Last night, a coworker who shall not be named asked me whether it was wrong that she had just canceled a dinner with a friend—that had taken months to schedule—because she wouldn’t be able to tape The Office and watch it later due to "cable issues" (yes, that’s the vague term I agreed to use to further protect her identity). Having just postponed a scheduled phone chat with a friend due to my own "cable issues" and stubborn determination not to miss Marin and Stuart getting it on on Men in Trees, I did not judge her. I did, however, spend the rest of the evening—well, during commercials, anyway—wondering what other sins I’ve committed in the name of entertainment.
If I confess, PopWatchers, will you? (I’m thinking yes, since you’ve been sharing "dirty books" secrets with EW’s Tina Jordan this week.) I’ll start with the one that’s shameful on many levels. Last year, when I was going through my Jon Cryer phase (Shame Level 1), I took a cab 10 blocks (Level 2) so I could catch a bus to Jersey (Level 3) that would get me home in time to watch Cryer (pictured) on Two and a Half Men (Level 4), which I had forgotten to DVR.
I’d also like to ask absolution for the following:
- Circa the early ’80s, there was a span of a few months when I wouldnot get dressed for school until I had listened to my entire Air Supply8-track. In the family room.
- In 1996, I was 20 minutes late to lunch with a friend—at thedining hall in my own dorm—because I had to see whether an elderlywoman named Beulah won the showcase showdown on The Price is Right
- In 2003, I convinced three friends that we had to go to a multi-day Buffy the Vampire Slayerfan convention at the Friar Tuck Resort in the Catskills. Then I madethem sit through a sing-along-to-the-boom-box reenactment of themusical episode, as well as a concert by a band fronted by Warren (AdamBusch). Worse, when told that the actors would only sign one autographper person, I chose to have Anthony Stewart Head sign "Thanks for lastnight!" to me instead of to my friend Eva Ingvarson, who clearlyhearted him more and was stuck in L.A.
Your turn.
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too many to list here. here are some highlights:
one time recently, i was so engrossed in watching the 2nd season of “My Fair Brady” that i didn’t leave my house all day.
i learned most of what i know about sex from the MTV series, Sex in the 90s.
pedro zamora was the first person i knew who died of AIDS and i cried when i found out because i felt like i had known him. (i was 10.)
and oh so many more…
I used to request Wednesday nights off from my retail job so I wouldn’t have to miss “Lost.” I told my boss I had a church group that met Wednesday nights.
–I scheduled the family dinner in honor of my own birthday around Grey’s Anatomy this year.
–Also this birthday, I went out with friends that weekend, but insisted on being home in time to watch AFI on SNL.
–While attending a Christian college, I skipped chapel on more than one occasion to watch Matlock and/or The Price is Right.
–Not television, but entertainment: I am visiting my boyfriend in Michigan this month, but am acctually flying home on the morning of Valentine’s Day in order to see AFI in concert.
More than a few:
* I’ve lied and called in sick to work when really I went to see all 3 ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies back-to-back.
* I passed up the chance to see one of my favorite bands because it was the same night as ‘Lost’’s Season 3 premiere, and my TIVO wasn’t working.
* I once drove 6 hours to see the world premiere of a movie starring Orlando Bloom, who sat exactly 6 rows behind me, then drove all the way back and went straight to work with no sleep.
* I refuse to talk to anyone while ‘Lost’, ‘Heroes’, or ‘Battlestar Galactica’ are on. I’ve even ignored phonecalls from my mother!
I don’t answer the phone during me favorite shows, which may not be so bad. I’m tentatively planning to take vacation the week after the Harry Potter book release this July.
Ive done it too many times. But nothing will prevent me from watching Lost.
I always arrive late to work on the morning that they announce the Oscar nominations.
I once spent an entire New Years Day not watching football, but instead watching a Bravo marathon of “The Biggest Loser”, which actually reduced me to tears at times.
And I have on occasion invited myself over to the homes of friends to commandeer their televisions and watch 24 or Lost when I was having cable issues.
I had to pretend to be ill to get out of going to my sisters induction to the National Honor society so I could watch the ‘Anti-Prom’ episode of Dawson’s Creek. Well worth it for that Joey/Pacey sappy, ‘I remember everything’ moment!
the hardest i’ve ever cried (i’m 28) is the season finale of Will & Grace when they didn’t see each other for all those years. I’ve lost close friends, relatives, and seen some terrible disasters, but nothing has ever made me bawl as hard as that. embarassing.
I cried so hard after the last episode of “Alias” that I called in sick to work THE NEXT DAY. I wasn’t up to it. And I turned down a dinner invitation the night of the “Lost” finale for season two — though when I told my friend why, she freaked out that she’d forgotten and went home to watch it too!
I will literally stop everything I am doing if the following movie is on: Dirty Dancing, Office Space, or any Airplane/Naked Gun movie. Any I don’t want to get into my sitcom obsessions….
Sometime in the mid 90s there was a channel that played a block of “Beverly Hills 90210″ episodes, every day. I opted to ‘worked from home’ for a few weeks and watched it pretty much nonstop during the day!
I’ve done many, many things over the years, but most recently, I seriously considered not playing in a Thursday night softball league because The Office is my favorite show. I instead convinced my boyfriend that DVR is essential to my emotional well-being and had the best of both worlds.
I could have had a class Wednesday night, but instead I moved things around giving me 10 solid hours of class on Tuesday just so I could see Lost.
-I skipped a play I had tickets for to watch the first season finale of Lost.
-For the 3-movie premiere of The Return of the King (Trilogy Tuesday), I had a final during The Fellowship of the Ring, so I dropped friends off, made them save seats for me, took the final, and then drove back, an hour each way.
My b/f and I had broken up a few days before and he drove an hour to my house to get back together. He arrived about 10 minutes to 8 on a Tuesday. He didn’t bother calling me or knocking on the door until exactly 8 because he knew I wouldn’t answer until Gilmore Girls was over. Now that’s love.
But yeah, I get mad if I miss new eps of my favie shows. I make sure I don’t have to work late..ever. And I make friends and family record shows for me if I accidently forgot to set a tape (I need a dvr). Plus, I hush people who try to talk to me during certain shows. All in the name of entertainment!
I’m not going out for Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend this year because it’s on a Wednesday and conflicts with Lost. Beat that!
I would consistently arrive late to econ during the second semester of my freshman year in college because I didn’t want to miss the first showcase showdown on The Price Is Right. I got my Price is Right fix and was still able to ace the class (I’m not sure what that says about me…or my econ class)
I don’t think I have anything too terrible. I watched the 2nd-season finale of Sports Night while working on complicated class project, knowing that this episode would probably also be the series finale (it was.) It turned out that my mom was taping downstairs because I was working so hard on my project…
I also decided to watch The West Wing instead of writing an important competition speech that I would have to deliver three days later (although, in my defense, that was more of a reserving-my-sanity-emotional-cooldown than a matter of priorities). Oh, and I would also like to be forgiven for all of the Celebreality and Real World/Challenge reunions I have watched/ will watch in the future.
Why doesn’t anyone pick on the people (like myself) who basically schedule their week around college football (or other sports)?
Also, my boyfriend works evenings, and (this is better now cuz I’ve now seen all the episodes) I used to always DVR episodes of Degrassi: TNG and watch them before he got home. Or delete them before he got home so I could hide them. (Yes, I hide it like a coke addiction. Cuz it is.)
I too have seen Adam Busch’s band. I couldn’t help but make a fool of myself when I met him. How could I not mention Buffy to him?
I dragged my college roomate to see American Pyscho b/c of my Christian Bale obsession. She was a bit horrified, not exactly her cup of tea.
Like Dana, I missed many a chapel in college because of “Golden Girls”…and was nearly late to class most days so that I could see the end….”Thank you for bein’ a friend….”
Once I started watching Buffy at the end of the 5th season, I refused to leave the house or answer the telephone when either it or Angel were on and that went on for about 2-3 more years.
I also was in grad school when the last season of Angel was on and refused to take any classes that fell on Wednesdays.
First of all, I LOVE that the most represented TV show so far is LOST! We Lost fans are crazy about our show! So of course most of my sins relate to Lost viewing. Last year I postponed my birthday, and made my finace and friends change the plans they were making for a big birthday dinner, because it fell on Lostday, I mean Wednesday. Now they know better. I even have Tivo, but long ago I found that if I recorded it to watch later in favor of other plans, I was hopelessly distracted wondering what was happening. It’s really just better for everyone if I stay home on Lost night.
This is awesome!! I have a lot too, I am sure, but here are a couple that come to mind immediately:
1. My sophomore year in college, I just stood up and left my Abnormal Psych class in the middle every Wednesday night so that I could get back to my dorm to watch 90210. It was the second to last season. How could I miss that?!
2. The night of the Friends finale happened to fall on one of my best friends birthday. Instead of having a party for her, I threw a Friends party and told her if she wanted to hang out on her birthday she would have to come to that…and she dind’t even watch Friends (which is criminal, I know)!
i watched the final episode of Lost before the hiatus standing up for fear i would miss something when i was inexpliciably leaping off the couch from excitment
Hey, Adam Busch’s band rules!
I’ve done far too much, but this one is the ultimate: I broke my foot in ‘92 and wouldn’t go to the hospital until I watched SNL that night.
I think I outted myself to pretty much everyone in my photo training school when I refused to hang out with anyone on the night of the Will & Grace Finale. Being Navy and all, i was apparent more than a few eyebrows were raised. That, and it apparently seemed to be against some cardinal Naval doctrine that the TV happened to be displaying programming OTHER than what was on ESPN and BET.
I have two really bad ones.
The first: I once turned down a “no-strings attached” romantic encounter because I had episodes Lost & Battlestar Galactica on TiVo that I hadn’t seen yet.
The Second:
At work one day I had shooting pains in my chest, numbness in my left arm, light-headedness etc. After I got home my girlfriend at the time (not the girl from item 1) begged me to go to the hospital. I told her I would go after the season finale of The Apprentice was over.
The First Item… WORTH IT!!!!
The Second Item… Not so much. Oh yeah, the pains… it was acid reflux.