What Tricia's Thankful For - 2011

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day to confess what you feel grateful for. I mean, more than anything it’s about celebrating the greatest of the deadly sins and watching football, but traditionally people express feelings that go beyond the tightness of the belt. Not in my family exactly, but I hear people do it all the time…
Rather than list all the things I love in my life right now, and not because I don’t have a whole lot going on, here is my list as pertains to this movie/TV blog, though we update it scarcely, it still has a theme.

This year, I am thankful for…

Hollywood. In the summer of 2009 I saw a total of ten movies. And while they were not all winners, the fact remains that there were ten movies in three months that I wanted to see. In all of 2011 I don’t think I’ve seen half that. So THANK YOU, HOLLYWOOD for helping me save money by putting out complete crap this year.

My DVR. All that money I saved from the cinema went to a worthy cause, don’t worry. I’m a tad behind, but this year I finally got a DVR and it is superb. As bad as big budget movies were this year, TV was exceptional. Speaking of which, let’s get to that…

CHUCK. Thank you, NBC for giving "Chuck" one last season to give us devoted fans an ending we deserve. You don’t always make the best decisions (I’ll get back to you when I write my TV New Years Resolutions list) but we fans notice when you let us have a good thing even if it isn’t the best idea business wise. Also, it helps that "Chuck" has been so great this final season.

Wednesdays. I have something great to watch every night of the week and, make no mistake, Thursday is still my special friend, but Wednesday really stepped up its game this season. I have the awesome ABC comedy line up of "The Middle," "Suburgatory," "Modern Family," and "Happy Endings" – seriously, these shows rock, to start the night. I also do a little recording of NBC’s "Up All Night" (Maya Rudolph = Goddess). Then it’s my favorite new show "Revenge," which just slayed me with this week’s episode. Add on top of that the glorious sixth season of "Psych!" IT’S THE PERFECT NIGHT. Just think how insane it’d be if I was caught up on "Criminal Minds" and "CSI" and was watching those too! Madness, this day, madness!

The return of the Muppets. I’m not a Muppet historian by any means, but like everyone else I grew up watching and laughing with them. I believe I even went as Miss Piggy for Halloween when I was a toddler, so there. The fact that they are everywhere right now does not upset me at all. I honestly can’t wait to see the movie. And I can only hope it beats the new Twilight movie at the box office this weekend.

Maria Bamford. This time of the year, we TV lovers get bombarded with holiday themed commercials. It’s exhausting. But there is one series of commercials I do not wish to fast forward through. I’d like to honestly exclaim my love for the Target ads. Not only do they crack me up, but Maria Bamford, who plays the crazy Black Friday trained shopper, is my absolute favorite comedian. I could watch her go backward on that stairmaster all day; and I do, it’s on every commercial break.

Friends Reruns. It’s been a bazillion years and around this season I get a hankerin’ for those epic Thanksgiving episodes. My absolute favorite? Probably The One with All the Thanksgivings. Joey with a turkey stuck on his head? Yes, please.

I could keep going. In fact this is already longer than I expected, but I must stop somewhere. Feel free to add what you’re thankful for in the comments!

I will leave you with this, one of my favorite SNL Thanksgiving sketches.

Happy Turkey Day!

PS- I promise to have the next installment of my TV Challenge soon, I got behind in my reviews, but do not worry, I have completed the challenge thus far.