Tuesday, July 18, 2017

My Favorite TV Shows

I love television!  I'm not sure if it's a reaction to my childhood where I was very rarely allowed to watch TV or if it's just my thing but whatever the reason I'm a big TV fan.  My taste is fairly broad.  I love documentaries and sitcoms and crime shows.  My main rule is that the show not have too big of a story arc or too much character development or you get what I like to call ER syndrome which is basically when fairly normal characters end up being completely insane by the end of the 10th season.  I never quite forgave that show for what it did to perfectly nice Dr. Green.  But that's another story.  So in no particular order here are some of my favorite shows:

1.  The Great British Bake-Off - For some reason PBS in the states calls it The Great British Baking Show but they're the same.  I love the scenery and how nice everyone is.  I love when they come out with some baked creation that I've never even heard of.  I also want to become Mary Berry and be BFFs with Mel and Sue.  I got to know Sue in a show called Supersizers Go (that's on Hulu if you want to watch it - you should it's great) which mixes history and food and is in equal parts fascinating and hilarious.  And I don't want to talk about the fact that the show is getting all changed up to have a more "modern" tone. I'm staying in complete denial.

2.  Antiques Roadshow - I love antiques and history and seeing how much random people are willing to pay for stuff.  Plus, it's always fun to see the reactions when something they didn't think was very important ends up with a big appraisal.

3.  Doctor Who - Back in the 80s PBS showed some of the episodes of the Tom Baker Doctor Who and my Dad loved them so I of course watched it with him.  I wasn't very old and mostly thought it was just weird.  This wasn't helped by the fact that most of the props and special effects seemed to have been put together with things the production crew found lying around.  But my overwhelming opinion was positive and so when I heard the series had been rebooted and discovered that it was on Netflix I thought I'd give it a try and am hooked!  I'm really loving the season that just ended and hate that Capaldi is leaving.  He really seems to have found his version of the Doctor and I love his relationship with Bill.

4.  Catfish - I love this show a ridiculous amount even though the commercials on MTV make me feel very old (I'm very grateful I can fast forward through them).  I love seeing if they are who they say they are and following the investigation as Nev and Max track down who the person has really been talking too.

5.  Dancing with the Stars - This is kind of a guilty pleasure but I love it.  The pretty costumes, the themes, getting to know the celebrities.  There's nothing I don't like.

6.  Elementary -  I really like Sherlock too but the fact they do 3 episodes every 2 years makes me kind of sulky about them so I'm sticking with Elementary.  I love Joan and Sherlock's relationship and I love Detective Bell..  The mysteries are always so twisty and intriguing so it makes me a happy watcher.

7.  NCIS - NCIS is an example of GOOD character development.  McGee has changed so much since he first started on the show but it's more that he's grown up and then gone crazy which gets this show big points.  Plus, there's Gibbs.  How can anyone not love Gibbs?

8.  The Middle - This show is almost a little too true to real life sometimes which makes it all the funnier!

9.  Who Do You Think You Are? - This is my genealogy geek out show.  They've had some really big names and I love finding out the history of regular people all over the world.

10. The Big Bang Theory - I'm always a little nervous when they add characters to a show but Bernadette and Amy have been fantastic additions - especially in the last 2 seasons.  Plus, Bernadette is just amazing.

11. Top Chef - This is probably my favorite cooking show.  I love Padma and Tom and most seasons I really love most of the contestants though every once in awhile the villain does win.  It's fun to see them go through all the different challenges.

12.  Disappeared - This show is on Investigation Discovery and it's one of my favorites.  It focuses on missing people sometimes with a resolution and sometimes without.

I'm linking up with Binge Watchers hosted by Stormi at Books, Movies, Reviews Oh My and Michelle at Because Reading



15 comments:

  1. Antiques Roadshow is fun. And I like the occasional documentary too, sometimes we'll just scroll through the docs on netflix and just watch one at random. It's relaxing. :)

    Someday I'll try Dr. Who!! Although I've seen a few episodes now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am loving The Great British Baking Show! So glad I started watching earlier this year. Top Chef has been I watched since the beginning and will probably always watch. Big Bang is one of the few shows me and my husband watch together. It reliably makes me laugh. I love TV too :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We didn't have much tv growing up either. And I got rid of mine about 10 years ago and only this Jan got Netflix. So I'm doing some catching up. lol I do love Gibbs. He's my favorite :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know, I can't believe what happened to Dr. Green in ER!!!!! I think I know why PBS calls it The Great British Baking Show. I think in the U.S. "Bake Off" is copyrighted, so they couldn't use that phrase. I may be wrong though.

    I love Doctor Who, as well, and have really come to like Peter Capaldi. I'm sad he's leaving, but I'm so excited for the new Doctor, Jodie Whittaker. She looks amazing. Also, I'm happy that Stephen Moffat is leaving. While he has written some amazing episodes, I feel like the whole tone of Doctor Who has changed since he's been showrunner.

    I really want to watch The Middle. Haven't gotten around to it yet, though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Katherine,

    We didn't watch much TV as children, simply because back then, there were only broadcasts for a few hours a day and the whole thing was over at 10pm when the National Anthem was played and then there was shutdown until lunchtime the next day.

    A few of the early programmes we watched were American, such as 'Batman' and I can always remember my mother watching Peyton Place.

    These days I don't tend to watch much TV at all. There is usually an hour dose of news on when we are eating dinner, a half hour soap opera after that and then I retreat to my office to catch up on my blogging and email and hubbie will either do the same or watch a film.

    Doctor Who is one of his favourite shows, as are The Big Bang Theory and Who do You think You Are, whilst we both enjoy Antiques Roadshow. Neither of us can be bothered with reality TV shows or sitcoms!

    I am pleased to see that some of our UK shows work as well for you guys - 'Happy Viewing' :)

    Yvonne

    ReplyDelete
  6. TV didn't come into my home until I was about 13yrs. It came later to NZ than the USA. I used to look at pictures in magazines like you have at the top of this post and wonder what TV was like!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't watch very much TV. I have too many books to read. My husband is a TV addict so I end up seeing random episodes of shows just because he can't seem to turn off the TV. NCIS is a good one and I have been know to watch any cooking show and Antiques Roadshow. I do watch Outlander, The Walking Dead, and Fear the Walking Dead.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I got rid of our cable about two years ago because the basic package went up $39.00 in one jump! With our internment we were paying $179.00. I was going to get Netflix or Hulu, or both, and I just never got around to it. Baz had quit watching tv with me and, you know, watching by yourself just isn't the same. I think when Baz gets his old high definition laptop fixed for me I will get Netflix and Hulu because I can watch it in my room. I also love Antiques Roadshow, The Big Bang, Dancing With the Stars, and Doctor Who! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Haven't seen the British Bake-Off but I would love to. Ever since you introduced me to Mary Berry I have been enjoying her cookbooks. We are like LaLa in the Library - no cable or internet feed so I check movies out to the library.
    Oh, I remember Gibbs! Love him!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I only watch a couple of your favorites. :) I love NCIS!! I like Doctor Who but now they are going to make it a female Doctor and I fear I may never watch it again. :( I can't help it but you can take a character who from the 1960's has always been male and change the gender. :( Rant over. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks to my aunt, I was hooked at a young age on true crime shows like Snapped and Forensic Files. I watch Big Bang Theory at The Man's when it's on, but I've never watched them in order so I've got a lot of gaps. I watched Gilmore Girls in college and I've rewatched in on Netflix about 12 times. I also found the TV show based on a book series I read when I was younger on Netflix called Heartland. I've rewatched it a few times.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So glad to see The Middle on your list! We love that show around here, and my children remarkably line up with the Hecks! We have nearly all of the episodes saved on our PVR as the youngest was quite obsessed for a while.

    GBBO is obvs a favourite - I actually started watching online as it airs in Britain. I can usually find it on youtube.

    The only other show from your list we watch (we watch a lot of TV around here, but sports is often the first pick by the remote holders, ie not me) is Big Bang Theory. I teach high school physics, so they are my people.

    ReplyDelete
  13. You're like I am in that I remember as a kid having to go to bed at a certain hour, and missing some things. Once I was older and could stay up, I really got into television programs and also movies. I ended up passing that onto my son. I'm hooked on the baking British Baking Show and DVR it every Friday. Everything they bake I could never do, but I still love it, and the people. I agree. Sad that there is a split up between the people because of the upcoming changes on the show. Antiques Roadshow is quite fascinating, and I've watched it for years. You already know that I love, love, love Top Chef. Some of the things that happen are really quite interesting. I just wish it came on more often like it used to years ago. Hugs...RO

    ReplyDelete
  14. We were huge Elementary fans but then they changed the time slot and it didn't work for us any more. Because my husband WILL NOT do a DVR. So frustrating!

    ReplyDelete