Pop Vultures

Yeah, yeah, yeah, friends and family and health, we know. But this year, while I eat cold cereal for dinner and pretend it’s turkey and stuffing (sometimes, being an expat sucks, y’all), I’ll be counting my blessings in a slightly more superficial manner. The real question is, what television stuff am I thankful for this year?

5. Chuck. While everyone else has been cooing about Pushing Daisies, I’ve been slowly falling for Chuck this year. I liked it from the first episode, but it seems to be coming more into its own each week. The annoying sidekick has become…slightly less annoying. Yvonne Strahovski has managed to be surprisingly endearing in a role that could easily have devolved into “hot action babe looks pretty, wears skimpy clothes.” Chuck himself, as played by Zachary Levi, is believably quirky and thoroughly charming, and should become even more so as he continues to settle into his new role as an uber-spy. But really, the show just needs to be picked up so that I can get my weekly dose of Adam Baldwin. Never has an uptight Republican gun nut been so fun (or looked so good — call me, Adam!).

4. The common sense of the general public. During certain elections in recent years, I wondered if I’d ever write that again, but I’ve been heartened to see that the majority of people who bother to care about such things are entirely on the side of the writers during the recent contract dispute. The fact that the AMPTP are behaving like greedy filth pigs has not escaped people’s notice, and this extremely one-sided show of support will only aid the writers when negotiations begin Monday. Let the Goliath takedown begin (please!).

3. Television box sets and multi-region DVD players. It used to be that, when I’d get sick or depressed or otherwise suffer from some indefinable malaise, I was forced to lounge on my couch watching dire game shows and soaps. And while there is certainly something to be said for watching the floating head of Adrian Zmed on Passions, nothing helps me feel better faster than watching a few episodes of Buffy. Sure, I might be hungover/recently dumped/suffering from a really bad case of hiccups, but at least my undead boyfriend hasn’t turned evil recently and killed my surrogate father figure’s girlfriend. Small victories, you know?

2. Battlestar Galactica, Ugly Betty, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Supernatural, Doctor Who and House. Maybe even, grudgingly, Heroes. I know all the talk recently is about the new shows and the writers’ strike, but season after season, these shows do it right. Great characters, great pacing, great writing (just pay them already, okay?). They make me happy. 22 weeks out of each year, they tell me a new story. Sometimes, television is just awesome.

1. You. Starting this blog while also working 50-hour weeks has not exactly been easy, but I’ve loved every moment of it. I’d do it even if no one was reading, but it’s so much better knowing that others are nodding their heads in agreement (or occasionally rolling their eyes in disgust — I’ll take what I can get). Thanks for reading. Here’s hoping we’ll both be back this time next year.