Comfort TV

It's been over a week now and so far I've just about managed to get my stuff sorted out. I've even managed to do a bit of work, but that starts properly tomorrow. In my prior post I mentioned the lack of decent TV. In fact, since I started my PhD I've actively avoided watching new programs - the OC, Lost, One Tree Hill, Invasion - I've managed to avoid getting hooked. I've stuck to Scrubs, Family Guy and 24; and I download those. What I have realised is that there is some stuff that I watch over and over. Thanks to C4, E4 and abc1 I've found myself watching a heavy dose of Scrubs and Friends. They are waht I class as comfort TV - things I've seen so many times before, but feel safe watching again.

E4 show 2 Friends episodes a day and get through a series every 12 days (that means they show the whole thing about 2 and a half times a year). The jokes are memorable and its still funny even after all these years. At the moment we've just got to the start of season 3 which is probably the best. To my delight it was favourite episode; "The one where no one's ready" which is very cunningly a real-time episode based around Ross' attempts to get his friends ready to attend a dinner function at the museum with the whole episode (apart from the epilogue) set in Monica's apartment. It's also the episode most quoted by my friends and I at university - chair stealers are greeted with "In the words of A. A. Milne, get out of my chair dilhole!" or "Right, give me your underwear" whilst the stealer normally replied with "you went to Spain" and cries of "drink the fat" were not uncommon. Friends is the ultimate feel-good program, the ups and down's of the characters lives are mainly played for laughs. Even though, there are some major story developments, they are all pretty cheesey with the exception of the first Ross and Rachel breakup in season 3's "The one the morning after" where the comedy is very much downplayed in the second half of the episode. These two episodes explain why season 3 is probably my favourite.

Scrubs has gained in popularity over the last few years. I started watching from the start and feel quite proud of it. The humour is very different from Friends and the best episodes are often very bittersweet. From the very first episode the young doctors are forced to deal with death, but it's the forth episode, my old lady that really shows how uplifting the episodes can be - at the start the 3 new doctors are each introduced their new patient as the narration informs us that on average 1 in 3 patients dies. There's an awful moment about 2/3 of the way through the show where you realise all the patients will die, but somehow the fact that all the doctors take something from the day fills you with hope. Inspirational use of music (as frequently mentioned before) often elevates episodes to classic standard; my philosophy features the cast performing a Colin Hay song, my sex buddy finishes with Del Amitri's "Tell her this" as JD struggles to open up to Elliot. my screw up is frequently referenced as the best Scrubs episode due to the Sixth Sense-esque plot and recent episodes such as my cabbage and my lunch in which the previously infalable Dr Cox has his confidence shaken.

Friends has now finished so we are left with 10 seasons and perpetual rumours of one-off specials and Scrubs enters its 6th and possibly last season in January (Zach Braff has stated he wants to concentrate on films). Infinitely rewatchable, comforting and it's always far too easy to watch them again thanks to their heavy rotation of the Freeview channels than it is to do work on my thesis, get back to learning Japanese, look for jobs or do any of the things that seem like hard work.