What’s good on TV?

// April 7th, 2009 // fun

After realizing I hadn’t been writing about Lost and the distress I must have caused my readers, I next discovered that I also neglected passing on my insights on TV shows in general.

Because my insights are better than yours.

Okay, they aren’t…but that doesn’t stop me from pretending that you all care about what I think is worth watching, so here we go.

Before I go any further, I should make a note that I’ve given up watching 24, even though a lot of people think this season has been pretty good. I just found my Monday nights getting waaaay too busy with shows, plus others were more interesting to me.

I’ve also given up watching Gary Unmarried, even though it’s highly underrated and incredibly funny.

The way we watch TV these days is a bit different too. Lyla kind of dictates that a lot, but I think we’re just mellowing out a bit on when and where we watch our shows. That is to say, we no longer stress out about watching shows the same night they are on TV.

There are only a few we make sure we practically watch live (if you can believe it): Amazing Race and Lost.

We tend to watch stuff when we watch it now, which has been a good change. I think there is sometimes this artificial pressure to make sure you watch everything the night it’s on, just so you can talk about it the next day. A lot of that may stem from when I was with Pop Critics and all that was really important.

For example, we have 8 episodes of Damages sitting on our DVR…we stopped watching it for some reason, but weren’t ready to give it up, so we’re saving them for the summer.

Now, enough babble…here are my favorite shows right now…not including stuff that is off-season right now, like Burn Notice, etc. Also absent are The Soup, Letterman, PTI, etc…I’m talking Primetime series here people!

  1. Lost - What else? Awesome season so far
  2. Fringe - It’s back tonight! Been a pleasant surprise…the show has gotten better and better as the season went on
  3. Chuck - Believe it or not, this show is good. It’s steadily improved and is one of those series I look forward to every week. It’s a bummer not more people watch it…there is a real danger of cancellation I guess.
  4. The Amazing Race – Love, love, love this show.
  5. Smallville - The awesome season continues…it’s never been this good before, I’m as surprised as you are that it’s #6 on my list.
  6. Breaking Bad – I hardly know anyone who watches this show, but it’s great. Dark, sometimes disturbing, but definitely great. Who knew Bryan Cranston could go from comedy to drama and be awesome?
  7. Scrubs - If this is the final season, it’s been a good one thus far. I love Kelso sitting at the coffee shop getting muffins tossed his way anytime he wants.
  8. Reaper - No one watches this show, it’s in real danger of being canceled. But it’s fantastic, funny, witty and well-written. I’m totally going to miss it if this is the last season.
  9. Castle – Love anything Nathan Fillion does, and this show is no exception. Funny and light-hearted.
  10. 30 Rock/The Office – I find these funny still, but I no longer rush to watch them on Thursday nights. Not really sure why…
  11. Dollhouse - A Joss Whedon show, so I naturally checked it out, and have been enjoying it. Mixed reviews on it, I wouldn’t say it’s awesome or anything, but I dig a good Friday night, sci-fi show, especially now that BSG is gone.
  12. Honorable mentions: Heroes, My Boys. Still watching Heroes, it’s gotten a bit better, but we’ll see how the rest of the season goes. My Boys…it’s on USA and hilarious. Jina watched it the first season without me, but I’ve become a fan.

That’s it I think…but wait, there’s more! New/old shows premiere this week:

  • Rescue Me – Back for another season, I’m excited, but not many people I know watch it.
  • Southland - Ben McKenzie from The O.C. stars in this new NBC show to replace ER, and the Olbinskis are looking forward to it. The reviews have been great so far.
  • The Unusuals - Has some interesting actors in this one, sort of a weird show from what I hear, so of course I’m checking it out.

What are your favorite shows right now? Are you going to check out Southland or The Unusuals?

8 Responses to “What’s good on TV?”

  1. Adam says:
    April 7, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    I gave up Smallville mid-season last year… I just felt I wasn’t getting much in return for my time. I enjoyed it occasionally. I’m glad to see it’s on your list, though, maybe it’s gotten a bit better. I told myself I’d pick it up on DVD eventually…

  2. Mike says:
    April 7, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    Adam, I was with you…I would have given it up after last year but felt I was too invested to not see where it went.

    This season has been amazing…the development of the Doomsday character (not to mention Sam Witwer from BSG is fantastic) has in particular been great. Suspenseful and dark.

    Even the romance of Clark and Lois has been done very well.

    It’s all really been good…hard to believe how sucky it was last year.

  3. Cristi says:
    April 7, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    Okay, I’ll throw my few cents in…

    Reaper: LOVE IT. It’s a sleeper, but once you see a couple episodes, it’s addicting, hilarious. I don’t know all the character names (besides Sam), but I love the relationship between the Hispanic guy and the beautiful demon monster! She cracks me up.

    Fringe: I like this one too! Glad it’s back… but I could really do without the stupid dad/scientist…. I seriously cannot stand him.

    Monday night line up — omgosh, don’t bother calling me past 7PM: House, HEROES (my new fave), Medium (entertaining ~ could take it or leave it), Paranormal State, then Psychic Kids (never believed in ‘that kind of stuff’ until I watched a few episodes ~ I know, it’s not Christian, which I am).

    Another one that is good is LEVERAGE with Timothy Hutton. Just came on too darn late at night.

    Other than those, I really just stick to Nancy Grace, 20/20, Dateline, 48 Hours Mystery…. those types of real-life shows.

    PS: If anyone watches HOUSE…. why was Foreman giving #13 the cold shoulder after Kutner’s death? My husband was talking about the darn cat, and I missed a few moments.

  4. ReaperDMV says:
    April 7, 2009 at 10:52 pm

    Calling all Reaper fans! Our show needs our help. The creators are leaving, and while this doesn’t look good for our show, you can still let the CW know you want Reaper to continue even without them.

    Domestic and International fans, use email:

    feedback@CWTV.com

    http://www.cwtv.com/feedback/comments

    Please don’t stay silent. They’ll never know how much you’d like Reaper to stay if you never tell them. Executive Producer Tom Spezialy’s still around, and lots of shows do just fine even after a change in the guards.

    Domestic fans: since snail mail campaigns work best, here’s the address for Dawn Ostroff at the CW:

    Reaper
    Attn: Dawn Ostroff
    CW Network
    3300 W. Olive Avenue
    Burbank, CA 91505

    Please consider taking a moment to send in a letter or postcard. Even as simple a line as “please renew Reaper” helps. And spread the word!

  5. Cap'n Schwartz says:
    April 8, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    #1 “Before I go any further, I should make a note that I’ve given up watching 24″ WHAT?!!?!?! Total sacaralidge… you’re gonna have to forfeit your Jack Bauer!!!! You invested all that time in 24 and gave up Jack Bauer to pick up Dollhouse?!?! I dont see that one… Though Helo on most anything is cool…

    #2 Smallville – The awesome season continues…it’s never been this good before, I’m as surprised as you are that it’s #6 on my list you actually have it listed at number 5, hehe…. and you know you can count on a comment from me on this one…. IT RAWKS… =)

    #3 Still never seen an episode of Fringe…

    #4 Have all the Castles recorded, havent seen em yet, saving them like you are till other shows die down for the season and then will catch up on them all…

    #5 You didnt mention Life… are you watching it?

    #6 Sarah Connor … you watching that trash? Its boring as hell, I refuse to give it up… man its a yawn fest…

  6. Mike says:
    April 8, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    Cap’n, you are right about Smallville, I think I moved it up and forgot to change the number :)

    I stopped watching Life for some reason, but it’s all recorded in the bedroom DVR. I guess tonight was the finale and it was good, so I’ll have to watch it. Still like it…but maybe it’s the fact that it interfered with stuff in the livingroom that it seemed less important.

    Gave up Sarah Connor, borrrrring. I wanted to like it, but it just sucks.

  7. Eddie Wardian says:
    December 25, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    Hello,thanks you for this fantastic blogg, i really find many interesting things on it and i really loved the design of the blogg. I found it on yahoo. I also want to wish you a happy new year.

  8. Denny Ridall says:
    February 10, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    That’s Too nice, i found your site under page 2 in google and it’s simply great. i want to bookmark ur site via rss feed . cox i wanna watch live tv shows !~

Leave a Reply