I watch an awful lot of television. Some of it is high quality and I feel that I'm experiencing something original, cultured, informative (amongst other positive and complimentary descriptions) and some of it is just so poor that I feel a little ashamed of myself every time I get sit down excitedly to watch it. At the end of the day, I love it all. But I thought I would give a quick brief list of what I consider to be 'good' right now, and what I consider to be 'bad' (and may be embarrassing to admit that you watch).
THE GOOD CATEGORY:
'Boardwalk Empire': Yes, yes I am going to hop right on the 'I heart <3<3<3 'Boardwalk Empire'' bandwagon and sing its praises all day/night long. I'll probably do a separate post about this show so that I can fully dedicate a good amount of time to listing the things I love about the show and what makes it so wonderful. For now, I'll keep it brief. Great acting (read: Pitt, Shannon, Huston etc.etc. just the whole cast actually), great cinematography, brilliant costumes, funny lines, Martin Scorsese, Michael Pitt with a gun and a suit (occasionally a knife too), lots of violence, lots of sex, lots of nudity, lots of rude words. Ooooh I love 'Boardwalk Empire'. At first I was hesitant and the first time I sat down to watch it I switched it off after a few seconds because I was probably hungry and needed food and didn't get back to it for a few weeks. Now I regret those weeks in which this TV show was not in my life, enlightening me about what it is to be a bootlegger, a mobster, a lesbian in 1920s America. Not to dwell though because in two weeks when I have a little more free time I am going to re watch the whole season and then probably do a post about it...
'Jersey Shore': I was undecided about which category this should go in and I'm not saying I'm psychic but I feel like a lot of people would maybe put it down there with the baddies. Never mind. It's a show that I think is 'honest' in some respects. It depicts an accurate portrait of the 'clubbing scene' as the guys go out 'creeping' on girls and avoiding grenades. At least three remembers of the cast have released their own 'books' so everyone is definitely cashing in on this show. Any why not? If I could get paid to spend the summer on the Jersey Shore, getting wasted and pulling guys every night.... Sorry, went off in to a little day dream their. Basically, it would be good. Yes, the cast are trashy and may be fame whores- but they just seem more genuine than say.. The Kardashians, who make an appearance further down the list. ahem.
'Cougar Town': Obviously with this title- which the producers themselves have attempted to change, due to it being rubbish- I had avoided the show for a while. Why do I want to watch Courteney Cox and the rest of the middle-aged women in her town chase around young boys? I didn't. I'm not sure what we made me watch it but whatever it was: thank you. The story line may sound a bit cheesy- it's about a divorced woman and her group of friends who hang out in her kitchen every day, including her son, her ex-husband, her best friend blah blah blah. Whatever, it is may be the funniest show I have seen in years. It was created by Bill Lawrence and is MUCH better than 'Scrubs'. The dialogue is witty and funny and sometimes I feel that it could almost fill the void that 'Gilmore Girls' left behind. Courteney Cox's face is a little scary is close ups because of all of her surgery but I'm willing to look past that. If you've been putting this show off because of the title, STOP, and watch it now!
'True Blood': This show is on hiatus right now and that always makes me sad. Vampires are (or maybe 'were'?) hip, trendy, cool and in some cases sparkling vegetarians. 'True Blood' is definitely my favourite example of cashing-in on the revived popularity of out nocturnal blood-thirsty friends. 'Vampire Diaries' on the other hand made me cringe in its first episode so I stopped watching it, I have heard that it greatly improves from that point on though. Anyway, 'True Blood' has everything that its fellow HBO brethren 'Boardwalk Empire' has- Sex, blood, violence, good-looking men (Alexander Skarsgård needs to get naked more often) and the dialogue is pretty good. Yes, there are some naff aspects to this show which are beginning to grate after three seasons- Sookie and Bill namely. I like to look at it as a 'Buffy: the Vampire Slayer' meets 'Sex and The City', and I love those shows so it's a big, fat juicy human neck thumbs up from me.
THE BAD CATEGORY (BOOO):
'Kourtney and Kim Take New York': I'm not sure if I love or hate this TV show more. As you can understand, it's a very conflicting position to be in. On the one hand- the Kardashians are pretty foul, filthy rich, fairly slutty, increasingly cat-faced beyatches whose shallow scripted lives I have no interest in watching. On the other hand... well, all the things I said before minus the thing about not wanting to watch it. I guess, it is great. What I do love about the Kardashian shows ('Keeping up with the Kardashians', 'Kourtney and Khloe take New York', and now this tripe) is how crude and funny they can be- like when Kourtney waxed Khloe's.. lady parts. It wasn't "good" TV, but it kept me entertained. May be if I'm watching lady part-waxing to be entertained this show is effecting my life in a worse way that I originally thought... What I also love is the structure of each episode: an idea is introduced, some big event happens, someone questions their life, everything is resolved nicely with someone learning something about themselves or someone else. Isn't it brilliant how their lives are so neatly wrapped up in to 20 minute little slots? It's wonderful and neat and yes, at times the acting can be a little stale and if I have to watch Kim's plastified cat-face cry fake crocodile tears one more time, I might barf but I guess it's entertaining?
'90210': I love the 'beautiful people with ugly lives' plot just as much as the next girl, but occasionally this show can be too shallow, poorly-written and abysmally-acted even for my tastes (truly, that is saying something- I love a bit of cheese). The actors aren't even that hot and often their annoying vapidness can grate on what good looks they do have. The first two seasons were, not good, but entertaining enough for me to watch and dare I say.. enjoy. There really is very little else I can say about this show. I will probably keep watching it until it is cancelled without much anticipation each week.
Other shows right now that neither excite me in to a frenzy each time I sit down to watch them or make me cringe as I do so are:
'Bones': It's been quite a few seasons now and it feels a little like things are slowing down. Also, the show was once about Science. Now they have a computer program which I'm pretty sure will be able to solve crimes all o its own any episode now..
'The Big Bang Theory': It makes me laugh.. occasionally. I can relate to he geekiness of it, I can relate to Penny.
'How I Met Your Mother': It's just gotten a bit boring. Too much Ted may be? And I HATE the laughter track. I still enjoy it and I think it's funny, but it's no 'Cougar Town', not that it should be.
'Pretty Little Liars': Suspending your disbelief is important during the 40-or-so minutes in which this show is on. It's about 4 ridiculously beautiful girls (Ok, may be three- Spencer doesn't do it for me) whose lives are full of seeeeecrets and lies. It's pretty gripping. Who is 'A'? The person sending them horrible SMS messages, emails, notes, threats etc. a year after their friend Alison goes missing and is found dead. Also worth it for the eye-candy which is Mr. Ezra Fitz. mmm..
'V': This and 'Pretty Little Liars' came pretty close to making it on my 'good' list, but just missed out. 'V' fulfills my nerdy need for some Sci-Fi. It's got aliens, guns, a bit of sex, poor special fx and a pretty good cast.
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