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6/27/2009

TV series

One of the by-products of taking time off is TV that makes me dumber. Those I try to avoid: any reality show in the US (here's what the American public needs: one single website that has all the reality show results from the prior night with no more than 50 words describing the outcome and "character developments..."), any Cantonese soap opera, any show like Deal or No Deal...

Yet another by-product is non-value add productivity, such as watching TV that adds wisdom but little else.

I watched Weeds seasons 1 to 3 and lost season 4 as I traveled back and forth from New York to Hong Kong. It was entertaining but way too outrageous. Just to quickly recap. Beginning of season 1, widow tries to make ends meet by dealing pot. By the end of season 1, she's starting her own growing operation. By the end of season 2, she is dancing with the regional drug lord and has to work for him to pay off her debt. By the end of season 3, she is working for the Mexicans. I hear in season 4 she is pregnant with the Mexican drug lords' kid. Right. Still... an entertaining series. In fact, I'm kind of glad I lost season 4 in my suitcase. Moving on now... I'd recommend season 1 and 2 only.

Finished The Wire Season 2. Not as good as Season 1 (review), but still pretty good. Instead of drugs, the BPD is onto illegal activities at the Baltimore piers. Call my cynical, but this is way less dramatic than drugs and doesn't make for great TV. You do feel for the dock guys though: they are the inidividual GMs that you will never see on the evening news. Somehow, while dying a slow death, they have to survive, and a little dirty money here and there will just have to cut it. Ultimately, however, they aren't criminals and never were in the mindset of avoiding surveilance, hence the easy catch. Again, I highly recommend this series!

(Have to suspend TV viewage for a few days as we are packing to move... from one end of Wall Street to another.)

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