TV - What's your passion (NON-sports)?

[VF21]

(I was inspired to start this thread because of a comment Mr. Slim made.)

What shows do you simply refuse to miss? What new shows have you taken into your DVR hierarchy?

I am a confessed TV junkie. I admit it freely. I watch everything from Hell's Kitchen to Sons of Anarchy and every conceivable type of show in between.

Right now, there are several shows I simply will not miss:

Doctor Who
Hell on Wheels
Sons of Anarchy
Scandal
The Big Bang Theory
The Walking Dead
Blacklist
Naked and Afraid

As far as the new offerings go, I'm already pretty much hooked on Gotham (as I've always had a thing for DC comics).

What about you?

 

[kingsnation]

14 years later and I still LOVE Survivor. Can't get enough.

 

[LoungeLizard]

The Walking Dead
The Goldbergs

Those are the only 2 that I can't miss...I binged through the first two seasons of Hell on Wheels but have slowed down a bit and was just introduced to Brooklyn Nine Nine and am liking that a lot.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

14 years later and I still LOVE Survivor. Can't get enough.

I tried to get into Survivor back during its first season, only to discover that I'd grossly misunderstood the premise. I quickly lost interest when I realized that nobody was actually going to die.

 

[VF21]

One more new one definitely worth watching: How to Get Away with Murder. Viola Davis is as good at commanding the small screen as she has been on the big one. Very interesting dynamic going on ABC on Thursday nights: Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder. All with strong female leads and all from the imagination of Shonda Rhimes. A very entertaining trifecta.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

(I was inspired to start this thread because of a comment Mr. Slim made.)

What shows do you simply refuse to miss? What new shows have you taken into your DVR hierarchy?

I appear to have terrible taste in TV, because most of the shows that I would say I'm "passionate" about have already been canceled. However, I still watch a lot of TV, so here goes (bearing in mind that I won't watch anything but basketball in "real time"):

Shows that I won't ever miss, if I can help it:

• WWE Monday Night Raw
• Castle
• Scorpion
• The Big Bang Theory
• NCIS
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• House of Lies
• The Newsroom
• Modern Family
• The Ultimate Fighter (Season 20 only)
• The Americans
• TNA Impact Wrestling
• The Legend of Korra

Shows that I watch almost every week, but I'll watch onDemand or via Hulu, rather than waste DVR space:

• WWE Friday Night Smackdown
• NCIS Los Angeles
• Outlander
• Episodes
• Masters of Sex
• Black-ish

Shows I'll occasionally watch onDemand, or via Hulu, if I remember they came on that week:

• Garfunkel and Oates
• Shameless
• Matador (RIP Elizabeth Peña)
• Kingdom
• Parks and Recreation

Shows I've been watching for so long, I can't make myself stop:

• Two and a Half Men
• Grey's Anatomy
• Bones
• Parenthood
• Covert Affairs

*** Special category *** Shows that I don't actually like, and don't actually want to watch, but will watch regularly, anyway, out of loyalty/devotion to one or more of the cast members:

• 2 Broke Girls (Kat Dennings, Garrett Morris)
• Girl Meets World (Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel)
• NCIS New Orleans (Scott Bakula, Zoe McLellan)
• Hot in Cleveland (Jane Leeves)
• Mad Men (I'll give you two guesses, but you'll only need one )
• A to Z (Cristin Milioti)

 

[KingMilz]

#1 : Trailer Park Boyz (when it use to be on)
#2: OZ (prison showthat use to be on)
#3 Hell Kitchen/Kitchen Nightmare/Hotel Nightmare/anything with Ramsey screaming
#3: The Strain (I love Nora something about her)
#4: Walking Dead

 

[Padrino]

i don't have as much time these days to indulge in television, so i try to make it count when i do. i loved the first season of True Detective. it was so well-written, so well-acted, so hypnotic, and so unlike most everything else on TV at the time (though i'd say it was deeply indebted to the methodical pacing of Breaking Bad before it). on the subject of Breaking Bad, that show blew my hair back somethin' fierce. i've always liked Bryan Cranston, but who knew he had that in him?! i was haunted by the series finale for weeks afterward. i'm still haunted by it. it's quite a show that can make you miss it so terribly when it's gone...

currently, my wife and i are working through House of Cards on Netflix. it's an interesting rendering of politics-as-film-noir, and i dig it. it taps into the Shakespearean melodrama at the heart of any political landscape. but as far as DC-centric shows go, i prefer HBO's Veep. on top of being hilarious-to-the-nth-degree, it strikes me as a fairly accurate depiction of DC politics. oh, and Julia Louis Dreyfus is an absolute revelation on that show. she always seemed destined to be the one regular Seinfeld cast member who would break out in a post-Seinfeld landscape, given the right circumstances, and it makes me endlessly happy to see her being so universally lauded for her role on Veep...

as for the major networks, i hardly give them the time of day anymore. it's a shame to see them shrinking away from "the new," as cable and streaming services redefine the limits of serialized programming. in my opinion, LOST was the last show that truly mattered on the major networks. and those networks have learned literally all the wrong lessons in its wake. the 2014 fall lineups of each major network betray that fact; it's mostly a repackaging of the same-old-sitcom-tropes and the same-old-police-procedurals, and seriously, how many hours of NCIS do people really need every week?

i've heard some good things about the work Shonda Rhimes is doing, but taken as a whole, there's very little being put out by the major networks that represents a worthy challenger to the programming that HBO, AMC, Netflix, and the like are churning out regularly. hell, even FX was smart enough to invest in Louie, one of the most delightfully-interesting riffs on (and subversions of) the Seinfeld formula...

 

[funkykingston]

Reading this thread I realized that this is the first time that I can think of that there isn't a show that I make it a point to watch each week.

As a kid I used to stay up late to watch reruns of Monty Python's Flying Circus and Dr. Who. And despite not really being all that into the original series I think I saw every episode of Star Trek the Next Generation. I watched the Simpsons religiously for about the first 10 or 11 seasons. In high school and college I made it a point to watch Seinfeld each week. And there were a number of other shows that I tried not to miss over the years.

But after Breaking Bad ended there really hasn't been anything that has made me schedule time to watch it. My wife and I have been disappointed by Caripaldi's version of Dr. Who. We still tape them but haven't watched any since the episode where they were shrank and poked around the innards of the "good" Dalek. We watch some things on Netflix (I'm probably the last person to start watching Mad Men - I'm up to season 3 watching an episode or two a week) and did burn through both seasons of House of Cards and Orange is the New Black but I think my wife watches more than I do as she's routinely watching episodes from shows that I never heard of like "Continuum" and "Once Upon a Time".

There are other things we may watch if we are home and the TV is on like Chopped, Naked & Afraid (which our kids love), Top Gear, and pretty much anything on HGTV (my wife's doing primarily) or sports, though outside of the NLCS I haven't watched many Giants games and have missed all but two Niner games so far this season. There are a number of music related shows that I'll watch if they are on: Later w/ Jools Holland, Live from Daryl's House, Austin City Limits and (if my wife has the remote) The Voice. But all in all the TV is not on a lot at our house these days.

Oh, and I just remembered that although it's more of a miniseries than a TV show, my wife and I DID make it a point to see the new episodes of Sherlock when this last season started.

 

[pshn80]

I apologize for posting here because I don't believe I've ever sen any of he shows mentioned above. Besides NBC local and national news plu PBSnews, we watch he Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report. Other wise it's mostly BBC/nature stuff/PBS shows, Foyles War, As Time Goes By, Doc Martin, some BBC mysteries, Antique Road Show and such things. Oh, and movies about 4 nights a week, mostly TCM and NetFlix. You can see with all of that there isn't much time for anything else.

 

[kingsboi]

For some reason I'm into American Horror Story, it's very odd and random but it still draws me in. Some others off the top of my head I watch on a regular basis are Boardwalk Empire, Homeland, Sons of Anarchy, Hell on Wheels, Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead.

I only watched one episode of Gotham so far, I might have to give it another chance. I'm also considering watching The Boondocks, I only watched a few episodes but it's funny.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

... as for the major networks, i hardly give them the time of day anymore. it's a shame to see them shrinking away from "the new," as cable and streaming services redefine the limits of serialized programming. in my opinion, LOST was the last show that truly mattered on the major networks. and those networks have learned literally all the wrong lessons in its wake. the 2014 fall lineups of each major network betray that fact; it's mostly a repackaging of the same-old-sitcom-tropes and the same-old-police-procedurals, and seriously, how many hours of NCIS do people really need every week?

Knock their hustle all you want, but CBS knows what their demo wants to watch. If there's "too much" NCIS on TV, it sure as hell ain't reflected in the ratings.

As to the rest of your post, I'll just say that I can see where you're coming from, and let it go at that. I'm known to get into a heated argument on this message board at the drop of a hat, but I'm not about get my blood pressure up over someone who looks down on ninety-nine percent of what I like on TV...

 

[Spike]

*** Special category *** Shows that I don't actually like, and don't actually want to watch, but will watch regularly, anyway, out of loyalty/devotion to one or more of the cast members:

• 2 Broke Girls (Kat Dennings, Garrett Morris)
• Girl Meets World (Ben Savage, Danielle Fishel)
• NCIS New Orleans (Scott Bakula, Zoe McLellan)
• Hot in Cleveland (Jane Leeves)
• Mad Men (I'll give you two guesses, but you'll only need one )
• A to Z (Cristin Milioti)

I'm with you on 3 of those shows, for those same reasons. 2 Broke Girls will likely end up Venn Diagramming into "Shows I've watched so long I can't stop." The fact that I can stream CBS episodes for free is a bonus for me (as a cord-cutter). I'm still stuck on missing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. if I'm not at home, but I usually am (at home, that is.)

Aside from that, The Big Bang Theory and Dr. Who are my only "must see" shows, although I've fallen a little behind on Dr. Who - good thing the episodes are cheap and available on Amazon.

 

[Warhawk]

My short list:

Sacramento Kings
SF 49ers
Some SF Giants, when in the playoffs
Marvel's Agents of Shield
Sherlock (Netflix)
Downton Abbey (wife and I watch it together)

....and that is about it. Don't have a lot of time for TV! Most anything else I watch will likely be just because it is the best thing on at the time.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

My short list:

Sacramento Kings
SF 49ers
Some SF Giants, when in the playoffs

Trying to pass off sports as a TV show is totally cheating!

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

The only thing I'm watching live these days are either sports, or shows on HBO/Showtime/No Commercials. With that being said, this is what my DVR records every week.

-Survivor (I feel like I'm the only one still watching)
-Real World (I feel like I'm the only one still watching)
-Game of Thrones (Best show on TV)
-The Leftovers
-Homeland
-Parks and Recreation (Funniest show on TV)
-The Walking Dead (I don't enjoy the show as much I enjoy how weird it is that THIS show is THAT popular)
-True Detective
-Rob Dyrdeks Fantasy Factory (I have no explanation for this. I don't know anyone else who watches it)
-Saturday Night Live (It isn't at its strongest right now, but I have deep appreciation for how hard this show is to make)
-Girls (this one isn't my fault, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I do enjoy it in a guilty pleasure sort of way)

My three favorite shows of all time are The Office, Breaking Bad, and LOST.

 

[Padrino]

Knock their hustle all you want, but CBS knows what their demo wants to watch. If there's "too much" NCIS on TV, it sure as hell ain't reflected in the ratings.

As to the rest of your post, I'll just say that I can see where you're coming from, and let it go at that. I'm known to get into a heated argument on this message board at the drop of a hat, but I'm not about get my blood pressure up over someone who looks down on ninety-nine percent of what I like on TV...

as the saying goes, there's no accounting for taste, and i'm likewise not about to get into a heated argument regarding the shows you may or may not enjoy...

we are, however, a TV nation, and my contention is simply that people watch "what's on TV" because it's "on TV." people cling to the familiar, certainly, and if you give them a half-dozen variations of NCIS, they're going to watch a half-dozen variations of NCIS. but a great many people are also thrilled by the prospect of the unfamiliar, of the new. LOST serves as a case-in-point. it was a deeply character-driven study of love, isolation, and redemption that dabbled in survival narratives, spirituality, quantum physics, ancient mythologies, and a helluva lot more. LOST stood at the intersection of science and faith, and it swung wildly between those two poles week to week. there were smoke monsters and polar bears. there were hatches and magical numbers. there were flashbacks and flash forwards (and even some flash sideways). whatever one's opinion of LOST itself, it was about as unusual a television show as you could imagine, and as unlikely a candidate for "most-watched show in america" as you could dream up. and yet it was, indeed, immensely popular, and that popularity was not simply anecdotal; it was overwhelmingly reflected in the ratings...

my point is that, in the wake of such an ambitious and successful show like LOST, and given that the exciting programming being offered elsewhere is rapidly siphoning viewers away from the major networks, you'd think those networks would be inclined to acknowledge the changing habits and desires of a new generation of "TV" watchers. contemporary serialized programming is proving to be far more boundless and groundbreaking as a medium than many ever would have believed it could be, and it's disappointing to me that the major networks have retreated from creative, ambitious storytelling and have decided to revert back to their same-old programming safety nets, as cable and streaming services continue to chip away at the market share...

 

[Letsgokings13]

Pretty much only nba

 

[Glenn]

I tried to get into Survivor back during its first season, only to discover that I'd grossly misunderstood the premise. I quickly lost interest when I realized that nobody was actually going to die.

Bummer!!!

 

[N0tmyfault]

I watch so much sports on television, that when it comes to television shows, I relinquish the control to my wife to be fair. So I watch Big Brother/Survivor/Girls/Homeland/House of Lies/House Hunters

 

[Warhawk]

as the saying goes, there's no accounting for taste, and i'm likewise not about to get into a heated argument regarding the shows you may or may not enjoy...

we are, however, a TV nation, and my contention is simply that people watch "what's on TV" because it's "on TV." people cling to the familiar, certainly, and if you give them a half-dozen variations of NCIS, they're going to watch a half-dozen variations of NCIS. but a great many people are also thrilled by the prospect of the unfamiliar, of the new. LOST serves as a case-in-point. it was a deeply character-driven study of love, isolation, and redemption that dabbled in survival narratives, spirituality, quantum physics, ancient mythologies, and a helluva lot more. LOST stood at the intersection of science and faith, and it swung wildly between those two poles week to week. there were smoke monsters and polar bears. there were hatches and magical numbers. there were flashbacks and flash forwards (and even some flash sideways). whatever one's opinion of LOST itself, it was about as unusual a television show as you could imagine, and as unlikely a candidate for "most-watched show in america" as you could dream up. and yet it was, indeed, immensely popular, and that popularity was not simply anecdotal; it was overwhelmingly reflected in the ratings...

my point is that, in the wake of such an ambitious and successful show like LOST, and given that the exciting programming being offered elsewhere is rapidly siphoning viewers away from the major networks, you'd think those networks would be inclined to acknowledge the changing habits and desires of a new generation of "TV" watchers. contemporary serialized programming is proving to be far more boundless and groundbreaking as a medium than many ever would have believed it could be, and it's disappointing to me that the major networks have retreated from creative, ambitious storytelling and have decided to revert back to their same-old programming safety nets, as cable and streaming services continue to chip away at the market share...

I think one issue I have is that I don't have a lot of TV time available, so I rarely watch anything "new" because there are lots of series that I have no idea if they will be good or not and I rarely remember to watch the pilots. So by the time I hear about a "good" show, I'm usually half a season (or more) behind. And until recently, it was difficult to catch the early stuff unless you wanted to overspend for DVDs of the season(s) you missed. So I think the habit stuck - I rarely get too excited about a TV show or bother to tune in.

 

[Warhawk]

Trying to pass off sports as a TV show is totally cheating!

Well, I wanted to have more than 3 items listed!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Well, I wanted to have more than 3 items listed!

Hai ZombieCat!

 

[Ryan]

I am absolutely SHOCKED no one has mentioned two shows I worked on Jerseylicious and Bully Beatdown.

Let's be real here. Award winning stuff.

 

[Prophetess]

As none of these are watchable when lil man is awake, it's all DVR'd

one's I'd be pissed if my DVR failed

Criminal Minds
Agents of SHIELD
NCIS
Doctor WHO
Once Upon a TIme
Gracepoint currently

Ones I would miss but not be angry about Dvr failing:
NCIS LA
NCIS NEW ORLEANS
BONES- although they've almost lost me recently.
Project Runway (I watch what the challenge is and then the runway and after, I avoid much drama this way)
Who's line is it anyway

Shows I watch with Ziah:

Sacramento Kings
Face Off
Girl Meets World
Dancing with the Stars (sometimes)
Wild Kratts
Scooby Doo

I really, really wanted to like Gotham as I love DC but I just didn't.

 

[kingsboi]

For those who are interested, The Wire is being remastered

 

[biltalent]

living in Germany I don't have access to many of the series mentioned above, but my favorites currently running are:
- Two broke girls
- Two and a half men
- Suits (though they abandoned it during the second season.. I really liked it.. )
- Anger Management
- Bones

 

[kingsboi]

So I watched the first episode of the new American Horror season and I ask myself sometimes why I watch this....so random and out there. That being said, this is the last season for Boardwalk Empire, thank god! Shows these days should not exceed 5 seasons in my opinion.

 

[VF21]

I almost forgot about Grimm. Love that show.

In other TV news, TLC finally pulled the plug on Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

In other TV news, TLC finally pulled the plug on Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo.

Are the rumors true as to why?