Tuesdays hate me. March 7 at 9 p.m. above all hates me. That’s when House (FOX) returns from a week off, Scrubs (NBC) airs another two episodes, and new series The Unit (CBS) and Sons and Daughters (ABC) premiere. That’s when I’m not going to be home. I’ll be on a plane, bereft of television, where I will count the ways that I hate TV networks and their inconsiderate scheduling.
The action-oriented The Unit doesn’t sound like the kind of show I’d love, but I have to at least try – brilliant playwright, screenwriter, and director David Mamet is the creator, and his dialogue is hypnotic. The cast is appealing, too, with familiar faces like Dennis Haysbert, Regina Taylor, Robert Patrick, and Scott Foley.
Sons and Daughters is a half-hour comedy with good buzz, having been called the heir to Arrested Development. And with that sentence, it’s been doomed to an early grave, so I want to catch it while I can. The half-scripted, half-improv show temporarily takes over Commander in Chief‘s timeslot while that series stays on hiatus, as it reportedly undergoes its second behind-the-scenes regime change in a single season (see the Entertainment Weekly story about Steven Bochco, who took over from creator Rod Lurie, being replaced as showrunner).
While I want to catch at least the pilot episodes of both shows, I’m not allowed to like them both. I don’t have the capacity to record four shows at a time, and House and Scrubs have earned my loyalty. I’d decommissioned my VCR after setting up my PVR, and though I could put it on active duty again, that doesn’t solve the problem. The VCR can’t get digital channels, so that means I can record one show on Eastern time and two on Pacific time. Even my bad math tells me that leaves one unrecorded show.
So please, networks, stop spreading the hate, and instead spread the love. My Mondays and Wednesdays are wide open – how about thinning out Tuesdays at 9?