Accidentally Wednesday

Do people still accidentally get into TV shows these days? Things that you don't plan to watch, or follow in any way, but find yourself still tuning in, week after week, just to see what happens next.

I doubt it's really a thing anymore, with streaming services offering so much content that you're unlikely to stumble across something truly random, while the slow demise of broadcast television means you're not going to find it by flicking through the channels late at night, when you really should be going to bed. 

It's not like these types of programmes are quiet works of understated genius or anything, you know about the buzz that something is truly great is coming down the pipeline, usually because of the creative pedigree involved. They're the solidly mid-range shows, not awful, but not great.

The last time it really happened to me was the freakin' Vampire Diaries, where I watched some random episode at two in the morning, and then had to check out the next episode to see if Elena and Damon were okay (fuck Stefan, always), and then I was downloading whole seasons to catch up. 

I watched years of that bloody show, and none of it really stuck in my head, and that's okay.

But it can still happen. For some reason, the thumbnail for the Wednesday TV show, starring Jenna Ortega as a teenage version of the Addams Family legend, caught the three-year-old's eye, and he insisted we watch it for a while.

He got about half an hour before he got bored and wandered away, but I was just invested enough to get to the end of the first episode, and then thought I might as well see what happened in the second, and then I watched the whole damn thing.

It's not the greatest show in the world, although I can understand how other folk could get a lot more out of it than I could, as a twisted old fart watching things made for people decades younger than me. But it had enough small mysteries, a bit of charm and some crazy visual ideas, and that was more than enough to keeping me moving on to the next episode. 

(It's also got a great cast, especially on the female side, with wonderful work by Ortega, Emma Myers, Christina Ricci and Gwendoline Christie. The boys are mainly dull and forgettable and scowling, tall drinks of water all around, although Luis Guzman makes an excellent Gomez.)

I have no idea if they're making more of that show, and have no inclination to find out. It's not made for me after all. But if it pops up in my cultural feed somewhere in the future, I'll probably check it out, late at night, when there is nothing else on. Just because I accidentally got into something doesn't mean I can't stick with it.