From the "You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone" Department --

 
Ohmigod...as a TV girl down to the marrow, try living for two and a half weeks with only three channels -- one of them French.  No, don't.  It's no fun, though relief is close at hand as I'm getting satellite TV going today.

Worst thing:  I've had to watch what was on, including Live with Regis and Kelly and Dr. Phil.  I will admit better than nothing, but how average Americans can tolerate the barely-disguised noblesse oblige attitude of Live with is hard to imagine.  Sure, they joke about going to the Hamptons on weekends -- but that doesn't change the fact that they're going, and talking endlessly about it.  The closest analogy I can think of is when people during the Depression used to pack movie theatres to watch Norma Shearer et al prancing about 5th Avenue mansions in high society comedies.  Is this supposed to make the average Joe feel better about his own predicament? 

Most appalling moment I've seen so far:  Regis and Kelly are talking to a sweet Long Island guy about a barbeque recipe he's sent in, and it's revealed that he lives at home.  "What's wrong with you?," Regis asks.  "Are you a loser?"  "No," he replies.  "I'm a teacher."  What the guy could have said -- "No, I'm a teacher, I don't make multi-millions of dollars sitting around for an hour a day prattling away, I'm actually working for a living and you'd better be damn thankful for my contributions" -- he didn't, merely laughing tolerantly at Regis' needling that though perhaps innocent on the surface, surely contains a nauseating whiff of classism that permeates the show.  And when Kelly was questioning a call-in contestant about what she does for a living, after joking with the Conneticutt woman about does she see the ESPN personalities at her local grocery store, those also-millionaires who have no more connections with real-life America than Kelly or Regis, the woman replied "I'm a nurse in a long-term care facility.  That's very important work."  To which even Kelly had to admit that it was, and it sort of shut her up. 

Oh well.  Now that I have satellite TV I won't have to watch them anymore.  Yikes, I almost forgot.  I actually watched The View where Joan Rivers was a guest.  My eyes!  She's lookiing more and more like Jocelyn Wildenstein every day.  This is attractive?  And boos to TV Guide Channel for picking up her and her daughter's tired schtick for the new-and-improved programming line-up.  I hope E! isn't crying about losing them.

More coming from me about TV once I get back to my usual viewing habits, or as close to them as I can.  I can't say I thought the Emmy nominations were anything special, though it was nice to see Joan of Arcadia get some nods.

Movie-wise, I caught Fahrenheit 9/11 the other night here in town, with a packed house of Canadians.  They already know that Bush is a.) a joke, b.) dangerous, c.) appalling, and let me tell you, I could hardly think of what to say when the woman next to me, whom I had befriended, asked me how could Americans tolerate him.  I tried to explain a little about the way the Republicans had managed to pull in the religious conservatives through pandering, all the while putting through economic policies that should have had those same salt-of-the-earth folks coming at the White House with voices raised in indignation.  There's really no good way to make excuses for Americans' behavior, but I'm going to have to think of something.  I know I'm going to be getting that kind of question a lot now that I'm living up here.

That's all for now!