Obsessions

There is something magical and satisfying about avoiding all the hype and full senses media assault of a particular television show or book series, and waiting until it's past being the 'Current Big Thing' to dive in and make one's own judgment on the body of work's merits without outside influence.

Back in July of '08 I finally dove into the Harry Potter books & films after having ignored them from the beginning (I viewed Harry as a blatant ripoff of DC Comics "Timothy Hunter", who had been created seven years prior). I read all six paperbacks that were in print at the time, watched all of the movies that had been released to that point, and when the final book was published, I bought the hardcover as well (and even reread the first 6 books before I opened the new one). I got to read them uninterrupted by long waits, and it was summer on Cape Cod, so the sea air and sunshine in my backyard enhanced the experience. They were excellent.

In the spring of '09 I decided to check out "Bones". It was in syndication on TBS, so I could watch 2 episodes every evening from 6-8 pm. I immediately fell in love with all of the cast except Emily Deschanel, but even she grew on me after awhile. Great stories, likable characters, interesting cases, lots of humor, and rotating lab assistants - a perfect mix of elements. I still watch the new episodes on FOX, and I even have the show's theme by The Chemical Brothers on my iPod!

Early winter 2010: After years of mental exhaustion from hearing how wonderful "Jim & Pam" were, and what a hilarious actor Rainn Wilson was, not to mention Steve Carell's nearly 'Will Ferrellesque' overexposure, I finally caved and began watching "The Office". I needed something new to fill my time, and TBS had Tuesday night marathons from 8-11 pm of six episodes, plus MyTV had 2 episodes every weeknight from 7-8 pm. The MyTV episodes were sequential from day to day, but not on the same day, so I was watching 2 different seasons at a time each evening. It was an interesting way to get to know the characters, with them being in different stages of their relationships, and I had a great time hunting down episodes I hadn't seen to fill in the gaps. When the new shows were run on NBC, it was even more of a leap into 'the future', which was a unique experience. I would watch an episode with Pam & Roy together, another with Jim & Karen, and then *POW!* Pam is pregnant with Jim's baby, and they are about to get married. Bizarre, but cool at the same time. It was very much a visual analog to the times I would fill in gaps in my comic book collection when I was younger.

Anyway, to get to the point (and up to date): over the past 2 weeks or so I decided to finally give AMC's "Mad Men" a try. I watched the first episode of Season 4 on July 25th, and then the following one the next Sunday, and I was hooked. And thanks to Comcast On Demand, I watched the 13 episodes of Season 3 this past week, and it's absolutely fantastic. The era is captured perfectly, the stories and characters are engaging, and the style is so cool.

The only problem I have with the show is the extremely jarring sight of seeing nearly every single person smoking cigarettes! It's so bizarre to think that people actually smoked that much back in the day. Though looking back to when I was a kid, except for my parents, most adults did in fact view smoking to be as essential as drinking water or breathing (irony!) air. And the excessive drinking, both at home every evening, and at work all day, is very weird too. But I appreciate these vices for their historical accuracy. They do add immensely to the overall tone of the show. I am going to hunt down the box sets for Seasons 1 & 2 so I have the full story (though I already plowed through all the entries on wikipedia).

Who knows what the next big ignored thing will be?