Late Night Television

I usually get home from work at about 12:20 AM. Sometimes I turn on the television to see if there is anything worthwhile to watch. Unfortunately, the vast majority of channels are thoroughly worthless to me. But there are a few that suit my peculiar tastes.

On our digital TV service here in Gainesville, we can pick up the various Encore movie channels. Quite often, I'll find at least one movie on them that's good. On BBC-America, which recently had a marathon of James Bond movies, I can also watch episodes from the old, hilarious Monty Python's Flying Circus series. Bravo and AMC (American Movie Classics) are other good movie channels carrying some good films. And the Sci-Fi Channel and Spike occasionally show something interesting.

Besides movies, I like watching old series. Especially cartoon series. Niktoons currently shows old SpongeBob SquarePants episodes late at night. Also, I've grown somewhat attached to their cute My Life As a Teenage Robot series as well. But my current cartoon favorite is the side-splitting South Park, a series that I only discovered less than a year ago. My favorite episodes so far? Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes, obviously a satire on the negative reaction many have to Wal-Mart stores opening in their towns, and Manbearpig, which parodied Al Gore. My favorite South Park character? Who else but the villainous brat Eric Cartmen! I can pick up South Park on two different stations, as well as the Web.

Sometimes C-Span has an interesting replay of an interview or hearing (but usually not). Sometimes I can watch the end of a west-coast basketball game, or just a recap of the day's sports news. But sometimes the programming is pretty dried up for me. It is then that I flick over to MSNBC and watch the replays of their three "liberal" shows: Hardball (with Chris Matthews), Countdown (with Keith Olbermann), and Rachel Maddow. It's too bad that I can't receive this type of liberal commentary programming on my radio, which has been taken over by right-wing talk shows . And (like most other working human beings), I'm not allowed to watch TV on my job. However, I've recently discovered the many choices I have with downloadable podcasts, ranging the entire political spectrum, and to which I can listen almost anywhere on my MP3 player.

Finally, if the worst happens and all late-night programming stinks (or if I'm just in the mood), I turn my cable channels to the music stations they offer. My preferences? Alternative Rock, Soundscapes (new age music), Classical, and Retro Alternative.

Of course, the ultimate option in the absence of anything good on TV is to just turn it off and go on to bed!

But, wait! I've just discovered the ultimate soothing late-night channel: PBS's Sprout, which is aimed at pre-school audiences and is simple and sweet throughout its programming. It's obviously not very intellectually stimulating, but it has a very positive tone which is very relaxing to me.