Every year around now, I shift into a ruthless spring-cleaning mode, and my family starts to hate me.
They worry that — during my fierce, unyielding assault on clutter — I will dispose of an item, or items, they hold dear. Ferocious tug-of-wars are waged over books and memorabilia and pieces of clothing. Things can get ugly.
But my philosophy is steadfast: If you’re not using something on at least a fairly consistent basis, GET RID OF IT. Don’t allow it to keep hogging valuable space in closets and on shelves and counters.
It occurs to me that we need to take the same spring-cleaning approach with television. So many of us are TV show hoarders, allowing our DVRs to become clogged with sitcoms and dramas that we once held dear but no longer watch on a consistent basis.
Repeat after me: “It’s time to purge.”
I have many shows that are purge-worthy — shows like “Empire.” When Cookie and Lucious first arrived on the scene, I was riveted to their soapy shenanigans. Eventually, however, all the battles and back-stabbing started to feel repetitive. Now, weeks go by where I don’t see the Lyon family.
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I tell myself that, someday, I will get back to those unseen episodes. But I know that’s just not going to happen. I need to take a deep breath and kill off the “Empire” season pass.
And there are others. “Modern Family”? Once, a can’t-miss, now too easy to ignore. “Grimm” and “Bones?” I stopped watching long before their recent series finales. “How to Get Away With Murder”? The allure is over. My list also includes “The Walking Dead,” “The Blacklist,” “Blindspot,” “The Middle,” “Quantico,” “UnReal,” “Hawaii Five-0” and a few others.
There once was a time where I might have held onto these shows and never let go. But in this era of “Peak TV,” with so many good and fresher shows to discover, I’ve just got to move on.
Now, I want to hear from you. Which shows that you once loved are clogging up your DVR? Drop me an email and maybe we can get through this TV spring-cleaning thing together.
GOING PSYCHO: Please note — just because you dump a show doesn’t mean you can’t reunite with it someday. To wit: I was a big “Bates Motel” fan when the “Psycho”-inspired drama premiered on A&E in 2013, but then if fell off my radar.
Now that the show is in its final season, I’ve come back to it, largely because I was curious to see how the series would ultimately blend with Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film. I’ve enjoyed watching Freddie Highmore bring out more of the Anthony Perkins side of his character and got a kick out of seeing Rihanna playing a contemporary version of Janet Leigh’s Marion Crane (with a twist on the infamous shower scene).
Incidentally, I’m supplementing my “Bates Motel” viewing with a fun new podcast called “Inside Psycho” — a six-part “deep dive” into the making of the film and the source material that inspired it. Juicy stuff.
“Bates Motel” ends its run April 24 (10 p.m., A&E). “Inside Psycho” is available on iTunes.
BASH BROTHER: Credit NBC Sports California for making one of the most intriguing local TV hires in a long time. They’ve recruited Jose Canseco to be a studio analyst for coverage of the Oakland A’s season.
Anyone who has followed Canseco’s exploits in recent year knows it’s a big gamble. As Jon Tayler of Sports Illustrated wrote, Canseco’s post-baseball days “have been a prolific mess of nonsense.” Tayler even predicted that the former steroid-using slugger will say something crazy on the air that will get him fired in a month.
But that just adds to the intrigue. I found myself tuning into a post-game show last week, mainly to see Canseco. There he was joking about performance-enhancing drugs right after studio host Brody Brazil inadvertently bashed in the flimsy on-set desk.
“Are you on steroids?” Canseco asked him. “… You’ve gotta stop hanging out with me. It’s rubbing off.”
Canseco, understandably, has been a little nervous early on, but that should wane. Meanwhile, his unvarnished demeanor and outspoken ways can be assets. I also appreciate how he has come into the job with a humble attitude. Shortly after his hire, he tweeted: “I want to thank the Oakland Athletics family for giving me this opportunity when no one else would. I won’t let you down.”
This lifelong A’s fan is rooting for him to shine. Now, bring on Mark McGwire and let’s really have some fun.
Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/chuckbarney and Facebook.com/bayareanewsgroup.chuckbarney.
