When there's Nothing on...

The movie mommy's guide to surviving the TV writers' strike and the aftermath.

"250 channels and nothing on." Truer words have not been spoken until this writers' strike and it will be a month before anything new comes on now that it is over. In general it is hard to find something worthy of a few nightly hours of your life. I have several favorite shows I adore but otherwise the TV can be relagated to being the "idiot box."
Since the strike it has been tedious. Even my favorite shows are airing episodes I have already seen - several times. And movie rentals are also lacking - except for an incredible bright spot like Sunshine and the suprising Eastern Promises. Let's face it...something needs to be done.
By calendar and coincidence TV is not a total loss this month! Here's why...
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is showing it's month long salute to the Oscar's. Everyday it pays tribute to an Oscar category by showing movies that have been either nominated for or won that award. Gems like It Happened One Night, The Quiet Man, Roman Holiday, Hello Dolly!, On Golden Pond, Some Like It Hot, Stalag 17, The Dirty Dozen, Gone With the Wind and Poltergiest to name a few. It Happened One Night was especially enjoyable to watch. My husband had never seen it and I was afraid it would be too old and corny for him. But the physical comedy and constant witty banter is enough to make anyone have a belly laugh. It is an often immitated but never duplicated classic that has rarely been topped in the romantic comedy genre (as it is now known). Any one of the above named movies are enough to make you forget that there was anything else worth tuning into. Check TV Guide for more.
Believe it or not, HBO is actually showing some great stuff! HBO is usually worthless with the exception of the sports related news programming and live boxing. In the past month HBO has been showing A Good Year, ALL the Star Wars movies, The Devil Wears Prada, The Lake House, Hollywoodland, Superman Returns, American Beauty, King Kong (recent), The Sentinal, The Last Mimsy, V for Vendetta, Take The Lead and Dreamgirls to name a few. Some of those might also be to your taste. I can recommend all of them. And there are others that I am not into but you may not have seen.
Between TCM and HBO, I really haven't had to do much renting. Because there actually IS something on tonight!