While building a media shelf...

I got this brand, spankin' new media shelf to hold my dvd's yesterday... assembled it myself, thank you very much and all I have to say is... I have a lot of movies!

However, I think that's a good thing. Once upon a time, I scheduled my night by what was showing on the telly. Not any more. So much of what's currently showing is trash. We have cable at my house and, as such, have about five hundred channels to choose from. Night after night, it amazes me that there is so little engaging television now. But... there are a few shining lights-

FoodTV: Love that channel! There's Emeril, and Iron Chef America. Both are reality tv that I can get behind! There's Rachael Ray, my personal cooking hero! I'll watch any of her shows... she's going to get a talk show in the fall. A show such asGood Eats with Alton Brown , actually educates one as it entertains! What a concept!

SciFi: Aahh... does it get better than SciFi Friday? That's a trick question! The answer is YES! If my beloved Richard Dean Anderson would once again grace the screen on SG1, then I would be a happy little lady! There's only so much I can take of Daniel Jr. and Dominatrix Spice. Atlantis, however, continues to delight each and every week. Oh,how I adore science fiction... a noble realm of entertainment that doesn't get near enough respect.

A&E: The First 48... Cold Case Files... etc. Those are great shows! Fact based and interesting!

The WB: Gilmore Girls... not everybody's cup of tea, but I love it. I have oft been likened to Lorelai... hmm.. wonder if that was a compliment or not...

Then, on various channels, we can find old shows that have just gotten better with time (and in most cases, have been released on dvd):
M*A*S*H: Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I remember watching this with my mom when I was a little girl and not getting any of the jokes. Thankfully, I have grown into the humor and adore this comedy.

Gunsmoke: Marshall Matt Dillon, a hero from childhood. The good guys always won and the bad guys got smoked... This was the show I bonded with my D-Daddy while watching. Every time I see it on tv, I think of him.

Dallas: Yeah, I know it was soap opera, but it was a good soap opera. The Ewing clan held court over the American mindset for thirteen years and, in many countries, it's still watched with devotion.

StarTrek: Aaahhh... it can all be traced back to here. My deep and abiding love for all things sci-fi started right here with with premier of The Next Generation in the late 1980's. I've been geeking out ever since.

SeaQuest: Okay, I can hear people laughing... Stop it! The first season was great tv. It was fun, entertaining and really did stretch the bonds of sci-fi. True, there were some "What's that Lassie, Timmy fell down the well again" moments with Darwin the dolphin, but that dolphin was cool... and Chief Brody commanding a sub... that's even cooler.

Throughout it's history, there has been some very good television. However, I think the quality this medium has suffered lately with the massive quantity of channels. I think that TPTB figure that they can afford to put crap on the tube as long as it has explosions and graphic language, violence, and etc. The shock value is what keeps many tv shows on the air, not the merit.

I love tv... always will. But, for the near future, I'll keep to the channels I know and love and keep my dvd collection close.