CBS Sucks

Ok, so I watch mostly CBS shows these days because I have CBS and Hulu on my computer and no other TV access. Actually, except for a few days spent watching friend's homes, it's been more than two years. I miss some show on BBS America and Syfy and a few others, but there are more than enough shows on CBS and Hulu to fill the limited time I have for TV. So when I say CBS sucks, I am mostly reacting to "CBS Cares" and the simple fact that they are canceling three shows I watched. That's not caring. Canceling shows is the suckiest thing a network can do. It's disrescpectful to artists and audiences to not invest a few more dollars (relatiely) to create at least once finale so the show, the artists, and the audience can feel the network has an ounce of respect for them, or us, even.

No network is better, but I only have CBS to bitch about these days.

So Scorpion is the one I'll miss. Dorky geniuses and the eye candy were fun, even though the writers flat out sucked and relied on a formula that required so much suspended logic it was a cartoon. I'll miss Zoo because it had an interesting premise even when the plot was forced to typical super-villian proportions. I wish they'd have just tried to actually deal with an evolutionary shift without personalizing an evil mastermind, because the shift is going to come eventually anyway.The writers did not have enough imagination to enter that reality, alas. Then there's Wisdom of the Crowd, which also had a good premise and was failed by writers with limited imaginations. Unfortunately, even the best shows stink sometimes.

Ransom is still on the chopping block and I won't miss it much, but I am watching it because there's nothing else among the shows I d watch on except Instinct, which is another new show with a touch of Elementary, but it breaks the mold with a gay lead character and I like expanding the rigid norms (why do you think science fiction is my favorite genre?). The writers are not bad. either.

So what do I watch?

Of course you just must know, right?

Insist a little? lol Big Bang Theory, Bull, Criminal Minds, Elementary, MacGyver, NCIS, NCIS:LA, NCIS:NO, Star Trek: Discovery, Young Sheldon and more gone and then, primarily thanks to curiosity and self-induced boredom, new ones I'll check out are God Friended Me, Happy Together, Murphy Brown, Magnum PI, FBI.

Well, you asked.

I may check out Salvation, though the title suggests religion and there's way too much religion in the physical (or what we call real) world for me to want to watch it in my fictional entertainment. I don't enjoy watching war movies either. I push past the macho nationalism, blind faith patriotism, and self-righteousness (and ignore the religious references as well as I can) in order to relate to characters and let them become family in my mind. It doesn't happen often, but it's fun when it does.

Sure, I could go on and on about why I watch what I watch and how I relate in my mind, but then, the title of this entry doesn't point in that direction, now does it? Besides, I'm distracted by Hamilton's Pharmacopeia. I remember Qualudes. You know I do, because of the capital Q. Humans minds are so clogged with fears.

The serpent in the bible is an alien? (wha Lilith fair?... blame Hulu lol).

Not just abalone!

Narf lol :)

X-Files Revisted

So I watched The X-Files from the beginning through the 9th season, a season I did not really get into because the show was about Mulder's obsession for a truth about aliens among us and without Mulder, the show was less interesting, less fun to watch, and less believable. It required Scully to switch gears and put her skepticism aside and take on the Mulder obsession, which she did not do well.

So now I am watching the new X-Files and once again, right off the bat, Scully is as inconsistent as ever. Her know-it-all skepticism is back with a vengeance and I'm ready to turn off the show in the middle of the first episode of season 10 because tat feeling of poor writing and betrayal of character is back with a vengeance too. I watched episode 1 through to the end and sure enough, Scully does another complete 180 (how can anyone take her character seriously, the inconsitencies in her character reduce her to little more than a sail in the wind attached to Mulder's tail). Then, as if to flaunt viewer stupidity, the smoking man returns as the enemy when he was looking out for Mulder in the last few seasons and burned alive on camera in the last episode of season nine.

It'll be interesting to see how they explain this. The super soldier DNA, perhaps. So why is he aging into decrepitude like any ordinary human?

First, though, There'll be some odd semi-comedic horror stories.

Losing Basketball

I used to be able to lay and loved to play, but I haven't had anyone to play with for a few years and that's sad, but this meaningless complaint is more about losing interested and enthusiasm about watching professional basketball. I still sometimes watch college, but the pros lost me when the game turned into a ridiculously inconsistently controlled contact sport and the bullies took over. It's the way our culture has always been to some extent from early school days trough middle school and high school. It's finally reached the White House, but the bully culture was not in professional sports much. In fact, most sports were a refreshingly bully free and the bullies were booted out. Talent, finesse, skill, and above all else sportsmanship and a consistent enforcement of the rules made sports a level playing field.

Maybe money changed that. Or simply the culture shifted and ignores the unfairness, inequality, inequity, immaturity, and bias in order to cheer the flavor of the moment The Lebrons, the Trumps... cheered as heroes no matter what they do (and if really observed, they do very immature, arrogant, entitled, unsportsmanlike, and unethical things that few if anyone else would ever get away with). The real winners who win with skill, finesse, and talent on a level playing field are disrespected and constantly accused of cheating.

Take the last game of the NBA season for one small but undeniable example. Curry s called for a technical in the first quarter for almost nothing, at least nothing the video could show. Lebron chases a around the court referee arguing a call verbally and with gestures and the ref ignores him. The immature and entitled baby they call king of the nba is why this game is the only game I watched all season. I may have watched part of one last season, but I stopped watching pro basketball. It is nice to see a throw back team is dominating once again.

Unfortunately, the nba and the media still gave a lot more time to the bully that they did to the classy winners and they even tried to provoke division and controversy when interviewing Durant and I was impressed at how well Durant cut the question off and shot down the attempt with a firm and direct response. That is what deserves respect and air-time. Only Steven A and Rachel Nichols pointed out the truths, that Lebron and Cleveland quit, pulled a "No Mas", and showed no class or respect for the fans or the game. Curry, Durant, and the Warriors showed unprecedented class and sportsmanship.

Most of the media blitz focused on how amazing their king has been and was even in getting swept in the nba finals and sure enough, the excuse was already scripted, Lebron played the last three games with a broken hand. That he broke it by punching a wall during a antrum after the first game was downplayed. Instead of pointing out how immature, selfish, poor sport, stupid, and self-destructive the poor king really is to the impressionable children who have been convinced to idolize the him, the party line ignored that important life-lesson fact. No wonder the bullies are winning.

Good to see one lose for a change.

Good to see his arrogant boast to win 9 championships failed. Oh, he did make it to 9 championship games with a lot of help from very biased referees, but he lost 6 of them.

Better than Mike, yeah right lol.

So maybe most people ignored how he pushes people around on the court and gets away with it almost every time. How he gets extra points every game because he's sent to the foul line on so many soft touch foul calls. How he throws tantrums on the court and gets away with challenging officials way more than anyone else. How he apparently throws tantrums off the court and can be self-abusive with a dangerous temper. I blame the nba because they let him get away with never having to live up to the standards of play and sportsmanship enforced for most everyone else. Just look at what's ignored n the White House.

I don't watch the news, I seldom watch sports, I don't watch basketball anymore.

I miss the sports.

Remembering the X-Files (I and II)

Watching the episodes of the original series from one to the last, I am slowly, gradually, subtly reminded of just how much religious referenced I had to ignore just to keep watching the mysteries beyond that one explanation so many people seem to so easily buy into. Patronizing. Pathetic. Poor writing. Even Mulder invoked god for the story line, breaking his character's agnostic presentation. The writing is really very inconsistent sometimes, which destroys the illusion of characters and leaves the same old discussion in almost every show. The writers probably think it is mandatory to reach a larger audience and keep them from throwing the towel in on all the paranormal, but that sort of pandering to the ignorant frightened masses is the antithesis of a intelligent science fiction or fantasy.

I just admit, it is getting a bit too soap-operatic for me and I am not following the story line closely enough to know what is going on in the back stories (or some of the front stories, even). This was especially true as season eight rolled along and Mulder's incorrigible drive to find the truth was missing. I think that was what drew me to the show in the first place. Season eight found Scully playing the Mulder role and a new guy who, unfortunately for him, is forever unappealing to me because he tried to be Scully. It just didn't work for me. It's sad when people don't seem to fit their characters anymore. Even worse, as with too many shows, the characters have to be stupid to get into the dangers they get into.

Even Mulder stopped following his "trust no one" creed, probably because the writers were not smart or creative enough to write better stories.

Maybe if I watched it with someone who'd discuss it, it would be more fun.