Brain Rot

I don't watch that much TV anymore. I finished grad school three years ago (jeez, has it been three years already? What the hell am I doing with my life? Am I even using my degree?), so I have no need to employ television as a procrastinational tool.

I have this now.

I do watch a few things here and there, and I'll admit to some guilty pleasures like The Soup and The Girls Next Door, but for for quality content, I have only three shows on which to rely: Gilmore Girls is built into my Merrick Tuesdays, and then I try to catch The Office and Scrubs on Thursdays. That's it. And I'm nowhere near as insane as I used to be over a certain show about six friends that shall remain nameless, when I used to have to set the VCR if I was forced FORCED to miss an episode. I don't do that anymore - if I miss an episode, life will probably go on. Also? I totally DIDN'T buy the seventh season of that show on DVD yesterday.

That said, good television is hard to come by - it takes amazing writers to create characters that make us want to care, and talented actors to translate these "people" onto the screen. Good shows get cancelled before their time (Everwood), and others stay on the air waaaaay too long (The King of Queens, Still Standing... basically any show with a hot wife and an overweight, but funny husband. Just because The Honeymooners did it doesn't mean that it translates as effectively today! Then again, what do I know? They wouldn't leave crap shows on the air for profit, would they? Would they?!?!?). I'm sure that I'm missing some very good shows by limiting my viewing, but a girl's got to make a choice.

Scrubs is one of my favorite programs for its ability to switch seamlessly between comedy and drama and yet never strays from the heart of the show. The writers have sucker-punched me on more than one occasion, and instead of being angry, I beg for more. Because seriously people - have you seen the episodes with Brendan Fraser? Or the Wizard of Oz tribute entitled, "My Way Home?" Amazing. Scrubs is what good television should be, for me anyway: quirk and heart rolled together in a delicious twenty-two minute bundle.

The Office is the same. Most episodes find me laugh-snorting from start to finish (Andy's cell phone in the ceiling? It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, it's still hilarious), but then we get a quiet revelation about a character, or a savagely embarrassing moment to break the moment of glee (mostly revelations from Michael Scott about his childhood). When it gets too "out there," the writers bring us all back to reality - the characters and the viewers alike.

We become invested in good television. We identify with the characters - we care about them and we commiserate with them. We want everything to work out for them! That's why seeing clips like this make me squee like a little girl, even if they show very little in the way of spoilers: