My Heart Is As Empty As My DVR

I have a slight TV addiction problem. Is slight and addiction in the same sentence an oxymoron? Probably. But still, I watch a lot of TV.

I wasn’t always this way. Before I had kids, before I had to worry about getting babysitters and I could go out whenever I wanted to, I rarely watched TV. But, my oldest is now 14. This has been going on for quite a while.

Okay, so if I’m being completely honest, I have always been a bit of a homebody. Maybe parenthood is an excuse. Regardless, this is my “T”, as the iconic Ru Paul would say. I love me some television. When the DVR was invented, I was literally giddy, with excitement. I could now watch what I wanted WHEN I wanted and skip through the commercials. Not only that, when the shows I watch regularly premiere, they are pre-programmed in the system. I can click over to my DVR list of recorded shows and suddenly there they are, like a Christmas morning treat. I might have known that the new season of a show like Face Off was coming up, but it’s hard for me to keep track of exactly when. Unless it’s Game Of Thrones. Then all bets are off.

This brings me to the point of this post. Game Of Thrones had its season finale this Sunday. After that (and until True Blood), it is a veritable wasteland on my DVR. It’s just so very… empty.

Oh sure, I can go back and look at On Demand. There are some shows I hadn’t kept with and can watch in one sad binge. But generally they are shows that didn’t spark much interest when I first heard about them and watching them doesn’t give me nearly the same pleasure as a new episode of Saturday Night Live or Modern Family.

Am I then to be contented with So You Think You Can Dance? SYTYCD is the type of show you enjoy as it’s happening but you can multi-task as it goes on. I like Falling Skies, but after the first season, I don’t know, the blush was off the rose. Real Housewives of Orange County is on. They are some crazy ladies to be sure, perhaps the craziest of them all. But I always feel just a little dirty afterwards, like when you work out and don’t have time to shower after. Yes, of course there is True Blood (thank God) and I will say that I do enjoy HGTV’s Design Star.

I’m not really one for the cooking shows, but Kitchen Nightmares is the only exception. It’s the only show where Gordon Ramsey isn’t a complete wanker.

I have my knitting and I do read about a book or two a week. I have hobbies and friends and work, of course. I have diversions. However, I will never be one of those people (usually yoga instructors) that say, “Oh, I don’t have a TV” or “I only watch shows on my computer.” I think, what do you do at night? The prospect of leaving my house every evening to be entertained sounds exhausting.

I remember the good old days, last month, when the list of recorded shows on my DVR was a mile deep and sometimes I wouldn’t even get to a program until it was a week old. Now it’s just Extreme Weight Loss. Ah well, the irony of summer. Great weather and crap TV.