jennblog

The beauty of bad TV

One thing I love about my new gym is the fact that the treadmills and bikes have personal TVs. I know I should be thinking or reading or focusing on my form while listening to an optimized mix of speed inducing music, but really, when I’m going for  endurance, I just want tune out. And TV is great for that — the cheesier the better. Give me a 5 year-old episode of ER, a 10 year-old episode of Friends,  an E! countdown of some sort, and I’m good to go. Hell, a couple years ago I go saw all of Brett Michael’s first round of Rock of Love. (And probably saw a few episodes more than once!) Lucky for me, it’s pretty easy to find bad TV on basic cable, and thanks to MTV, early morning trash is just as easy to find as it is after work.

Yesterday’s 24 mile, 90-minute bike ride was made possible by, and if I’m honest actually only happened because of MTV’s Made. Anna from middle American wanted to be a model. And MTV was going to make her one. At about 20 minutes into my ride,  Anna was an awkward, self-conscious twig of a teen who was teased ecause of her height and felt like a big dork. I was sucked in by the idea that this waif-like creature in glasses could be so thin yet so uncomfortable with her body. I know, I know, it’s TV, and she’s all of 16. But still… it was fun to watch. One of the plotlines of the show was how the coach got her to be learn to be more confident. Apart from all the made-for-reality-TV training that went on, they also made her live in a uniform of form-fitting grey stretch pants and a matching tank top. For several weeks. Her first reaction, if I can believe MTV, was to not want to come out of the dressing room. Everything was too tight and too revealing, and she was embarassed to walk around. But forced to she was, and over the course of the next several weeks of living in a catsuit she became more and more comfortable in her skin, and started to look like a shell of her awkward self. Of course the haircuts and makeovers helped, as did the weeks of running aroumd manhattan playing dress up. But I thought the idea of stripping her down to just who she was and making her live in it for a while was an interesting approach. Watching the transformation of this girl (along with 2 other teens featured in the show) pulled me in enough that I kept adding minutes to my ride so I could see how it ended. By the time the show was over, and Anna hadd won the modelling contest and kissed the boy, I’d been on the bike for an hour and a half. And I call that bad TV?

Mad Men

I’m almost caught up on Mad Men. Very sad, as Ive had a season and a half to work through ’til now and was enjoying having a few to watch a night! Have you seen it? You have to give it a try… it’s so very good.

disappointed in the west wing

i know it’s another tv-related topic, and yes, ok, i’m on to another series of reruns — and way behind the times with this point — but what the hell with the west wing and MS? i’ve only seen one or two seasons of the show before, but i like aaron sorkin’s writing, and i’ve always been interested in the story line about the president having multiple sclerosis. i’ve been catching up on the first season over the past few weeks, and tonight i finally hit the episode where the plot is first introduced. i was expecting something moving, i think, something at would move me at least, which to be honest doesn’t take much. and with all due respect to mr sorkin and stockard channing, i was actually shocked at how melodramatic it was. i know i’m overreacting… after all there was only one offending line, and the rest was all just fine…but i’d been anticipating this story for years and it started off with a misrepresentation of the disease for dramatic effect, which was cheap, i thought, and overplayed. when pressed on why the president’s recent bout of flu is so worrisome, the first lady (channing) exclaims “he’s got multiple sclerosis! a fever could be fatal!” sob sob. like i said, it’s just one line, and i suppose with a bit of stretch it could be true, but in reality it’s not. MS is not a fatal disease. people don’t die from fevers. they do get sick, and their symptoms flare up, and they can become incapacitated. they can even end up in the hospital if it goes on for too long. it’s much bigger ordeal than the average flu, but still… it’s not fatal. i’m belaboring the point, i know, but i was just disappointed that the show i expected to handle the story with care, and the appropriate level of drama to make me tear, made me snicker within it’s first mention. i guess that’s what happens when you expect to much from tv. i know, i know. i need to get out more…

tim told me to write about it…

i’ve been watching tv for the past 3 days. since i live in italy, it’s been all pope, all the time. i don’t usually watch much tv here (ok i watch the gilmore girls, but that’s about it), so was indeed all about the pope. i’ve been glued to the news, watching the reports, the hours of retrospectives between updates, the crowds in st. peter’s square staring up at his window for two days straight. i didn’t want to miss it. was it the media? the grip of a such a public event? or the event itself? i’m still not really sure. but by now i’ve heard the death announcement 8 or 9 times, and heard the bells ring at least as many, and i’m still watching, to get a glimpse of his smile, and to hear him speak italian.
it’s like watching an old friend i didn’t know i had.

i grew up with pope john paul II. like most catholics my age, he’s the only one we knew. but being what they call a ‘nominal catholic’ i can’t say i spent much conscious time thinking about him, what he stood for, or his role in the world i live in. i remember seeing him pass by in a parade in south philadelphia when i was 7 or 8 years old. (did that really happen? mom?) and that memory came back to me when i worked on a book about him in 1999. Researching his biography and digging through photos of him, i developed an appreciation for a priest who skiied, wore raybans, wrote poetry, and hung out in underground cafes in krakow (in his pre-priest days). my research somehow humanized him, and i’ve had a soft spot for him ever since.

but as i said, i’m about as lapsed as a lapsed catholic can get, so aside from an appreciation for the culture i was raised in, i don’t encounter the church very often. it had almost entirely escaped me that the pope had even aged. i remember talk of him going back to poland in 2002, i remember hearing about parkinsons, and ok i guess i heard he was aging, but otherwise i didn’t take much notice.

last week i went to rome. i knew the pope was sick, and i wanted all the pope memorabilia, to mark the time when i was there and so was he. i looked all over for a pope john paul II snow globe, and i bought a pope john paul II rosary for my mom. i sent post cards to my grandmothers – i thought they’d be proud i’d visited their holy land. and i knew it was the only time that i’d be there and so would he. i’ve had my souvenir snow globe on my kitchen table all week, feeling a little bit closer to the pope who wore raybans.

and then on thursday i heard about the feeding tube, and i’ve been glued to the tv ever since. in a way he reminded me of my grandfather. seemed to be a kind, gentle man, who always smiled at children. the vigil that the catholics kept reminded me of my grandfather(s) too…the quick decline that signaled the end was near, and then the hours of knowing he was leaving us before he passed away. maybe that’s some of it? maybe it’s the publicness of the vigil, delivered directly to my tv and computer screen? i’ve never seen a death so public. or, maybe i’m just a drama junkie. but i’ve been waiting with the faithful all weekend, and i’ve been discussing it with everyone i know.

and now i’ve been sitting here most of the night watching a new batch of retrospectives, and catching myself smiling with warm nostalgia when i see his smiling face. “you are young…and the pop is old” he said to a group of american teenagers. it almost made me tear… how did i not know he was that old? and his voice was so shaky? i feel like i’ve missed out on the life of someone really special, and with his death i’m witnessing a historic event. but i’m not really a part of it: i didn’t grow up here, and i’m not a practicing catholic. i just thought he was a cool guy.

and i’m sorry to see him go, but from the hours of footage i’ve seen, he’s led an amazing life. i didn’t agree with everything he did, but i felt the kindness in his his smile, and i’m glad to have known him.

rest in peace, john paul II.