I actually like the cooking shows. On a lazy day, I've sometimes watched hours of them at a time. We live too far in the boonies to get cable, and our rabbit ear antenna only picks up about 5 stations -- ABC, CBS, NBC, WB, and one PBS station, which airs the cooking, home improvement, and travel shows on Saturdays. No shopping channels!

I watch things connected with history, mysteries, concerts, antique appraisals, and nature shows. Shows like "Law & Order" and "CSI" have been a regular part of my TV watching, but I'm getting a little burned out, since they have cloned them to the point that they're on every night of the week, with reruns on weekends.

Some of the new shows like "Criminal Mind" (lead role of criminal profiler played by Mandy Patinkin, mentioned here in the last few days) are actually disturbing. The gore is MUCH more explicit than we've seen on TV up till now (this is true of "CSI", as well). How far do we really want to delve into the minds of psychos, and how much do we want to dwell on all the devious and creative aspects of murder, with a "bullet cam" that lets us watch the bones splinter and the blood spurt as it tears through somebody's head or torso?

One new show has been a nice surprise -- my wife and I both watch together -- is "Numbers" (CBS), about an FBI guy's math-whiz brother, who uses his knowledge of statistical and numerical patterns, etc., to solve crimes.

Oprah and Dr. Phil are actually good sometimes, though I hit my limit with them fairly quickly. When the grandkids are here, there are several of the PBS Kids shows that we like to watch together.

Sit-coms are OUT for me. I can't think of a single one I've EVER liked. The same for reality shows like "Survivor" and "The Batchelor". Contrived political situations like "West Wing" and "Commander-in-Chief" get on my nerves, as well.