1. Back and knee issues are preventing me from playing as much golf and pickup basketball as usual.
2. There are more entertaining shows now than any other time I can remember.
3. It's much easier to watch shows at your leisure; before I could never make the commitment to be home at a certain time every week to watch a show, now there's a bunch of different ways to fit them in.
I get ripped on quite a bit since, on some shows, I'm over a year behind, since I wait and buy the DVD's. Every time a conversation about The Office breaks out, I have to ruin it by cutting in with a "Aap-ap-ap-ap-ap.....haven't seen it, don't say anything else!"
So here's the breakdown, just so you know which shows not to talk about around me, in case I haven't seen them:
>> Shows I wait and buy on DVD a year later, since they're my favorites and it gives me great pleasure to sit and watch the whole season in two or three days:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- Took over the top spot sometime last year. So good.
The Office- Still haven't even bought last years' DVDs yet, I haven't been hearing great things. But it still gets grandfathered in for its previous work.
How I Met Your Mother- The only traditional sitcom I truly love anymore. Once you watch shows without laugh tracks, and then you hear a laugh track, it's incredibly distracting. It's like all I can hear.
>> Shows I have DVR'd for me and watch shortly afterwards (one of these days I'll get DVR at my house again....I'm in no particular hurry):
Jersey Shore- Might not make this list next year. Ronnie and Sammi are single-handedly ruining this season. They're only fun to watch when he's roiding out and destroying her stuff and calling her 'bro.' Otherwise, they don't need to be dominating episodes.
The League- Sex & the City for dudes. Only with funny jokes.
>> Shows I watch online during my lunch break:
Parks and Recreation/Community- When Parks & Rec went on its couple-month hiatus, I thought that Community was turning into my new favorite....and then Parks & Rec came back and I watched a new episode and realized that was just silly. Not that Community isn't awesome, but Parks & Rec just cuts right to the core of me.
Modern Family- A couple more seasons like this, and Phil Dunphy moves into Michael Scott territory.
Family Guy- Only if I'm super bored. This show pretty much sucks now. As opposed to....
South Park- Just keeps on ticking. If anything, it's funnier now than it was in the first couple of seasons. I've always used baseball players to compare South Park, Family Guy, and The Simpsons, but the last couple years have kinda skewed the analogy. The Simpsons seasons 4-8 will never be touched, by anything, ever, but I haven't watched a new episode (besides a Treehouse of Horror) since 2003. Family Guy had a spectacular first five or six seasons, but has dropped off quickly since. And South Park has just gone along at about the same speed, with a few seasons better or worse than others, but every one at an All-Star level, for 14 years now.
White Collar used to be in this rotation, but I dropped it a few months ago. You ask, does this coincide with Tiffani Thiesen being mostly cut from the episodes? And I answer, you just may be right, my friend. You just may be right.
I get my fix now from watching old episodes of 90210. Hey boo. Holler at me.>> Miscellaneous (how narcissistic is it to have a 'miscellaneous category'? I'm writing about what effing tv shows I watch. I know that blogs are, by their nature, extremely self-indulging, but this is bad even for me. I need to wrap this up soon, buuuuut I bet I won't.)
Mad Men- finally hopped on the bandwagon last fall and watched the first three seasons, I'm only one season behind now. Also, I very nearly picked up a smoking habit after about four episodes. Don Draper makes cigarettes look downright DELICIOUS.
Entourage- I've struggled to define this show for years. It's supposed to be funny....but I hardly ever laugh. It's supposed to be dramatic....but nothing ever really happens. I've watched almost every season....but I'm not sure if I actually enjoy the show or not. I watched it when I had free HBO, and occasionally I'll rent seasons for free at the Public Library. So I think I can finally define it: it's a show I'll watch, but never pay a single dollar to do so.
Big Bang Theory- for years, my mom would email me and tell me to watch this show. For years, I'd blow her off by telling her I didn't want to just jump in now, I had to start from the beginning (because my mom couldn't possibly like a show that's actually funny, could she? If it wasn't for Two and a Half Men, I'm pretty sure her favorite show would still be Home Improvement.) So finally for Christmas this year, she bought me the first two seasons on DVD, and I was sucked in by the first commercial break of the second episode. Now I'm gonna have to get the rest the seasons on DVD and get caught up. Dammit, Mom.
Degrassi: The Next Generation- I'm not even going to try and defend myself here (though I feel I could launch a good argument- the number of people I've successfully roped into watching Degrassi is surprisingly high.) I'll just say that maybe this is the reason why for most of my twenties, I avoided most TV shows. If I just ignore crappy shows, I won't get sucked in. But if I start watching one, even a little bit, most the time it's all over for me.
