Not much it turns out.
I have some catching up on my favorite TV shows to do, but if I don’t watch anything for a whole week, I am not bothered either.
For once lets talk about something quite mundane. Watching TV. I don’t own one, I don’t need one, I really don’t like TV. It has developed into something unbearably stupid and the crap one has to suffer through on a daily basis, if one so chooses, is mind numbing.
And let’s not get started on commercials.
However, I do like a bunch of TV shows. I’ve watched a few and many popular shows, but on many I’ve given up eventually, because they kept on going beyond their expiration date and that’s never a good idea.
Few I watched through to the end and fewer still made it into my “Hall of Fame”.
There is, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Loved it when it first aired, love it still, want to own the DVD box. Love it with a capital L.
Xena The Warrior Princess. Tacky as it was and wildly historically inaccurate, I loved it and watched it religiously. I showed up late for lunch on Sundays in order to catch the whole episode.
Babylon 5. Classic. Complex. Science fiction, baby.
Deep Space 9. My favorite Star Trek show. Cried tears when the last episode ended.
Stargate SG1 above all, but I did really like the other shows as well. Still, it ran for ten years and I would still watch it today, if it had continued. Loved the ending, too.
Battlestar Galactica. OMG. Seriously, the best sci fi show ever.
Life. An oddity few have heard of. I love it, the ending of it’s short two season run felt utterly satisfying and for that alone it’ll always be one of my favorites.
My so-called life. One season short it became an absolute classic. I watched it when I was actually Angela Chase’s age and it meant the world.
Boston Legal. Brilliant, funny, surprisingly stunning cast, because I never liked James Spader before that and Bill Shatner had this air of being a complete tool in real life, but was brilliant on the show.
Lost. For all its flaws and plot holes and unresolved story lines, I loved the show from the first to the last minute.
Charmed. Yes, I, too, wanted to be a Halliwell sister.
Fringe. I came late to the party as in: I started watching it after the fourth season had aired completely, but before the start of season five. I don’t usually marathon a show, but once I got into it, I didn’t want to stop.
Six feet under. A gem. Such a rare gem with such a stellar cast. The ending blew me away.
My only current obsession is Warehouse 13. Which will be added to above list regardless of what else happens on this show.
Shows I really enjoy watching and have for years are NCIS and Bones. Love the cast and their chemistry and the humour. There are precious few other reasons, because the crime of the week doesn’t really interest me much anymore. Those are just the background to the personal stories that play out.
Rizzoli and Isles is another one. The chemistry of the two leads is amazing and they’re hilarious. The plot? Bah, forget it but. Total run of the mill crime show. The two leads are the only reason the show is still running.
Glee. A guilty pleasure I can’t say no to. The character “developments” are almost all idiotic or unrealistic. Somehow, though, they manage to get the gay and lesbian characters on the show right. Not necessarily their story lines, but the characters and their journeys are the only thing this show manages to somehow get right. So I keep watching, because Kurt and Santana are the absolute best.
Pretty Little Liars is another such guilty pleasure, but it is so damn well written and shot and keeps me on the edge of my seat over and over again, that I have to come back to it every time.
Mind you, I’ve listed a few shows here, but most of them aren’t running anymore. There are a few more I check in on the regular, but don’t watch religiously, won’t ever need to re-watch and if they stopped tomorrow, I wouldn’t know the difference.
With the exception of Revolution, though, which is still new and I haven’t seen it all. I only watch if for Elizabeth Mitchell. I’ve been following her since I saw her on Gia opposite Angelina Jolie. I’ve had a crush on her ever since. I feel deprived when she’s not on my screen in a TV show as a regular or even in a guest role.
Just check her out, if her smile doesn’t make your heart melt whatever your sexual orientation may be, you have no heart. Plus, she’s totally adorkable in real life as well. It’s insane.
So what if TV broke down over night and we could never watch anything again. I’d be ruining my eyes reading, and sometimes I’d miss it, sure.
Thing is, I don’t watch TV, but as we’ve established have a few shows I love, have loved and like to follow. If you check them out again, they all have something in common, especially my all time favorites.
Stories. And great characters. Never mind, if good or evil, but definitely well written.
I am a story teller. I appreciate good, no, great stories in any medium. TV is one easily accessible and quite compact in its format. A story can be told in 45 minutes. Or in six seasons.
I learn through story. I take something out of them and keep it, if it is a scientific fact, trivia, or something ultimately human. I see the value in almost any story.
I never just watch for the pure enjoyment, though sometimes it’s the main reason, but if it is a good story, I will take something from it and story inspires story. It’s a never ending cycle.
The good kind that makes me want to write. Even, in this instance, only about the shows that I enjoy watching. Although I may be outed as geek now. If you didn’t realize that by now, though, I can’t help you.
I’m an out and proud geek, deal with it.
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