Sunday Stealing #14

Oh, I am all over this one!

1. Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice: Moonlighting

2. Name a show you can't miss: Mad Men (Oh, how I love Don Draper!)

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show: Alan Alda

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show: Patricia Heaton

5. Name a show you can, and do, quote from: Moonlighting ("Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we're seeking has a mole on his nose?")

6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys: Snapped on Oxygen (the more lurid, the better)

7. Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song: Growing Pains ("Show me that smile again/don't waste another minute on your crying/we're nowhere near the end/the best is ready to begin …") Sing it with me! What do you mean, you don't know it?

8. Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch: Mad Men

9. Name a TV series you own: Moonlighting (Even before I loved Don Draper, I loved David Addison)

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium, but has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television: Alec Baldwin. Who knew from his movies that he would be so damn funny on Friends and Will & Grace and now 30 Rock?

11. What is your favorite episode of your favorite series? Atomic Shakespeare on Moonlighting

12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch, but you just haven't gotten around to yet: 30 Rock

13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad? Grey's Anatomy, which leaves me avaialble for 30 Rock

14. Name a show that's made you cry multiple times: Brian's Song, originally a made-for-TV movie. As a friend of mine once said, there are only three reasons to cry: pain, extreme pain, and Brian's Song

15. What do you eat when you watch TV? Depends

16. How often do you watch TV? Constantly. I'm a news junkie.

17. What's the last TV show you watched? Law and Order: SVU

18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of TV? The news.

19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with? The Man from U.N.C.L.E

20. What TV show do you wish you never watched? American Idol, because now I'm hooked

21. What's the weirdest show you enjoyed? Twin Peaks (Just thinking of it makes me want cherry pie and a cuppa damn good coffee!)

22. What TV show scared you the most? IT (it's a made-for-TV movie, but it has to count for nothing is scarier than Pennywise)

23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched? Fawlty Towers ("Don't mention the war!")

To play along yourself: Sunday Stealing: The TV Meme

The last Christmas card of the year

In the long-ago 1980s, I dated a lovely man. He loved movies and Monty Python's Flying Circus and Saturday Night Live. He was funny, literate and had really terrific hair. Oh, he had flaws -- he wore a mustache to camouflage acne scars and wore a tie even when he didn't have to. He seemed dull and more than a little wimpy during the days when I was into coke and late nights and bad boys. So I threw him over for a better looking, far more tortured SOB who would go on to be the worst thing that ever happened to me.

Still, I have kept up with the Lovely Man. I remember his birthday every year (he's joked that he has more birthday cards from me than Susan Lucci has Daytime Emmy nominations) and we exchange Christmas cards. His arrived today. He is the Director of Corporate Branding. His wife has finally agreed to let him have a dog. Their oldest daughter has graduated from Notre Dame and is planning a winter vacation in Costa Rica. Their oldest boy is a junior at Marquette. (Last time I saw him, he was 7 years old and amused himself by running back and forth, up and down the hall, for no particular reason.) Their youngest boy plays highschool football and their youngest girl is in junior high, involved in theater and just as eager as her dad about the arrival of the puppy.

After reading the card and note I wondered: Would I have this bucolic life if I had married him? Would I be the happy mother of four? Would that be me, getting ready to bring a new puppy home?

No. Because I didn't love the Lovely Man. While he was better for me, he was still ultimately wrong because I didn't love him. My conundrum was set to music in this popular song of the day. So while I feel wistful, I have no regrets. For to answer Glenn Frey, when it comes to choosing between the one who loved me and the one I loved, I had to choose the one I loved. I'm just sorry that the one I loved was so unworthy of me. But it's nice that the one who loved me, the Lovely Man, went on to fall in love with the woman who gave him such a wonderful life.

Shout Outs to Mimi and Bud

I have tried (and tried and tried) to leave comments on your blogs but Mozilla is conspiring against me. I can be dogged and/or stubborn, but the cybergremlins finally wore me out, so I'm addressing you here:

Mimi: Loved your Cialis/Viagra comments. During that famous Super Bowl halftime show featuring the "wardrobe malfunction," my friend Mindy was far, far more upset about being home alone with her young sons for the premiere airing of a Cialis commercial. Big Bear fans, they were fascinated by Mike Ditka hawking some drug. She told me she had an easier time explaining Janet Jackson's nipple than she did answering, "But Mommy, what's wrong with Da Coach?" And I'm crossing my fingers to bring you luck next week.


Bud: Cubs vs. Cards -- nothin' like watching a rivalry as old as time, or at least as old as the Lou Brock trade. Also, your answers to #3 and #4 echo mine (though I promise I won't hold Obama responsible if I don't have more sex in 2009).

To those of you who aren't Mimi and Bud, visit their blogs and you may wish you were. They are very funny and right-minded.