Winter break. It’s the golden opportunity for a spring graduate to look for a job. Or the opportunity to catch up on extracurricular reading pushed aside in favor of academics during the semester. I chose instead to catch up on my favorite guilty pleasure (past time), watching endless hours of television.
It seems that my parents? subscription to digital cable has become my weakness. Movies, sitcoms, awards shows, and sports; I watched it all. So in case you spent your break in a more productive fashion, here are the top 10 best and worst things you may have missed.
Worst:
10. The People?s Choice Awards: the awards show that celebrates the “people?s” favorites in film, television and music. A-list celebrities were conspicuously absent, choosing the slopes of Park City and the trendy Sundance Film Festival instead. As always, the People?s Choice Awards turned out to be a press conference for B-list celebrities so they could let us know they were still around. After all, where else can you spot celebrities such as Tony Danza, Craig T. Nelson, and Ed McMahan in one room?
9. All other awards shows: American Film Institute, American Music Awards, Grammys soon to be followed by the Screen Actor?s Guild Awards, the MTV Movie Awards ? who can keep track?
8. Box-office bombs: Even bad movies make it to premium cable channels; in case you didn?t waste money seeing them in the theater, now you can waste time watching them at home. Movies like Freddie Prinze Jr.?s “Boys and Girls” aren?t any more appealing when you see them for free.
7. The Rivers duo, Joan and Melissa: Joan has turned red-carpet sycophantism into a career move and dragged her daughter into it along the way. The Rivers duo stand for hours on the red carpet asking celebrities bad questions and making even worse jokes.
Too close to call:
6. Carson Daly?s “Last Call”: Early episodes have been mixed with some interesting interviews and some more forced schmoozing with celebrities — what Carson Daly does best — only without all the screaming teenage girls. Tough to tell whether it will be worth staying up past Conan for this one.
Best:
5. E! True Hollywood: Carré Otis. An especially engrossing episode of a great show, it tells the story of in-demand, drugged out supermodel turned plus-sized spokeswoman at peace. Plus, it finally answered the ever-haunting question, “Who the hell is Mickey Rourke?”
4. Box office bombs, a second chance: “The Beach” and “Autumn in New York.” “Autumn in New York” (Richard Gere, Winnona Ryder) wasn?t stellar, and chemistry between the leads was forced, but it nevertheless was a touching depiction of a desire for true love under a time constraint. “The Beach,” was lambasted by critics, but the ideas behind its self-sufficient commune in paradise were intriguing, especially the breakdown of it all.
3. The Golden Globes: Seen as an indicator for the Academy Awards, it honors stars of film and television and is more laid back than the Academy Awards. High-voltage celebrities, high-end fashion, and highly emotional acceptance speeches make for a fun few hours on a Sunday night.
2. “The Real World Chicago” (Season 11): There?s something for everyone: a player, a recovering alcoholic, a nudist lesbian, two blondes. And I think I speak for all the ladies when I say . . . “Hellllllooo Kyle.”
1. And just as winter break was winding down and I decided to pursue all those other productive things I had originally planned to do over break, ESPN2 began its complete coverage of the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of the year. Lleyton Hewitt is battling the chicken pox, Venus will be the only Williams sister competing and the young American hopefuls Gambill, Roddick, Blake and Dent will battle to prove themselves to the world. Television doesn?t get much better than this, so what?s just one more week of rest and relaxation?
