Happy Birthday Sesame Street

Today is the 43rd anniversary of the first episode of Sesame Street. I loved Sesame Street growing up and I love that it’s still going strong and one day I hope that my kids will grow up watching Sesame Street.

Thank you Sesame Street for being the greatest children’s show. EVER. Thank you for not only teaching children basic skills, but teaching good values, morals, and diversity. Thank for teaching children to be compassionate and learn to have healthy relationships. I would hate to see a world without Sesame Street.

I think J.D. from the TV show Scrubs put it best:
“In a way you can learn everything you need to know from watching it as a kid.
Like always play nice.
Always try your hardest.
And even, it’s okay to cry.”

Classic Simpsons

0:39-1:01 is probably the best Simpsons bit…. ever.

Life is not like the sitcoms

I’ve been watching a couple of sitcoms on Netflix recently, Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother. Both are basically about relationships, friendship, and life in general. It’s a little interesting because the two shows have a lot in common. They are both narrated by the “main character” and oddly enough each story seems to have some kind of lesson that he reflects on at the end. But what gets to me as I finished watching the shows is how much the shows try and relate to real life, but upon closer examination, they aren’t like real life at all.

First they are all best friends and hang out almost every night for years and with all the life and job changes that occur in these shows, they all still find time to hang out all the time. They sometimes treat each other like garbage and rip each other’s hearts out, but in the end they are still close friends.

I guess what I’m getting to is too many people want life to be like the TV shows they watch, but problems aren’t always solved neatly, relationship can’t be repaired with one conversation (especially when trust is broken). Life takes more work, and the sooner we find out that life is not like the sitcoms, the sooner we can learn to engage in what life does have to offer. Don’t misunderstand me, I love watching sitcoms, but if life is lived right, it is way more interesting than any sitcom.

Favorite DS9 Episodes

I was disappointed on July 1 when Netflix released most Star Trek series to streaming. Actually, all of them except Deep Space Nine. Deep Space Nine wasn’t to be released until October 1. One my wonder why I was so disappointed. Simple- Deep Space Nine was different than every other Star Trek show that was released. Most Star Trek series are generally episodic and stand-alone where the status quo was returned to at the end of each episode. Deep Space Nine, however, was more serial in nature and really built on each episode. It really developed the characters and allowed them to become unique. At the same time, Deep Space Nine took risks and tried some creative ideas. Some of them didn’t work, but the ones that did were amazing, stimulating, and sometimes thought-provoking and inspiring.

Here are my 11 favorite episodes during the run of this series:

1.) The Search, Part 2 - The third and final episode in the introductory story arc with the Dominion.
2.) The Die is Cast - Interesting episode with a teaming up of the Tal-Shiar and Obsidian Order.
3.) The Visitor - One of the best episodes showing the relationship between Captain and Jake Sisko.
4.) Little Green Men - Sheer genius. Funny episode that plays on the Roswell incident, surprised this was the first time something like this was done.
5.) Hard Time - Interesting character episode with Chef O’Brien.
6.) Trials and Tribble-ations - A good episode integrating the DS9 stars with the Original Series.
7.) The Magnificent Ferengi - Ferengi make me laugh.
8.) Far Beyond the Stars -
9.) Inquisition - The introduction of the shadowy Section 31.
10.) It’s Only A Paper Moon - Nog lost a leg in an earlier episode, now he is in the process of psychologically rehabbing.
11.) Extreme Measures - The final episode with Section 31.

See Also:
My 25 Favorite TV Shows (#5)

Fresh Prince Day

Today is 16th anniversary of the first episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Can you believe it’s been 16 years since the premiere of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air TV Show. I loved that show, I wish we had more shows on television like that one. I can still sing the entire them song!

The Great Experiment

For about a week now, I have been living on my own again. Due to life circumstances my roommate for the last two years is not able to continue as my roommate (So sad since it was great living with him). Since this has happened I’ve been trying to find a way to cut some costs here and there. In my eyes, one of the easiest ways to cut cost is to cut cable.

I don’t watch 255 channels. I don’t watch 100 channels. Heck, I barely watch 10 channels and every single show I watch regularly is on Hulu or their respective website. Along with Hulu, Netflix and ESPN3 also made my decision to cut cable much easier.

So begins the great experiment in my life. With things like land lines and paper books going by the wayside in my life, why can’t cable go with them as well?

End of Lost Exile

Today marks 6 months since the final episode of LOST. Since that fateful day, due to my unhappiness with the final episode, I have been on a self-imposed LOST exile. I decided for 6 months I was not going to watch talk or think about LOST.

But now that it has been 6 months, I will revisit the series and watch the whole thing from the Pilot to the last episode. Now that the anger/disappointment has faded away, maybe I will find some redeeming qualities of the last season that I missed in my first watch-thru. Maybe if you’re lucky (or unlucky depending on whether or not you like the show) I’ll post some thoughts after the end of each season.