Spring Break
The Daily OrangeForget network TV: repeats, reality shows and movies still entertaining
By Nathan Mattise
Posted: 2/4/08, 11:26 PM EST Section: Feature
Reality television is one of the biggest TV innovations of our lifetimes, and it's become the networks' bread and butter with the strike. Virtually every program on MTV after 8 p.m. falls into the genre and everyone, from CMT to Food Network, now offers up their own version of reality.
If you haven't gotten into the whole "academic cable" idea yet (i.e. Discovery, History Channel, TLC and Food Network), now is the time. They have reality television for people who can't stomach another crushed relationship courtesy of "Parental Control," "Cheaters" or "The X Effect." Instead, you can watch two dudes get crushed in various combat on "Fight Quest," amateur chefs get crushed by Morimoto and the gang on "Iron Chef America" or…I don't really have a way to incorporate "crush" into it, but Bear Grylls will eat anything on "Man vs. Wild."
Finally, the writers' strike means it's OK to shamelessly watch the C-list movies on TBS, ABC Family or any other cable outlet not named HBO, Showtime or Cinemax. My personal favorites are the showings of every Adam Sandler movie ever made and "What Women Want" on TNT. But there's plenty of variety to choose from in this area.
If you were paying attention last weekend, you could've studied up on Mr. Miyagi's tribulations when Versus ran the entire Karate Kid franchise. There's also been a steady diet of afterlife between VH1 going "Ghostbusters" crazy and Bravo playing "Beetlejuice" (if Christina Ricci was anywhere of age when that was filmed, she should've been Lydia, period).
I even picked up my new favorite poorly scripted date movie just in time for V-Day when Lifetime ran "A Lot Like Love." If a writers' strike is what it takes to finally open the country's eyes to the romantic chemistry of Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher, I think we've found the pot at the end of the rainbow with this whole thing.
So the next time someone complains about the writers' strike, just tell them to calm down and grab the remote. Entertainment is still out there somewhere, you just have to look.
Nathan Mattise is a pop-culture columnist for The Daily Orange where his columns run every Tuesday. The rumor that he cried during last week's O.C. episode when Ryan leaves the Cohen's is a complete lie. He can be reached at nzmattis@syr.edu.
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