What The? A Two Month Vacation?!?!

Apparently, these days, working in television is the gig you want to have. Work for two and a half months, take two months off, work three months, and be off the rest of the season until new episodes come back in September.Thank God for my DVR because I can never tell when the show is going to be on half the time.

Now, I understand how shows take time off in December. I will admit that is really a smart idea. People have holiday parties (and Christmas movies to watch) and shopping, (Christmas movies) and all the other joyous tasks like baking and wrapping and tagging and shipping. Oh, and did I mention watching Christmas movies? Not being a slave to my television schedule for the month of December so I can concentrate on my kid's holiday concerts, making ornaments, and party hopping is a nice little break. Or it should be. Little that is.

Unfortunately, that's just how it started. Now they morph that break into 4, or 5, or sometimes as much as 8 (EIGHT!) weeks off. The best part? The last episode before break is called "The Mid-Season Finale". When did this become a thing? Because now almost all of my shows are advertising the exciting "Mid-Season Finale" that's airing. (Or well, maybe they were, I live in DVR-land where everything is new, even when it's been there for a week or two.)

Do you know, after eight weeks, it's going to take me half the episode the remember what went on in the mid-season finale? That's 30 minutes of confusion while my addled brain plays catch up and 30 minutes of relief that I DO (finally) remember and the brain's not completely gone yet. For what? Why torture us television junkies who need our "fix" of new episodes and fresh scenes with our "people"? What did we do to deserve sitting through dreary January, twiddling our thumbs, looking for old Friends or Seinfeld re-runs to keep us busy? It's not as if they do it to extend the season. Nope, they still start in September and end in May. And they've even played around with those dates, stretching the premiere to the very end of September, or maybe the beginning of October, and ending the first week of May, maybe second if you're lucky.

The Walking Dead fans are not so lucky because those bastards end in March and make us salivate six months until new shows start again all the way until October!! (The horror!)

SO, yes, it's a trivial and superficial gripe that I have. (And believe me, I know how lucky I am to have such petty things to complain about. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.) But it's a legit gripe dangit. And once my sugar high of Christmas movies ends, I'll be jonesing for a new tv fix like the addict I am. I wonder if I can DVR enough movies to get me through January? Hmmmm......