Three TV Shows I Continue To Watch But No Longer Enjoy

1. Baseball Tonight – For years it was something I would watch every night and come away from it feeling that I knew everything that went on that day in baseball. That’s no longer the case. Here’s the “talent” on the show: There has always been an anchor, one or two former baseball personalities, and a writer to do the in-depth analysis. I have never had a problem with the anchor. Well, a while back Trey Wingo would anchor the show occasionally. I don’t care for him doing baseball and if you read this blog regularly you know how I feel about Chris Berman’s Baseball Tonight stints too. The baseball personalities rotate even within a season. Harold Reynolds has been around for a while. John Kruk is new this year. Former Mets GM Steve Phillips is occasionally on the show. There’s always a new manager who was just fired from his team the previous season in the show rotation too. The only former manager I liked on the show was Buck Showalter. The rest (Bobby Valentine, Larry Bowa, etc) are horrible. The analysts are generally good. Peter Gammons has been around forever as well as Tim Kurkjian. I don’t always agree with what they say but they have good baseball minds and are uber-aware of baseball history. The problem lies with the former players and managers (again, Buck Showalter wasn’t bad). Putting the content of the show aside for a moment, the show has turned into The John Kruk & Harold Reynolds Fun Time Show. They do nothing but playfully mock each other’s playing days, throw out tired baseball clichés, and speak in hyperbolic statements that anyone with a brain and a love for the sport eschew before they can even get the entire thought verbalized. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the show doesn’t even attempt to present a comprehensive look at the day in baseball anymore. Some times when the show is an hour long they are forced to talk about teams besides the Yankees and Red Sox. When this happens their lack of insight into the other 28 teams becomes painfully obvious. It all comes down to something I saw discussed on Costas Now this past weekend (and read The Sports Guy mention in “More Cowbell” today), everything in sports journalism has to be black or white. You’ve got to pick a side or sit on the bench. If one guy says the White Sox are for real, then the other guy has to say they will go down in flames. There can be no middle ground. No one will take the time to objectively look at just why the White Sox are on an impressive winning streak. That job usually falls to the analyst but they are getting less and less air time because of the Kruk & Reynolds Fun Time Show. I don’t know why Gammons and Kurkjian even bother showing up anymore. I honestly think they are embarrassed to be on the show at times. I know if I were there it would be hard not to break down and scream at the others, “Just because you are covering a sport which pits one team against another, doesn’t mean you have to discuss it in the same manner!” I still watch this show from time to time, but no where near as often as I have in the past. If I were given the job of coming up with one TV show that would be given guaranteed airtime I’d formulate a better baseball show. Not only has Baseball Tonight sucked the life out of a once insightful show, they are killing my one shot to see my dream of Saved by the Bell in Space become a reality.

2. Six Feet Under – This show started out great. The first two seasons were nearly perfect. If you watch the show, then allow a minute to think back on the first two seasons. Think of those scenes with the dad talking to his family from the grave. Think about Ruth dating that Russian guy. Think about Claire still in high school. Think about the beginning of David and Keith’s relationship. Think about Nate and Brenda as just a couple in lust. Think about how every opening scene made you nervous wondering which character was going to die and how. Good times, no? Now remember the start of the third season with Nate’s brain surgery. Think of Claire starting art school and dating all of those weirdos. Think about Nate and Lisa’s marriage and her eventual disappearance. Think of Ruth marrying the farmer from Babe. Not as peachy is it? Still, not horrible though. They could have recovered. Then the fourth season starts and soon the usual bright spot, Arthur, leaves. Claire is exploring her sexuality and getting high every week. Nate and Brenda get back together, thus ruining Brenda’s seemingly normal relationship with that guy that played the French horn. Rico gets involved with some bizarre adopt-a-hooker program and ruins his marriage. And then the episode to end all episodes, “That’s My Dog,” the one where David gets taken on a not-so magical mystery tour by the crack addict hitchhiker. Currently we are two episodes into the fifth and final season and 6FU has done something to me that few shows have ever done. It makes me want everything to work out for the characters, not because I care about them (although I do), but because I know that a show based on death, neurosis, and existential dread will not exist if everything turns out peachy for everybody involved. So far it’s not going my way. Ruth is as unhappy as she’s been the entire length of the series. Nate seems to be content, but he’s with Brenda so you know that could turn ugly at any moment. Claire is dating crazy Billy. Rico is stalking his dates. David and Keith are trying to start a family which is the only storyline I can see ending positively, but I know it won’t be pleasant getting there. Sheesh! Only 10 more episodes to go.

3. Saturday Night Live – I know more about this show and its history than I do about my own family’s history. I’ve read countless books and, thanks to the incessant reruns, have seen about 90% of the episodes in its entire 30 years of existence. Everyone who’s ever seen the show is aware of the problems. The reoccurring characters are rarely funny, but when they are it doesn’t last past the third or fourth appearance. The heavy reliance on topical humor puts it in a hole that is not easy to climb out of unless there’s a presidential race or a huge scandal happening. Even Weekend Update is dull now thanks to the countless other opportunities to hear the same jokes throughout the week on the late night talk shows or The Daily Show. I can think of five sketch-based comedy shows* off the top of my head I’d rate above the show, yet I still watch just waiting for that handful of moments per season that will make me giggle when ever I think of them. Here’s hoping there’s some sort of cast overhaul during the summer and the show can get back to being semi-respectable.

*The Kids in the Hall, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The State, Mr. Show, and Chapelle’s Show (of course 4 of these 5 shows have the benefit of not being on the air any more and the fifth one's future isn't certain at this time)