I don’t watch a lot of television because I have always preferred books. TV was always boring, canned (laugh tracks), predicatable and lets face it, useless. How many cop dramas, court rooms, hospitals, family situational comedies and cheesy commercials can people take over 50+ years? Thankfully technology, social demand and writers are breaking through all of this. With Tivo and Digital Video Recording technology, consumers choose how and when they want to see their favorite shows, games, news, movies etc.2 forces came together last year that helped me enjoy programmed television a bit better: my cable company offered DVR service. Wow. A must have if you are on the go like me. No more missing Oklahoma Sooner football because I was out on a photo shoot or something. Television shows are still mostly crap with a few exceptions These are pretty much the ONLY franchises I will watch for a few simple reasons. They don’t suck, no laugh tracks, unique, creative, funny, dramatic and think outside the normal network boundaries. Heck, they have even won awards.
1. Arrested Development, cancelled this year even though they won best comedy for 2 out of its 3 years. Fantastic writing crew, great casting and even Ron Howard as the narrator. Can be seen on the G4 network now.
2. Battlestar Galactica: a co-worker turned me on to this human drama that is very real. A re-creation/improvement on the 1970’s show based in space. Star Trek never made it this far, folks. You can just feel the relentless pursuit of the Cylons against people fleeing to someplace called Earth.
3. My Name Is Earl- a redneck crook decides to make amends for every bad thing he has ever done, with hilarious results.
4. The Office- A self-absorbed idiot regional manager imposes his will on helpless paper company employees. Filmed in documentary style where the camera is acknowledged.
5. Lost- Aircrash survivors on a remote Pacific island deal with survival, each other, and a whole slew of other weird events outside of their control.
6 & 7: Two new shows this fall that I am watching but not adding to the coveted “this is my show too” category yet are NBC’s Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip and Heroes
Just in time for the fall season premieres, I would suggest MeeVee, a website that tracks your television shows and helps you find new ones based on your location, tv provider and more. You can even get an RSS feed to remind you whats on next. Also check out TV Guide online. You can personalize your shows there as well.
Oh and in case you haven’t seen this before, I would recomend this to everyone, ok?
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