When TV Takes Over Your Life

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m afraid TV has taken over my life! I’ve always watched, of course, either in the background or obsessively, as with Lost. But in general, if I had somewhere to go, chores to catch up on, or just some reading I wanted to do, I was fine with stepping away.

Now, watching is practically my job.

Through the various outlets I write for, I’m responsible for recapping four shows at the moment: Big Brother, Burn Notice, So You Think You Can Dance, and True Blood. That means there are about six hours of television I have to watch each week. This doesn’t sound like much, but when you’ve treated TV as casually as I have, this is a complete TV takeover. The worst part is that these shows are on the same three nights of the week. Whenever somebody asks if I’m free on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday, I’m now in the habit of saying no almost automatically.

The good thing about this is that I’m forced to write at least six posts a week because of it. As somebody who has struggled in the past with just putting pen to paper (or keyboard to screen?), it feels good to constantly be writing. Missing a recap is simply not an option, so I have to write something. Of course, that means I also have to watch, even if I don’t get home until midnight because I was celebrating a friend’s birthday – see why I’ve started declining invites?

But I’ll stop complaining now because the good in this does outweigh the bad, especially since it means I’m doing more of what I love: writing and sharing the things I enjoy with other people.