So, Do You Think Babies Will Change My TV Viewing Habits?

I think we can all agree that the answer to this will be "yes." Only the most naive person would think that having twin infants won't change daily life. And television is a part of my daily life.

In the long run, I'm not sure that I want my children to see me just watching TV all day long. Not that I do, but I can, if bored or not feeling great. I certainly want them to watch cartoons and other shows, but I also want them to engage in actual activities, as well.

But first, they'll be just infants, and they won't be watching much of anything beyond their parents and caregivers. Maybe each other. TV will be little more than a noisy box to them. When they're first born, I'll probably spend most of my time feeding and changing them, and trying to get some decent naps. Not much TV in that scenario. I've been told that when they are still so young that I can watch TV while getting them to sleep or just rocking them. We'll see.

But I'm sure what I won't give up TV altogether. I spent some time this weekend wondering what shows I will try to watch, and what shows will get kicked off the DVR save list.

I first divided the shows that I save on DVR into categories. Roughly, they are:

- Shows with prominent arcs. An arc, of course, is a storyline that crosses, or arcs, from one episode to the other. The most famous shows with arcs include the Buffyverse shows and my current favorite, Lost. If these shows are not watched in order of airing, the viewer can be mightily confused. Unlike soap operas, which are prominent arc-series, these shows are too complicated to just not watch for a couple of months and just pick back up. Current shows I've saved on my DVR that have prominent arcs include Lost, Dollhouse (though now cancelled), Mad Men, Damages, and Fringe.

- Caper shows with background arcs. I call them "caper shows", because they usually involve a caper of some sort, often in an furtherance of protecting innocent people. Some of these caper shows have background arcs that rarely take center stage until the final episode or two of the season. A prime example is Burn Notice. Each episode could essentially be stand-alone, with Michael, Fiona, and Sam (sometimes with the help of Maddy!) help someone who is being victimized by a powerful group or person. They use their spy, gun, and special ops skills to save the person, often without pay. The background arc is that Michael was a CIA agent until he received a "burn notice" that he was no longer in the service. Michael has spent some time every episode either investigating who burned him or trying to get back into the spy business. You can skip a number of episodes without being too confused to enjoy the show. Other shows saved on my DVR that are caper shows with background arcs include Chuck, Leverage and White Collar. I suspect that Human Target will end up being a caper show with a background arc, as it seems to have started developing one.

- Procedurals. A procedural is a show that follows a certain pattern. The two best examples of procedurals are now franchises: Law & Order and CSI. I have neither franchise on my DVR list. The only procedurals I do have on DVR are Bones, The Closer, The Good Wife, and House. Bones and The Closer are about solving crime. The Good Wife follows a new associate in a law firm. House is about diagnosing a patient. Most procedurals have bare hints of arcs in their storylines, whether it's Lenny Briscoe's alcoholism and troubled relationship with his daughter, or Temperance Brennan's attempt to find and then bond with her family. The arcs are not prominent, and most episodes can be watched in any order with little to no confusion on the part of the viewer as to what is going on with the main characters.

- Reality competition shows. You might be surprised to know that I do not have The Biggest Loser on my DVR. I only catch it when I can. But I do have Project Runway and Top Chef on the DVR. A reality competition show is pretty much what it sounds like. Semi-amateurs or unknown professionals compete in a season-long competition to win a title and some nice prizes. You don't have to watch these shows in order, but it really makes sense to.

- Comedies. I don't watch a lot of comedies. The only traditional comedy I save is Community (which I think is really funny), but I also enjoy The Office (some times) and 30 Rock. You could argue that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is a comedy, and it certainly is, but it's not very traditional. Maybe it's a late night show? Whatever, Stewart is definitely on the DVR.

- Finally, miscellaneous. There are two shows I watch that don't fall into the categories above. One new show I've started saving, though I'm not sure for how long, is Life Unexpected. This is one of those shows I watched because of one of the credited actresses: Shiri Appleby, formerly of Roswell. The other I've mentioned on the blog before: Men of a Certain Age. This is more like a buddy tv show than anything else, with life-long friends in their late 40s or 50s navigating middle age.

So what to keep and what to throw away? Well, I've heard many jokes from people that it's a good thing this is Lost's final season, and I must agree! This is one of those shows that has made it to my "pantheon" of favorite shows ever, joining the Star Trek franchise and the Buffyverse shows. I will greatly miss Lost, but better to have loved and Lost than to have never loved before.

I love shows with prominent arcs, so I know that I will continue to watch Fringe. You may remember that the relationship between the Bishops is one of the joys of watching TV for me right now, but I'm also fascinated by the relationships between the other characters and the concept of an alternative time line - you know, the one Peter's from. He just doesn't know that. Yet.

Mad Men and Damages are not traditional prominent arc shows, and you might argue they belong in a different category. Regardless, however, I plan to keep Mad Men on the list, for several reasons. One, it is one of the few shows that B and I actually watch together. We definitely have disparate likes when it comes to TV, so any commonality is worth maintaining. Plus, it is one of the best and most interesting dramas right now that doesn't involve a science fiction plot or procedural. The characters are well-drawn and acted, and the story lines never fail to produce a lot of thinking on my part. Damages, however, will not remain on the list, despite the great work of Glenn Close. I just don't enjoy it enough to keep watching it.

Of the caper category, I think I will only keep Burn Notice and Chuck. I really like the work that Jeffrey Donovan has done as Michael Weston, and any show that has Bruce Campbell should be supported by many. Chuck is another delight for me, with a great set of characters and fabulous actors to make any night's episode enjoyable viewing. And Adam Baldwin's Casey is turning into one of my all-time favorite characters (granted, a long list, I'm sure, but still, Casey belongs there).

However much I'll miss the antics of Timothy Hutton's Nathan Ford and his merry band of do-gooding thieves, I think Leverage is one of those shows that will be easy to catch up on with re-runs on TNT or somewhere on the internet. I'm certain I'll stop watching The Human Target, despite the appealing presence of Mark Valley. Since it is on Fox, it will most likely have to succeed for a number of seasons (up to at least 100 new episodes) to become a staple on cable TV (see Law & Order and Bones on TNT), so it may be that I'll never see the show again if it ends too soon.

Procedurals would seem to be the easiest of shows to give up. They rerun well, and the arcs are just not that complicated or interesting to keep up with. However, while I see myself giving up The Good Wife, I just can't see giving the rest up. But how can I give up David Boreanaz, Emily Deschanel, Hugh Laurie, or Kyra Sedgwick? I only watch these shows because of these actors. Their shows all have a few flaws, but the actors and the development of the characters they play just keep me coming back for more. At least The Closer only airs a few weeks a year. If I must, I'll give up House and Bones, but they will be the hardest to give up.

I think I can give up on both Project Runway and Top Chef. They are both interesting to watch, but unlike the procedurals above, the characters (and they are characters) don't last more than a season. It is hard to get attached to the characters. Plus, I don't tend to watch every moment of these shows, usually focusing on the results of the contestants' work. Top Chef might be a little difficult to give up, simply because it is another show that both B and I watch together. But we'll see.

I'm also certain that I can lose the comedies, with the exception of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And of miscellaneous, I've threatened two out of three weeks to drop Life Unexpected, so I'm comfortable saying good bye to them. I think I'll also sign off Men of a Certain Age, though Andre Braugher's work here is just top notch.

So, how much did I get rid of? Let's do the count. I reported eighteen shows that I watch on a regular basis. I did not count Lost or Dollhouse, since they are essentially over. I dropped (more or less - and only in my mind, since the babies aren't here yet!) 10, and hope to keep 8 (assuming all 8 are renewed). That's not bad, for me. How realistic that is, I've no idea. I'm sure it will be an interesting story, one way or another.

A New Low for Product Placement?

As you know, since the advent of Tivos and DVRs, the visibility of commercials has gone down. No one really likes most commercials - they are loud, often obnoxious, and only designed to manipulate the viewer into buying things. So the ability to zip past them to watch the main event, the actual television show itself, is a welcome relief for many of us.

The problem, of course, is that the commercial is what pays for the airing of the show, not the viewer. I remember being so surprised as a girl when I realized that we didn't pay anything for the shows we watched (obviously before the days of HBO, Pay-Per-View, and well, even cable). We paid for everything else - why not the shows we watched? Instead, it is the advertiser who pays for what we see. They give money to the show so their commercial airs during the breaks. And, because we are such sheep, we actually base some of our decisions on what we see in those commercials. But that is a soapbox I won't get into now.

But now advertisers have to figure out a way to get their commericals seen. One way is to place the product in the actual show itself. In Heroes once, Hiro threw car keys to Ando and told him to "take the Versa." On The Closer, the Chief takes one of her staff person's Prius, and refers to it by name. Damages and Cadillac had a deal where a number of clues were given in one of their SUVs. I don't watch a lot of reality shows, but I've heard they are the biggest offenders of product placement. The funniest product placement was seen in 30 Rock, when two characters discussed the great service Verizon gives its customers. Tina Fey then looks at the camera asking, "Can we have our money now?"

Sometimes product placements don't interrupt the storyline at all. Most people I know who own Priuses refer to their car by name. But Hiro's use of the word "Versa" actually took me out of the storyline in confusion. I had never heard of a Versa - did people actually refer to it that way? It turns out, no. The clues in the Cadillac were actually the most confusing and unrelated of all the clues in the less than stellar second season of Damages.

Thursday night, I had an opportunity to see product placement that almost took over an episode of television. You may have heard of a little movie coming out called Avatar? Even I have heard of it. And so have the squints on Bones. Fisher, my least favorite of the not-Zack interns, has scored three tickets. And he recognizes that Hodgins and Sweets are probably as geeky as he is in his desire to see the movie on the first possible day. They agree that they need to camp out at the theater to make sure they get good seats, so they develop a schedule. Which is interrupted, of course, by the investigation into the murder of the week.

They storyline almost worked for these characters, since they are all more or less nerds who probably would have given their right arm to see the movie on its premiere day. I could see them developing a schedule for protecting their spot in line. And it led to Sweets realizing that his relationship with Daisy is way more satisfying than Fisher's one night stands. What pushed it beyond the limits, however, was the airing of a commercial during the actual episode itself. They used Angela's pretty cool computer screen, and Hodgins declared he couldn't tell what was special effects and what wasn't anymore. Really Jack? The paranoid genius with a strong cynical nature can't figure out what is CGI? Whatever.

I don't know how much Avatar paid to get this product placement, but as the "b" storyline of the episode, it got a prominent place in the episode. It will most certainly date the episode during reruns and syndication. Perhaps instead of slicing actual plot like they do in syndication, however, they can lose the Avatar in-episode commercial. Unless it is the DVD of Avatar paying for the airing of the rerun.

The Emmy Awards

I had hoped to have a pre-Emmy post with my comments on the nominees, who I thought would win and who should win. But I guess I missed my chance. Instead, I'll report on who won, what I liked, and what ticked me off - or just plain bored me.

But before I talk about the winners, I think I must say how impressed I was by Neil Patrick Harris as host? Award shows are old-fashioned events, and Harris was an old-fashioned host, singing and dancing and cracking jokes. But he also felt up-to-date, with modern humor and sensibilities. He made fun of how long the show usually is, and made a joke of his own loss for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. And the show only ran 5 minutes late. I also liked how the awards were divided into their categories - comedy, reality, variety, and drama. The only sour note was The Family Guy "skit" in which a baby beat a dog. That produced more cringes than laughter from me.

And a caveat - I didn't keep track of everything, especially the parts of the show and awards that relate to reality shows. I only paid attention to parts of the variety awards that are noted below. And I suspect that I have the names of the awards slightly wrong. Oh well.

First, the comedy awards. As you know, I rarely watch comedies, with 30 Rock and now Community as exceptions. And sadly, I'm behind on my 30 Rock - we've quite a few on our DVR. Of course, some shows are labeled comedies that I don't think of as comedies, such as Pushing Daisies, which was sadly cancelled last year. I was also surprised that actresses from Saturday Night Live were nominated under comedy instead of variety show.

The first award of the night was fabulous! The award was for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Kristin Chenowith, Olive Snook on Pushing Daisies, won over the SNL comedians and Vanessa Williams. Olive Snook was the one character that really broke out from a cast of quirky characters. Olive could easily have become a one-note character, but in Chenowith's capable hands, she was a delight. I could never take my eyes off her.

The award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series was a joke, and not the funny kind. Kevin Dillon of Entourage, Harris from How I Met Your Mother, Rainn Wilson from The Office, and Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan, both of 30 Rock, all lost to Jon Cryer of that comedy classic, Two and a Half Men. It is not that I don't appreciate Cryer's talents - I think that they are manifold. It's just that, first of all, he's a Lead Actor, not a Supporting Actor, and that Two and a Half Men suck.

Toni Collette won Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her series on HBO (I can't believe I can't remember the name of it!), upsetting the expected favorite, Tina Fey of 30 Rock. Fey's co-lead, Alec Baldwin, won in his category - a well-deserved win if you ask me.

Baldwin makes the show with his zany performance of an ambitious executive.

No surprise that 30 Rock won for Outstanding Comedy Series.

The only reason I pay attention to the variety awards is to see if The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and/or The Colbert Report win. This year, it was The Daily Show's time to win - again, for writing and series. Go Stewart!

The drama awards started with the best victory of the night for me - Michael Emerson won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama for his role as Benjamin Linus in Lost! As you all may know, I love Lost, and the character of Benjamin Linus is one of the best crafted and acted in a well-acted show. Another deserving win.

Cherry Jones won the corresponding Supporting Actress for her performance in 24, and a director of ER won for Outstanding Direction.

The remaining award-winners were fairly predictable. Mad Men won for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Drama Series, Glenn Close won for Outstanding Lead Actress for her work in Damages, and Bryan Cranston repeated his win last year for Outstanding Lead Actor for Breaking Bad.

So, now the Emmys are over, and we can all go back to living our lives. In the meantime, what did y'all think?