When your husband has a mystery illness (first the broken ankle, now the kidney stones…come on, all you amateur Camerons from House: get to work and figure out what he has!), plus you have multiple manuscripts to edit, you need a little something to take the edge off.
And obviously, we’ve seen on Intervention what drugs and alcohol can do to you. So those are out.
So what’s left?
And even though I’ve been freaking out a little ever since
A) I saw Amanda Seyfried naked on Big Love last Sunday night, and then
B) I heard Snooki and The Situation hooked up on the final episode of Jersey Shore
(the first was like seeing an angel, it was so unbearably beautiful and awe-inspiring. The second was like one of those crossover episodes of Scooby Doo where Josie and the Pussycats come on as special guest stars: it was just WRONG)
I don’t care what anyone says:
TV is my drug.
Although I agree with author Jen Weiner (who has a TV pilot in the running right now):
We need more lady centric shows!
For instance, watching everything Principal Tami Taylor is going through this season on Friday Night Lights really puts MY problems in perspective: Coach and Tami Taylor really are “the only living grown-ups on television” (according to New York Magazine).
Tami Taylor, wearing an expression a lot of you might recognize. I call it the: “Did he really just say that?” expression.
There aren’t a lot of working ladies portrayed on TV (who also wear clothes I could actually see myself in. Yeah, I just bought Tami’s boots—or at least some boots I think Tami might wear…These cowboy boots! They’re great! They were in Oprah Magazine) who aren’t hookers or “Real” Housewives or have jobs with initials in the title such as CSI, CTU, or SVU.
Tami Taylor may be the last one. She actually cares about academics, her kids, AND her husband (who seems like he would be hard to live with. If Coach Taylor ever got a kidney stone I would run far, far away).
And this season—I won’t put any spoilers here about what’s happening to Tami OR Coach on FNL, but trust me, it’s up there with The Wire as far as amazing TV—she’s really got her work cut out for her. I hope they don’t cut it when FNLcomes to NBC (it’s on DirecTV right now), because it’s a bit controversial…just like life.
But FNL isn’t the only lady-centric show I watch. There’s lighter stuff, too! Like Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as a single mom in love with her therapist (played by Will and Grace‘s Eric McCormack) on The New Adventures of Old Christine.
I used to never watch this show because I thought it was just silly. But now I realize it’s silly with a message…like Wanda Sykes and Julia got married (long story), and then their “Curves”-like business almost got taken away from them because Corporate frowned on same-sex marriages. It was hilarious…but serious at the same time.
Wow. Who knew?
This is kind of like Amy Poehler’s Parks and Rec. This show is so funny (Chris Pratt, who is married to Anna Faris in real life, is so perfect in it, as are Aubrey Plaza as a slacker intern, and Nick Offerman as Amy’s boss. But …Aziz Ansari? My friend Beth gave me his stand-up DVD for my birthday–OH MY GOD. The bits with Harris, his cousin? I cried).
Every week Amy tries to “do good.” And is almost always thwarted (in a hilarious way). Genius.
All of these are completely my favorite shows now.
Oh, okay. I still watch Mercy, too. Those nurses are crazy! And as a friend pointed out, Emily Gilmore is guest-starring as an imperious blue blood heroin snorter.
And now James van der Beek is ALSO guest starring as a hot shot surgeon all the nurses want to punch in the face. Or make out with. They can’t decide.
(My friend Kady, who is a REAL nurse, says this show is just like real life…NOT).
(FYI, when I’m on airplanes and my seatmates ask what I do, I always say I’m Kady the ER nurse, and then I tell them the grossest story I’ve seen Mystery Diagnosis. And when they ask me about the mole on their finger—and they always do—I tell them it’s cancerous and they need to go the ER as soon as we land. STAT.)
You have to keep yourself entertained when times are tough, people. It’s true: Barney Stinson said so How I Met Your Mother.
And that guy’s awesome.
More later.
Much love,
Meg
