Frankly, this writer's strike and the lull between seasons is killing me. The fact that on-demand passive entertainment isn't flowing through my retinas to my brain at whatever hour I desire has got me clamoring for Hollywood hide. So what's a guy to do?
Well, there's always books. I'm not opposed to books, but I've found that sometimes I just want to sit and veg out in front of the boob tube. I've come to a few answers about what to watch while waiting for things to get back to normal, and maybe I'll survive.
Answer #1: Jericho -- I don't know what you guys think, but when this thing was on originally, it didn't get any of the play that it deserved. Since it got resurrected for a second season, three episodes have leaked their way out to download sites. Grab them. Then watch them on TV. Then figure out a way to get these folks paid without having to cater to network TV. IT would suck for it to really go off the air. Maybe it's already too late.
Answer #2: Stargate Atlantis -- I don't like putting this on here, because I'm not really sure where this show is going, but I've enjoyed the show while it's been running. Being that it's one of the few things that's still live on TV, that makes it worth checking into.
Answer #3: Law and Order -- The last couple of new episodes have been really good. The mixup of DAs and the new detective have been much better than previous combinations. After 18 seasons, it's interesting that they can still write these things.
What else? I've been watching crappy re-runs of Star Trek Voyager. I'm really desperate. And no, I don't see any recovery from restarts of shows like Lost. That show... Will it ever make sense? Now House, that's another matter...
You might also consider giving Miro a try, to obtain some material to feed to your eyeballs from your computer. There are some classic movies available, as well as a number of independent operations publishing content.
I admit I sometimes find it hard to trawl through the content listing trying to find something that sounds good, but there's enough available that something should catch your fancy.
I think the one thing that I specifically neglected to write in the post is that one of the objects is to remove myself from the presence of the computer. I'm specifically trying to avoid internet content.
Does Miro have the option to play what it downloads on my USB-enabled DVD drive?
Also, their Make Internet TV section is really neat.
If you've got HBO, I would highly suggest The Wire. IMVHO, it's the best thing on TV. It's in the last of 5 seasons, so one might want to get the DVD's of the first 4 seasons to fully follow the characters and the plot, but I'm sure if you've got On Demand, there's a synopsis of the 4th season, which should catch one up enough to follow the last.
I'm also a sucker for 30Rock, though I'm not sure how many more episodes they've got in the hopper before they've got to go rerun.
Sadly, no HBO here. :(
But when I did have HBO, The Wire didn't pique my interest as much as people recommending in had expected it to.