Where you been? (or, How to survive the winter without TV)

Ok, so to be fair, I *have* been watching TV over the past few months. I just haven't been blogging about it. With the dearth of new, quality* TV for the past months, there hasn't been much to say. Here's an update, quick-hits-style:

-- Army Wives is being re-run on Lifetime, Sunday nights, leading up to the second season premier in June. If you didn't catch this series last summer, you really should catch up on it now. It is, as I have said before, compelling, well-written, and timely. The acting is superb and the stories will make you cry every week. My favorite kind of TV.

-- Canterbury's Law, though still sitting on my TiVo, is too grim for me. I absolutely love Julianna Margulies, who played Carol on ER back in the day. And, I generally love TV shows that make me cry (see, e.g., Army Wives). But, there's a difference between making my cry and giving me nightmares. You see, the central plot of Canterbury's Law revolves around how Margulies's character deals with the loss of her beautiful four-year-old boy who was apparently abducted from a playground while Margulies took a work call on her cell. Nope. Can't do it. Sorry, Julianna. I'll catch you on the next show.

-- My So-Called Life is running on abc.com, with one new episode being added each week. I've been watching these on Saturday afternoons after skiing. They are good enough to keep me watching but I think I'm keeping myself from getting to invested in the characters, knowing that the show lasted only one season -- and ended ten or so years ago! Also, the parental characters are abnoxious and stupid.

-- One Tree Hill's new season has been pretty good. The plot leapt forward four and a half years from last year, so we've missed the college years. That was a good thing. Anyway, this show is never going to win any Emmys but it's fun to watch the melodrama unfold every week. OTH has been on hiatus for a few weeks but will return in a couple weeks on Mondays, paired up with Gossip Girl, the CW's new hit.

-- This season of Survivor has also been fun to watch. It's the "fans" versus the "favorites" with superstar Ozzie back for a second try at dominating the challenges all the way to the million dollars. I'm looking forward to the season resuming after the madness of March releases its grip on CBS's schedule.

-- Other than that, I've mostly been filling my TiVo with re-runs of Gilmore Girls. I fast-forward through all of the scenes that involve Kirk and Michel and Luke's stupid sister and brother-in-law. But it's fun to watch Rory's relationship with Logan unfold.

*Please note: I have my own definition of "quality"... but if you read this blog, you already know that.