Mindless Study Break Television
Bad TV shows to help you relax during midterms and final exams
Oct 28, 2006 Naomi Rockler-Gladen
Television can be a procrastination black hole, but in moderation, it can be a provide a relaxing, mindless study break to help you get back to work and study effectively.
After a long session with your textbooks, the last thing you want is something thought-provoking, so I recommend you veg out with the most mindless television you can find. Think TV of the "it's so bad it's good" variety. Fortunately, there's lots of garbage television,so you won't have a problem finding something to watch. Here are some suggestions for great mindless television for your study break.
- Walker, Texas Ranger. My students recommend this highly! Chuck Norris plays a martial artist and Texas Ranger. The dialog and acting are infamously bad, and the situations are ridiculous. The show aired from 1993-2001, and in syndication it has become a camp value favorite of bored college students everywhere.
- Program length ads. My dorm buddies and I watched these in the middle of the night for great stress relief during finals! The ecstasy that your fellow human beings display at discovering an $80 vegetable chopper is a train wreck you can't turn your head from.
- Old game shows on GSN. You gotta love the Game Show Network. You find yourself both making fun of contestants and rooting for them to win that refrigerator they want so desperately. 1970s game shows like Match Game and Let's Make A Deal are a blast to watch just to see the polyester bell bottoms, sideburns, and Afros. My favorite is Press Your Luck, the 1980s show where little red cartoon Whammys take your money.
- Flavor of Love. Another student favorite. This is possibly the worst reality TV show ever, and that's quite a distinction! This show is about a room full of "everyday women" (i.e. skanky out-of-work actresses) who cat fight as they earn the affections of Flavor Flav, everyone's favorite washed up rapper and reality TV whore.
- Sci Fi Network Movies. My husband loves these! They all have the same plot. A renegade dude (who's an engineer, environmentalist, or professor) battles a misguided authority figure (politician, corporate giant, or evil scientist) to save the Earth from catastrophe (massive thunderbolts, alien invasion, radioactive dinosaurs exploding out of the Earth's crust, or other unlikely disaster). This earns him the affections of an incredibly hot female scientist or reporter.
- Iron Chef. Watch two master chefs engaged in a grandiose battle on the Food Network, as they compete to make creative dishes using a surprise mystery ingredient. They create things like trout sorbet and fish eye fritters. There's a new U.S. version, but the old Japanese version is much cooler.
If you have suggestions for mindless television study breaks, leave them in the discussion below!
See more suggestions for Healthy Procrastination Habits such as Awesome Study Break Novels, Study Break Music, and Funny Movies for Study Breaks.
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