All books aside…

We don't typically travel over Memorial Day weekend. We're the backyard guerrillas, or the local yokel boaters, or the dayhikers, or the clamdiggers, or the rainy day boardgamers, or the closet cleaners, or the barbecuers. And we always watch a lot of TV.

This time of year, for us, is tough on the downtime schedule. Between the wrapping up of school projects (concerts, plays, art shows), the finishing of after-school activities (for us, it's the end of the annual swimming season, the time for a year's worth of dance to culminate in four recitals, the end of the gymnastics term, final events for Y Guides, and piano recitals), and my own "putting to bed" of various projects which I take leave of during the summer for my own writing, there's not a lot of spare time to watch TV.

While our latest Netflix delivery languishes in its envelope, wondering when we'll turn it back in, Tivo, thank goodness, keeps us connected,

Okay, I can see the eyes rolling in the virtual universe. Listen, I'm not a TV-hating intellectual. I'm a GenXer. I grew up on TV. I know it can be evil. I know it can also be good. And on holiday weekends when the price of gas means it costs me $67 to fill up my small sedan's tank and the traffic on the ferries and the highways is atrocious, it's also a cheap, easy alternative to a blink-of-an-eye vacation. Hey, we do whatever we do together. What more could anyone ask?

The thing is, TV is about story. It's not about tuning out the world or grooming our kids' best antisocial behavior or choosing obesity. We watch together, we discuss themes, we muddle through questionable scenes or unravel complicated plots (well, my 12-year-old is the genius with unraveling the knots in Battlestar Galactica, truth be told; I wish she watched Lost so she could do us a favor there, but that series started when my girls were just way too young, and we'd have to watch the whole thing over again to catch all of us up on its mythos).

We've let most of our dramas and comedies slide to keep up with reality/game shows like Idol, Survivor and Top Model. No, those aren't stories, these are studies in human behavior, as well as competitions. Frankly, I don't see how they merit less than anything you find on ESPN, where both good and bad behavior are celebrated. And they're fun and entertaining, besides.
It's only fair to give the timely shows priority. It's hard to avoid spoilers even one day after results shows are broadcast, though some of these types of shows on our Season's Pass aren't quite so mainstream: I can still watch delayed episodes of Top Chef and Big Break without worrying too much about spoilers.

But we have successfully finished some of our favorites in the comedy and drama category this season: Reaper, Medium, Supernatural, Aliens in America (which I'm so bummed to learn was cancelled).

It's mainly the Big Dogs we're way behind on. And the fact is, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Watching 4 episodes of a complicated television drama like Battlestar Galactica, back to back, without commercials, is a great way to pass a rainy Memorial Day afternoon. It recalls the "Apes All Day" programming at TBS, which runs the entire Planet of the Apes series on New Year's Day. Sweet!

Other shows we're grossly behind on: Lost, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, My Name is Earl, The Office. And we're behind on these mostly because we consider this adult programming in our house (not safe for kids under 13). These shows always gets pushed to the after-bedtime slot, but lately, we haven't had the stamina to keep our eyes open past 9:45 most nights without resorting to toothpicks. Mom and Dad need a summer break just as much as the kids do.

There is always Everybody Hates Chris or Jamie at Home to turn to when we do find a random block of time in the evening and nobody wants to play Blokus or Monopoly or Labyrinth. But mostly we just flip on the Game Show Network or The Food Network and let it ride on busy schoolnights. With these channels, there's something for everybody, and if you're busy doing chores or checking email, it makes for satisfying background noise and brainless entertainment.

But lo! On the Tivoic horizon looms a whole new cluster of favorite programs to claim our attention! Summer TV never was so good.

In the family-safe corner: The Mole, The Next Food Network Star, and So You Think You Can Dance. The already-Tivo'd complete series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is new to us, will require our parental sneak preview to measure its appropriateness for our kids first, but then there's Last Comic Standing, and that's definitely not family-safe!

Not on the radar yet, but looking forward to them when they return, are three big-time family shows: Project Runway, Amazing Race, and Stargate Atlantis.

And let's not forget the Olympics in all this, coming in August, right? Now that's what Tivo's perfect for, capturing just those segments you like the best, and watching them at your leisure.

Don't worry, Luddite friends, we all still read print materials, on average, an hour a day, during the summer, not counting what we read online. And we exercise, we eat, we do laundry, we socialize.

Though I'm afraid there won't be TV or books tonight. We have tickets to Indiana Jones. Wouldn't miss that on the big screen for the world. (Did I tell you I was a GenXer?)

Happy Memorial Day weekend!