Month: June 2016

The New Television Off-Season

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Besides the usual television, there are also tablets and phones with apps to watch network shows.

When I was a kid, television shows had seasons. They were very specific. School started and so did the new fall season. School ended right after the shows did. September through June without fail.

There was an occasional hiatus, but without the internet we drowned our sorrows in our bedrooms or outside playing in the fresh air. At least today we have other fans to commiserate with, not to mention reading and writing fan fiction and drawing fan art.

Sometime around high school (1981 for me) there was the mid-season replacement. A new pilot with a half schedule that started in January and if it got good ratings it would be back for the new fall season, sometimes with a cast change or schedule change.

While fans today talk about when a favorite show jumps the shark (it was also a Supernatural episode title in the seventh season), I remember the first shark jumped – Happy Days – and my kids are surprised that it was a literal shark. It was. I saw it happen live.

There were three channels, broadcast free (ABC, CBS, NBC) plus your local PBS station (operated out of Boston or New Jersey usually) that had some great murder and mystery mini-series and comedy, almost all British, which gave me a life-long love of them.

I loved my television shows. Summer was withdrawal. I always had the television on even when I was in the shower. I’m happy to say that while I still watch more than a little TV, I’ve stopped putting it on and leaving the room, and I’ve nearly all but given up on the news unless it’s something important that I can investigate online through reading.

I was with my great-grandmother watching television when Thurman Munson died. That was watched on a big box piece of furniture television.

I sat on a green velvet sectional sofa in the basement of my house when the 1980 Olympic Ice Hockey team beat the Russians. Most people forget that they won the gold one game later against Finland. That television was a smallish one that you had to get up to change the channels on. It stood on a TV cart that looked almost like a drink cart with handles and wheels. I think there was an Atari on the bottom shelf.

I got a new television when I graduated college. That was in 1988. It started giving us trouble two years ago.

One of my favorite shows all through school was The Fall Guy. I loved the behind the scenes aspect of stunt work. Being a stuntman was one of my fantasies. LIke riding a motorcycle, it was something that was just too cool for me to do but if I were stronger, or braver or more self-confident, I could, but I could never. It was also one of those shows that gave me the inside look into the television industry, which is something that still interests me and that I get to see a bit through the online world of fandom, especially where Supernatural and The Walking Dead cast and crews are concerned.

Then reality shows became popular. They were unique and unscripted, and then everyone was doing them. They’re everywhere. There are even scripted shows around reality shows. Law & Order, Bones, etc.

Today’s shows don’t get much of a chance. Supergirl was a good show but it wasn’t for CBS. I could see that. Fortunately, they dropped it and The CW picked it up so it will have its second season at a network that will love it and care for it.

One thing that started this past Sunday was the non-season. All of the shows had their season finales last week or will this week, right before school lets out.

There are new shows in mini spurts for a few weeks. I began with Major Crimes, a police procedural on TNT. I never watched the original show, The Closer that it was spun off from, but it has a great cast and interesting and entertaining stories. It’s similar to Law & Order in that the focus is on the crime, but you do get a glimpse of the personal lives, perhaps more than Law & Order always had.

Sunday’s show on AMC, Ride with Norman Reedus follows The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus as he rides his motorcycle around the country delving into the motorcycle culture, equipment and meeting some personalities. I saw the first episode where he went up the Pacific Coast Highway.

Major Crimes airs on Mondays.

Tomorrow, The CW’s Containment continues for another few weeks. As I understand it, it was not picked up for a second season. I’m still interested in the story though. I know that it’s somewhat predictable and I know exactly where the romance is going, and what the importance of the kid is, and how everything will turn out, but I still like it and I want to watch it play out. It’s my guilty pleasure.

So the non-season season starts this week and it goes for about six weeks, I believe. This will get we TV-aholics through half the summer and in my case, maybe give me something extra to write about.

Later in the week, for example, I’ll give a better review/reaction to Ride with Norman Reedus’ first episode with some links that might strike the fancy of the motorcycle enthusiasts visiting my page.

Food

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No matter what plans you have, kids or no kids, they almost always revolve around food. Food sustains us, but it also holds so much more. Comfort food is called that for a reason. Comfort food contains the five senses within it plus a sixth: memory.

When I’m eating sweet potatoes slathered in butter – real butter, stick butter, not spreadable canola, but real, all I can think of is sitting up in my parents’ bed, sick, and this was my medicine. The sweet flesh sweeter than any candy, the soft mash letting me eat and swallow without any work or pain whatsoever. Were they sweet potatoes or yams? How was I supposed to know?! I was 11 or something. It was better than chicken soup, and less messy in bed besides. Then, drifting off to sleep with the empty plate still on my lap. Empty because the potato skin is just as yummy as the rest of it. It was the one little kid yuck that I didn’t mind; eating the potato skins long before potato skins became its own food group.

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50-6 – Sundae with The Mets

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When I was a kid, we lived in Queens. I would describe it as in the shadow of Shea Stadium, but we really lived nowhere near Flushing Meadow. I loved the Mets. I was once supposed to go to a game, but that is another reflection for another time.

One of the things that was a big thing that I haven’t seen in upstate New York where we live now is Carvel ice cream. They were everywhere when I was a kid, and of course, the commercials with Tom Carvel.

Wednesday is Sundae at Carvel.

We would go every Wednesday for buy one sundae, get one free. My mother always got a black cherry sundae with extra cherries. I never appreciated the extra cherries until I was older. Maraschino cherries are the best.

Carvel used to have sundaes in a Mets helmet cup. They would put the vanilla soft serve in the plastic cap and you would go over to the sundae bar and add in your toppings: hot fudge and rainbow sprinkles were my thing. Although now I prefer caramel, an occasional hot fudge brings back so many memories of childhood summers. And springs, falls, and winters. We ate (and continue to eat) ice cream all year long.

We were in a local Stewart’s shop and my husband got me a bowl of ice cream in a Mets cap. I was so excited. I hadn’t had one of these since I was little. My daughter had a Yankees cap. I don’t think we were ever offered a Yankees cap in Queens.

It wasn’t a sundae, just a scoop, but I did pour on the rainbow sprinkles like always.

I ate it slow, letting some of the melted cream puddle in the bottom so I could drink from the brim. It was a memory come to life. I think the ice cream tasted better, too.

Retreat or Adventure?

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It’s hard to tell sometimes.

Last week’s planned retreat was extremely satisfying, but not in the way I had thought it would be. Instead of an even smattering of spiritual, travel, and writing events, it turned into more of an historical excursion, beginning with the Hamilton soundtrack and ending on Sunday night with the reading of issue #3 of new publisher, Aftershock’s equally new monthly comic, Rough Riders written by Supernatural fave, Adam Glass.

All in good time I’ll be writing a variety of pieces based on last week’s travels, research, and writing opportunities.

To sum up, it was a great week despite some mishaps that worked out well in the end.

Here is a brief summary (all positives) of things that went especially in my favor:

1. As I mentioned, it wasn’t really a retreat as much as an historical adventure. When I was a kid, we traveled to historic sites often as a family, and I forget how much history is right in my own backyard. This week was a good reminder.

2. I had two solid days of writing and one day of research, all coupled with good food, which spurred another piece of future writing.

3. I went to a new breakfast/lunch restaurant called Jimmy’s Eggs, and had the best waitress. She was talkative without interrupting my writing and it turned out that she waited on my family regularly about ten years ago at another place that had a phenomenal weekly special.

4. When I arrived at the Schuyler Mansion, I discovered that they do not take credit cards. While I was trying to figure out how to still go on the Alexander Hamilton tour, one of the other guests paid my way. Random acts are a wonderful and generous thing.

5. I was in the room where it happened – the room in the Schuyler Mansion where Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler were married.

6. Toured Grant Cottage, where President Grant wrote his memoirs and died. This was the best historic place tour I’ve been on. I can’t wait to tell you about it.

7. While there I was inspired to write a fictional novel or novella. I’ve already begun the research for this.

8. I bought and received (in time to use for the weekend) a new travel tumbler for my tea as well as an infuser. If you love tea, you understand.

9. We rented a compact car for two days to travel to my nephew’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor out of state, but when we got to the rental company they had no more compact cars so they upgraded us to a Jeep Compass with 340 miles on it and satellite radio. It even had that new car smell. It was a fantastic car and fantastic luck on our part!

10. We saw our family – sister & brother-in-law, nephews, niece. It was a nice mini-reunion.

BONUS #11. On Monday (June 6th) I took my daughter late to school so she could visit the Vietnam War Memorial Moving Wall. At breakfast, the number on my receipt was 337, which is a favorite number of mine. I’ve written about it and I’m sure I will again, but for such a small thing, it made me smile.

Thanks for sharing these snippets of my adventures. I look forward to sharing more details as the days (probably weeks) go by.

D-Day and Vietnam Remembered

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Remembering D-Day by visiting the Vietnam War Memorial Moving Wall with my daughter.

Yes, she had school but went in late.

1959 pic: first casualty
1975 pic: last casualty

The bikes were waiting to participate in the closing ceremony.

The names of the fallen are read continuously while the wall is open to the public.

Go to The Moving Wall to find out when it will be in your area.

Muhammad Ali (1932 – 2016)

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I spent the day thinking about what Muhammad Ali meant to me and I couldn’t put it into words. He was there as long as I followed news and sports and civil rights and everything. He was always a part of my life. I remember that my father liked him, which is probably how I was introduced to him and I spent a couple of years as a real boxing fan, watching every match I could. I know that will surprise some people. The idea that he had Parkinson’s was a shock to me – Ali was invincible. He was The Greatest.

Well, he was still The Greatest.

His athleticism, his confidence, his faith. They didn’t define him as much as he defined them. They were a part of him.

My deepest condolences to his family; may he rest in peace in G-d’s embrace and may his pain be stilled.

Simply,

Float like a butterfly,
Sting like a bee,
Muhammad Ali is The Greatest,
and He inspired me.

That is his famous challenge mixed with my insignificant words; these are his:

How I Would Like To Be Remembered

“I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times, who was humorous, and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, and who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love. And if all that’s too much, then I guess I’d settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldn’t even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.”