The television is my roommate and sometimes I don’t mind

There are some entertaining shows on TV these days or at least there is some televised shit I enjoying staring at in half hour increments. Maybe it's because I went through all my library books already & am too damned lazy to head ten blocks away to check out more ('cause daylight sucks), but whatever! I think PMS increases my susceptibility to television media. Anyhow, here's a few gems I'm currently stuck on.

* Ugly Betty: My childhood included a healthy dose of Soap Operas (All My Children, General Hospital, and One Life to Live, in particular) followed by my adolescence partially spent watching teen dramas (90210, My So Called Life, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Now, my existence is colored by the antics of Betty Suarez and the self absorbed staff at Mode Magazine. It's tradition, damn it.

* My Boys: I am eagerly awaiting the new season of this sitcom for good reason. It's actually funny and relatively realistic. The show centers around the lives of a group of friends headed up by PJ, a female sportswriter & terminal tomboy. PJ & her "boys" drink like fish (no girly drinks a la Sex and the City) and navigate life in Chicago like normal fucking people that are exceptionally funny. Plus, a few of the "boys" are fucking hotties.

* Trading Spouses: I wasn't a fan when the show first debuted but reruns on CMT recently caught my interest. The idea is that two families (typically nuclear Husband, Wife, Kids family units) switch one spouse (usually the Mom) for a week & the camera crew documents the ensuing conflict. After the week, the displaced spouses are responsible for doling out $50,000 to their "new" family as they see fit. The families are picked to contrast as much as possible (think: Evangelical Christians vs. Atheists, Hippie-dippy vs. Consumer Oriented, NRA vs. Pacifists) & this makes for some serious head-butting. Good shit, in my opinion. An excellent example of the crazy people this show documents can be found HERE.

That bitch is nuts, for real.

* The Daily Show / The Colbert Report: Because sometimes the only appropriate response to American politics is laughter.

* Scrubs: I have the biggest crush on J.D. even though the nerdy white dude wouldn't turn my head in real life. And the character of Dr. Cox recites some of the best Ranting dialogue ever televised.

* The Oblongs: I think this underrated cartoon could very well be based in Stockton. The program is a critique of the class based value system in America that centers on a poor family living in a Valley that has been contaminated by the toxic waste runoff of the wealthy community in the Hills. The Valley people are deformed/disfigured (I think the little girl has a penis growing out of her head) & the community is governed by the Rule of the Wealthy. Funny, yet intelligent animation.