It was Thanksgiving week and we were surprised one of our favorite TV shows announced they were taking a break – until January. What? It seems like they only had 6 episodes and they are gone. Poof!
Ok, I know it’s expensive to produce sitcoms but come on. Why bother hooking us for a measly handful of episodes, only to vanish for two months? The breaks seem longer than the season. I don’t think they should call them seasons. They don’t last long eugh. They are more like a blip.
During the holidays we are faced with all the specials; repeats from last year, the year before, and the year before that. Some way back to the 1950s. They are still showing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964, Ok, maybe a toddler would enjoy it, but it shows in prime time. If you are a fan of oldies, see 140+ classic Christmas TV Specials with Links. You’ll see things like The Honeymooner’s First Christmas, Lawrence Welk Family Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. I’ve seen some of these things for over 60 years. Even hubby’s favorite, Miracle on 34th Street, has lost its sparkle for me. Thank goodness for two TVs so he can get his fill. I’ll stick with A Christmas Story – it’s only 31 years old.
Anyway, until the 1980s the "fall season" ran from September through March and usually had up to 26 episodes. This year, Ghosts, Matlock, and Elsbeth ran only 8 or 9 episodes in the fall. You barely get into the show and bam – it’s gone! They leave you hanging with a suspenseful ending so you’ll anticipate the new episode. But that’s dangerous for us seniors. Within a week we’ve forgotten the suspense, maybe even the show.
Wikipedia blames the short seasons on production costs. They also blame the popularity of streaming and binge-watching. But wait; the ‘season’ for many streamed shows is usually more than 12 episodes. Don’t they cost the same to produce? Ok, you pay for the streaming services, but don’t ads cover the costs of network TV?
With streaming apps it’s a memory game figuring out where we watched something. Was it Amazon? Netflix? Firestick? On the Firestick – Freevee? Frndly? Acorn? I don’t know about you, but we have a hard time finding a show when we go back to view it. And don’t get me started on those chaotic menus. Yesterday’s order isn’t today’s order. It’s like a treasure hunt every time.
To find something new to watch I searched for popular streaming programs. Rotten Tomatoes listed 25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now. The only ones I heard of were On The Inside with Ted Danson (our friends told us about this. Funny - binge-worthy), Shrinking (advertised a billion times on my game), and Yellowstone.
I also searched IMDB’s list of the Most Popular Prime Video Shows. There were 27 and I was only familiar with three: Jack Ryan (action flick – hubby loves it), The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel (it was ok for a while), and Bosch (we both loved it). As an aside, we saw a man who looked and acted exactly like Titus Welliver, the Bosch actor, pumping gas at our local shell station. I was too chicken to say something to him – A missed opportunity. But at least I can imagine it was him.
Game shows keep us going when other shows aren’t available. Most of our friends at the Christmas gathering also love game shows. And they always run - even if they are repeats. But the nice thing about a senior's memory is you can rewatch them in a month and you've forgotten the answers.
Do you yell at the contestants when they can’t get the answers? I feel especially superior when I get the final Jeopardy question when no one else does. Of course, I’m sitting in my cozy sweats in my comfy recliner and don’t have the stress of standing in front of an audience with a TV camera in my face. What’s your yelling strategy? Do you just scream the answer once or keep repeating it thinking that the contestants on the TV will eventually hear you? On the other hand, I feel stupid if the answer should have been obvious, like “Name a TV show starting with J,” and the answer is Jeopardy. How could I have missed that?
Even though we have so many streaming options, after searching through the options and recordings we sometimes give up, turn off the TV, and, gasp, read a book
Many people resort to their old favorites from past decades: Murder She Wrote, Beverly Hillbillies, and Bugs Bunny (just kidding, but if you like comics you might want to catch The Flintstones, The Jetsons, or my favorite – Road Runner – beep beep). Some classics hold up; others are just plain cringe-worthy.
Well, at least the holidays wrapping up. We can get back to some of our favorite shows – if we remember what they were.
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