Summertime television offerings

It’d be a really dull world if we all liked the same things. Just imagine if everybody loved chicken and hated beef. Like that could happen; however, you understand my meaning. As with food we all like different types of entertainment. My son Doug and I are proof of that.

Doug will often rush into my room to tell me that on a particular channel they’re showing a movie staring the Marx Brothers. I didn’t enjoy those fellows in the 1930s, so why would I enjoy watching them now? But my son does, believing he is obligated to let me know when one of their old movies is available. Doug is “big” into old movies; this old lady is not. Well maybe if it’s John Wayne, but that’s another story.

Each summer television executives bring out untried new sitcoms for our viewing pleasure. Each show may have an audience now and perhaps will become a really big hit. We know this happens, like the hilarious Seinfeld show that lasted for many years with wonderful success and lives on seemingly forever in reruns. Of course there are shows that last a few weeks only to fade away like old soldiers or rerun very late at night when most people are fast asleep.

As I’ve said, we all prefer various kinds of entertainment on our television sets. Doug prefers old comedy movies, history, nature and science shows. But this old lady loves drama, mysteries and silly shows like one I watched last night, “Big Brother.” Anybody out there catch this latest showing? All I could think about was something along the line of “where in the world do they find these people willing to become foolish objects?”

All summer we’ll be inundated with reruns; some I won’t mind like “Blue Bloods” and of course one of my favorites, “The Good Wife.” Last night I watched my favorite “newish” show, “Chicago Fire.” I don’t care how many times they show the same episode, I’ll be a dedicated viewer.

I’ve long given up watching some mystery shows that are overly violent. Often it’s too much to handle. Enough already. Then there are the medical shows, especially the one with a doctor who takes too many of his own pills then he becomes overly sarcastic. Too much of that kind of self-deprecating dialogue is unbearable for me to hear. There are too many fine, new shows to subject my old eyes to watching what I find irritating anymore.

Another of my favorites was the latest episode of “The Bachelorette” that my son cringes when it appears on the screen. I have to watch. Perhaps it’s the romantic female in me?. We both enjoyed watching the new show “Under The Dome” a mystery that begins with a man putting a body into a hidden grave. Shortly afterward, an invisible and impenetrable dome descends over the entire town and nearby countryside. One has to wonder, is this gravedigger a hero or the villain? Only time will tell, Sherlock.

There’s another new program that has me with tongue in cheek. You cannot tell, at least not yet, whether it’s a drama or a comedy. It’s named “Devious Maids.” I couldn’t take my eyes off of the screen, even when nature called, which at my age is often.

There are many new detective shows, some renewed from last summer, other brand new. It will take me a few weeks to sample each one and decide is this the show that I will watch during that time slot, or will I be watching another channel?

Now we come to one of my favorite types of entertainment, the cooking shows which are far too many to list. You’d have to be tone deaf not to have heard about Paula Deen’s show or her latest personal problem. Evidently, she made a most inappropriate name for a person of color a long time ago, thus costing her a spot on the Cooking Channel and lucrative sponsors. I’m not a fan of this sugar, butter-pecan princess but believe she is sincerely apologetic about something that apparently happened long ago.

Coming on line is a new baking contest show I watched last night when a contestant made a dish and forgot to add the sugar. It was ruined, and she lost. I chuckled, remembering the first cake I ever baked. Guess what? I did just the same thing; I forgot the sugar.

And what new shows are you watching, friends?

Edna Van Leuven is a Churchill County writer.