On the Parting of Moose and Zee

So yesterday I was shocked to learn that Moose and Zee are no longer "hosting" NickJr.

Some of you may not know what I am talking about, some of you may not care. I am just a little taken aback by the news, although I am not actually sure which side of the fence I fall on.

Were Moose and Zee recognizable characters that the Ladies enjoyed? Yes.

Were they a little bit repetitive and kind of annoying? Also yes.

Clearly, I haven't been keeping up on my NickJr, this is due to a combination of things:

1. I am out of the house most of the day
2. I have been trying to limit TV time when I get home and on weekends
3. The Ladies have been watching a lot of Disney Channel
4. I have cultivated and developed a "deaf ear" to children's programming over the last few years. Yes, I still wake in the middle of the night singing the theme song to "Phineas and Ferb" and the Fresh Beats never fail to make an appearance in my morning shower, but I have also been able to tune out these shows as background noise. Mostly because I have seen (or heard) them all like 300 times.

I have become so good at tuning it out that I'd like to think I now know what it is like to be my husband when I am trying to talk to him.

I'd also like to think that Moose and Zee have made a bit of a lasting impression on me. I dare say I will still be singing "I Don't like Candy Corn" come Halloween, even though, in my heart of hearts, I love candy corn, until that one piece takes you over the edge from enjoyment to possible puking. And who can forget when Zee gets Moose the candy cane for Christmas? Just so heartwarming and nauseatingly repetitive at the same time.

Now I can't stop singing any of these songs.

I tried googling the reason they were "terminated" but couldn't find anything. There is a petition out there to bring them back though. Also, I probably spent way too much time on the NickJr site. So much so that I am thinking about getting the new Fresh Beat album and I am pleased to learn that there is a Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2 out. Oh, Merliah how I have missed you so.

So, anyway, I get home from work last night and even though the TV isn't on and the Ladies are perfectly occupied with something else, I decide we should put on NickJr so that I can see how big of a difference this change has made.

I approach the Ladies with a tone of seriousness:

Me: Ladies, Moose and Zee aren't on NickJr anymore. (I like to imagine I am portraying a sympathetic face and seem open to discussion here. I want them to express themselves in case they are concerned.)

The Lady: I hate Moose and Zee.

Me: Um, what? (and then something about how we shouldn't use the word hate, etc. . .)

Me: Why don't you like Moose and Zee?

The Lady: Well, I like Zee.

Me: Why not Moose?

The Lady: Because he always thinks he's our teacher.

Great.

Congratulations NickJr in your attempt to teach my child with your cute animals and their songs that promote learning, you have created some sort of didactic, patronizing Moose who the Lady hates.

Kudos to kicking him to the curb. . . however replacing them with songs from other shows is kind of lame and there is only so much Diego I can take.

In other NickJr news. . . (yes, I know I should stop now) but as I was leaving for work this morning and trying to tiptoe around the Little Lady who once again was sleeping on the couch in the living room, I heard her roll over and say, "Laids, it's time for the Fresh Beats." She was totally asleep.

Oh NickJr it is a fine line we walk together. On one hand, I would like to give you a five minute frencher for occupying the Ladies while I try to get some things done around the house, on the other hand I would like to kick you where it counts for your insistence on playing the same shows over and over and for creating the haunting sounds of the Fresh Beat Band.

And Moose and Zee? I hope you find what you are looking for on this journey we call life. Here's to hoping you finally make it to Frisco the fire-ant's birthday party.

Guest Blog from Steadman's Army: Let's Talk TV

Enjoy this guest blog from Steadman's Army, it has been a while since we had any guest bloggers here, and a while since I devoted any real time to blogging about TV watching. This blog takes care of both! Enjoy.

Let’s talk TV. This will be my second year of using Aileen’s blog as a vehicle for informing the public what they should be watching. My credentials? I continue to pay over $230/month for the fios triple play with the platinum movie package and 5 cable boxes, including 3 hi-def DVR’s. BTW, there are 4 people living in my house, inc. an 11 month old and the occasional in-laws. Deal with it. About 6 months ago I also noticed the playboy package (2 channels) had been added as well at 17.99/month, although no one in the house seems to know anything about it I narrowed the suspects down to my father-in-law and my 3 year old son - and I could not be any prouder of either of them. Obviously I kept paying for it even though it’s essentially unwatchable until the ‘juicy stuff’ comes on after 11pm, aka my bedtime. Deal with it.


Smallville is in its final run and on track for its best season yet. This isn’t saying much considering the first five seasons all consisted of Clark talking to Lana about feelings in the loft of his barn. It was about as much fun as taking a cheese grater to your privates, but she was finally written off and now Lois Lane is out-acting and out-cleavaging everyone on the show. It’s glorious. As Hugh Laurie is back into full vicodin relapse, House continues to deliver the goods. 30 Rock is the best comedy on TV, and has been since its inception. Two and Half men, winner of like 15 emmy’s for best comedy, has always sucked, and Modern Family and The Middle are worth mentioning but certainly do not get DVR privileges on any of my box space. NBC’s Thursday night lineup, The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock is still king. 48 Hours Mystery is the best show on Saturday night, and CBS Sunday Morning is the jewel in Sunday’s crown.

Other than that I have been watching the occasional Antiques Roadshow and an insane amount of Wow Wow Wubbzy. I don’t have time to watch anything good, ok? My wife and I get about an hour to ourselves from 9-10 at night and most of that I spend in a scalding hot shower with like 100 pieces of gum in my mouth crying tears of blood.

Wubbzy

Oh, and I have the DVR queued up for the upcoming HBO miniseries ‘Game of Thrones’ but that will probably sit unwatched until it gets bumped for space because somebody accidentally taped 2 hours of ‘Golden Oldies’ music on channel 1927. Deal with it.

A few things. . .

Belated B-Day Wishes

I feel like this week is going by incredibly slow, even though we have been super busy and trying to keep on a schedule.

I didn't want the week to end without giving some (belated) birthday wishes to two recently-turned-3-year-old's!

Last weekend was the Big 3 for the Bunny and the Littlest Lady (who is now a Southern Belle). Happy! Happy! to you both. We hope you both had a great day.

TV Time

The new fall season is starting up and I am in a bit of a panic mode. Will I have time to watch anything? The last few weeks have been jam packed and quite honestly, the Ladies haven't been that great about bedtime. Well, let me clarify that, the Lady hasn't been that great about bedtime, which has in turn woken up the the Little Lady more than once. I am finding that by the time I get a chance to sit down and relax it is usually almost 10 o'clock.

I have great faith in my dual room-records up to three shows at a time-DVR. I just have to figure out the line up and settle in for some much needed TV-time. Oh, Bones. . .how I have missed you.

Run. Run. Run.

I am happy to report that my return to running is going pretty well. I am working up to longer runs (but still am painfully slow) and have signed up for a 10k in October. I am trying to set little goals each week, and although the scale hasn't changed much, my clothes are fitting a bit better.  

TV Time

When the Lady was first born, my husband and I spent the first two weeks of her life watching Prime Time in the Daytime on TNT. This was a daily dose of ER, Las Vegas and Without a Trace.

This time around, I am watching more baby shows so that I can distract the Lady while I shove my boob yet again into the little Lady's mouth. (Still can't think of a nickname for her yet--but I am working on it! My husband calls her a monkey cat, because she is a little bit monkey and makes little mewing sounds like a cat.)

This means that in the last few weeks, I have probably seen every episode of Dora the Explorer about three times. It also means that the Lady is now trying to open things by saying abres. I am also waking up for middle of the night feedings singing "Al rescate amigos. To the rescue my friends" from Go, Diego Go.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to some new programming coming this fall. If you aren't already watching both Top Chef and Project Runway have started their new seasons. The Biggest Loser starts up again on September 15th and I for one am super psyched. Dan from the orange team is back from last season. He has lost a lot of weight but still weighs about 3 bills. So You Think You Can Dance is coming back and you all know I will be watching Bones. I am going to have to really pay attention to scheduling. I think we might need an additional DVR to record everything, especially since I have two kids and don't actually have much time to watch anything live.

I will say that the other day I caught a marathon of "Dance Your Ass Off" on Oxygen. A combination weight loss, dance program that was both hilarious and painfully awkward. I don't think this is a show I would actively watch but when you come across a train wreck, it is hard to look away.

TV Trouble

Last week the TiVo failed to do its only job. I think this was partially my fault because I have been using the fax so much that the TiVo was unable to connect and update through the phone line.

This is just another reason why I think I will be calling Cablevision and getting the DVR.

Anyway, besides the fact that the TiVo didn't record anything on Monday, I never actually set it to record the Biggest Loser on Tuesday. However, it did record the first half hour of the second hour of the show so I saw that Nicole lost the biggest percentage of weight at home and was back on the scale. I also saw that she gained 5lbs, Laura gained 1, Kristen dropped 4 and then it cut off. My goal was to actually watch the entire episode online so that I could actually be an informed blogger, but that didn't happen so I just looked it up.

So, in a quick recap and correct me if I am wrong. Allison Sweeny had her baby, Nicole got back on the ranch was given immunity and was immediately annoyed by Tara, Ron went to the hospital with a bleeding ulcer, Sione won an extra pound at the weigh in, Nicole gained 5lbs and lost immunity, Ron gained 3lbs and Nicole was voted off.

I hope that covers it. This week the TiVo is set and I am planning some quality time with it.

ER Finale

I feel like I should comment on the final episode of ER. This was a show that fifteen years ago, we used to cram into (well not cram, I went to Loyola and we had super sized rooms) and watch, where nobody was allowed to talk unless it was a commercial and then we all went out after at 11pm. It was a big bonding show and I remember the frenetic pace of it and the fact that not everything always turned out alright. Patients died on the table all the time and even though we got to know the characters personally, it wasn't some huge drama about relationships and love lives, it was a show about people who worked their asses off in the emergency room and who entertained us each week.

I was prepared to cry the final episode, but I wasn't totally moved. Granted the mom dying after delivering twins and leaving three other kids motherless wasn't very upbeat and at 23 weeks pregnant you would think that some sort of hormonal thing would have kicked in, but overall I thought it was a pretty average episode.

I think that the writers tried too hard to fit in all the old characters, and although it was nice to see them, it just seemed like a time filler. Plus, I am not super vested in the whole Carter/Kem relationship and wondered why they even included it.

I think what I really want to say, is that although the final episode wasn't the greatest one I have ever seen, I really think that the show was one of the best medical one's on TV. Even in its fifteenth year. Granted I only started to watch ER again about 3 years ago, but caught plenty of the old ones that I had seen and missed in the early days of the Lady being home on TNT during Prime Time in the Daytime. Las Vegas anyone?

I watch House and Grey's and although I like them both for different reasons, there are plenty of things about them that are a little annoying. Take House for instance, he has his team try a thousand things, two of which will definitely kill them, before he has a heart to heart with Wilson about something related to his personality and is suddenly hit with the correct answer. And did anybody see last night's episode? Kutner dead? By suicide? Did Kal Penn have another Harold and Kumar to make? And Grey's. . . as much as I am caught up in the melodrama of it all it is a bit weepy and heavy handed at points. The only thing it has in common with ER is that they both had patients with broken penises this year.

So, ER was the one "reality" medical drama where you could relate to not only the doctors and nurses, but to the patients as well. I will miss it and when baby number 2 comes, will try to catch as many episodes as I can at 11am on TNT.

Almost Forgot. . .

So, after a long day flying home, I was super psyched to watch some TiVo when I got home, when much to my chagrin we realized that at some point the power went out here and the TV never reset.

Oh, the TiVo did its job, but since the cable box wasn't on bypass, it only recorded hours and hours of blank screens. Ugh. Luckily, Lost replays the previous weeks episode the next week, and I know I can watch most shows on the computer, but it isn't the same.

The worst part about it was that I missed the first part of the Top Chef finale and when I rescheduled it to record again, the guide effed me and instead of part I of the finale I got an old episode of West Wing. Blast you--you infernal cable guide!

Anyway, I saw enough headlines to know who made the final three, but I have yet to watch the entire finale. I am hoping that the third time was the charm and that the Lady naps soon!

Grey's

Is anybody out there watching Grey's Anatomy? Why am I wasting my time watching Izzy have a sexual relationship with her dead fiance that she never even dated outside of the hospital? It is just weird and why aren't those Interns going to jail? Isn't it illegal to perform surgery on someone without passing some sort of test?

Also, where has George been? It looks like he pops in for like three lines each episode. I don't know, I do love the over the top soap operatic behavior of the show but are we jumping the shark here?

One last thing did they seriously do a poop transplant? Look, if you didn't know already you know now, I love poop jokes, but really a poop transplant? Did you see Alex mixing it up on the table? Gross.

Just venting (and procrastinating) if anybody watches feel free to comment.