TV Round Up…
Alrighty. Figure I’d put this up for posterity’s sake. These are the shows that currently occupy my viewing time. I rarely turn the TV on unless there’s something I actually want to watch on, and these are it. Them. Thingy.
Must Watch
The shows that I absolutely cannot miss.
Chuck
I’ve already spazzed my pants over how much I like Chuck, so I’ll just leave it at that. I will say that, as it’s on at the same time as The Big Bang Theory, I usually watch BBT and then wait for one of the later showings of Chuck. (This is why having Satellite sometimes doesn’t suck; I get a three hour timeshift on everything.)
Dirty Jobs
I often make the mistake of watching this while eating dinner. Still, I’ve loved this show since I found out they pixellate it when anybody vomits. Now if they’d just scramble the vomit audio, it’d be fantastic.
Flashpoint
Absolutely genius show. The editing, the acting and the writing all make me positively gleeful. Also, it made me cry once. I never cry. (I can count the number of times TV/Film have made me cry on one hand. And still have three fingers free.) It’s come a long way from the pilot episode that I described as ‘Eliot DiMauro, The Pink Ranger, and a guy that looks like Josh Charles walk into a hostage situation…’
Grey’s Anatomy
It’s my guilty pleasure. It’s ridiculous and self-involved and I have no idea wtf they’re doing with Izzy and George used to own me but now he doesn’t because he got lame but, Oh! I can’t stop watching. Fun Fact: The only TV show I’ve ever been addicted to where I would happily smite the two main characters (Derek and Meredith) without batting an eyelid.
Leverage
Leverage makes me squee a little like Flashpoint. It’s a bit more heavy handed and clearcut in its Morality Tales than Flashpoint, but the acting, editing and writing make me keep coming back. Also, ever since Jekyll, I’ve wanted to see Gina Bellman with another meaty role. (I seriously could not stand Jane in Coupling.)
NCIS
This. Just for the fact that I believe that DiNozzo (not so) secretly loves McGee.
Nip/Tuck
This show is on crack. It’s so damn hard to follow because a metric arsetonne of plot development happens offscreen (wtf, writers? Do your job more gooder!) and half the time it seems like they’re throwing darts at a dartboard covered with Enquirer Articles to come up with plotlines. (Also, Lesbians don’t just need a good hard cocking. If you do it again I’m going to have to assume that you’ve hired Russel T. Davies on the writing staff and Nip/Tuck’s going to take a turn to some dodgy sci-fi.)
Psych
It’s simple, yet effective. Sometimes I think both Sean and Gus are dicks (a character in a comedy shouldn’t know he’s in a comedy…), but it’s still got a high Laugh-to-Airtime ratio. Also, Psych Outs! (Which were much better when they were spontaneous… Just saying.)
Robot Chicken
I always used to tell people that I didn’t watch Robot Chicken – I put it on and watched my mother watch Robot Chicken. Her face would become so expressive, shifting from ‘wtf?’ to ‘No, seriously, WTF?’ to ‘Ow. My brain.’ in a matter of seconds. (Of course, I’ve been addicted since they had Sephiroth as the manager of a burger store. /nerd)
Supernatural
It’s up against Grey’s Anatomy, so I usually go with whichever one I feel like watching that day and then catch the timeshift. But, yes. Loving that they got back to Monster of the Week and am really kinda of over the Angels and Demons thing. I’d like to see them balance it a bit more evenly, but, hey, monsters. N’stuff.
The Big Bang Theory
So much freaking love for this show. Going by the ‘Laughs-to-Airtime’ ratio: Everybody Loves Raymond is a 0:20, The Big Bang Theory is 20:20. (3 before the opening credits is awesome in my books.)
United States of Tara
I’m kind of glad I didn’t know this was created by Diablo Cody before I started watching it. I thought Juno was a print-out and Lucy-shuffle of Urban Dictionary that was sweet, but had few other redeeming qualities. (Unpopular opinion is unpopular.) But, United States of Tara manages to go a little beyond that. Sure, it has the token Genius Male Child and Slutty and Sassy Female Child Trope of Doom and Despair, but it also has Toni Collette, who is kind of amazing in the role. A far cry from Muriel, truth be told.
On the Backburner
Either cancelled or got ahead of me or I’m holding off on making a judgement until I’ve seen more. Or they’re on the way out… Alas.
Burn Notice
What can I say, it got ahead of me. It was moved around and fasttracked, slowtracked, backtracked and asspacked back home before I moved, so I lost track (ha! punny.) of what was going on and I don’t like coming in in the middle of a plotline. So, I’m either going to have to wait until the box set comes out, or find someone with all the eps on DVR. See Also: Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless. Win!
Demons
It could be so good. It could be interesting. It could strive to be a little less of a Buffy knockoff. But that’s not really going to happen because it’s from the BBC, and their kids oriented sci-fi is never that crash hot. Watchable, but only just. (Jekyll? Now there was some quality sci-fi. Yay, grownups!)
Dexter
Also got ahead of me. I was travelling, it was travelling, we took different roads and now I don’t know what’s going on with it. I do know that Dexter married Deb (offscreen), which hopefully won’t effect how I watch the show, but after Dexter started getting chummy with the DA, I have no clue what’s going on. Alas.
Eureka
It has been gooone forever! I’ve heard rumours of it coming back at some point this year, but I haven’t been paying enough attention to know exact dates. If there are exact dates. Anyway, it’s big dumb fun and I want it to come back. We’ll just ignore the fact that I think Zane is the bastard offspring of John Sheppard and Rodney McKay (if the Ancients could come up with a personal shield and a time travelling puddlejumper, they could come up with something to send the genetic offspring of two men back in time to midwest America. S’all I’m saying.)
Heroes
I still kind of watch it, but I don’t find it as gripping as it used to be. I think all the timetravelling, retconning, power-swapping has gotten to be a bit much. And I’m saying that as someone who plays all the sidequests and whatnot in video games (see: Final Fantasy VII reference earlier). It’s just a little… ho-hum. (Impossible to please fan is impossible to please.)
Lie To Me
I’m reserving judgment on this one until I’ve seen more. Tim Roth with his own accent is awesome, but as it stands it hasn’t grabbed me and it’s a little too Criminal Minds for me. Time will tell…
MythBusters
Basically, it’s a non-linear show so I don’t need to keep track of it. I mostly just watch it for the explosions, anyway. Yay, explosions!
Pushing Daisies
I adored it, but I lost track of it. I know it was cancelled, but I have no idea if they showed the last episode or not. I am way outta the loop on this one. Still, I adored its brightness and use of colour. It was (talking in the past tense here, uh oh) like Amélie meets Delicatessen; lavish and lush, light and bubbly, but with an undercurrent of darkness (without the cannibalism, natch).
Reaper
Thanks to looking up the other shows on TV.com, I just found out that Reaper’s returning at the end of February! Yay! For the longest time, my away message was “Sock, Bees are not nesting in your crotch.” ‘Nuff said.
Stargate: Atlantis
It’s not over until I’ve seen the last few episodes. And there are five waiting for me to shed the denial. Whatever they say, a telemovie and a brand new show (with Francis Fucking Begbie, wtf?) are no substitute.
True Blood
Just waiting for it to come back. Judgement reserved until after it’s cancelled. Until then…