A Good Television Week

Last week was a good television week. I caught a new-to-me repeat of Bones on Tuesday. Like Medium and Ghost Whisperer, it's a show based on the life of a real woman, but unlike those shows, it's neither annoying nor unintentionally funny. The only bad thing about it is its new time slot. Fox is moving it to Wednesdays at nine, opposite of ABC's Lost. Considering the number of shows I watch regularly (six at last count), you would think the chances of two shows I like falling on the same night at the same time would be slim, but I'm lucky like that. Tuesday also featured hilarious back-to-back episodes of Scrubs.

Wednesday was all about Lost (which won a Golden Globe for Best Television Drama last night). First, there was the Lost special called Lost: Revelation, an obvious misnomer. A more accurate (but less marketable) title would have been Lost: Recap. With the last fresh episode shown five weeks ago, the network sought to refresh the audience's memories. It was a good idea, but I dutifully skipped it. Instead, I tuned in later for the newest installment, "The 23rd Psalm", an episode centered on Mr. Eko, the mysterious and deadly Nigerian who carves bits of Scripture into the big stick he carries.

I then spent the next hour playing the episode again in my head, trying to find any additional clues, references or symbols in a futile attempt to gain deeper understanding and crack the mystery of the island. The fact that the hour-long effort looked very similar to sleeping is purely coincidental. Informally, I like to refer to it as Lost: Nap.

On Thursday, I watched Dancing With the Stars, one of those programs I find somewhat amusing and strangely addictive. It ran for ninety minutes, twice as long as it needed to be. If they had cut the interviews and celebrity comments, it would have been a much better show. Less ramble, more rumba!

Afterwards, I watched another comical episode of The Office. My favorite scene had to be the one in the minivan as Jim tried to make Michael and Dwight behave by squirting them with water while he drove them to the hospital for Dwight's concussion. It was ludicrous, but had me laughing out loud.

On a tangent, Steve Carell's acceptance speech during the Golden Globes was the most creative of the night. As he unfolded a piece of paper, he claimed that he hadn't prepared a speech, but his wife had. He ended up thanking the usual people as usual and thanking his wife four times. It was classic.

With the return of American Idol and new episodes of my other favorite shows, this appears to be another good television week. With it being winter and the weather not so hot, good television should never be taken for granted.

By the way, yesterday, our nation observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, recognizing the great civil rights leader's birthday. It was strange, but every news reporter I heard made a special effort to note that if King were alive, he would be 77. Today, our nation isn't officially observing Benjamin Franklin's birthday, but he was born on this day in 1706. I just wanted make a special effort to note that f he were alive, he would be 300 years old, very, very wrinkled and possibly not human. He is one of America's greatest Founders and one of my heroes, so Happy Benjamin Franklin Day!