I grew up in a time when there were 3 major US TV networks, and fewer in Canada. Remember the Battle of the Network Stars? That was a major event for me! With all the choices today from regular cable/ satellite to all the streaming services, my head is just about exploding. Probably because of how much I’m probably spending for the services- Netflix, Apple TV, Disney Plus, Prime Video, yup I’ve got all of those. And I hesitate to give any of them up. The kids have grown up on them and I can’t decide which ones to drop.
Here’s a roundup of a few of my guilty pleasures from Network TV:
I watched the early Bachelor series way back when, and found myself watching Joey’s season earlier this year. Don’t even know why as I ended up getting sucked right back into the franchise, and I was hopeful to see the first Asian Bachelorette in history. That ended up being the worst, I felt bad for Jenn Tran, and I swore I would not watch anything to do with the series again.
But it’s insidious, the draw of these shows. Both my husband and I make a night of the Golden Bachlorette, watching Joan and her several suitors every week. It’s all fantasy and so unrealistic, but it does speak to how difficult it is to date/find love at an older age. The season is somewhat sad, not only dealing with loss of life partners through death and divorce; but also how lonely people can get once they’re in the 60s plus. It’s not as easy to make new friends let alone find romantic partners. The best part has been the friendship of the men – it’s refreshing to see genuine emotion and bonding amongst mature men, who aren’t so busy posturing with bravado. They are established and have nothing to prove, but want companionship more than anything else. There is a lot of kindness and grace on this show, at a time when we need plenty of it.
This is a great concept. A super intelligent woman who makes a living as a cleaning lady – she’s a single mom with a teen, an adolescent and a baby, who helps police solve crimes because she is always thinking and piecing things together. The acting is great, Kaitlin Olson is hilarious and story lines aren’t bad!
3/ Matlock
I’m old enough to remember the original series with Andy Griffith. This isn’t a reboot, but a new show that refers to the Matlock series, about an older lawyer (Kathy Bates) who gets a job at a law firm working as an intern. It’s rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Some familiar faces, Beau Bridges, Jason Ritter, and a clever twist make this another show that I make sure to PVR. Yes, as if I have time to watch later. Maybe while I keep half an eye on my blog!
I’ll do a run down on shows I am streaming on a future post.
Any other network TV shows you’re watching that I should check out?
At a time 
We came late to the Bachelor franchise, our first season was the Golden Bachelor. But we’ve watched every season since. I really think they need to do a better job vetting these people.
I haven’t seen the new Matlock, I never watched the original, but now I kind of want to. We pay way to much for subscriptions, too. But we do use them all, so there’s that.
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Oh, I just stumbled across Matlock, and was so excited! I feel like it hasn’t been publicized, which seemed weird, or maybe I’ve just missed it.
I appreciate someone else that has way too many streaming services. We always say we’re going to cut back and then end up finding at least one reason why we can’t drop any.
I don’t watch reality tv except when my daughter is home, and she and her four fast friends insist on watching the most appallingly bad reality television, and I will watch along just to spend time with them. I tell myself they’re watching ironically, but I’m afraid to drill too deep on that, lol. Not that I can judge, I watch bad tv too, I just prefer bad tv with a script. I won’t go into detail, let’s just say I can’t resist a turgid medical drama.
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Bad TV with a script LOL… the problem with bad reality TV is how easily you can get hooked and then you realize you’ve been sitting watching garbage for the longest time. Oh well…
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Stopping by from NaBloPoMo… your blog caught my eye in those last few days in October when we were getting on the list as participants because you hadn’t posted in so long and now you were commiting to 30 posts in 30 days. Then you commented on one of MY posts, so I have to reciprocate. 🙂
I chose this post as my comment vehicle because I am a fellow TV junkie. I’ve cut back on my TV as I try to do more of my hobbies but I will never cut out my Law and Order franchise obsession. I, too, watched the original Matlock but, currently, I do not have cable TV and only have Peacock for streaming one of the “original three” networks (NBC).
I am so glad to see you diving back into blogging using NaBloPoMo. I look forward to seeing more posts.
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Thanks for visiting – I love Law and Order too, but haven’t watched in the longest time other than the newest version, Law & Order Toronto; Criminal Intent, for the Canadian content. It’s kind of cool to see areas of Toronto in the series. I watched a whole Thursday just last week with the new cast. They’ve got some great new actors to the franchise !
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I’ve seen a few ads for the Matlock series and it does look good. I would really like to get into a network show, because we aren’t really good at watching shows on streaming services. Maybe because if it isn’t on at a set time and we don’t have to commit, then we just don’t bother? I can’t remember the name of the show, but we did watch a show that started or was heavily advertised on the same night as the Superbowl. It was about a guy who was hired to find people. It was really good. I watched the Bachelor and Survivor back in the day when it first premiered, but haven’t bothered with those since. I don’t think reality tv is my thing. Although it is entertaining in a ‘this is so dumb/laughable’ way. 😉
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