Most nights, when we aren’t busy with work or other projects, Nichole and I watch something from Netflix or a DVD we already own. We are currently halfway through The Rockford Files, season 4 — some great guest stars this season: Larry Hagman, Larry Linville, Pernell Roberts, Rita Moreno, just to name a few. Anyway, most nights we are, as my dad frequently says, “transmitting to ourselves.”

However, last night, we decided to check out the networks.

Cringe.

Here’s what was on (please keep in mind we only get 15 channels of basic cable):

1) Fox was showing something called “Hell’s Kitchen,” in which people perform in a glorified bake-off and get yelled at by a super-chef with bad hair. The prize: a high paying job working for a restaurant in Las Vegas. No Thanks.

2) ABC was showing “Fat March,” in which a bunch of overweight people go on a big nature walk and bicker at one another over food and whose feet hurt the worst. It really reminded me of the Weird Al Yankovic video for “Fat.” After “Fat March,” ABC had their ever-present “SuperNanny.” I don’t like this show because it makes me upset and feel that there are people who shouldn’t have children. And I’m tired of being angry.

3) NBC was showing a re-run of “Heroes” (a pretty decent show, although hard to follow at times) followed by “Dateline.” When I was a kid I ate these TV news magazines up. No more. The TV equivalent of the National Enquirer without the starlets.

4) I don’t remember what CBS was showing, except a re-run of “CSI:Miami” at 10:00 pm. I enjoy this show as a diversion during the fresh-run episodes, but the thought of watching one I’d already seen? Again, no thanks.

5) The other channels we get (WB, local-access talk shows, local Doppler radar, WGN, some Spike-inspired channel and TBS) were all pretty lame, too. Not surprising.

So, what did we wind up watching? Wii golf. Nichole helped me come up with a good signature move for when I make a birdie or a nice shot. It’s basically a thumbs up and a cheesy grin.

I just can’t believe the stuff that passes for entertainment. “Fat March.” I mean, really. What I love is that during the summer, we are treated to all the junk that wasn’t good enough to run during the regular season (like most of that’s much better), only in a more compact time frame.

Mike Judge recently made this very funny, underrated comedy called “Idiocracy” in which he takes a very satirical look at the future based on current trends. In said film, the future America has become a lowest-common-denominator society, in which people drink a Gatorade-like beverage called Brawndo (It’s got electrolytes!) from water fountains and the most popular TV show involves watching a guy get kicked right where it counts over and over again in any number of painful ways. Everyone has names like Frito or Lexus or Sprite. And the presidency is sponsored by Carl’s Jr.

I really hope this isn’t the direction we’re going. It’s kind of amusing to watch a satire of it all, but really, it’s scary what we call entertainment.

So for me, the best thing is to turn it off. That’s the great thing about TV’s. They haven’t made one yet that can’t be silenced with the press of a button.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit how excited I was roughly 20 minutes ago when I realized that there’s a new episode of “Sesame Street” on today. It seems like they’ve had the same five episodes on rotation for the last year.

But today? It’s the first day of Season 38. And the first skit features Tina Fey with the Bookaneers. Pirate puns abound. Good stuff.

Here are a few things I’m looking forward to from this season:

Last week, Nichole asked me to write something on the blog about Barry Bonds and his ascension to the homerun crown.

Well, that’s done.

******

“The Welfare lines are full of video game players.”
“No they aren’t, Dad.”
“Well…they will be!”

As of late, Nichole and I have been enjoying a TV show that we watched way back when. “Freaks and Geeks” is this little gem of a show that focuses on two fringe groups at McKinley High School outside Detroit. The Weir family has two representatives: Lindsey (Freak), the former mathlete gone (mildly) bad after the death of her grandmother and Sam (Geek), an awkward young man struggling to avoid bullies and having to take showers after PE.

The show only ran for 18 episodes back in 1999-2000, which is really too bad. There are few shows that capture the drive to try and fit in matched with the futility of the effort with quite as much heart as this show. I guess I never realized how much I liked this show and how it became part of my subconcious meter stick for how shows measure up. But after watching these episodes again, I discovered the impact it had on my tastes. After “Freaks and Geeks” I had a hard time watching canned laughter shows. They just didn’t work for me anymore. Of course I can watch and enjoy Seinfeld re-runs but for the most part the laugh track shows lost it for me.

The other aspect of the show that I found comforting, for lack of a better word, was the way in which series creator and writer Judd Apatow portrayed the Geeks. This is probably because I was and still am one.

Yes, I can quote from Blade Runner and a bevy of other Sci-Fi movies.
Yes, I have a Star Wars pillow (REturn of the Jedi era, no less!).
Yes, I could sit down and debate the pros and cons of Hostess vs. Dolly Madison snack cakes, and in fact I have on occasion.
And yes, I wear sneakers that don’t match my socks from time to time….or almost every day.

“Freaks and Geeks” was one of the first shows to spotlight the difficulty with which kids navigate the treacherous waters of youth in the pressure cooker setting of High School. The great thing that most kids didn’t know then and still don’t today, is that it’s okay to be a geek, a nerd, a fringe member. It’s allright to not break into the inner sanctum and let me tell you why: I broke in and discovered that those kids (and now grown ups) were pretty sad and mixed up, too.

So be a nerd, be a geek! Quote from Blazing Saddles. Ponder the finer points of breakfast cereal. Enjoy being you.

Apatow said it like this: “I think that everything I do tends to root for the underdog. I always felt as a kid that I was under appreciated, invisible or weird, but I’ve always secretly thought people would one day appreciate what is different about me. I’m always putting that message out there. Eventually, the nerds and the geeks will have their day.”

Amen, brother.

Too bad there aren’t more shows like this and one less Grey’s Anatomy.