Doin' The Job

Spent the week watching Denis Leary's The Job. My God, is it funny. We had watched it when it was on network television (how did that ever happen?), notwithstanding that we don't have a television.

It didn't last long, of course. Go see its entry in Jumptheshark.com. The comments are perfectly bimodal: It's either the best thing ever written for television or it has no redeeming value whatever.

I wonder if it translated well to cable and a new setting in the fire station?

LAGuy incoherently shoots from the hip: Whenever anyone brags that he doesn't watch TV, or he doesn't even own a set, I reply he's taking the bread out of my children's mouths. (This is a lie, of course--I just don't like the smugness of many anti-TV people).

I admit that while I enjoy TV, and enjoy getting paychecks writing for TV, you can get along just fine without it. I've had long periods without watching--or missing--it. (I recall Garrison Keiller saying--on radio, of course--that TV is a failed experiment. While he was (mostly) joking, that's the way it always goes. Over a century ago, the stupidity of the new generation was due to the idiotic books they read. A bit later, it was radio. Now everyone casually knows it's TV and cable that have got us in this mess.)

The people behind the whole Jump The Shark thing (friends of mine) obviously love TV. Only true lovers would spend so much time being jilted.

Anyway, since ColumbusGuy gets to pick and choose what he'll watch on DVD, perhaps someone who has watched more indiscriminately can be of service. I'd love to know what he's been watching, and what his favorite shows are.