Television Reviews from a Sick Body and Mind

I don't tend to watch much tv.  However when I have the flu or am ill it's a godsend.  This winter and early spring, thanks to overwhelming work  stress ,environmental stress, karma, divine retribution, a big nose that attracts bugs,forgetting a flu shot, smoking as a young man, tsunamis, earthquakes and tyrannical governments in the middle east, I've been bedridden with Upper Respiratory Infections off and on.  As a result I'm now an authority on television series.  They're all incredibly good.  There's only so much reading one can do with headache, back ache, fever and running nose.  The tv is a saniety saver.  I actually watched a bonanza and a matlock episode and realized, it's always been.  Commercials have got better over the years. The mute button on the remote is technological wizardry.
Now to the shows themselves.
NCIS is great.  I love all the characters.  Can't remember their names. The ex Mossad agent is just so hot.  The goth chemist is darling. The computer geek is so believable. The playboy is endearing and the old doctor, duckie and his side kick are just wonderful.  This family has a silent mysterious father and he's just fine too.  There's bosses behind him but the team is really a great school grouping that makes all the intriguing scenarios that happen each week quite wonderful.
I like NCIS Miami too. Mostly because of the black guy and white guy military types but the best is the old lady. She's a great actress and it's a joy to see such wit and charm and age appreciated. The young pair are a delightful combination and this family with a smart mommy character works just great. Maybe the stories are even better. The odd girl in this one is the communication computer hacker as opposed to the chemistry chick from the other NCIS.
The UNIT is the best.  Laura and I watch this even when we're not sick.  It's the best combination of  military 007 Spike guy thing couple with army brat wives chick flick thing.  All the characters have depth and the plots are sensationa,
I love the Mentalist.  He's believable and his partner is gorgeous and bright and they make the kind of team that Dianna woman was part of in the early 70's. It's got that great boy girl working together with touch of romance thrown in. Great stories too.
The Closer is terrific. I like this cop team. She and her FBI boyfriend are a hoot. I love her female Colombo style.  I like the irreverent old cop and the smart chinese guy.  It's just a good cop show.
Chicago Code is real cop material.  Believable. Gets to the corruption. The regular cop and the head of the police fighting the corruption of city hall and the gangs on the street is thrilling. It's real like the Unit is real.Serious drama.
Burn Notice is slick. The guy is smart and it's got all the McGivor 007 and Diesel xxx smarts too it.  I like the commentary.  Love the killer ex girlfriend. The buddy is a good balance but the mother is a show stopper. Love that she was written in. Brings this whole thing home. We never did know 007's family.  I like the cozy home feel of this.
Pretty Little Liars is intense and twisted and smart camera. Everything that soap opera aspires to in the making. But too much information.  Everything is drama.
Insecurity the Canadian spy series is really funny.  Makes me proud to be Canadian when I see such good drama.
I love Stargate and Stargate Atlantis. I'm a big sci fi fan. This isn't star trek but it's the next best thing and I love it.  I like the doctor to and the wild man and wild woman and the blond leader is so believable and the guy leader is so believable and the bright guy is so believable and I just think I should have my own personal star gate. This is going on at Rockwell right now.  And the government isn't telling us about it.!
Criminal Minds is dependable. I like the team.  I like the leaders and I like the whole unit.  The smart guy is my favourite.  Good drama.
Law and Order is still as good as ever. It's been around for ever and it's always just good informative drama.
House - I don't tend to watch doctor tv much anymore.  I love the information on House. The stuff they're dealing with is usually really good medicine. They've obviously got some good consultants but I just can't accept the drama. Maybe in the US this goes on. But here all the doctors are required to be without personality and there is no drama allowed or someone complains and they're up on charges for being colorful.  When I started in medicine I learned from a few House like characters but they've been killed off and I mourn their passing.
In the wilderness doc series seemed too flakey. I've done the wilderness medicine stuff and the plot and scenarios were just too weak for me.
ER was a terrific doc series.  Michael Creighton consulted and it was at times just like it was in real life.  The police told me Barney Miller was fairly representative of alot of time in Canadian police activity.  The Hill and things like that in New York and LA just didn't seem to be relevant to Canadian police activity. Cold Squad was brilliant and better than Quincy.  But today given all the gang wars in Vancouver and meth labs blowing up down town maybe it's time for a new Vancouver cop series.
Nothing has come along to even come close to Seinfeld and Friends.
I dont' get the Discovery or History channel here.  BBC news beats out everyone else.  Manbridge is still good though.  I wonder if the girls felt about him the way the guys feel about the BBC news announcers. The main men and women on CNN seem flat in comparison to the Brits and Canadians.  More like corporate brands than real people.
I love the English and Australian drama but it's a bit low key for when I'm sick. The American pizzaz for making fast action and multiple cameras is best for the sick person.  I'd rather read a book but I dose alot.  Movies are too involved so these TV Series are really the best for sick people.  I found I like watching the two guys myth busting a blowing up something while at the dentist. Loved watching big fish catching with my nephew.  I think all round tv has got a whole lot better. That's not even with PBS and the HBO mini series.
That said, the general population is given a real skewed view of law enforcement, crime labs and such.  I think that's part of the propoganda of Big Brother is all powerful and watching you. It's really so much myth and entertainment. I can't imagine any crime except maybe the shooting of a senator or such that would get the millions of dollars of investigation time and resource each NCIS series would cost.  It's even more fanciful than Sherlock Holmes.  But great drama.
Criminal Minds is all this profiling stuff. It's fun psychodrama but it's utterfly far fetched. My field.  But it's better than Freud.  Lots of stereotypes and psych 101 but really.  Good drama though.
Mentalist is however in contrast believable in a real way. The "book of tells" is about those little things people give themselves away with. He's over the top but the stuff he's based on is well founded.  It draws on years of hypnosis research and is really valid. Irritating but it's what the circus carnies do their stuff with and why the best tarot card readers read you more than the cards.  I like it. I like the character too.  But mostly I like the girl.
So it's all about team playing. The girls, like Nikita, are the killers. So we're tv is long beyond the feminist  dichotomy - men are bad, women are good. There's a real balance of good and bad characters and a balance of believable female and male leaders . There's lots of black representation, some oriental and even some latin, some Russian, but not that much first nations.  It's a long way from vanilla for sure.
The other propaganda item is that the world is on the brink of disaster and every week there are dozens of terrorists the US is protecting everyone from.  This is probably going to end up like the War on Drugs, with all the Homeland security measures as much begetting terrorism as protecting us from it. It's got that feel. However the propaganda is there. Every series has a terrorist being caught about to blow up a city. The other thing to propagandize to the women , especially the silly girls, is that Big Brother is protecting you from a daily serial sexual predator. The pig farmer was the biggest news here in Vancouver. They're rare but watching tv land they're everywhere so that's major fear mongering.  Terrorists and serial sexual sadists behind every door. I preferred the good old commie scare. So I'm aware I'm being fed this constant message of good government in the end, the bad guys get caught but I haven't heard of any convictions over 911 or the recent banker regulation scam.  I appreciate the purpose of tv as opiate for the masses. When I'm sick I enjoy being anesthetized.  Somebody like dirty harry is out there fighting for me the little guy whose sick right now and couldn't defend myself from a wet noodle.  I like Bat man and Superman some days too.
I know the lie though. I still appreciate the propaganda.  I probably was benefitted from watching Bonanza and the goodness of the Cartwrights.  I wish there were more westerns.  There sure are alot of cop shows and Big Brother and stuff.  I like the guns and car chases.  That diner canadian comedy in Saskatchewan or the north somewhere is good but it doesn't have the guns and car chases you need when youre sick and dozing.
Right now I'm thankful for the tv.  I'm hoping to be well before I know all the names of all the characters.  Oh yea, Oprah really is good. Her talk show is the best. I fall asleep before the late night ones especially when I'm sick.  But after David Letterman there really isn't anyone out there.  I figure if I get a slice of David Letterman coupled with Fox news I've just about got the full spectrum of what's important in the news.
Glee is great too but the music has become American Idol made like the Monkeys since the earlier ones so it lost me.  I wish there was more godly and Christian programming.  I like the televangelism on Sunday but it loses me when it seems like the product is a used car.
The reality series suck for me. I'm a survivalist and all the stuff they do and the way they act is just not the world I know.  Too much phony adrenaline and testosterone with downright nastiness.  People in difficult times in my experience usually pull together a whole lot better than those prima donnas so I've just not got into them.  Apparently office workers with cutthroat office politics love the reality series.  Man and girl made
That said, television rocks.  There's so much really good tv out there. The commercials are a whole lot funnier too.  The motorcycles are awesome. The acting is terrific.  I'm just really thankful and really impressed.  The dancing is phenomenal.  Channel surfing the music series is always a buzz.  So much happening in so little time.  Great video.
Now I'd rather be outside doing stuff but if you have to be inside and if you're sick tv today is the best!