Oracle Online

In a world where sitcom trash dominates the market, this self-described ‘average male’ seeks to cut through the swaths of trashy television to a happier channel where mediocre television is still mediocre but maybe, just maybe, bearable. Don’t hold your breath, readers, just hope for the best.

So if TV shows were sexually transmitted diseases, which one wouldn’t be fatal but more like a bad case of crabs? Well, to start off the list, one guilty pleasure could be Grey’s Anatomy, even if one of the characters does have syphilis.

But beyond the occasional weak plot device, the show gives a strong showing with insightful characters, compelling plots and fresh side stories that give a thoughtful look at the human condition. It’s not without its faults though; a bomb in someone’s chest harkens back to the final days of ER, desperate for ratings, had a doctor’s arm get chopped off by a helicopter blade and later crushed by a different helicopter. Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t gotten that bad yet, but being the soothsayer I am, it just doesn’t seem impossible.

After further surfing this sludge fen of network television, one can quickly see that it’s necessary to move south down the coast to the greater, but equally perilous, land of cable.

With the Food Network’s Iron Chef being as climactic as Lost in Translation and MTV’s My Sweet Sixteen more nauseating than Just Like Heaven and Saw II combined, despair can easily be overwhelming.

How strange that when looking for more misery (because we all know it loves company) that I didn’t find it on Wednesday night on Bravo.

Now before you hem and haw, you nattering nabobs of negativity, let me say that I acknowledge and agree with the quickly developed distaste for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, a show that reinforces ridiculous stereotypes. That being said, Bravo’s Project Runway is entertaining enough.

Even if it has its hang-ups (anyone who has seen the show has banged their heads against the wall at one point or another) the show has still managed to have a refreshing angle on the reality drama, cookie-cutting machine.

Besides, the series is almost over and a big event is happening this Wednesday, and if you live on campus, you already have access to it for free.

But is that a good enough reason to watch a show? Well when standards are this low, and it’s a choice between homework or news, that’s really neither here nor there.