The Buoy Club

Greetings television enthusiasts!

I'm sure you've all been there.

Dragging in from a long day so exhausted that simple speech becomes hard to manage. Your eyes feel like they have dumbbells attached to them. Half-conscious, you plop down on the couch and enjoy the few seconds of relaxation before something invariably comes up and demands your attention. Even worse than dealing with the exhaustion is the prospect of waking up and doing it all again tomorrow.

How do you cope with that?!

I'll tell you how I deal with it: the Buoy Club.

No, this isn't a club related to fishing or deep-sea diving or anything crazy like that. I only wish I was that cool. I went fishing one time in my life. I snagged my friend's shorts, the tree behind me...and my friend's shorts again. Needless to say, I hung up my fishing pole after that incident.

Instead, the Buoy Club is the collection of TV shows that help me stay afloat during the week (hence, they're my buoys). They're the shows that I plan my weekdays around. I'll record them so I can fast forward through commercials, but I will not sleep until I've seen my shows for that night. I guess you could call them the cornerstone of my entire weekly schedule- no matter what else I have going on, I can always count on my shows.

I've always been a firm believer that television is the greatest story-telling medium we have. Movies, while often more extravagant and celebrated than TV shows, can only convey rather short, compact narratives. Books (while I love reading and hope everyone reads) lack the visual element of either movies or TV. Television shows have the perfect blend of visual artistry and elaborate narrative. Shows can run for several seasons, usually telling so many stories you'll find yourself uttering, "Oh yeah...I remember that!" when a forgotten plot point is resurrected. To truly invest in a show is incredibly rewarding. If you haven't done so already, I would highly advise you find some to call your own.

Which shows do I call "my shows?" I have six. They're evenly spaced throughout the week so I always have something to look forward to. They are...drumroll please: The Amazing Race, Chuck, Heroes, Lost, Smallville and Supernatural. They are Buoy Club members for life. And while you may think it's tough to juggle the plots of six different shows simultaneously, I'd say it's just as easy as telling six of your best friends apart: they're so unique and awesome it'd be impossible NOT to know one from another. In fact, I love nothing more than talking with other fans just to have some way to share my love for these awesome shows.

So, that's what this blog is all about: sharing my love for these shows! Every week, after my shows air, I will write a short post sharing my thoughts on the episode. I'll usually try to concentrate on an element that everyone else isn't already talking about. At the end, I'll toss a grade out (0-100) and sum up my feelings in one sentence. Call it getting some closure on that show for the week.

The reviews will start with my two favorites shows in the world: Smallville and Supernatural, which air on Thursday on the CW. I was a fan of these long before any of the other ones, so it only feels right to start there.

Hope to see ya then! And welcome to the Buoy Club!

Jazzy