What does Lincoln watch?
By: Mr. T on
March 14, 2010
I am by no means a TV zombie, but I do enjoy watching good TV now and then. Thanks to shows like Lost, The Wire, and Band of Brothers, it can be argued that TV is now better than it ever was. The argument being that with the advent of the internet, and with people being just more sophisticated generally, television producers have really had to increase the quality of their programming to compete for viewer attention.
Outside of cable news and sports, I do not watch a lot of TV at all. In fact I probably average only about 8-10 hours a week of TV, and most of that is news. I used to be a big fan of Lost, and especially The Office - the second season was brilliant - but I have felt its quality has become less consistent over time. I no longer follow either series.
Currently, the only television show besides news or sports I watch – and watch religiously – is AMC’s Breaking Bad. Although it has gotten its well-deserved critical acclaim, this show seems to be still relatively unknown among viewers generally, probably because its plot is somewhat off-beat. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Breaking Bad – it is a very dark comedy about a high school chemistry teacher with cancer (Bryan Cranston) who partners with a doofus drug dealer (Aaron Paul) to make and deal meth. Breaking Bad will begin its 3rd season next week, and I am looking forward to it.
Now there is one show that is somewhat popular, and I have no idea why: Glee. I’m sorry to any Glee fans out there, but this has to be the most overrated POS on TV now. And I'm not saying that because I dislike musicals or dancing. I like musicals and enjoy watching singing and dancing as much as the next person. But Glee? I even know guys in the 36-45 year old viewing audience range who LOVE this show and watch it regularly (its so obvious the only reason they like it is because of the high school fantasy thing). Beyond that, I really do not understand its popularity.
So, what TV shows do you like or dislike? What shows do you recommend and why?
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It sounds a lot like your TV tastes and behaviors are similar to mine. I record Jeopardy and a couple cable news shows every night, with a couple others sprinkled throughout the week. Jeopardy only takes about 13 minutes to watch, and I’ll often fast forward through a significant portion of the news shows, depending on who the guests are.
I’ve traditionally been a big History/Discovery/Nat Geo buff, but lately it’s been mostly repeated stuff and other things that don’t grasp my attention. The older shows like Battles B.C., Cities of the Underworld, Warriors, and others were fantastic, but there hasn’t been anything new on for a while. Once in a while we’ll get a great mini-series on one of those channels, like WWII in HD or Nature’s Most Amazing Events, and those will keep me occupied for a week or two.
Speaking of mini-series, it’s maybe a little coincidental that you posted this on the day The Pacific started. It’s supposedly a Pacific-theater version of Band of Brothers. The first episode is contrary to that, but we’ll see how the rest of the series goes.
And speaking of HBO shows ... I don’t think we’ll ever again see a stretch of amazing TV shows like we did from the late 90s through the end of The Wire a couple years ago. It doesn’t get better than Six Feet Under (I never watched this one, but others have said it was great), The Sopranos, Deadwood, Carnivale, Oz, and The Wire. The Wire is my favorite TV show of all time ... I’ve watched the entire series 5-6 times, and it gets better every time. If someone knows of a better single season of a TV show than season 2 of The Wire, please let me know what it is.
I completely agree with you on Glee—I succumbed to the incessant buzz and watched a half an episode. Aside from the somewhat amusing lady I only know as Charlie Harper’s psychiatrist, I didn’t think it was worth my time. Such is usually the case when I finally tune into a super-hyped TV show.
I almost forgot to mention that I watch at least a couple soccer matches on the weekends and during the week when the Champions League is on. If Time Warner ever gets FSC and Fox Soccer Plus HD, I will probably never leave my apartment.
I agree with Breaking Bad. At times hilarious, at times almost frightening.
Dexter is another favorite. Last season’s finale was a genuine shocker.
And for the next 3 weeks, I’ll be consumed with March Madness.
I watch a lot. Too much to mention. I’m currently really into Mad Men - I’ve caught up on seasons 1 and 2 via DVD, and am eagerly awaiting the release of season 3 next week.
Big Bang Theory is my favorite sitcom, but I am still a fan of the Office (and 30 Rock can be funny).
For drama, it’s hard to beat Dexter.
For reality, I still dig Survivor and the Amazing Race. Both are pretty family-friendly, as it turns out. My daughter likes watching Idol together as well.
I agree with Peter - the next 3 weeks will be about hoops.
Oh, and I DVR everything, except for live sports (and I actually DVR some sports once in a while). I don’t ever watch commercials - I can breeze thru a sitcom in about 20 minutes, and a drama in about 40. Plus, I can watch everything on my schedule.
Archer on FX
Inbetweeners on BBC America
two of the funniest shows on tv.
I heart TV and watch way too much of it. I watch a lot of Simpsons & Futurama reruns. New shows I DVR are The Office, 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, & of course…Oprah. Reality favorite: The Biggest Loser. Guilty pleasure: America’s Best Dance Crew. Short series: Faces of America. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia & The League on FX crack me up. VERY bummed that This American Life recently got cancelled - would’ve liked to have seen a third season on TV, but at least I’ve still got the radio show.
Dexter, Weeds, used to like Heroes but fell out of love with it. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Important Things with Demetri Martin.
The GF loves Holmes on Homes.
Ditto on The Daily Show & The Colbert Report.
A new HBO series starts in April called “Treme”, after a neighborhood in New Orleans. It follows the lives of a few musicians in post-Katrina Big Easy. One of the cast is John Goodman, who grew up just a few miles from me in St. Louis county and whom I never met.
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