It's interesting to me how many people have diametrically opposed views of what a 1:1 should be. Business meetings / status updates vs. personal discussion. Structured agenda vs. no agenda. Weekly vs. biweekly vs. monthly. Etc.
Yeah, you can definitely go the Andy Grove approach or even try to become your direct's friend(don't really recommend). Personally I think 1:1s are being used wastefully and have become the industry norm so people put up with them.