On TV Shows…

As much as I would love to share a delicious dish with you today, I just can’t.  My camera memory card is messed up and I’m hoping a good friend of mine can help me retrieve some of the photos off of it so it can be reformatted and I’m back in picture taking business.  Perfectionist me refuses to blog a recipe with my iPhone.  I just can’t do it.

So today, I’m blogging about something that we can all relate to and requires no photography…TV.

Here are a few shows I’ve been watching lately and my thoughts on each.

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1. Mad Men
I just finished the fourth season of Mad Men.  I watched all four seasons in one month.  When I start watching a show I really like, I watch it during every moment possible, like when I’m getting ready or wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep (this happens at least once a week).  I wonder how long I’m going to have to wait until season five comes out on Netflix.

Here are my thoughts on some the main characters and how they’ve shifted through the seasons…

Don — I never really liked Don except those brief moments when he seemed like a decent person visiting the real Don’s widow in California.  There was a brief moment that I thought he was transitioning to a decent person when he split with Betty and seemed to be in despair, but no.  I”m pretty ambivalent about his new fiancee. He might actually be the least interesting person on this show despite being the main character.

Betty — I used to really like Betty and I felt sorry for her.  I was actually rooting for her to cheat on Don after seeing how many trists he had.  But now I think she’s just a mean mommy with deep psychological issues and is going to scar poor Sally for life.

Peggy — By far, Peggy is my very favorite character. I love everything about her and I find her story line to be the most interesting.  I honestly wouldn’t care if the whole agency went down in flames if Peggy came out on top. She’s the only really smart female on the show and the only one who hasn’t conformed to the 1960’s expectation of what a woman should be.  I’m team Peggy all the way.

Joan — I really liked Joan at first.  She was one of my favorite characters.  But she’s mean to Peggy sometimes, which explains why my feelings about her go hot and cold sometimes.

Pete — I actually have always liked Pete, even when he was kind of being a bit of a jerk in the first season.  I felt like there was some redeeming quality in there and he was just having a hard time figuring out who he was supposed to be.  I’m not sure if I want him to eventually to get together with Peggy, but I guess I would allow it.

Everyone else (including Roger) kind of bores me, except Sally. And her character just started developing so it’s difficult to determine how she’s going to turn out (especially with her disconnected and mean mommy).

**Please don’t put any spoilers for Season 5 or 6 in my comments.**

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2. How I Met Your Mother
I was several years late to this party, but I’m here now. Barney is my favorite character, although sometimes his “wait for it…” commentary makes me want to punch him in the face. My second favorite is probably Robin.  Obviously they should be together.

Lilly and Marshall are sometimes a little over the top for me sometimes.  Like the writers are trying too hard to make them quirky so they just come off as lame. And as an ex-elementary school teacher, sometimes I think Lilly is one of the worst teachers I’ve seen in a long time based on some of the things they’ve shown on the show.  Obviously I’m taking this too seriously, but teachers don’t get enough respect as it is without a TV character portraying a teacher talking on her cell phone all the time while she’s supposed to be teaching small children. Just so we’re clear, that’s not real life, folks.

This show is obviously this decade’s version of Friends.  It’s one of those shows I can keep on in the background or watch intently, even if I’ve already seen the episode.  It’s comfortable like an old sweatshirt.

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3. Downton Abbey
Tied for my favorite show right now is Downton Abbey.  I can’t get enough. Hands down, my favorite character is the Dowager Countess. Her witty elitist one liners make me giggle.  As much as I enjoy the show, it’s not a comedy so the only time I ever really laugh is when she offers commentary. One of the things I think this show has going for it is that they’re are so many story lines. If you don’t like one, don’t worry, they’ll move on to another in five minutes.  It’s kind of like a high brow soap opera and I love it. 🙂

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4. Buck Wild
I hate this show, but it’s kind of like Honey Boo Boo.  It’s a train wreck and I can’t look away. Actually, I couldn’t look away for two episodes.  Just long enough to realize that this show could be about some of the people from my hometown (not all of them, mind you, but some of them). And that’s all I have to say about that.

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5. Catfish
This show is mildly addicting because it shows a whole world that I really didn’t know existed.  I know that people meet strangers online, but I guess I didn’t know that there are people out there that have five year relationships with people on the internet that they’ve never even met.  It’s uncanny and shocking and interesting.

However, I’ve only seen one actual show that ended well.  If you haven’t watched it, I recommend watching the documentary first (you can rent it on iTunes) and then tuning into MTV at pretty much any time of the day.  It seems like it’s always on.

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6. Big Bang Theory
I saved the best for last. This is my other current favorite show.  It’s so funny.  I laugh out loud during almost every episode.  And now I catch conversations between Brad and I that could occur on the show, and I don’t mean the ones that happen with Penny.  Like the other night when we couldn’t decide between two 9″ pizzas for $9 a piece, or one 18″ pizza for $18.95.  I pulled out the calculator on my phone and did a little pie r square (the area of a circle) to find out that the 18″ pizza was the best deal.  I don’t know if I ever convey it properly here, but Brad and I are definitely nerdier than most people.  And we embrace it.

Sheldon, is hands down my favorite character.  May he never lose any of his neurotic tendencies or the show just wouldn’t be worth watching.

What are you watching right now and what else should I be watching?