A TV Slump

This weekend is WhoFest DFW, a Doctor Who convention brought to you by a lot of the same people who do FenCon. I'll be one of the non-celebrity panelists. A lot of my panels aren't specifically about Doctor Who, but are more about other things you might like if you like Doctor Who.

And it seems that I have developed a convention anxiety nightmare. It's related to the standard school anxiety nightmare that I still have, more than twenty years after I graduated. You know the one -- you've realized that you have a final in a class you forgot you were taking. In my most common variation, I can't even remember where the class is, so I have to go back to my dorm room and tear it apart to find my class schedule, and then all kinds of crazy obstacles arise to keep me from getting to the class. In the convention version, I realize that there's a panel I was supposed to be on that I forgot about that's starting right that very minute, so I have to rush to get there before it ends. Crazy obstacles arise. Somehow it morphs from me being in the same hotel as the convention to having to get across town, crossing large bodies of water, etc. Supposedly, this kind of dream indicates a very responsible person because your greatest nightmare is failing in a responsibility.

I have to admit that I haven't been as keen on Doctor Who lately. I never warmed to Clara as a sidekick, and I don't know if that's why the new Doctor isn't really working for me. I still like it, but there's a different energy, and it's not really the energy I prefer. I enjoy it while it's on but barely think of it later, and I don't find myself anticipating new episodes.

This actually seems to be a slumping year for a lot of things I enjoy. They've done some interesting things on Grimm, but they've also done some big "huh?" things that haven't worked, and then they've bungled some of the potentially interesting things. This season of Downton Abbey got so ridiculous that I might actually be hate-watching more than I'm enjoying it. The jury's still out on whether the veering widely from the books is going to help or hurt A Game of Thrones. Once Upon a Time has just gone off a cliff to the point I'm not sure it can be salvaged (pro tip: it's a really, really bad idea to suggest that the characters in a fictional story don't actually have free will and have a predestined outcome. Why should we care what they do, then? Also, darkening the heroes doesn't make the villains look better in comparison, especially if the "darkening" makes no sense). They're exploring some interesting concepts on Person of Interest, but it's just getting so very bleak that it's not pleasant to watch. About the only light spot on TV for me right now, where I enjoy it while it's on and don't end up depressed, is Forever, which gives me all kinds of warm fuzzies, but I don't think it's long for this world. It's not likely to get another season.

I guess the upside is that if TV becomes too unpleasant to watch, that will free up a lot of time for me.

Now I need to figure out what to wear this weekend and double check my schedule so I don't realize at the last second that I'm missing a panel so I have to make a mad dash across town.