Something New

Finally, some new programming! I've been whining about reruns all summer long, but this week I was able to catch two new programs on TV. The Olympics (which I am counting in my loose definition of "new programs") started on Friday, and I will be the first Blogulator staff member to provide comment.

Sports Sports Sports!

As a non sports fan I haven't watched too many events so far, but every time I turn on my TV the men's gymnastics competition is on and China is always performing. I don't know if it's just that they have way more competitors than everyone else or that they get the best air time (aka in between Michael Phelps' races) because they take men's gymnastics far more seriously than any other country. I actually saw one of the Chinese gymnasts in a short produced profile piece say that sticking a landing defends China's honor. Now, I've always enjoyed women's gymnastics, but I forget how impressive the men's teams are. They basically do the same events, but the male version of the sport turns everything into a feat of strength. For example, the floor routines that were on tonight were just a series of gymnasts lifting themselves up by a pinkie finger followed by spinning their bodies on one arm. There is no music, no fancy, artistic moves. Just brute strength. It is amazing.

Also amazing, Michael Phelps won another gold medal tonight, beating the world record in the 100 meter freestyle by one whole second. This is his 11th Olympic medal, the third gold medal this Olympics. Since he's won all of his events thus far, NBC is hoping (and hyping) an 8 gold medal victory for Phelps this year. It's all they're talking about. We are becoming a nation obsessed with Michael Phelps! But I suppose there are worse things. I do remember him being a lot cuter during the previous Olympics, though - I guess we all get older.

Finally, it is totally bizarre that McDonalds is such a huge Olympic sponsor. They do have their hands in everything, but I have a really hard time believing that viewers are dumb enough to actually believe that Olympians eat McDonalds. Maybe if I eat Chicken McNuggets every day, I can compete in the Olympics too!

Samantha What is This Show About?

The other piece of programming I caught tonight is not entirely new, but I didn't pay much attention to Samantha Who? when it first aired in October so I was pleased to have stumbled across the first episode of the first season tonight. In this episode, Samantha, who has amnesia from a car accident (yet no physical injuries...?), thinks she is a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding, but as it turns out the bride had uninvited her because she was a terrible person before the accident. Obviously, hilarity ensues, Samantha cons her way back into the wedding party, and ends up ruining the wedding by exposing infidelity by both the bride and groom.

I was pretty skeptical about this show at first. It seemed like a cookie cutter sit com with a little twist. The main character is typical selfish, conniving "every woman" with idiotic, low-brow parents who are impressed by things like hotel bathrooms. Samantha is the kind of girl who gets herself into awkward situations and then gets verbal diarrhea to make it worse, a common character for female-driven television programs, I feel. However, there was something kind of sweet about this show. I really enjoy watching Christina Applegate playing a character other than Kelly Bundy and I think she is actually quite funny in this show. While I'm not too impressed with the parent characters so far, I'm willing to give them another chance. I want to see where this is going.

Well, I'm probably going to continue to complain about the lack of new programming from now until Heroes comes back, but these will have to tide me over until then.

This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on Monday, August 11, 2008. You can leave your response.