Pop Culture Indulgence

Winter is hibernation season, during which we, and Chez Conner-Smith, put our jammies on as soon as the sun goes down and we are in for the night.

After which we indulge in prime time TV popular culture.

In my adult life, I have let go of any shame that I ever felt for enjoying popular culture, particularly television, and I just indulge with relish. My recent show are particularly low-brow, and I am almost prideful of how much I enjoy watching these shows:

The Good Wife, Nashville, and the deliciously soapy Revenge and Scandal. Of course there is Mad Men and Son’s of Anarchy, which we need to catch up with since we haven’t had premium cable for over a year now. That is also why we haven’t been able to enjoy Homeland yet, which I look forward to

And now it is award show season, which I guess you could say started with the Kennedy Center Honors, followed by the Golden Globes. Next of course is the Oscars. Honestly, I don’t care that much about the winners, but I do enjoy the self-celebration of the entertainment industry and remind myself of all of the TV shows and movies I want to see. Some of it is entertaining, some of it inspiring. Some of it is annoying and tedious.

Oh, and then of course there is the red carpet. I admit, I do love the fashion show!

I also indulge in erudite popular culture criticism. The critics I regularly follow are Linda Holmes of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, the folks at and Slate’s Pop Culture Gab Fest, Tim Goodman, David Bianculi and Bob Mondello.

And then there’s Music: Pandora, GrooveShark, and since I got my iPhone I have been addicted to TuneIn Radio and All Songs Considered and the NPR Music App.

Finally, and though it has already been a few weeks since it aired, this clip from the Kennedy Center Honors is still making me happy.