from the US. Unfortunately for us (or maybe fortunately depending on your viewpoint), we never really have been strong movie goers so we have bought a lot of movies but haven’t watched many of the movies we have purchased. It’s not that big of a deal though because we didn’t spend $19.99 for the movie, we spent like $1.00 for the movie. If we find ourselves with a lot of time, we’ll be able to sit back and watch movies for days. Our collection happens to pale in comparison to many of the other Expat’s collections but we’re happy with it. We’re still filling in the blanks and getting those movies that we have always wanted but never had the inkling to run to the DVD store and buy them. Some of the movies are the classics like Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz and stuff like that just so we can look like we have some class but then again, we also bought Dumb and Dumber so perhaps the points we gain from the classic movies are countered by the other movies (when we buy Weekend at Bernies, then I know we’ve gone over the edge and there’s no going back).

So today kids, we are going to play Siskel & Ebert and tell you about the movies and shows we have watched over the past months. Many of the shows come from recommendations from friends back home, some we liked and some we really didn’t like but we gave them a try.

From the movie genre, Despicable Me, Tangled are the latest movies we have watched. I think the other ones we have watched recently have all been the animated movies. Despicable Me was pretty funny, Tangled…not so much. Tangled went back to the old Disney style where it was more of an animated musical as opposed to a movie. Too much singing ruined the movie. We’ve bought a lot of the animated movies here, some were older like Monsters vs Aliens. That was another good one that I bought early on here and can still sit and watch it and enjoy the movie. I have to buy another copy since the copy I purchased was a so-so movie. Alice in Wonderland was another one we bought which was obviously taped at the theatre (since you can watch the guy in the front row get up to go get some popcorn or whatever). Many people would probably throw away the so-so movies but we’re going to keep them just because. It’ll be one of those, “remember the movies we got in China” flashbacks.

As far as television shows/series;
Nurse Jackie – A Showtime series, we watched seasons 1 and 2. This show stars Edie Falco (she played the wife of Tony Soprano from “The Sopranos”, maybe you’ve heard of it) as a drug addicted nurse who is having an affair with a co-worker (placing her husband and two girls on the backburner). We haven’t ever had HBO or Showtime or any of those channels so this was a show we first saw on the flight home from China this summer. It was kinda funny and very quirky but an oddly entertaining show. It’s not a great show and seems to takeoff of House without the medical focus but instead focuses more on Jackie. I watch shows like this and wonder about the message behind them. Sometimes I think they want to create likeable characters with major flaws and challenge you to judge them (if you dare!). They want to justify the actions of the character and show that people can be flawed but still deserve some kind of sympathy or something from you but by God, don’t judge them. I don’t know, if I start down this road I don’t think I’d watch a lot of TV. It’s not a bad show but it’s not one of those shows that I have to watch.

24 – I love 24, we purchased the entire series and have finished off season 8 (the final season). Once again they kept you hooked all the way through and brought back some of the characters that you loved to hate from previous seasons. This is another show that you watch and think that Jack Bauer should be what every undercover agent should be but you know that in real life people would be crying out for a public hanging of the man because of his torture techniques to get information. It’s like this with just about every movie, you love the cops that go out and bend the rules to get the bad guy but in the real world, all of those “more enlightened” people would want them fired and thrown into prison. Eventually 24 had to end but it was always an entertaining show and kept me looking forward to the next episode. I’ve got them all so I can watch them again whenever I want. It was a corny ending to the final season but nothing ever works out for Jack and who knows…maybe he’ll be back.

Dexter – This show wasn’t really for us. The premise of a serial killer working for the medical examiner’s office was a little too weird (are we supposed to feel good that the serial killer kills bad guys…..I do. Anytime the bad guys get it, I’m happy). We couldn’t really get into the show or the characters after watching about 6 episodes, however we did purchase the first 3 seasons (it was the only option) so perhaps we’ll come back to the show in the future. But maybe not, it was just weird.

Hot in Cleveland – This show was an absolute riot. Betty White makes the show, her comic timing and line deliveries are perfect, we’re waiting for the second season to see if they can continue to build upon the first. It is a little risqué and goes with some more tongue-in-cheek references but overall it’s a very funny show. Definitely not for the kids but I liked it and hope the second season comes out soon.

Sons of Anarchy – This is a show about a biker gang (don’t judge them because of their tattoos, they’re just people) called the Sons of Anarchy or Sam Crow, among other things. It was an easy show to get into and if you can get past the language, violence and borderline gratuitous nudity, it’s a show you could handle. Somehow this was on FX or something but I don’t know how based on what we saw. We bought Seasons 1 and 2, then were able to get Season 3 shortly after the real season 3 ended. We liked it a lot and hope there will be a Season 4. It’s definitely not for the kids unless you want to do a lot of explaining. Again, they try to suck you in to believing that these guys aren’t really all that bad, they are just a motorcycle club (that runs guns, drugs and anything else for a buck) that’s down on their luck. You come to hate the FBI and ATF agents in the show that go against the club so it’s a show that has you rooting for the bad guys (should I feel guilty?).

Some other strange mini-series that we have watched over the past few months are Rome and Spartacus. These shows are both set around the same time in Rome (duh!) and are close to the same but they are not similar in writing or effect. Rome was an interesting show that was at times overly graphic and contained a lot of bare butt (among other things). Definitely not a show you want to watch with your kids or your parents. However, the characters (and therefore the writing) were very compelling and kept you watching despite the other things in the show that made you wonder why they had to do that. Rome could’ve easily survived without the nudity and such but I am sure they were trying to depict the debauchery that was Rome during the heyday of the empire. Now Spartacus, we picked this up because of the Rome series, but it is another story. The special effects I can only assume were supposed to be 3D but they look like a bad comic book or perhaps an odd takeoff on the old Batman and Robin (“BAM!!!”, “BIFF!!!, “POW!!!”). They just look dumb and make you giggle when you see it. In comparison to Rome, this series makes Rome look like the Amish were the producers. If you watch for more than 5 minutes without seeing nudity (first name Seymour, last name Butts) or something worse, they are slacking and I am certain someone was fired. We’ve watched only a few episodes and it was just too much, little story, lotta other stuff. Perhaps it will get better but I doubt it.

If you have suggestions for other shows or movies that you liked, let us know. We will go out and find them and let you know what we think.