Favorite TV shows?

Daily Challenges:
Day 1 – Write some basic things about yourself
Day 2 – 10 likes & dislikes
Day 3 – The meaning behind your Open Diary name
Day 4 – Your day, in great detail
Day 5 – Five places you want to visit and why
Day 6 – What band/musician is most important to you?
Day 7 – Do you read? What are your favorite book?
Day 8 – Pet Peeves
Day 9 – If you could live off of one food and beverage for the rest of your days, what would they be?
Day 10 – Post a picture of your desktop
Day 11 – What is your favorite quote?
Day 12 – Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is
Day 13 – Three confessions of your choice
Day 14 – Things you want to say to an ex
Day 15 – A photo of someone you fancy at the moment
Day 16 – If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you do with your remaining time on earth?
Day 17 – What do you want to be when you get older?
Day 18 – Name the tv show(s) you have become addicted to
Day 19 – The best thing to happen to you this week
Day 20 – Your definition of love
Day 21 – What kind of person attracts you?
Day 22 – A picture of what you wore today
Day 23 – A letter to someone. Anyone
Day 24 – Would you rather date someone plain with an amazing personality or someone beautiful with a plain personality?
Day 25 – Seven things that cross your mind a lot
Day 26 – How you hope your future will be like
Day 27 – A picture of your handwriting
Day 28 – Do you wish for anything at 11:11? If so, what do you wish for?
Day 29 – Picture of yourself
Day 30 – Anything you want to post

 

Okay, back in the saddle.

This question is kind of awkward for me. When it comes to TV shows, I’m a feast or famine kind of guy. I can go months without following a single show, and then I’ll suddenly decide to binge on a specific show or two, and just tear through every episode I can find of it until there’s nothing left, like a glutton. As such, I try to keep away as to keep from making days just sort of disappear in a flurry of episodes.

So, yeah. I’m not really watching much of anything on a regular basis right now. I guess I’ll just list out my favorites I’ve watched in recent days. In reverse order.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Something about this show always brings me back. Maybe it’s nostalgia, bringing me back to the 90s. Maybe it’s the very casual, breezy dialogue that’s now Joss Whedon’s gift to the nerd world at large. It’s not really that brilliantly written – plot points take a strict backseat to snippy dialogue, and character interaction. Just note how many times there’s an episode with Buffy angsting over whatever guy she’s attached to at that given point, and how the plot where if this demon gets this gauntlet of Az-Kaban or whatever, then the world will end. When she destroys the demon of the day, it seems almost an afterthought to how she’s feeling about her more mundane concerns.

But you know what? That’s how you connect with characters, and relate to them. That’s what I like to watch shows for. And given how hardcore a following this show still has, I’m hardly alone in that.

Game of Thrones – I wince even typing that, realizing that that title is all the overwhelming majority of people out there recognize George RR Martin’s work, whereas I and other bibliophiles recognize that as simply the title of the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

A dear friend introduced me to the books in college, and I ravaged through them in the span of weeks. I loved the dark fantasy trimmings, the fact that no character was intrinsically good, even though many of them could be viewed as flat out evil. The bottom line is that all of them are simply trying to survive in a tumultuous world where a wrong step can easily lead to a beheading, or even worse, in the case of some(no spoilers). So again, I was attracted to the human element.

I didn’t really want to like this show when it came out. I knew the books would still be better, and so they are. But the casting is so cleverly done, I couldn’t help but be drawn in from the first episode on. And shockingly, the scenes that are obviously not in the books are actually really well done, and not out of place at all*. Somehow, HBO made a good show out of a series of books that I used to consider impossible to adapt, just because of their sheer size.

*The scene with Robert and Cersei talking about his first love was nothing short of brilliant. The scene with Littlefinger basically being a porn director, while discussing his motivations out loud like a super villian? Could’ve done without that one.

So, yeah. Can’t wait to add Season 2 to my DVD collection. I still wince whenever someone mentions it and talks about how awesome it is because of how many boobs are shown, though.

Adventure Time – Just for something a little different. Yes, I still watch cartoons.

I didn’t really want to watch this show at first, because the art looked like something an elementary schooler would do. But after I sat down and watched an episode with friends who invited made me sit down with them and check it out, I realized something. This show is flat out hilarious.

Finn and Jake have a bromance most people could only dream about, and their adventures are truly amazing and hilarious. The show also has an amazing supporting cast, all capable of making me laugh at any time. Every single episode I’ve watched has made me laugh out loud at some point,  made me smile, and feel like a kid again. That’s the sign of a good cartoon.

Top Gear – I really, really like cars. I know the makes and models of tons of them, past and present. I’m hardly a gear head, though. The best I can do is change my own oil if I have to, or change out basic stuff like tires and batteries.

That hardly matters, though, because this show is for anyone who likes driving at all. It doesn’t really matter to me if you’re talking about the UK version with Jezza, Hamster, and Captain Slow, or the American version with Rutledge, Tanner, and Adam. I enjoy them both a lot, even if a lot of stuff they do is obviously staged. That bothers some people, but you know? It’s TV. Everything you see is staged to some degree, by the very definition of it. No matter how much it claims to be reality. Which brings me to the next thing…

The History channel fluff shows (Pawn Stars, American Restoration, American Pickers, Counting Cars) – I lump all these together, because they fill the same niche for me. They’re something I like to watch while I’m eating a quick lunch, and then I can get back up and carry on the rest of my day with no real attachment.

Some people get bothered by the whole thing about "What they’re doing

isn’t real! They’re fakes! Rargh!"

Well, duh. Again, it’s TV. I don’t actually believe that if I went to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, that I’d see Chumlee behind the counter. I didn’t even bother going to visit the place when I was in Vegas. I guarantee you it’s just a tourist trap with lots of T-shirts on sale.

Nor do I think there’s lots of hoarders out in the Midwest that are suddenly magically willing to give up their hard earned collections to Mike Wolfe on handshake deals.

Nah, I just like to watch it because those shows do show some cool stuff, and offer some interesting background information on them that I might not have actually known before watching. It’s hardly an educational show, but it’s fun to ingest. Kind of like a donut: hardly healthy, but light enough that it likely won’t kill you by itself.

and lastly…

Almost anything on Food Network/The Cooking Channel –

This is less true than it used to be, now that Good Eats doesn’t have any new episodes, but I still love, love, love cooking shows. I could watch them all day, and go try something they make later in the day.

 

Aaaand… now that that’s out of the way, here’s a mega list of the shows I want/need to see, that I haven’t gotten to yet, but plan to sooner or later.

Arrow

The Walking Dead

Breaking Bad

The Big Bang Theory (watched a fair bit of them, but need to see em all)

The Wire

Mad Men

Doctor Who (I’m lagging quite a bit on the Matt Smith episodes)

Community

 

There’s probably more, but that’s all I can think of for the moment. More stuff later!