Just realized the other day that the two shows on television I actually try to watch – as opposed to surfing and stopping to watch just because it’s the only tolerable thing to watch – are both shows that run off the main network season.  So while most people’s favorite shows are all winding down with season finales this time of year, I find myself wondering… when are my shows starting back up?

Apparently, July.  My two ‘favorite’ shows are probably the widest apart in genre and feel… but for some reason, they’ve both got me hooked.   One, just because it’s funny with some fairly clever writing and the other,… well, I still haven’t figured out what draws me to the other.   The first is Eureka which comes on SyFy (I know… it’s a terrible channel – made even more terrible since it’s acquisition by NBC who now uses it as a toilet where they dump reruns of bad shows from their own vaults).  This show is silliness at it’s best done with some pretty hilarious writing.  It’s just a fun show to watch… that’s all I’m saying. Well, Eureka starts it’s 4th season on July 9.

The other show is MadMen – of which I’ve already waxed poetic on after I  so gleefully madmen’d myself several months back.  (I still use the pic generated as my Facebook profile pic!) Still can’t figure out why I like the show… cool styling certainly… and I have to admit, they ended the last season with quite the cliffhanger.  Well, not so much a cliffhanger – that wouldn’t be in the spirit of the show… a cliffhanger would indicate something really big happened leaving you on the edge of your seat wondering how you are going to wait until the next season to find out what will happen next.  Mad Men is simply too slow and subtle for that.  It just quietly opened up new avenues in two of the main story lines… Betty leaving on a plane to get a divorce and the ‘boys’ starting a new ad agency. No cliff… rather a 90º turn in the road.

They’re season starts in late July.  By the way, have you seen the new line of MadMen ‘Barbie’ dolls by Mattel?  I kid you not! Take a look!  They made four of the characters and apparently, they do not come with cigarettes or booze as part of their accessories… too bad.

So now these two shows starting their new season in July begs the question: What’s up with July?  The dead of summer? Perhaps they figure that it’s too hot to go out so people will sit home and watch TV?  So while most people are on vacation… or simply watching re-runs… if you’re like me, you’ll be enjoying new programming in the middle of summer… hmmm. Don’t think that’s such a great thing.  In fact, I think I’m going to be out of town when Eureka premiers. And I DON’T have DVR or Tivo!  I guess I’ll be streaming a lot of TV on my laptop this summer.

I just MadMen’d Myself!  Pretty funny.  It’s like creating your Mii on the Wii… only to the accompaniment of cool, 60′s era-type lounge music.   You can pick out your face shape, eyes with or without glasses, clothes, what you hold, even down to the jewelry you wear.

I wanted to hold a drink and a cigarette since that seems to be all they do on the show, but alas, it was one or the other.  I could have had a cigarette in my mouth while holding a martini glass, but it reeked a bit of trailer trash so I passed.

As if you couldn’t tell… AMC’s MadMen is my Sunday Night Addiction… one of the few shows my husband and I both watch.  And every week, after some quiet scene comes to an inconclusive end, I invariably ask: “Now, WHY do we watch this?”

We started watching it for the styling.  They do such an incredible job with the details… and on a more personal note, my first job out of college was with Lintas: NY, at the time, the 9th largest ad agency in the world… so even though it was 1990, not the early 60′s… the same companies in play in their world were in play then.  Even in 1990, they smoked all over the office and lunch was quite often in liquid form…    It’s interesting to hear them talk about accounts and competitors.  But, just like the soaps, they’ve hooked us into the story… I mean, what will happen at Sterling Cooper now that the Brits’ management restructuring has gone awry with the loss of a man’s foot? And when will Betty Draper get a personality?   Stay tuned!

But I get this strange urge to chain smoke (I’ve heard they actually smoke some herbal stuff – no not the ‘herbage’ sort!- that the actors all hate) and drink scotch… but I can pass on those armor like undergarments… Thank God for women’s lib – and Spanx, don’t forget Spanx!

Saw the movie District 9 last week… didn’t know a thing about it prior to going.  I would think theaters would consider it in their best interest to post a warning as people are about to buy tickets for a movie.  This warning should read something to the effect of: ” Warning:  This movie has a lot of jiggly camera work and may cause mild to moderate motion sickness.”