Favorite Things February #11: Thursday nights

Remember TGIF? When I was younger, Friday nights were the best. ABC used to have this great line-up of shows that my whole family would sit down and watch. Who can forget Full House? Family Matters anyone? How about Perfect Strangers? That Balki Bartokomous was always getting Larry into trouble. Step by step was another show that I remember. But, the Olsen twins grew up, Urkel got just plain annoying and I think Balki got deported? Maybe not. Anyway, Friday nights aren't what they used to be, but for Dan and I Thursday nights are pretty close. We used to rely on the old VHS to be able to watch all our shows, then we upgraded to a DVR. And it sure is busy on Thursday nights.

We start out at 8:00 taping The Office. Oh, this show makes us laugh out loud. The awkwardness of spending so much time with coworkers that they become your dysfunctional family can ring true with any red blooded American who has ever worked a job...especially a job that involved cubicals. Haven't we all had a Dwight, Andy, or Michael in our life or seen an office romance bloom like Jim and Pam?

While The Office is DVRing we watch Survivor. Yes, we are some of the few who still watch this show. This season is going to be interesting. All the favorite villians and heroes are back in a type of all star reunion. My two favorites Colby (why? isn't it obvious?) and Rupert (because he's like a big teddy bear) are back for another try at the million dollar prize. We like this show because it shows human depravity, I mean, emotions at it's best. Why not throw a handful of strangers on a deserted island and see what happens? I think we all think that one of these seasons, we'll see a real life Lord of the Flies. Perhaps that why we keep coming back.

At 9:00 there's CSI. Yes, the original. We can be purists around here. No Miami, New York, or Toledo. Or whatever exotic locale they have come up with. For those of you who watch CSI:Miami, really? How can you stand David Caruso for more than, like, 5 seconds?! All I have to say about CSI is bring Grissom back!

Then at 10 the DVR goes into overdrive recording both The Mentalist and the ever suspenseful Project Runway. The Mentalist is in it's 2nd season and is a good entertaining show. It's clever and not as gruesome as CSI can be. Dan enjoys the main character, Patrick Jane, who is played by Simon Baker who is a cute patooty (sp?) too. The music is upbeat and I don't feel like I need to adjust the brightness on my t.v. like I do with CSI. If you get a chance it's a fun watch. Kinda like a Matlock for our generation.

Then Project Runway is our dirty little secret. I am not sure why we watch it really. I guess we are entertained by the sometimes outlandish creativity of the contestants? We are not fashion gurus by any means, but we enjoy watching the talent of some of these folks.

Phew. That's a lot of t.v. watching. So, if you are looking for us on Thursday nights, you know where we will be. But, don't expect us to pick up the phone.