Reserved thanks for TV

Here we are again at that topsy-turvy time of year. It’s a holiday season we enter by professing thankfulness for all we have, only to do an abrupt about-face so we can concentrate on the season’s main theme: “What we have isn’t enough and we’ve got to get more.”

I’m feeling this even as a TV critic. I was going to mark Thanksgiving by mentioning a few of the things about TV that I feel grateful for. But now I realize my gratitude comes full of reservations.

I’m grateful for TV, but it isn’t enough and I want more.

One thing I’m definitely thankful for: the recent news that “Damages” will be back for two more years. In its just-concluded freshman season, this FX legal thriller was as crafty and addictive as anything on the air. But not enough viewers took the plunge, and there was reason to fear anemic ratings would spell the series’ doom. FX renewed it anyway.

I’m also thankful for NBC’s comedies “30 Rock” and “The Office.” And for the virtuosic skill of Hugh Laurie in the title role on Fox’s medical drama “House.” And for Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, each of whom provides a reality check on current events, along with the laughs.

I’m thankful for ABC’s “Lost” during those intermittent stretches when it rose to the level of its towering ambition (like the handful of episodes that brought last season to a haunting close). And for the weekly tapestry of color and design on “Pushing Daisies.”

I must say I’m thankful for TV’s drama and comedy writers, who are conspicuous in their absence -- or soon will be, as the writers strike leaves no new scripts to shoot. I’ve got an urgent Christmas wish: That the networks and studios stop playing Scrooge and work out a deal that demonstrates they’re as thankful for their writers as they should be.

In the meantime, I’m filled with misgivings about what might be ahead for viewers in the next weeks or months: current series stuck in repeat mode, joined by spur-of-the-moment reality fare with formulaic premises that, by comparison, make the stalest scripted series seem lily fresh.

More dancing and singing contests. Stunt challenges. Do-gooders. Dating shows and a mother-and-daughter beauty pageant. Contestants answering questions while strapped to a lie detector. Thankful for this?!

Fortunately, we can feel thankful for TV in ways that exist apart from its content. Like the delights of TV hardware, certain cool gadgetry that catches our eye and dares us to resist.

‘Tis the season to give in! Did I mention how, this time last year, I yielded to holiday-shopping mania and bought a high-def TV?

I had been a high-def holdout for so long! I told myself that screening programs on my plenty-good analog model gave me a “typical” viewing experience, sparing me from any details overload that might unduly affect how I judged the TV show I was reviewing.

Maybe I was just scared I couldn’t handle the truth. But I can. And I love it. (Although I’m challenged, at times, by the sight of unsuspected blemishes and wrinkles on some of TV’s most glamorous faces. Sometimes on HDTV, the devil really is in the details.)

In short, I’m very thankful for high-def. But, yes, I want more: I really wish I’d bought a bigger screen.

Another gadget I’m still feeling thankful for, even after many years of ownership: my digital video recorder. I love how this robotic archivist gathers TV and stores it, shielding me from any unnecessary contact with bad shows and commercials, as I watch the good stuff at my convenience.

But these days, of course, we don’t need to watch TV to see TV shows. More and more programming is available to us through other outlets, notably any computer within reach.

Just consider the iPod Nano, that featherweight marvel with the domino-size display. It lets us watch downloaded programs on the go. It connects the dots in our daily life, ensuring us that, even while in transit, we need never be deprived of TV’s companionship.

I don’t own a tiny TV companion -- yet. Sure, I want one, but I’m wavering. I’m torn between the coolness of this device (at its manageable price tag of a couple hundred bucks), clashing with the likelihood that I would never have reason to use it.

Should having no use for it settle the matter? Probably not. The holiday shopping season is revving into overdrive. Pressure mounts for everybody to throw money around. Shouldn’t I seize the moment to indulge myself? What’s the worst that could happen? As a viewer, I’m thankful but unsatisfied already.