The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Favorite Television Shows…

I have a few favorite shows on television which I missed when they first aired. I don’t know how I missed them, other than for the mere fact that they weren’t on any of the three major networks and, because I record everything I watch>>> so that I can skip through the advertisements.

I accidentally taped The Closer one night… and after the first fifteen minutes, I was hooked! Unfortunately, I caught it during a time when the network (TNT) was playing the shows as sort of filler, since they were all repeats, so I was unable to get the shows in their correct order. Which, of course meant that I either had to rent the shows (from the beginning of the series) or buy them.

I like this show so much, that I have given our DVDs to our daughter (22 years old) and she likes them as much as I do. I wonder if it’s because the lead detective is a strong-willed, opinionated woman who has the courage to appear without makeup (anyways that’s what it looks like to us) when the shows call for it, OR if it’s because all of the characters are well-developed, three-dimensional “people,” OR if it’s because the writing is phenomenal, OR because, it’s simply one of the best shows on television!

Anyway, if you have a favorite show that you would like to share with some of us cozy mystery readers>>> please feel free to write about it in a comment, or write me a letter via the website. If you all are anything like I am: tired of the writers’ strike, tired of tired shows, tired of the umpteenth season of the same shows, tired of the different shows that are actually the same show set in different cities>>> Then let’s share some ideas of really good shows!

Man! I Must Be One Old Woman!

Well, it has finally happened! One of my very favorite shows is changing to “keep up with the times,” and I am very sad to see it happening. I have gotten used to the idea that I now have specialist doctors calling me “Ma’am,” but this is just too much! (There’s your first hint… not just doctors, but “specialists”!!!!)

The show I am talking about is “Siskel and Ebert“>>> Yes, I know that it isn’t actually called that anymore, but that’s how my husband and I think of it. (Well, actually that might just be me. My husband is better at keeping up with the times!)

I started watching “Siskel and Ebert” way back when I had just turned 20 (I think) … It’s hard to believe that the show was on television way back in the late-ish ’70s! (That’s right, it has been on for more than a quarter of a century!) I remember when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert would sit across the isle in balcony seats and “chat” about the current movies, back when the show was played on PBS. I found a lot of movies by watching that show… and I found even more movies to avoid by watching those two disagree more often than not. The two of them probably had the most famous thumbs ever… with one (thumb) motion of UP or DOWN, movies would get the red or green light. It was an easy way to be introduced to what was playing in theaters… My husband and I always made up our on minds based on the synopsis that the two of them would provide, with the trailers they would show. We knew that we could trust them to never divulge any spoilers.

We were deeply saddened by the death of Gene Siskel, and again saddened by Roger Ebert’s bout with cancer. The show has taken many twists and turns… and now is known as At the Movies. They no longer are able to use the thumbs up/down signature, but still continue with the synopsis/trailer parts of the show. We have stayed with the show through all of its changes… The two permanent hosts are Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips.

BUT!!! This is too much!!! When my husband told me about the changes that are going to be taking place starting this September, I thought… that’s not too bad… I know who Ben Lyons is… I’ve enjoyed watching him in the past. NOPE!!! Not Jeffrey Lyons… but his son!!! YOW!!! Am I getting too old for this Brave New World, or what?!? And, apparently there will be even be a new format!

I know I have blogged about teaching an old dog new tricks… But, I never really saw myself as THAT OLD!!! You know it’s bad when children of you cohorts are taking over prime positions!!! Well, I guess there is nothing to do but wait and see what these “young puppies” can do!

Guilty Pleasures: Buying a Box of Good and Plentys…

I was at the grocery store this morning, with everything going fine until I put a 99¢ box of Good and Plentys (should that be “Plenties”?) on the conveyor belt. The “bag-girl” (I’m not sure what the politically correct term is these days… but by this I mean the teenage girl who bags the groceries) started a conversation with me which meant she had to talk rather loudly… since I was still getting the groceries out of my cart and she was at the end of the conveyor belt section.

Anyway…. her conversation was loud enough to elicit the attention of the people in the line next to mine, including the people exiting the store, as well as the people in the customer service section of the store. I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but I am VERY self conscious about my weight. I am not concerned enough to exercise on a regular basis (or if I am truthful… exercise at all!) but I do carry at least thirty pounds more than I should on my frame… and that doesn’t mean thirty pounds more than I would if I were anorexic… but thirty pounds more than if I weighed what a “normal” person weighs.

So, much to my chagrin, my “bag-girl” started a conversation AT me, telling me how she doesn’t like junk food like Good and Plentys… they are bad for your teeth, they are bad for your health, they are just sugar, she eats healthy snacks like apples, etc. I nodded to her, said she was brought up the right way, and tried to go back to my business… Unfortunately, once I made eye contact… she got even louder… not in a rude way, just a matter-of-fact manner… I was somewhat taken aback, and more than embarrassed… But that’s what you get when you try to buy a guilty pleasure like Good and Plentys…

After I paid for my groceries, my cashier (another teenage girl) quietly told me to go enjoy my Good and Plentys… a very sweet gesture, very much appreciated by this “slightly overweight” woman. I have to admit, those Good and Plentys don’t look quite so good right now… perhaps the BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION / PAVLOVIAN CONDITIONING that I experienced was enough to  curtail my licorice cravings!

Nope! I think not! Next time I have a licorice craving I’m going to just have to cut out the middle man (in this case the “bag-girl) and go to my local drug store to make my illicit purchases! No “bag-girls” there, and hopefully I won’t get a chatty cashier!

Reading a Mystery Series All the Way Through…

You know, every once in a while I get the feeling that I want to start reading one particular author’s works all the way through, from the first to the last novel. The most recent time I thought that I would do this was Agatha Christie… the time before that was Ruth Rendell, and even before that was Patricia Moyes. All some of my favorite authors, but I’m not sure why I just can’t stick to that plan… of reading all of the series’ novels at one sitting. (I use that term – “sitting” – loosely, since it would take me a rather long time to achieve that feat>>> All of those particular authors have a lot of books in their series.)

Getting back to the point… I truly had thought that I could do that… stick with one author>>> even though the authors in my bookshelves beckon me with their brightly-colored book spines. BUT!!!:::>>> The last time I stuck to the read-the-entire-series-all-the-way-through plan, I became somewhat disappointed/disgruntled with the author.

The last author I succeded reading all the way through was E. V. Cunningham. I had read a few of his Masao Masuto books in the past, before the chronological order of a series was that important to me, and had enjoyed his books immensely. But, maybe it was the fact that I was re-reading some of the novels, or maybe it was the fact that the same day I finished one novel in the series I started reading the next… I really don’t know what it was, but I started getting mildly annoyed at Masuto! Yes, I actually started feeling annoyance toward a fictitious character!

So, it is with that knowledge that I am now going to say this: The next time I say I am going to read a cozy mystery series from the beginning to the end, with no other reading interruptions… It’s not that I am brazenly lying, because I truly am thinking that I will do just that, it is that I won’t be able to carry through with that plan. So, right after I blog about that intention, just think of it as a lapse in my judgement, a foolish mistake on my part… It just ain’t going to happen!

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