A Mommy Story

I had enough TV to watch each week. I didn’t need another show to be hopelessly addicted to.

House M.D. on Fox has me hooked, though. After hearing so much about it from people we knew, Aaron and I watched an episode about a month ago. And now? Now I’m driving past cops at 75 mph so that I won’t miss much of tonight’s episode. I need help.

We had seriously cut back on TV when Cordy was born, mostly because we never had time to follow any storyline with a colicky baby. Slowly, I’ve allowed myself to form relationships with TV characters. I came back to Smallville after the strange and whacked-out season last year. I’ve had an on-again, off-again love with ER: it’s evolved into take-it-or-leave-it relationship, where I can watch an episode out of sequence and be content if I miss the next one. I’ve finished the entire Sex and the City series, and feel no need to return to it, although I had a fabulous time with our hours together. American Idol has been here all along, too, hiding in the shadows as my deep dark secret. I love it, but I feel dirty for loving it.

Then along came Bones, a new show about a forensic anthropologist. Bet you never knew that forensic anthropologist was one of my chosen careers as a child, did you? Yep, right up there with marine biologist and astronaut. Bones is by far one of the best written shows on TV right now. Not only is there interesting science (no lowest common denominator here!), but the characters are complex and the banter is witty.

And now it’s House, a TV show about an egotistical doctor who has the worst bedside manner ever seen. He’s such a despicable character – why do I like him? I also have no idea what’s going on at times, because we started watching somewhere in the middle of season 2, and we have never seen season 1. What happened to his leg? What happened between him and the psychiatrist?

I really didn’t need another TV series. Now I’m even lusting after a Tivo, to make sure I never miss my favorite shows. Will it ever end? Am I a horrible person for spending so much time each week with my boob tube?

Fess up, people. What shows do you have a personal relationship with? And are they healthy relationships or are they spiraling out of control? Could you walk away if you had to?