tv junkie.
So I said yesterday that I watch a bit of TV. When I was in Uni (because that’s what they call it here – college won’t fly), my roomies and I loved nothing more than sitting on the L-shaped sofa and enjoying a good TV show and conversation. And wine and champagne and cocktails. But the TV was always on, even if we weren’t watching it. Movies have never been my thing. There are about 5 that I could watch more than once. TV shows require shorter attention spans and I like how a good one can go on for years and years. I love watching characters change. The ending of a series devastates me. So alas, my TV line up here in Germany.
New Shows
a.k.a shows you should probably start watching so I have more people to discuss them with. Read my completely zero-real-TV-quality knowledge reviews and see if any spark your interest.
“Revenge” – if you are not watching this show, then shame on you. It’s no argument the best new show of the 2011/2012 year and it will suck you in. Emily has got a V for Vendetta and nothing is stopping her. The characters are sexy, passionate, unpredictable and unforgivable. The story surrounds an orphaned child who grew up thinking her father was financially responsible for a plane that went down due to a terrorist attack. She moves into the house in the Hamptons next to the people who framed her father. Watch the Pilot here.
“Once Upon a Time”: It’s from the writers of “Lost”, so basically I have to watch it. Similarly to “Lost”, this show occurs in parallel universes – modern day and this past fairy tale fantasy land. These fairy tale characters, everyone from Snow White to Pinocchio, are trapped by a curse and do not know who they actually are. It sounds crazy and it is, but if you like fantasy in the littlest bit, this show will satisfy your Sunday night TV spot. Watch the Pilot here.
“Scandal”: I was too young for the “West Wing” craze, but I feel like this might by my very own “West Wing”. Olivia Pope isn’t just any attorney, she is an image and reputation protector and will do anything to solve a client’s problem. She deals frequently with the White House, but a scandalous and very secret previous relationship (*cough* POTUS *cough*) begins to skew her once flawless judgement. It is also from Shonda Rhimes, the genius behind “Grey’s Anatomy”. Watch the Pilot here.
“GCB”: I really don’t even know if I can honestly suggest this as a show to watch. If you like overly exaggerated stereotypes in action and are familiar with any of the “big rich conservative Christian Texas” type stereotype, it is mildly entertaining. The snarky women will make you laugh, whether you are embarrassed you are laughing or not. Watch the latest episode here.
“Don’t Trust the B in Apt. 23″: Just another sitcom that will make you laugh. An uptight daddy’s little girl moves in with a crazy bitch (not shitting you) in New York City. The situations are truly unbelievable, but it kinda makes you wish you actually knew some crazy partying conartist like Chloe. No? Just me? Watch the Pilot here.
*Notice the ABC theme here? Gotta say, I love the ABC app and web site. Props to you guys.*
Old Shows, New to Me
I started and caught up with all of these series using Netflix Instant Streaming. Pathetic? Maybe. You have time for crap like this when you work 5 hours per day.
“Mad Men”: Getting into this series was really a long time coming for me. I graduated with a PR major, so this show concept obviously sparks my interest. The 60s setting is even more intriguing because it’s the decade in which my parent swill children (sorry to age you guys here). “Mad Men” is certainly not your typical edge-of-your-seat television drama, but the story lines are thick, relevant, timely and the characters are twisted and tangled in all sorts of ways. I just adore everything from the obvious (Don Draper) to the superficial (the design).
“How I Met Your Mother”: Everyone in Germany is obsessed with this show. I had never seen it. I don’t like being on the outside of jokes. So I started watching, and all I have to say is it truly is “legend…wait for it… dairy!” I like to say it’s the “Friends” of my generation.
“Breaking Bad”: I like shows featuring drugs as a main story line a lot. I think this is because I grew up in a sheltered bubble and know zero about this crazy drug industry biz but if real life is anything like this show, it’s nuts! I started watching this because of my girl MODG (Ok, she has no idea who I am but her blog is awesome). The plot involves a high school chemisty teacher who has been diagnosed with a deadly cancer. He resorts to teaming up with a former student to produce and sell crystal meth to save up money for his family after his death. Oh, and his brother-in-law is a DEA agent. The crap they get themselves into is unreal.
Shows I Still Keep Up With
“Grey’s Anatomy”: I love every character in this show. Christina Yang’s dry sense of humor. Meredith Grey’s dark soul has regained new life. And the eye candy, oh the eye candy.
“The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette”: Although it’s certainly not the same watching without my group of girlfriends and several bottles of wine, I can still send text messages and gchats about it, which makes watching alone still worthwhile. The new season starts Monday! I will be home in Texas for the finale with friends – icing on the cake!
“Modern Family”: If you don’t watch this, I’m sorry.
“The Big C”: Last year our cable provider threw in Showtime for free, God bless ‘em. I got hooked on this show. The C stands for cancer and the show follows a mother struggling with the idea of life’s meaning, her wants and her needs now that she sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
Shows I Left Behind:
Shows I used to watch, but apparently did not care enough to keep up with since moving here include: “Glee”, “Parenthood”, “Gossip Girl”, “Cougar Town”, “Weeds”, “The Biggest Loser”, “Bethenny Ever After”, all things “Kardashian”
Am I the only one that watches this much TV? What are your favorite series?
P.S. – If you are outside of the United States and none of those links work for you, all I have to say is get excited for tomorrow. I’m about to change your life.
I don’t watch much TV at all because we only have the internet, apparently TV rots your brain. But I love the B in Apartment 23 so much! It’s a new fave for sure.
All I have is the Internet too… I can’t even count my TV since it’s in German. Thus the pathetic-ness of this post.
Ok I totally watch this much tv.. I have also abandoned Gossip Girl and Kardashians and Bethenney, but I wish I had time for them.
Include The Voice, Private Practice (a Grey’s but more into their personal life), and Big Bang Theory on occasion. Big Bang Theory is honestly the best. I need to catch up on all of my shows before I start new ones though.
LOVED season 1 of The Voice while I was home – there’s actually a “The Voice of Germany” here that’s exactly the same but with judges I’ve never heard of haha. I watch it with the kids sometimes
Wow, you watch a lot of TV! I’ll have to start watching Revenge
I actually just spent the last few days watching my way through the first season of Ringer – it’s pretty good and has really great cliffhangers so if you have the time I’d definitely recommend it!
I also really like the show “Suits” which comes back in July
Oh I’ll definitely have to check out “Suits” – the title alone really already has me hooked.
I just started watching Mad Men a couple weeks back, and holy goodness, I got hooked SO FAST. which is unfortunate, because I don’t have endless amounts of time to sit around and watch it to my heart’s content.
TV pretty much rules my life.
true story.
Oh, so many shows I need to watch! I love Grey’s Anatomy and How I Met Your Mother! And I am new to Mad Men too!
Ah, I watch so much tv since I’ve been here! I mean, I watched it before, but never to the extent that I watch/keep up with series since I’ve come to Germany.
Series of conquered (and all highly recommend) include: Grey’s, HIMYM, Bones, Buffy, Big Bang Theory, New Girl, Modern Family, Happy Endings, and currently working on Doctor Who.
I think I need to get on the Mad Men train next
I need to start Happy Endings. I’ve seen a couple but I keep hearing too many good things!!
Yeah I watch this much. Let’s see… Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Parks & Rec, New Girl, Happy Endings, Homeland, Community, Awake, Justified… yeah. That’s just off the top of my head. I love TV.
One of my friends suggested Homeland for me next! But I might jump into all the Game of Thrones buzz – I’ve heard it’s disgusting in crude, which I’m all for.
I am equally as obsessed with TV as you are. I’ve seen each of these shows at least once! Once Upon A Time is my favorite right now, but I have yet to miss an episode of Modern Family or Grey’s Anatomy (which I still love despite what anyone else says!). I’ve been wanting to watch Mad Men on Netflix and just haven’t yet. But it is def on my list. And I agree with your assessment of GCB, plus I love all the Texas references. And of course I’ll be watching the Bachelorette!
Oh and the TV is always on in my apartment, even if it’s just background noise! Hope you have a great Wednesday!
You and I watch so many of the same shows! We haven’t had tv service since we moved to England, but we watch the specific shows we want online (through a VPN… is that your surprise?!?) and I feel like I watch so much less tv than in the States. Not only do I have to know what I want to watch but I have to hook the computer up to the tv, log into the VPN, search Hulu for the show… not actually that much work, but I’m really lazy! Have you seen Suburgatory? It’s a new sitcom, and pretty good, I think. New Girl, too. I haven’t checked out Scandal yet, but it’s on my radar… gotta wait until finales are over, then I can pick up new ones. Can’t wait to hear your surprise tomorrow…
You called it… aren’t VPNs the greatest invention ever. I want to hug that person. And everyone keeps telling me about New Girl so I’ll definitely have to check it out. I saw a couple episodes of Suburgatory but need to give it ore attention!
I definitely watch this much TV! The good thing about being a Screen Media major at University is sometimes watching TV is an assignment!!! I love it!
Yep – I definitely majored in the wrong thing. Maybe I should have gone the RTF route. Except I’d just want the T part.
I think we might be TV twins. But seriously, I’m addicted to Revenge and Once Upon a Time right now. Both so good! Have you tried watching HBO’s new show, Girls?
No but someone gave me their HBO log in so I will have to start Girls! I love getting with a series right when it begins!
I watch all the same new shows that you do except Scandal… I hadn’t heard of Scandal! I’m SO excited! NEW TV SHOW!
There’s only 4 or 5 episodes so far so it’s totally easy to catch up!
i knew i liked you!
hahah!
revenge! soooooo good! one of my friends is from east hampton so she refuses to watch it because i guess it’s a thing that people from the hamptons hate it when people say “the hamptons” because its not an actual place! im like, uhhh the only say that like once and they reference south hampton, east hampton, etc.
once upon a time! if emma doesn’t get her shizz together i’m done!
i haven’t watched ‘scandal’ yet but i think it’s my kind of show.
& i thought i was the only one who still watched ‘grey’s'! avery! swoooooon!!
& yes, game of thrones is good but i read all the books … i think it’s reallly hard to follow if you havent read the books/read recaps (that’s why i started reading), also, old shows that you should get into: THE WIRE!! pleeeeasseee do yourself a favor! i just started watching and i don’t know why i waited so long! honestly the hype about it is justified, in my top five all time favorite shows (and i watch a LOT of tv, so that’s saying a lot!!!)
xo
The Wire?? What station is it from? What s it about? Tell me more!
It’s from HBO – i think it aired until 2005? (which is good because the series is complete so you can just spend all day saturday watching a season…nottttt that iii did that!).
it’s based in baltimore and each season changes the focus. so like the first season is the cops v. drug dealers (thus, “the wire), the second season is focused on the docks/ports and smuggling, i just started the third season so i’m not sure what it is, but i know the fourth season is set in the schools (which im really nerdily excited to watch to see if it’s like my teaching experience) and not sure about the fifth season either. sooo, five seasons total. everyone kepting telling me they don’t watch tv, but they watch the wire, the wire is so good, so on and so forth but i dont know why it took me so long to realize!! it’s just awesome! and based on what you wrote here i think we have similar taste in tv so i wouldn’t steer you wrong!!
This sounds FAB-U-LOUS. I sometimes hate getting into shows that don’t continue on because series ending makes me so sad, but I can make some sacrifices…
i agree with your HIMYM comments. i was the same way. i was like, okay – EVERYONE is obsessed with it…i guess i’ll watch it?
and now i’m in L-O-V-E.
i’ve been loving GCB and no one i know watches it! i think its fabulous, such a guilty pleasure. and omg, greys anatomy this last week! have you seen it yet? so intense!
haha good – so glad to hear I’m not the only one that watches GCB because I feel like a dork every time I watch it.
none of my friends still watch Grey’s but i’ve remained steadfast and loyal. and i CANT WAIT for the bachelorette to start back up. FINALLY a season that’s worth watching. (skipped the last two).
I love love love HIMYM. I’ve been rewatching old seasons on Netflix and then watching the German versions just to see how much I can pick up. I watch faaaaaaaaar too much television myself; some of my viewing matches yours: Revenge, Once Upon A Time, Don’t Trust The B… so much great tv.
I never watched HIMYM until moving to Germany and people referenced it far too often, so I had to join in the fun. I love it. I just watched all the first episodes of The New Normal (NBC) last night after browsing best new fall TV show reviews and it is seriously hysterical, up there with Modern Family – so ridiculous. Definitely check it out. The other new ones I’m going to look into are Arrow, Last Resort and Nashville. I watch WAYYY too much TV.
Oh yeah, Arrow is starting tonight back in the states! I’ve been looking forward to that one a ton.
You picked a good time to get into HIMYM, because they’re writing this season as if it’s the last. (They may still have one more, but the contracts aren’t sorted out yet, so they’re writing like they need to close story loops.)
Every May, when the networks do their upfront presentations, I write about all the new shows… I suspect that if you combined my tv watching with your tv watching, we’d have covered most of the programming that airs in a given week. LOL.
Oh good, I’m glad arrow hasn’t started as I won’t have to play catch up.
I did not know that about HIMYM – so we’re going to meet her, then? This maybe made my day. Although I hope it’s not the last season as I am extremely attached to the characters.