TV Seasons Ends: I recall a time not too long ago ... oh maybe it was, tempus fugit ... when I enjoyed watching television nearly every night of the week. The few hours a night, one hour here, two hours there, provided a nice rest after a day of work and/or school. These days, and maybe in some sense it is a good thing, finding good original programming is much harder. It is partly a matter of taste, since I do not care for the current batch of crime dramas (mostly prosecution orientated ... the "two separate but equal groups" of "Law and Order" are not the prosecution and the defense) and reality programs that dominate. The alternatives are quite often lame sitcoms or tired dramas, like "ER," which I did once enjoy.

And, then, the quality of some of the few shows I do enjoy became mixed ... though overdramatic, the finale of "West Wing" was good, but too many episodes over the season was not. After Paris Gellar was cruelly treated in an episode of "Gilmore Girls," the remaining episodes of the season was a mixed bag, and the whole Jess character was annoying anyway. And though I admit Dennis Miller got old fast, John Madden was no great replacement to the old MNF team. And when "Less Than Perfect" (it's often amusing and a decent show, but B material on a good day all the same) was probably the best new show of the year (to me, at least), something is wrong. Oh, right "Mr. Sterling" was good, but it surely looks like it was cancelled.

One is left, at least I am left, to look elsewhere. For instance, the soon to be translated to American British sitcom "Coupling" thus far seems to me to be a sexier "Friends," when that show was not as tired as it is now. Catching repeats of "Daria" or even at times "Clueless" (ok ... that opening song is catchy) is at times a good way to relax for a half hour or so. My current favorite repeats, especially (in my area) Sunday nights before I go to bed, is "Dharma and Greg" ... remember to tape the closing credits to catch the title cards at the very end. There is baseball, though I have a dish, so do not get Yankee games (I live in the Bronx ... the cable provider, after a year of not carrying it, finally accepted a deal with the YES network) ... getting a heart attack at my age is not a good idea, so watching too many Mets games (or certain parts thereof) might be a bad idea. David Letterman and "Seinfeld" repeats are still funny. Finally, weekends on C-SPAN, one can catch some good book related programming. So, I still manage to get my television fix, but it is much harder than it once was. [How about all those other channels? A whole lot less worth watching imho than the number offered might suggest, that's all I will say.]