Oh, how I LOVE television!

So it occured to me after listing all the things I am in my previous post that I didn't mention a HUGE one. "Hello, everyone. My name is Sonya and I am a television addict." I don't have any other addictions or vices. I don't smoke. I don't drink often. I don't do drugs. Hell, I rarely even take an aspirin let alone anything stronger. I don't spend money excessively. I'm not generally on the computer outside of work. My scrapbooking is not even an obsession as it is with some women. But, there is one area where I am completely and totally hooked. TELEVISION. I love to watch TV and I love TiVo. Even if I have only ten minutes of down time in an evening, I will watch something I've recorded during that time - knowing I can't even finish it until the next day or week.

My shows I'm currently watching/recording to watch sometime in the near or distant future are:

24
Bionic Woman
Boston Legal
Brothers and Sisters
Crossing Jordan (though this show may have fallen off the network lineup)
CSI: NY
Desperate Housewives
Dirty Sexy Money
ER
Friday Night Lights
Heroes
Inside the Actor's Studio
Kitchen Nightmares
Numbers
Prison Break
Pushing Daisies
The Closer
Top Chef
Viva Laughlin

We also rent on DVD shows we missed or didn't have access to (HBO or Showtime series mostly) and currently are in the middle of or have in our Netflix queue to start soon:

Big Love
Entourage
Oz
Queer as Folk
Six Feet Under
Strangers with Candy
The L Word
The Office (US and BBC versions)
The Shield
The Sopranos
Weeds

I will also watch anything that's on the Food Network if I happen to have the television on without the TiVo. This is rare but has been known to happen if I'm watching something more adult in nature (i.e. any of the shows above) and my three-year-old walks in.

I realize this is too much television for anyone to watch. And this is why we own two TiVo units and one is always completely full. No, the answer to your question is that I do not have time to watch all of these. I've been known to record shows from the TiVo onto videotape to clear out room to record new shows. I then have to watch those crummy tapes later and I don't even care that they are barely viewable. I can't stand to miss a single episode. One saving grace is that I refuse to watch a series if I miss the first episode. This has, on more than one occasion, meant I didn't add a show to my fall schedule simply because I let the premiere slip up on me. Miss the first one - miss them all.

So, what does all this mean? All of this time in front of the idiot box? Many think it is a waste of time. It isn't really as I generally never do just one thing at a time. Television time is also time for folding laundry, going through mail, cleaning off the kitchen counters, polishing the dining room table, dusting, putting away toys, and occasionally ironing when my husband or I have been stupid enough to buy something that isn't wash-and-wear. I'm sure there are horrific repercussions to my addiction but I'll take them any day for those few moments of that willing suspension of disbelief.