For a couple of years now I’ve been feeling like an outsider because I just haven’t been able to get into Lost, when nearly everyone I know is enthralled.   Or Battlestar Galactica, despite the critial acclaim it receives.    Or Heroes, after the first half of the first season.  Frankly, it has been a bit befuddling.

Well, I think I figured out why I can’t get into “Lost” or “Battlestar Galactica”, etc…   there are 2 reasons - and both play a part in my apathy towards Lost.

1.  Apparently I no longer have the patience for shows that require me to watch each week to keep up with what’s going on.    I want resolution at the end of the hour, so it doesn’t leave me fretting and worrying whether they’ll stop the bomg in time for another week.   I think three thilling seasons of 24 and Alias burned me out.   

2.  When shows have fanatical religious undertones - just COUNT ME OUT.  Lost recently had a “recap” episode where it basically showed you what had happened over the year in a single night and I decided to watch it, to see if I could get pulled into the story.  As soon as that creepy guy (Ben?) and then John Locke got fanatical about the island and killed people because of their “faith” I was totally turned off (despite the eye candy cast).

 In it’s final 2 seasons, one of my favorite shows - Stargate SG1 -  ventured into a an ongoing battle with an opressive, powerful alien race called the “Ori” - who claimed to be gods and sent messengers around preaching religion, promising enlightenment & ascension, and then killing anyone who didn’t agree to follow the path.     “Hallowed are the Ori“.   Oh, Just shoot me now.   Look - they even got CSM (Cigarette Smoking Man) from the X-Files to be one of their creepy priors.  Just as they were about to lose me as a viewer, they thankfully threw in some NON-Ori episodes.   

I’m disturbed enough by the irrational religious fanatics in the real world - I don’t want them to invade my “escape” time as well.

So there you have it.   I guess I’m still an outsider, but at least I know why!

Are there any shows or fads you wish you feel left out of?

Jon Stewart gives great hugs.  That’s what I found  out in my Monday night dream.  Frankly, I don’t know what he was doing at my deceased grandmother’s house on 7th east, along with an assortment of other people I apparently knew.  But as I bid them all farewell, he gave me the most amazingly warm, memorable hug.   And he looked great in his grey suit.

Last night’s dreams were not nearly so rewarding.

In one segment, I was fending off rather large sharks with a knife and a stick in a rope-infested bay (yes, large ropes were floating around the surface of this water, making it a challenge to swim).  I have no idea what prompted me to leave the safety of the rowboat I had been in. 

The last couple of nights my dreams have been a bit like short story collections - one segment completely unrelated to the next.    There was quite a bit of hiking over straw and snow covered hills.  Ashley (looking about age 10 - she often shows up in my dreams as a baby or young child) happily slid down one of them, out of site.   I took a cd of music in to my massage therapist in hopes they would exchange it out for the weird music they’ve been playing lately.   Some guy was trying to talk me into taking his $800 self-help seminar (I said no.)

However, my dreams are usually more like full-length feature films - very vivid, very realistic, often very entertaining.  Much more so that my waking life.     Sometimes I literally wake myself up laughing at the silliness - other times it seems like they were an important message I need to figure out. 

Occasionally (not nearly often enough) I get to enjoy a nice, steamy dream…    most recently with David Peckham (a guy from my neighborhood when I was growing up.)   Completely random.  No idea what prompted that, since I never even had a crush on Dave in my teen years and haven’t seen or heard from him since high school.   But it was a memorable dream : )

Shemar has yet to make an appearance, however. 

What memorable dreams have you had of late?  Do you think they have any meaning?   Any ideas what MY dreams meant?

My tv heroes - as themselves:

• Jon Stewart
• Keith Olberman
• Tim Gunn
• Bill Moyers
• I guess Oprah - she inspires a lot of people

My favorite tv characters (current shows)

• Shawn (and Gus) - Psyche (USA, and now on NBC, too!)
• Detective Goren - Law and Order: Criminal Intent (NBC/USA)
• Deputy Director Brenda Lee Johnson - The Closer (TNT)

My favorite ensembles - enjoy the interaction between the characters

• NCIS (especially Abby)  (CBS & USA)
• Stargate SG1  (SciFi & ?)

I’m sure I’ve neglected to include someone I’ll think of later, but these standout tonight.  

I’m so glad Psyche is on network tv now… it’s really one of my favorite shows, but none of my friends have discovered it on the USA network.  Watch it!

So who are some of your current tv heroes, favorite tv characters and ensembles?

I recently spent 10 days in Salt Lake, celebrating my birthday and enjoying time with family and friends.   Of course I haul my suitcase of camera equipment with me so I can photograph my favorite subjects.   Here are my three grandaughters at our Spring Party / Easter Egg Hunt…  Aren’t they cute? 

It was so much fun spending time with them - though when the three of them get together they go nuts!   They enjoy each other a lot, and wear all of the adults out with their enthusiasm. 

Their parents are pretty cute too…