Surviving the Hellatus

It used to be—or at least it seemed to me—that the hellatus mainly applied to Supernatural. I could get through it because, as long and lonely as the six to eight weeks off in midseason are, that wasn't universal. The other TV shows I watch used to be all staggered. Some started late in the season, so they went longer. Early cancellations mean shows finish out their run, maybe when they normally would have gone into repeats, and new shows premiere early.

This year, though, I seem to be facing a bigger entertainment desert. Almost all the shows I watch are finished and not coming back until late January. So I need to find some ways to fill in the gaps. Here's my plan:


1. Spend time with out-of-town family!
My brother, sister-in-law, and three-year-old nephew are coming to town for a few days next week. That will fill a few evenings! :)

2. Finally catch up on The Event.
I like Sean. (I think that's his name.) I want to see why he's such a target. Otherwise, there isn't another character on the show I really care about. That's the main thing missing. On FlashForward, I cared about almost everyone, even when they were bad. Anyway, I'm six or seven episodes behind at this point, so I'll have time to catch up.

3. Doctor Who!!!
For the first time, I'll be watching a Doctor Who Christmas special live, or close to it. He's smack in the middle of the Supernatural hellatus, and will be a welcome diversion.






4. Catch up on other shows
I'm mostly caught up, but Undercovers piled up a little, and there are a few shows I watch with my husband that we haven't been coordinated for.

5. Return of Leverage
Leverage only has three episodes, but that's an evening and a half covered! :)

7. Give The Cape a try
I wasn't too excited about this when I first read the synopsis back in May. But Summer Glau has a regular role, as does someone else I read that I now can't remember or find. Huh. Anyway, loving an actor doesn't make a show worth watching (Ref. No Ordinary Family), but it makes it worth trying. :)

8. Rewatch Season 5
I usually start at the beginning and rewatch all the seasons during the summer, but I started late this year, and ran out of time before this season began. I'm through season 4. Season 5 will keep me from going into withdrawal. :) Rewatching every episode so many times might seem excessive, but I love seeing little things—lines, actions, symbols—that feed into what goes on down the line, whether they were intentional at the time or not. Like Dean talking about the hole inside him after hell, and how that connects to Sam's decision not to seek his soul's return.

9. Put Netflix to its intended use
I had the DVD for Love and Basketball for more than three months before I watched it. I've been a little better with Entourage. After that, I really don't know what's in my queue. I'll try to burn through a lot of disks and Wii streaming during the break. Boost my stats for 2010 and get a good start to 2011.

10. Reading
I never stop, but during hiatus, I'll spend more evenings just reading, a cup of hot cocoa at my side and a kitty on my lap.

11. Okay, okay, I'll probably write, too.
After four years of working at home, I had my day structured nicely, and evenings were always for relaxing. Now that I have an outside day job plus freelance work into the early evening, my brain decides I'm done around dinner time. Writing late is problematic. But if I have no TV enticing me to just lie down on the couch and chill, maybe I'll increase the word count on my works in progress.

How about you? What will you fill this hellatus with?