'Tis a Puzzlement

[kerravonsen]

Why am I not watching TV shows? I have so many shows to catch up on and I feel all flaily and faily. I haven't watched any of this season's SJA, though I've been acquiring them. I haven't been watching Pretender, though I've wanted to because astrogirl2 is watching it for the first time and I want to join in. I have HL:Raven to watch. I have Firefly to watch. I have Numb3rs to watch (S4 just arrived today!!!) I have CSI to watch (S7 arrived a while back, but when I got to the end of the first episode, I was so imaginatively empathetic about the hell that Catherine is probably going to go through the next episode, that I couldn't bear to continue). I have Earth2 to watch (that also arrived today). I have the remainder of House S3 to watch (all the friend-betrayal in the start of the season made it hard for me to continue). I have Psych season 1 to watch (I've seen the pilot). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

What am I going to dooooo? I'm feeling guilty about not watching this stuff, and that makes me feel like not watching it, which is a whole negative feedback thing. And somehow I just feel as if I don't have the time, which really means that I'm not making the time, and...

Saying that I shouldn't stress about it doesn't help. Nor does saying that I shouldn't want to watch them or something like that.

(sigh)

And then I just feel stupid for stressing about something so minor and superficial. (sigh)

Comments

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Too much choice, so little time?
Like a cat deciding which bird to pounce on when the whole flock has erupted from the bushes!

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Take baby steps. Don't think about the whole stack. Pick the one you want to watch *now*, and watch one ep. If you like it, do it again. If you don't, go make sorbet or do patchwork. It's not mission critical. :-)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Probably because you're tired from dieting and feeling lack of variety in your life and that's just draining your interest in things overall. Or else, you've let the diet slip and you're unconsciously punishing yourself by not watching TV.

I suggest that you select just ONE of the above shows. Watch it whenever you feel in the mood. Remember that the others will still be there a decade from now and you can watch them whenever you want. There's no hurry.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm dangerously close to running out of space on V+ - I think I've 15 hours left of a possible 80. Partly it's because I don't want to delete the last season of Doctor Who until I know julesjones has her hands on the DVDs. Partly it's because I'm waiting for her to come round and watch SJA, but that either means I end up watching it twice (which I was doing) or leave them until she's free (which is why I'm about to be four episodes behind and I'm having to skip all the review posts). Not her fault, we've just been very busy recently! But I think I'm going to have to accept that she's not going to have time to watch Little Dorrit, which she expressed an interest in the week it started, and start working through however many hours of that I've got stored. If I sit down to watch that, I might get through the Christmas cards.

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

Tough choices. Sounds like you might need a couple of weeks to go through all of those.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

If I may . . .

When Torchwood started airing here in the States, Geo and I had every intention of giving it a try. We did, for about the first five minutes, then decided it wasn't something we wanted to watch right then. So we let eps start building up on our Tivo. We never watched them. Eventually, I said look, the fact that we're not watching them tells me that we're not interested. So we deleted it. Same with SJA--tried it, wanted to like it, but in spite of Tivo-ing it, we never took time to watch it. Now we've got several Sarah Connor Chronicles built up, and I don't think I'll ever watch them. It's more Geo's show, but I don't think he's watched it either. My point being, it's okay if you've lost interest in a show. It doesn't reflect on you as a human being. :-)

Of the shows you've mentioned with which I'm familiar and have watched, I'd suggest you start with Firefly. The entire thing is only 13 eps long, so if you watched one a night, you'd be done with the entire series in about two weeks.

N3 S4 (that's last season, right?) was an abbreviated season due to the writers strike. I'm not sure how many eps they ended up with, but that would be my next choice for you.

I started losing interest in CSI at the beginning of S6. I still watch it (though it gets Tivo-ed while we watch Supernatural for real). Right now, I'm pretty much only sticking with it because I can't bring myself to give it up. I've stuck with it too long to bail out now.

I tried Psych, but it really didn't do anything for me. My bro introduced me to Chuck over the holiday weekend, and that was actually kind of fun. We've got that in our rental queue now.

Also? If your TV viewing is being preempted by RL, that's a good thing, yes? Things to do, places to go, people to see, worlds to conquer. :-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way. I just acquired 'The Pretender'; we follow several other series, and I'd love to rewatch some of the stuff we own (I'm going through B5 during Greg's trips) and I haven't even started on 'West Wing' which so many people recced, and there's a huge stack of films...

And yeah, it'll all back up more while Greg's away since we pretty much watch the same stuff.

If it's any help, keep watching House. Just saying.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha, this is funny, you sound overdosed - well, apart from Pretender, we can´t watch any of those here!!!! :-)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Boy, do I know the feeling. I've got a couple of sets of DVDs I've bought and haven't found the time to watch, the Netflix queue is still at 500 discs, and the TiVo keeps right on grabbing stuff. Not to mention all the stuff I own because I was sure I'd want to watch it over and over, and haven't gone back to once.

I feel guilty if I let it all pile up too much (especially when people are enthusiastically encouraging me to watch things), and I feel guilty if I don't, because there are other things I really ought to be doing with my time. And it's not helped by the fact that The Pretender has become one of those eat-your-whole-life shows for me, where I watch one episode and then find myself spending the rest of the day thinking/talking/inventing stupid fic scenarios about it and can't really concentrate on anything else. Aargh!

So if it helps any, you are not alone. But I also understand it from the other side, the one that results in people getting pushed too hard to keep up with stuff, because my immediate first reaction to the first paragraph of your post, sad to say, was, "Ooh, it would be cool if you could watch The Pretender with me, too, and SJA is so great this season!" Not. Helpful. I know. And not necessary, really, because one doesn't have to join in on everything, and because the good stuff you want to get to eventually always will be there later.

I really do think Information Overload is one of the biggest hazards of the 21st century. There's just too much input, and not enough time or enough processing space in our brains to keep up with it all, or even with the stuff we're most interested in. I guess we just have to accept that we're merely human, and try to take it at a pace that fits.

[kerravonsen]

Thing is, I really wanted to watch The Pretender with you, but I didn't manage to keep pace with you, and now I'm not sure whether I should start where you are, or try to catch up. I guess catching up is impossible, because you're watching it so fast. (sigh) But I've skipped heaps of your Pretender posts, because I wanted to watch it before I read your post, and... (sigh)
I mean, part of the fun of watching things is the social aspect, and since there's nobody at home to watch stuff with me, then the social aspect is LJ.

Can I beg you to take a break from Jarod for a week, for me? Because then I could possibly watch maybe five episodes, and I wouldn't feel so overwhelmed. Please?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid a break is not going to happen for me until after S2 at this point. :( Partly because I've got my own social pressures -- wanting to catch up with somebody who's ahead of me, having people whispering in my ear telling me to hurry up and watch the next ep because it's awesome, etc. -- and partly because when a show takes over my brain this much, I know from experience that my self-control becomes non-existent and that the only way out, so to speak, is through.

The good news, though, is that being out of step does not necessarily mean forgoing the social aspects. We seem to have this whole chain of people watching the show at different rates, and who are currently at different points, and while that's making things a little weird, it's not remotely keeping the social stuff from happening. I mean, redstarrobot is a ways ahead of me, but when I watch an episode, I go and find her post on it from a few weeks ago and add my thoughts, and she comes back to it and talks to me there, as well as commenting on my own posts as I watch the show. And vilakins, who is a ways behind me, does the same thing with my posts, and if she puts up a post on an ep she just saw, we come and talk to her about that one, too. And there is absolutely no reason why you could not join this chain! Hell, if you want to start with the pilot, I will happily come and talk to you about it. :)

[kerravonsen]

Okay. (relaxes somewhat)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

There ya go! And, actually, at this point, I'd find it really interesting to go back, re-visit my reactions to early episodes in terms of how I view the show now and talk about them a bit more. There is much fun to be had here!

*is off to feed the addiction by watching 2x14 over lunch*

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I've been this way about books, recently. And the more I put off reading the stuff I feel like I "should" be reading, the bigger the backlog gets. *headdesk*

I suspect it's a question of taking the first step and then taking the next. But I'm reluctant to test this theory so I distract myself with crafts and rewatching old favorite episodes of SG-1 and SPN. *hides from the to-read pile* You can come hide with me! I have cookies!

[kerravonsen]

Oh, I have the same problem with books! My to-read pile is probably taller than I am!
And then there's the fanfic, but that's probably the only thing I don't feel overloaded on... probably because it's the easiest thing for me to keep up on, because I can always read it in the bus, and I usually do.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

My to-read pile is, at current count, 454 books. Aaaaargh! This Information Overload problem really does permeate every aspect of my life. :)

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Funny thing is, I'm not watching anything except what you might call 'nonfiction' - Time Team, Top Gear, Mythbusters, Spicks 'n Specks (which is in hiatius anyway)...

I have some unwatched Farscape, Primeval and a couple of NCIS DVDs but when I reach for a DVD again it's documentary time (or one of my beloved fandoms I've seen a hundred times anyway)

Maybe when they get a new Doctor, I'll get back into it... or not.