Treadmill TV.Are you watching these shows?

It's tough to be a runner in Bakersfield--bad air.So my subconscious need to "run it out" whether the "it" be stress or last night's banana peanut-butter smoothie, finds me spending countless hours on my in house treadmill.I used to just watch rental movies while I fed my hour long addiction, but being a cheap-o ,I considered investing in a TIVO or dvr of some sort.

Those devices rope you to one television, unless you got lotsa moola and you can pay to hook up multiple tv's.I am in radio, I do not have lotsa moola:-)So I began seeking out the least expensive alternatives. A friend lent me the entire first season of FOX's "24" several years ago and I became hooked. I started asking people if they had the "complete" season of anything and then a co-worker turned me on to the "full episode" features on network television websites. I was in heaven!!Since that day I have developed a love for several shows that my morning radio hours would never have allowed me to see.The only show I actually make an exception for is CBS's Cold Case. Due to music licensing laws the powers that be can't re-run the show on the net, so I force my eyes to stay open till 10pm on Sunday night just to see it. Music is a huge part of the show which drew me to it in the first place. I love how each Cold Case episode uses tunes from whatever time period the unresolved case is set in. The first episode I stumbled on trapped me forever with a storyline accompanied by a late 80's early 90's Bruce Springsteen soundtrack. I actually went out and bought a Bruce CD the next day.The only other shows I watch in real time are reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond”. No matter what kind of day I am having, I can relax and laugh my head off at 7pm when TBS runs two back to back episodes. The other two are NBC's "Friday Night Lights" and A&E's "Dog the Bounty Hunter". Those are two shows that Jake and I both love. Jake likes FNL because it reminds him of his days as a football star at Tehachapi High School and I like it for the characters. As for "Dog" Chapman, well we first fell in love with the show because it was set in Hawaii (the only place out of state we have been to several times) and we could say "Hey,we know where that is...etc".Then we just started enjoying the whole Chapman family and their unapologetic "this is who we are,how we dress and what we do" attitude.Now here's a rundown of my favorite "Treadmill TV", with a little synopsis on my favorites!
1.Rescue Me (FX): This show isn't for everyone. You may have heard the quick synopsis that it centers on some New York City firemen who survived 9-11 and how they deal with it.Well, it is that and so much more.Denis Leary plays Tommy Gavin,a fireman/husband/father/brother/son/sometime boyfriend/alcoholic/witty,gritty and oddly attractive character who you just can't help rooting for even when he is being a jerk. Got all that? No topic is off limits. This series has it all from sex to racism to religion to faith and back to sex again. It focuses on the hardcore truths of so many family relationships that I can't help but be drawn to the characters. It’s also filled with quick wit. I appreciate that right when I'm moved to tears over some poignant rescue scene, I start laughing at some awesomely snide but true line delivered with perfect timing. The writing is great and although I seriously doubt that a 34-year old woman is the target audience, the creator hit the bull’s-eye with me. If you do decide to watch this, consider renting or downloading the first few seasons as the back story is essential.

2. Mad Men(AMC)): Loved it from episode one. Hard to believe there was a time when everyone smoked and drank to excess in and out of the office, where sexual harassment was graded not punished and where minorities and women were openly disrespected and children were meant to be seen and not heard. Even harder to believe is that time was less than 50 years ago. I watch Mad Men with a true interest in the story and a better understanding of my grandparent’s generation and how things worked when they were in their 20's and beginning their families. Of course the similarities don't extend to the so called premise of Mad Men which is supposed to be about the cut throat world of advertising and the Madison Avenue execs that made products and services into household names back then. That’s what is so great about the show. To me it doesn't matter if the setting is advertising or farming (which is what my grandparents and their relatives did) the arrogance of the male characters and the freakishly silent frustrations of the female characters give me such an appreciation of how life is today. The only thing I wished they had done differently is not let us see so many internal conflicts in center character "Don Draper" so soon. We learn at the beginning that he has the weakness of being a married womanizer, yet we love him because he is so tortured and strong at the same time. It doesn't hurt either that Jon Hamm who plays Draper and has to be one of the sexiest men on TV today. Season two is well underway on AMC and airs at 10pm on Sundays, too late for me so I download it from iTunes.

3. Law and Order- SVU with Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni is my favorite followed by Criminal Intent featuring Vincent D'Onofrio.I also love the actor Sam Waterston, I don't know why but much in the way I feel about Denis Leary there is just something about Waterston that comes through the screen. These men are years older than me and my husband for that matter but they bring me a little closer to understanding the whole "Demi Moore/Ashton Kutcher" relationship--ya dig? I could watch all the Law and Order episodes all day long and never get sick of them.

4. Swingtown (CBS): Don't believe that this show is just about some oversexed partner trading couples in the 1970's.It's not.Yes,I was surprised that CBS was going to run a show based on what I heard was the popularity of the "open marriage" boom of the 1970's.That's not something I can relate to, plus I was born in 1974 to a couple of crazy high school kids who had a few years yet to graduate much less get married, so in my mind this would have been show based on their parents who I already wrote were more in the "Mad Men" era. There are 6 main characters in Swingtown. Two of the couples have teenage children and the couples who are childless are the so called "swinging catalysts”. Each couple has been married for a decade or more and they all struggle with problems that couples still deal with today. I’m not sure how the viewership is going for this show but I like it alot.Even when they do delve into the whole 'it's okay to cheat" thing they still show all sides of it and all the sides appear to me that it doesn't work, ever.

5. Brothers and Sisters(ABC): Rob Lowe as a Republican, need I say more? LOL Seriously, I like Calista Flockhart,I like Lowe, I like Sally Field, I even like Balthazar Getty(despite his very public affair with the actress S.Miller).There are so many twists and turns, secrets and not-so-secret secrets in this drama that you can't help but be drawn to it. The show is about a big family with big family problems.Gotta love it because no matter what the problem is they all still love each other and in the end that is what really counts.

6.Grey's Anatomy(ABC): So popular that it needs no explanation. I just wish it would hurry up and come back on!

Rounding out this list are my final guilty pleasures...

MTV's"The Hills"

ABC's "Samantha Who"

NBC's "Lipstick Jungle"

What are your favorite shows?Any I haven't posted here and can download for free?Any you think are compelling enough to spend hours on the treadmill..or couch watching:)

Looking forward to writing about the books I read on the stairclimber at the gym.Yes,it's not enough to just excercise anymore.I must feed my muscles and my mind (even if the food ie:tv show,book is mostly dessert:->)