For me the "revival" of scripted TV is a relief. i used to be a big fan of a lot of reality shows. however i knew how to contain myself. and now i watch only a handful of them. mostly survivor, amazing race, big brother, extreme makeover home edition, americas next top model,and my sort of guilty pleasures of celebrity fit club and the good old real world. i watched american idol for a breif time in my life before i was fed up with the popularity contest instead of a singing contest and actually i'm glad i left when i did. i saw the first episode of dancing with the stars and wasn't really interested. again more because of the popularity contest aspect. although i admire that more than amercan idol. many of the mtv and vh1 shows i refuse to watch because i find them stupid and an excuse for people to have their 15 min of fame. they both need to go back to playing music videos because mtv in particular is a giant dating pool of young people. or bad scripted television masquarding as "reality" TV. although i am 18 i do watch a few cartoons. fairly oddparents is good for when i having nothing else to watch, dany phantom was good before it got canceled, and jimmy neutron was always entertaining. but by far my favorite if you couldn't tell from my previous entry is avatar the last airbender. its just an all around good show that appeals to all ages although many of the fans, sometimes including myself, delve toomuch into "hidden messages" that aren't really what the creators had in mind.
nowever the past five years at most have spawned a whole new standard when it comes to scripted shows. especially this year. after years of slumps abc is by far the best in accordance with dramas. they still need to work on comedy i still think nbc and a little of cbs has a stronger grasp on it. and for me fox is another network that needs a bit of a revamp. simpsons is always a good standby and house is a tuesday must watch (although the irony is that nbc owns the rights to this show). but they are getting better and beginning to depend less on their reality auidance. the cw has done a decent job with keeping already exsisting shows with a solid audiance and is getting a good batch of new shows.
prime tv nights are sunday, wednsday, and thursday. tuesday only becomes big on the reality front because dancing with the stars and american idol tend to go head to head. but to me they should probably pay more attention to mondays. nbc certianly has gotten the message with the success of heros (this show however has not appealed to me). and fox has good support around prison break (again not something i watch). but the networks aren't really competing for the monday top spot. personally i think they should be because i have never understood why they haven't. i get why no one really competes for friday because a majority of the nation is going out to start their weekends, however the cable networks seem to do well considering. but monday everyone is more than likely home trying to find a way to relax. it just makes me wonder.
concerning the cable shows. i guess i'll start with the movie channels namely showtime and hbo. showtime has been on the rise in recent years mostly beginning with queer as folk. now weeds is a huge success as well as the l word, dexter, and now californication. hbo seems to be struggling a bit with the departure of first sex and the city and now with the sopranos. they do however still have curb your enthusiasm. i am saddened that their more big budget shows of rome and carnivale (both of which i enjoyed) were canceled a bit prematurely mostly due to budgetary issues. however they are not the only ones this has happened to.
i do also commend more and more networks with realizing that not everyone has tivo and even if they do they can't always watch certain shows. so they put them online. abc is still the best putting all of their primetime shows online. nbc has improved since last year they didn't have the office up there which i was unable to watch mostly due to other shows on at the same time. fox is good but again missing one of their most watched shows, house. that might also be due to the fact that it does rerun about a week and a half later on usa and again the nbc conflict. the cw is generally good but they too rerun later in the week for their wednsday shows and occasionally the other days.
overall i think that television has improved greatly and with online veiwing i find that i'm watching more television now then i ever did. as well as dvds releasing before a new season gives the networks even bigger auidances. finally their getting it right.
