Ashes to ashes

by dailyinvention/flickr

Is it just me or is t.v. produced solely for sports enthusiasts? During the winter and into spring, it's the football - the announcer's screeching and yelling a constant in the background of my Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.  During the summer, it's the cricket - the drone and dry, banal jokes of the commentator filling the gaps between the occasional 'bonk' of the ball hitting the bat - all day long.  And the weekends are the worst.  Yesterday, I got so sick of listening to SH No. 1 and No. l Son reporting on runs, wickets and overs, I retreated to the spare t.v. downstairs, which doesn't have cable.  There was cricket on chanel Nine, car racing on Seven, golf on Ten, women's football on ABC and an American news programme on SBS.  I watched the American PBS programme which I didn't mind - American politics is SO much more interesting than ours.

I grew up in a family where I was the only girl (apart from mum) amongst Dad and three brothers, so you'd think I would've learned to become involved in it all - but I can't.  It just doesn't interest me at all.  But it's not just sport.  I've come to the realisation that my t.v. needs just don't seem to count.  The kids are all on holidays, so at the moment the background noise during the week consists of I Carly, Drake and Josh and Spongebob.  It's gotten to the stage now that I know when they're watching repeats because although I haven't actually sat down and watched any of these shows, I hear them so constantly, even I know the episodes (and the theme songs) by heart!

On the odd occasion that I do get to watch a Lifestyle programme (Grand Designs, Location, location...), usually when everyone's at work or school, it's inevitable that I'll have to search for the remote which has inadvertantly been left in a place I just wouldn't think to look (the bathroom or the kitchen).

Over the years, I've been an Oprah fan, although recently I've begun to lose interest in many of her topics and the ravings of her self-help "gurus". But I have to admit, I'm kind of  looking forward to seeing her own network. At the moment, I'd pretty much watch anything - as long as it doesn't involve a bat, a ball or a sponge wearing square pants!