I Want My TLC

I’m super excited to have been invited to join a blog group alongside three talented bloggers.  Each week, one of us chooses a topic and we all post a blog entry on that topic, usually on Thursdays.   

Here are the links to the other fabulous blogs:

Merryland Girl

Froggie

Moma Rock

This week’s topic comes from Froggie, who said:  The essence of you.  Write something [that] captures the essence of who you are as a person.  

Froggie’s suggestion gave me pause.  Capturing the “essence” of me?  Who am I, really?  The questions made me nervous.  Successfully writing about such a topic seemed to require a level of introspection and self-awareness lacking in me.  Sure, I could write a list of characteristics about me – I’m short!  I like cookies! – but would such a list really capture “me”?  Nah, probably not.

So, I decided to look outside myself for some external evidence of who I am.  I knew there had to be something concrete in my life able to supply clues as to who I am as a person.  And then it hit me.  Of course! 

My DVR list. 

I mean, is there better evidence of someone’s essence?  If you want to really know a person, check out what she watches.  Even better:  check out what she bothers to record.

Below are some titles from my list.  I’ll let you decide what they say about me. 

The Middle:  A long-running sitcom about a middle-class family (the Hecks) living in the middle of Indiana.  I began watching The Middle when it first premiered in 2009, but tapered off when my own middle life got in the way.  When we finally (and recently) got a DVR, I began catching up on missed seasons.  The Hecks fly by the seats of their pants through their average lives in their average home filled with two teenagers and a quirky middle schooler.  Can’t imagine why I like – or identify with – this show.

Flipping Out:  Yahoo TV describes Flipping Out as “a [r]eality series following the highly volatile Jeff Lewis, a millionaire now-former real estate “flipper” who once bought high-end homes, remodeled them, then resold them for six-figure profits.  As the recession [a]ffected the real estate market, Jeff now focuses on interior design, and takes on clients in need of home remodeling. Always conscious of his temper and tendency to lose control, he tries to find his peace in spiritual healers, psychics and therapy.”

I’ve watched Flipping Out – now in its seventh season on Bravo – since its second season.  The reasons I love this show are many.  Star Jeff Lewis is brilliant but neurotic, talented but insecure.  I don’t share his esthetic – he chooses dark colors and tends toward Mid-Century Modern – but the show isn’t really about home improvement.  The appeal of the hour-long broadcast is Jeff and his staff:  Jenni, his patient but sometimes annoying assistant; Zoila, his patient but sometimes spoiled housekeeper; Andy, his patient but sometimes incompetent design assistant; and Gage, his patient but sometimes tightly wound partner and business manager.  I love watching Jeff take an outdated home (often belonging to a B list celeb, this season including Mark Paul Gosslear, George Eades, and Tommy Shaw) and infuse new life, but I much prefer watching Jeff’s antics:  his meltdown when a staff member drops the ball, the pranks he pulls on them when he’s bored.  Of course, I love the scenery, too, as Flipping Out is filmed in L.A., my old stomping ground.  But even the palm trees can’t compare with Jeff’s exquisite sarcasm and wicked, twisted sense of humor.

The Haunting of . . . /Long Island Medium

(See a theme here?)

Lifetime runs the Haunting Of . . ., a super awesome show featuring psychic medium Kim Russo.  Kim spends an hour each week at various haunted locations at which celebs were visited by spirits.  We watch somewhat graphic re-creations of the hauntings as the celebs describe them, while Kim and the celeb walk through the location so Kim can channel the spirits.  The goal of each episode is for Kim to explain to the celeb why the spirit chose to visit the celeb.  Usually, each episode includes a history lesson of sorts, as the spirits often are tied to some kind of tragedy.

Two episodes to watch for are those featuring Barry Bostwick and Bernie Koppel, as both men are totally into the channeling, and both episodes feature really interesting historical stories.  (The Chazz Palminteri episode is also quite good.)

Long Island Medium plays in the same vein.  As medium Theresa Caputo says at the start of each TLC show, “I talk to the dead.”  Platinum blonde Theresa wears her hair teased into a high helmet, and she encounters the dead everywhere.  Most often, the show features “individual” readings, where Theresa meets one on one with someone hoping to hear from a deceased relation.  But sometimes she performs group readings; other times, she reads people at the grocery store or the dry cleaner.  Long Island Medium differs from the Haunting Of . . . in that LIM follows Theresa as she goes about her life with her husband, Larry, and their son and daughter.  Larry has his own loyal following; watch one episode and you will understand why.

Dateline/48 Hours:  But only the episodes where one spouse kills the other . . .

Junk Gypsies:  Sisters Jolie and Aimee Sikes have my dream job:  they go junking and then use their finds to decorate homes.  The girls live in Round Top, Texas, where there appears to be no shortage of beautiful junk . . . or junk stores . . . or flea markets – my nirvana on Earth.  This hard-to-find show runs on HGTV every once in awhile; I don’t believe they are shooting new episodes, so I’m limited to the nine or so that have been floating around for awhile.  I’ve saved my five favs and I watch them whenever I need a junking fix. 

American Pickers:  The male counterparts to the Junk Gypsies.  Iowa-based “pickers” Mike and Frank travel the U.S. to hunt down collectors and their large loads of stuff.  Each episode features the boys picking through tons of stuff, much of it old and rusty, some of it collector’s gold.  American Pickers runs on the History channel because each episode is chock full of historical background of various items picked by the boys.  I prefer to watch several episodes in a row, as the Mike and Frank usually have a running joke throughout, and often there is a connection between episodes. 

My Cat From Hell:  I just stumbled across this one recently but I?  Am hooked.  Google Jackson Galaxy.  He?  Is awesome.  He’s a big, bald tattooed guy who works as a musician by night and a cat behaviorist by day.  (I like to call him “the cat whisperer”).  In each Animal Planet episode, Jackson helps two households deal with problem pets.  He shows up with his guitar case filled with treats and toys and, after invariably getting scratched by a freaked out feline, he figures out why the cat is misbehaving.  Jackson then coaches the cat guardians as to how to solve the issues.  I’ve learned a ton about cats from this show and even diagnosed one of my cat’s odd behavior by tuning in. 

Unusually Thicke:  Alan Thicke’s reality show.  He shares the spotlight with his third wife, Tanya, a very bubbly woman half his age, and with Carter, his son from his second marriage.  I literally stop whatever I am doing and watch this show, but I also DVR it . . . just in case.

Property Brothers/Buying and Selling:  If you don’t know of my affinity for the Brothers Scott and their shows, read here:  But Who Will Stop the Property Brothers? (and please remember it’s a SATIRE).  Drew and Jonathan Scott continue to work their identical ways through Canada and parts of the U.S., renovating beat-up old houses and leaving Dream Homes in their wake.  In the meantime, we get a glimpse into numerous families’ homes and their dynamics.  One warning to anyone considering adding these shows to their DVR line up:  the Brothers are so prolific and so popular, they will soon fill your queue.  They currently hog the majority of mine.

There’s my list.  It’s your turn to figure out what my TV habits say about who I really am.  Feel free to let me know . . .