She killed her man, buried him in a 12 ft hole in the backyard, covered it with a concrete patio, waited for the newly-acquired life insurance payout, while living in the Turks and Caicos with her young gay lover – Who would have expected that?

Being laid up after an accident, you tend to have some time on your hands. Too much time sometimes.

I don’t normally watch a lot of tv. When I do, I’m partial to a good series such as Six Feet Under, Luther or House of Cards. Or comedies such as This Hour has 22 minutes, Mr. D., etc. And of course, the news.

Recently, though, I’ve sunk to a new personal low. So low, I’m high! I’ve even enjoyed it! I’ve sort of become addicted to the NBC-produced show Dateline: Real Life Mysteries. The producers sure know how to work the audience and could easily stand accused of being melodramatic. The true-life and often times bizarre machinations of the characters draw you in. Or at least it has done so to the ailing-me.

With the assistance of a PVR (Personal Video Recorder), and TLC  (The Learning (??) Channel), I’ve been taping the 10 or so episodes that appear as repeats each week. The show has been around for 24 years and I’ve never watched it before so I’m somewhat concerned about what I’ve gotten myself into. Each episode is an hour long but, thanks to the PVR, I’m able to eliminate commercials and  the plot re-caps that follow each commercial break, as well as the plot-twist teasers that precede each commercial set. My guess is there’s about 30 minutes in each show once you eliminate that.

And what a wallop they manage to pack into those 30 minutes – the look-back at the budding high school romance, the blissful early years of a growing family, followed by the all-too-quick dulling of the romance, the ensuing dalliances, and the fateful conclusion. Or the caring but tormented employee. Or the dark stranger in the dark suburbs. The pillar of the community reduced to a crumple. No matter what the situation, you can always count on a few interesting twists and turns to accompany the sad and woeful circumstances the real-life characters find themselves in.

Some of you may be surprised to read me regaling such fare. I don’t think I’m necessarily taking the position of trumpeting the show or others of it’s ilk, but I am saying that I find it interesting that I’ve been drawn into it’s web. My sense is that the mundane and drudgery of being stuck inside as I recover, combined with the cold of winter, have created fertile grounds. Moreover, as the control or limitations brought on by PD exert themselves more forcibly, the invitation to “escape” and be parachuted into other’s lives in other exotic locales, is difficult to deny.

However, all is not lost. As I feel more able to get about, I already feel like I’m able to devote less time to tuning in to this show. As winter morphs into spring, which it inevitably will one day, I’m sure that the invitation to escape to the outdoors will be even harder to resist. And then, I’ll likely sever my relationship with Dateline. Sure, I may be drawn back for the proverbial fling or two in the years ahead, but I’ve learned a thing or two from this show that will keep me in good stead. First, you can never be sure of what lies ahead. Second, enjoy the every day “ordinariness” of every day- we don’t need the drama that so many folks from this show have in theirs. And third, if you ever want to commit a crime like murder, don’t google “how do you commit murder?” on your computer. Or read blogs with titles like this for that matter!

Ok, back to to Lester Holt and Keith Morrison for the conclusion of Killing in Kissimmee: Murder in the Misty Moody Moonlight.