I have a love/hate/I'm-addicted-to-it-so-they've-got-me-where-they-want-me relationship with TV.
The new TV season is just around the corner, and I'll bet that, just as I am, you're wondering what the networks & cable channels will be foisting upon us. Er, I mean, so generously offering to us.
After a summer of reruns and occasional appetite-whetting new episodes of cable series, we're ready to pounce on anything brand new, aren't we?
Something like ...
A former con artist who works as a consultant with the police, assisting the rogue detective, both of whom trample evidence at crime scenes, move things before photos are taken and sketches made, and rifle through the victim's pockets, changing the body's position with no regard to future forensics testimony during a trial.
Oh, wait.
Already been done/being done/going to be done again, many times over.
Ok, how about ...
A sitcom where the dopey husband acts like he's twelve years old and the snarky wife treats him like he's four?
Dig through that deep, slushy pile.
Or yet another ...
Ritzy-celebrities/sort-of-celebrities/who-the-hell-ARE-those-people? who have cameras follow them around day and night while they run into situations they coincidentally never ran into back when cameras didn't follow them around.
If we had a buck for every one of those ...
Then again, could there be some of this ...
A not-so-distant-future/post-apocalyptic/marooned-on-a-strange-island/prehistoric past where zombies/Blackwater-type paramilitary units/smokey monsters/dinosaurs roam the land and a small band of survivors must try and, well, survive?
NOW you're talkin'!
Give me Jericho, Lost, The Walking Dead, or Terra Nova any day! I know, I know. They're just as similar to each other in basic plot as the other genres. But it's my kind of plot, so I don't care. Of course, networks being what they are, they've already axed 3 of those 4. And don't even get me started on last season's Alcatraz.
But don't worry. The screwy-forensics/dorky-hubby/that's-a-celeb??? shows are hanging in there.
I hear there will be a few unique new series in the 2012/2013 season (Revolution, 666 Park Avenue, The Neighbors). I wonder how many will still be around, this time next year? Every season when they cancel my favorite new shows, I swear I'll never let myself get attached to another cool/strange/adventurous series again.
Yeah, right.
They'll dangle some sci-fi-ish/strange-fantasy/futuristic series in front of me and I'll sink my teeth into it like Bruce the shark.
Like I said, they've got me where they want me.