Vacation Robo-Post: Sick TV
As part of his publicity blitz for Funny People, Judd Apatow wrote a blog for MTV that made a spot-on observation about movies on TV:
There is nothing worse than making a bad movie and knowing it is going to be broadcast on cable TV for the rest of time. I am actually a fan of mediocre comedies. They are like warm soup. They can be pleasant and help time go by more easily when you just want to shut off your brain. When I make a bad movie I often try to make myself feel better by saying, “well, that is a good movie to watch if you are home with the flu.”
Apatow's on to something here. There is something distinctive about what you watch on TV when you're sick: game shows, bad movies, nature documentaries. You watch them because that's what's on, I guess, but nowadays there's so much on cable that there's more to it than that. Sick TV is distinctive, undemanding: it has to wash over you like a warm bath, soothing you, suspending you, not asking you to do anything but float.
What's your favorite I'm-sick/hungover/exhausted/depressed TV? And why aren't you watching some right now?
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1
"This Old House" is my favorite under-the-weather TV. Something about all the craftspeople's quiet competence makes me feel better. British "Cash in the Attic" is pretty good too.
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2
Any form of Law & Order -- if I'm home on the couch, the best thing to find on TV is a marathon on USA or TNT. It's both sufficiently entertaining and easy to sleep to, and it doesn't really matter if you fall asleep during one episode and wake up in the middle of the next.
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3
Putting in another vote for Law & Order (original highly preferred).
I can't imagine watching it lucid, but it's an easy way of killing time. Plus, given the number of decades it's been on, amusing to catch various actors from waaay back when.
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4
As a child, I felt oddly comforted to see "Kindergarten Cop" played repeatedly on USA.
Otherwise, whatever Bravo is focusing on this week will do the trick.
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5
When I stayed home from school as a kid I would just watch SportsCenter over and over from 7 a.m. until The Price is Right came on.
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6
I used to love to watch USA in the daytime for this. Back when they had something like a 4 hour block of sit-coms that included back-to-back episodes of Wings. Very soothing, no thinking involved.
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7
I think there is a comedian that mentions this, but Price is Right is pretty universal as a sick-day show. Sure does the trick for me
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8
Now that I'm playing World of Warcraft again, I actually don't watch much (read: any) idle TV any more. Come Fall, I'll watch HIMYM and BBT, and maybe try to catch on with a couple new shows (I'm sure I'll do another scan of the weekly schedule later in the month), then Lost and Chuck whenever they're on, but I'll be honest... World of Warcraft is the reason I stopped getting non-basic cable, and I don't regret the decision one bit.
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9
Shows I indulge in when my brain's on neutral: 'The Bernie Mac show', 'Malcolm in the Middle' and 'That 70s Show'. Classic.
These are hardly mediocre comedies, but perfect for when I don't feel like thinking too hard to get the joke.
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10
Step by Step, Full House, Family Matters... I'm a big TGIF fan these days. Oh and Will and Grace.
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