we want entertainment!

last week i ranted about how i'm disappointed in new tv game shows... now, i have a new complaint: i was shocked when i read this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2748604320080228

tuesday, NBC premiered this new show "quaterlife".  the previews got my attention... it's all about a group of 20 somethings, one of whom writes a very detailed blog about anything and everything.  i enjoyed it, and appreciated that it wasn't at all like the glitzy overproduced shows that are often on.  at the end of the show, they said that it would move to a usual slot on sundays, but when i went to check what time on the nbc website this morning, it wasn't there, and hence the search that found me the link above.  sad.

the thing that makes the cancellation "ok" (whatever that means) is that one episode isn't the only thing i have access to.  apparently, "quarterlife" started simultaneously on myspace and on its own website back in november and they plan to contine releasing two 10 minute mini episodes per week.  but cancelled after one episode?  sad...

on the other hand, all the characters have their own myspace pages... not as like fan club pages, but as actual people.  i'm not sure what to make of the intentional blurring of reality and fiction.  it's intriguing and slightly disturbing at the same time.  nonetheless, i can enjoy the story for awhile without getting into the whole character pages on myspace... whatever.

otherwise, i'm still waiting for my favorite shows to resume with post-strike episodes, and will greatly rejoice in april when they're back.  in the meantime, i've fallen into reality TV for lack of anything "better" on.

i've enjoyed "the apprentice" a little less each season, but i'm still stuck on celebrity apprentice... i like lennox lewis, tito ortiz, trace adkins, and steven baldwin the best, so it was too bad that tito was fired this week... i'll probably stick with it til the end because it's there.

this season though, the bit of personal behavior that confuses me most is... i've somehow gotten hooked on american idol.. it's currently season 7, and i've had absolutely no interest in it at all before this year.  but with so many days of just typing, typing, typing for my thesis, i need background noise, and the auditions for that a few weeks ago trumped any other options for background sound, and now i've gotten hooked on a few of them...David Archuleta and Carly Smithson have *amazing* voices... Jason Castro was impressive on the 1960s songs week and Kady Malloy has been impressive on the videos but not on stage yet; for both of them, I'm really hopeful to see a really outstanding performance in the next few weeks...how i got hooked after this many years of avoiding it... no clue, but it's something to have on in the background.

why all the TV? i realized at some point in high school that you can get totally physically exhausted from thinking really hard... days of working on my thesis do just that... i need something relaxing at the end of the day that involves zero effort from me...

nonetheless, there's other good entertainment to be found from time to time too... last weekend, Rutgers had a gospel choir concert evening with 4 choirs: two local to central NJ, and two older groups from Mississippi, and it was fantastic.... tonight, the youth at my church are putting on a play that me and a couple of my friends are going to... and of course, there's always the best entertainment: books. :)  i'm in the middle of a math philosophy book, and the people at mental floss magazine never cease to make me laugh....

moral of the story: thank goodness for books and for live entertainment,... because i can't trust the TV to do much right anymore...