...maybe that's because I haven't found the right thing to watch, but I really don't want to get sucked into something that isn't worth the time. I don't have HBO or Showtime, so I can't look forward to things like "Weeds" or "The Tudors" or anything else worth the time.

Summer seems to be the time of the reality series that couldn't make the cut for the fall season, but that the programming directors wanted to put on anyway. So what used to be the time to catch up on television shows that aired during the year has turned into newer sub-par programming instead. Oh sure, you get NCIS and House and CSI reruns - things that have substainable repeat ratings.

That's not to say that all summer television stinks, despite the title of this entry. ABC did something right by showing "Traveler". If you've not watched this show, get thee to ABC's website and watch what they have online - which, unfortunately, isn't every episode of the show. They have the two hour premiere and the most recent episode, but if you catch up now you won't miss *too* much out of the story.

I'm not going to give anything away about it by talking about the show, but it's a real grabber. Right up there with "Lost" and "Alias", but apparently J.J. Abrams has nothing to do with this show, and that might not be a bad thing considering the last thing that J.J. touched flamed out. "Traveler", however, only has an 8 episode commitment with ABC and we're about halfway through that. I'd love to see it extended because while it's clearly a serial series (which people allegedly are getting tired of), it's this generations "The Fugitive" and I could see it lasting for awhile.

So besides getting addicted to "Traveler" what else have I been watching so far? Well, there's "Who's Smarter Than a 5th Grader" which is still running new episodes, and I'm looking forward to "The Bill Engvall Show" on TBS. Other than that, it's been movies. So far "Better Off Dead", "One Crazy Summer" and "Summer School" have crossed my television screen. "Fire With Fire" and "Dirty Dancing" is next, and what I wouldn't give to have "Teachers" on DVD. I suspect that "Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink" will get a viewing too this summer before I turn to the other things in my rental queue. Hey, maybe there's an upside to this summer rerun season...

...I'll actually watch some movies.