Author Spotlight Week - Barri Bryan shares her favorite TV shows

I don’t have a favorite TV show. I do have some favorite TV channels. I love the Turner Classic Movies channel. I especially like old ‘30s and 40s movies. I know that they’re always dated, sometimes sappy, and often politically incorrect, but I love them just the same. I am a big fan of Bette Davis movies. I also like Ann Harding and Merle Oberon. I have had a crush on Clark Gable since I was eight years old and saw him in a movie titled It Happened One Night. I absolutely love old 30s and 40s musicals, especially those that star Alice Faye, Judy Garland, or Ginger Rogers.

If I don’t care for the movie that is showing, I turn to the Cooking Channel. I like to watch Paula Deen cook all those delicious recipes that are loaded with butter or mayonnaise, or both. I like to watch Rachel Raye cook too. If there is nothing I care to watch, on either of these channels, I turn to a news channel. If the news is too depressing, I turn the off button and read a book.

I have recently begun watching old reruns of Star Trek with my grandson, who is a big Trekkie fan. And I must say that even though I didn’t think at first that I would like them, I find I’ve become a fan too.

Author Spotlight Week - Michelle Levigne shares her favorite TV Series

Favorite TV series .... current or old?

Old series .... M*A*S*H -- after BJ and Col. Potter joined the cast. The writers explored a lot of issues, dealt with real questions of ethics and responsibility. Before those 2 characters joined, most of the episodes were ... stupid, focused on sex and drinking and flouting authority whenever possible. After ... the characters grew and changed. I liked how Margaret changed, her relationships, her friendships with the nurses. I liked how Hawkeye learned to play nice, to get off his high horse and listen and let Col. Potter teach him about what really matters. All the characters were good people with rough edges, thrown together in a horrid situation, and trying to do some good. I can still remember how life effectively STOPPED short on campus, when that last episode of M*A*S*H aired. Every single TV in every single dorm was watching it. (Okay, almost every TV was tuned to Luke and Laura's wedding, too, but honestly ....) That says something about the pervasiveness of a show that has something to say to everyone.

I was always irritated that I never got a chance to propose a script to the producers. I was a drama student, still learning screenwriting, but I had ideas!