Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2004 > December > 31 > Entry
The TV critic’s resolutions … sort of
Last year — and the year before, for that matter — I didn’t make any New Year’s resolution. But I did promise myself last year that I would make some this year.
Resolutions, I’ve found over the years, are pointless if you don’t actually write them down. Nobody’s going to remember them by the end of the month, let alone by the end of the year.
So I’m committing myself to a handful of modest resolutions; to hold my feet to the fire, I’m posting them here for all to see.
I will not watch more than three previews back-to-back. No matter how carefully I take notes, three shows blend together in my addled brain. It’s a fact, and it’s time for me to admit it.
Last fall when I was writing capsule reviews of the new fall shows, I somehow confused the premise of Jason Alexander’s “Listen Up” with John Goodman’s “Center of the Universe.” That happened because I had watched seven pilots in a row. Not good. Thank God for editors.
I will watch more PBS for pleasure. My public television consumption has slacked off because of all those evil reality shows that must be seen when they air, as opposed to the convenient previews supplied for other genres. This year, if I have no clue who’s on “Survivor” or “American Idol” midway through the competitions, I’m not going to feel guilty, especially if it means I can watch a multiepisode installment of “Masterpiece Theatre” without interruption.
I will not use my home previewing time for perpetual grazing. There’s an awful temptation, especially when slogging through groaningly bad sitcom pilots or TV movies, to scarf down anything that’s in the fridge or pantry. During that horrendous “Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure” (it’s coming Sunday on ABC, so watch out), I consumed an entire tube of Oreos and was thinking about Pringles by the time Krystle and Alexis fell into that watery catfight.
I will read more books, and not just the ones about television — although Paris Hilton’s “Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose” was a riot-and-a-half that I breezed through while waiting in line at Border’s to buy magazines. No, I’m going to read actual books in 2005 — fiction and nonfiction. Stuff with words of more than one syllable and more than 100 pages. Really. I’ve been meaning to read “The Da Vinci Code” and Paul Nagel’s John Quincy Adams biography for months.
I will not get sucked into the History Channel for an entire Sunday afternoon just because I tuned into one episode of “Modern Marvels” and couldn’t stop. This is a sickness, and it’s got to be cured. History Channel addiction is a threat to home and office, and I’ve simply got to get over it.
So there. Those are my resolutions, and I’m sticking to them. I think … Of course, there’s always the possibility that I won’t. But I’m counting on you folks to embarrass me into doing the right thing. Maybe.
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