Giant TV post
So it turns out that when you have to sit and hook yourself up to a breast pump and be milked like a cow several times a day, you end up watching a lot of TV on the internet. I have thoughts.
The Big Bang Theory
I've seen everything that's aired so far, I think, though I may have missed an ep or two.
This is a fluffy, funny, and warm little sitcom, with lots and lots of nerd humor that makes me feel like I'm on the inside of something even though geekiness has become so accepted now that it's practically mainstream. Makes me laugh out loud several times an ep, as a general rule. It's one of those delightful shows where I don't really care what's going to happen in the next ep or who's going to end up with whom as long as it keeps bringing the funny. In the moments when I can be bothered to want anything out of the show other than laughs, I mostly want Leonard and Penny to get married and take care of Sheldon for the rest of their lives.
I watch the Sheldon Cooper's Unique Approach to the Social Contract Show with a hefty side of the Penny and Leonard Attempt to Be Sheldon's Friends With Mixed Results Show. I mostly ignore the Wolowitz and Koothrappali Try to Have a Sex Lives Show, but it occasionally intersects with the shows I do watch in entertaining ways.
Castle
I believe I've seen everything aired for this show, too.
This show is so silly and so vastly entertaining. I think maybe Nathan Fillion was born to play Rick Castle. I don't know if that's heresy, some folks might think he begins and ends with Mal from Firefly, but the amount of fun Fillion has playing Castle is obvious and infectious. He's so gleefully immature and cheesy! And once the writers figured out that Beckett (his Serious Female Cop With a Tragic Past counterpart) couldn't just be a stereotype forever, her reactions to his cheesiness and his shamelessly juvenile quips are pretty priceless. Also, Castle has a hilarious family composed of an out-of-work diva mother (Martha) who throws parties in his apartment when he's away from home and a sharp-witted, affectionate daughter (Alexis) who has a decided Gilmore Girls child-as-parent relationship with him and a habit of saying the right thing at the right time to make Castle realize who the real killer is. I would actually watch an entire show about the three of them, actually.
I watch the Castle Fall Down Go Boom Show, the Casa De Castle Comedy Hour With Martha and Alexis, and the Beckett Handcuffs Castle to Things and Pulls Him Around by the Ear Show. There's a Castle and Beckett Sittin' In a Tree Show in there, for sure, but I don't really care about it at all.
Glee
(I'm totally not going in alphabetical order, this is just the order in which they air. Just so you know.)
I've been keeping up with this show since the Pilot aired during the summer, or whenever that was.
This is my popcorn show. It is the emotional, character oriented equivalent of a high-effects movie with lots of explosions and plane crashes. I sometimes have to watch it through my fingers because it gets close to giving even me an embarrassment squick, which is...impressive. In the end, though, it's a show where the characters periodically break into a big show-stopping song and dance number, and I can't not watch that. Also, the point-blank humor frequently squeezes incredulous laughter from me, especially when Jane Lynch is onscreen as Sue Sylvester aka Epic Cheer Coach. The way events and emotions are portrayed takes a little getting used to, since everything's slightly over the top on this show, but once you start looking at it as a big, loud stage production it all sort of works.
I watch the Epic Cheer Coach Lays the Smackdown On Everyone Show, the Oh My Goodness They Totally Just Went There Show, and the JOURNEY/QUEEN/BON JOVI/MY FAIR LADY IN THE HIZZOUS YO!! Show. I know other people watch the Actually Paying Attention to the Plot and Care About the Characters Show but really? I can't be bothered to take it that seriously. [python] It's all much too silly. [/python]
Bones
I saw the first season on DVD a while back and really enjoyed it, so I'm watching the current season despite the fact that I've clearly missed a ton of character arc stuff.
Some people object to Numb3rs on the grounds that it treats math as if it were magical and applies it in ways and situations where it totally wouldn't help. I sort of have that problem with Bones on occasion because really? Reconstructing the barrel grooves on a lost bullet by looking at the hole said bullet made in a skull? Pull the other one, it's got bells on. But I really like David Boreanaz as Booth and I totally want Brennan and her huge collection of chunky necklaces to be my friend. Their partnership is adorable and fun to watch and I enjoy the dorktasticness of Brennan's team at the Jeffersonian. I am baffled by Sweets and don't know why he's on the show but his interactions with Booth and Brennan occasionally justify his existence, so I guess he gets a pass.
I mostly just watch the Kirk and Spock Booth and Brennan Bicker Amusingly and Solve the Save the Day Show. There is also a I Kind of Want to Marry Hodgins Show that I tune in for occasionally. As with Castle, I know there's a whole Booth and Brennan OTP Show, but I tend to enjoy unresolved romantic vibes more than I enjoy open romance, mostly because Hollywood seems to have very different ideas about what makes open romance enjoyable than I do.
Fringe
I watched the Pilot a while ago and decided to keep up with the current season, catching reruns of Season 1 when I can.
This show is totally guilty of being (or at least starting out as) X-Files Lite, but I don't really mind this for a couple of reasons: I like Olivia Dunham, I adore Walter Bishop in his complete and utter insanity, and I am not ashamed to admit that I have a soft spot a mile wide for Joshua Jackson due to the fact that I had a huge crush on him when I was in the ten-to-thirteen age range and he was starring in the Mighty Ducks movies. Also, Fringe's mytharc is approximately 200% less annoying than X-Files' mytharc. I will take the technological singularity and parallel universes with Leonard Nimoy over top-heavy government conspiracies and alien invasion threats somehow involving the Mayan calendar any day.
I totally just watch the Walter Bishop Solves the Equation/Formula/Whatever While Dropping Acid and Talking to the Cow And Then Makes a Souffle And Attempts to Bond With His Son in Bizzarre Ways Show. I don't mind the Olivia Is Going To Save Us All From the Other Universe Show at all, it's just not as funny, so I sort of forget about it sometimes.
Supernatural
I'm getting more and more behind on writing my weekly episode reviews for this.
Season 5 has thus far been a weird mix of awesome hilarity, warm fuzzies with a healthy side of angst, and spectacular canon/continuity fail. My approach to the mytharc has become "Okay, Show, whatever you say, call me when you're ready to start making sense again!" But the monster of the week eps still fill me with glee, and even the mytharc eps have lots of brother stuff to recommend them, so I'm pretty happy regardless. I'm tempted to sit down, write out a "As Far As I Can Tell, This Was Azazel's Grand Plan" post and invite fandom to help me refine its canon-compliancy and help me handwave to see if we can actually make it look like a plan that someone made all at once rather than the monstrous victim of sequential storytelling that it is.
I watch the Sam and Dean and Dean and Sam and Let's Not Forget the Car Show. Also the Dean and Castiel Crack Me Up Show, the Sam Winchester is Hot and Has a Chewy Character Arc Show, and the Bobby Friggin' Singer is Awesome Show. Apparently there are still folks out there watching the Demons and Angels and DOOM Show, and though I can't say I understand why I'm glad they're out there since they're usually the ones who write the best fanfic. The people I really don't understand are the ones who seem to be watching the This Show is Stupid and Makes Me Angry and the Writers Are WRONG and I Hate Everything Show. Um...TV is for fun? If you're not having fun? It's possible you should maybe stop watching and take up a different pastime? Like crochet? Don't get mad at me, I'm just saying? Question mark?
Psych
I've seen random episodes of last season and am keeping up with the current season.
This show just makes me giggle. I...don't really have anything much beyond that. The constant barrage of deadpan silliness appeals to me and I would watch for that regardless of the show's premise. Also, I kind of adore Shawn's dad. And I really need to hunt down some SPN crossover fic.
As stated, I watch the Aahahahahahahaaa Show. All the slightly more serious shows that I'm sure are in there are mostly invisible to me.
Stargate Universe
I have been staying current with the show since the Pilot.
Okay, I mostly watch this because a) it purports to be a Stargate show despite the fact that it obviously wants to be Battlestar Galactica more than anything else, and b) I love Eli, am fascinated and terrified by Rush, and am coming to really like Greer. Other than that the characters all kind of annoy me, though I'm, okay with Young. I do appreciate that they're trying to make a more serious, grown-up, realistic show. But since Stargate never bothered to be any of those things, I sort of wonder why they're making a spin-off instead of just detaching to make a whole new show.
I'm currently watching the Maybe Next Episode Will Make Me Love It Show with a side of the Eli is Adorable Show. We'll see how long this lasts.
White Collar
This show has only aired three episodes and already it's become the show I'm happiest to see pop up in my Hulu queue. Nothing will ever replace either Stargate or Supernatural in my heart, but Stargate has been over for a couple of years and Supernatural is a lot of work at this point. I have no emotional investment in White Collar, it's filled with banter and pretty, I love the characters, and there is no top-heavy mytharc! Yay! Also, I think Neal Caffrey might be my newest TV boyfriend. I could easily get properly fannish about this show, at least to the point of reading fic, though I doubt I'll be inspired to write any, myself.
I watch the Wheeee Clever Crime Capers and Snark Show as well as the Finally a Married Couple With No Marriage Angst on TV Show.
Numb3rs
I'm behind on this, haven't seen the last few eps. Other than that I'm sort of current. I missed the back half of last season, but I know mostly what happened in it.
I am saddened to hear that fans think this is probably the show's last season? Woe. I only have a vague idea what's actually going on with the plot of most episodes, but I adore the ensemble cast to bits and I'll be really sorry to see them disband. I have enjoyed the mix of fedcakes and geeks that the show offers, the family element brought by Charlie, Don, and Alan, and the existential oddness of the one and only Larry Fleinhart. The show hasn't been quite the same since Megan left, but I still felt it was going strong.
I watch the Who Cares What's Going On With the Case When There are So Many Lovable and Amusing People Running and Talking and Shooting? Show. I'm not convinced there's any other show in there, actually.
I'm also re-watching Stargate with redial_the_gate, as always, but I hardly need to tell you how I feel about that show, do I? *grin*
The Big Bang Theory
I've seen everything that's aired so far, I think, though I may have missed an ep or two.
This is a fluffy, funny, and warm little sitcom, with lots and lots of nerd humor that makes me feel like I'm on the inside of something even though geekiness has become so accepted now that it's practically mainstream. Makes me laugh out loud several times an ep, as a general rule. It's one of those delightful shows where I don't really care what's going to happen in the next ep or who's going to end up with whom as long as it keeps bringing the funny. In the moments when I can be bothered to want anything out of the show other than laughs, I mostly want Leonard and Penny to get married and take care of Sheldon for the rest of their lives.
I watch the Sheldon Cooper's Unique Approach to the Social Contract Show with a hefty side of the Penny and Leonard Attempt to Be Sheldon's Friends With Mixed Results Show. I mostly ignore the Wolowitz and Koothrappali Try to Have a Sex Lives Show, but it occasionally intersects with the shows I do watch in entertaining ways.
Castle
I believe I've seen everything aired for this show, too.
This show is so silly and so vastly entertaining. I think maybe Nathan Fillion was born to play Rick Castle. I don't know if that's heresy, some folks might think he begins and ends with Mal from Firefly, but the amount of fun Fillion has playing Castle is obvious and infectious. He's so gleefully immature and cheesy! And once the writers figured out that Beckett (his Serious Female Cop With a Tragic Past counterpart) couldn't just be a stereotype forever, her reactions to his cheesiness and his shamelessly juvenile quips are pretty priceless. Also, Castle has a hilarious family composed of an out-of-work diva mother (Martha) who throws parties in his apartment when he's away from home and a sharp-witted, affectionate daughter (Alexis) who has a decided Gilmore Girls child-as-parent relationship with him and a habit of saying the right thing at the right time to make Castle realize who the real killer is. I would actually watch an entire show about the three of them, actually.
I watch the Castle Fall Down Go Boom Show, the Casa De Castle Comedy Hour With Martha and Alexis, and the Beckett Handcuffs Castle to Things and Pulls Him Around by the Ear Show. There's a Castle and Beckett Sittin' In a Tree Show in there, for sure, but I don't really care about it at all.
Glee
(I'm totally not going in alphabetical order, this is just the order in which they air. Just so you know.)
I've been keeping up with this show since the Pilot aired during the summer, or whenever that was.
This is my popcorn show. It is the emotional, character oriented equivalent of a high-effects movie with lots of explosions and plane crashes. I sometimes have to watch it through my fingers because it gets close to giving even me an embarrassment squick, which is...impressive. In the end, though, it's a show where the characters periodically break into a big show-stopping song and dance number, and I can't not watch that. Also, the point-blank humor frequently squeezes incredulous laughter from me, especially when Jane Lynch is onscreen as Sue Sylvester aka Epic Cheer Coach. The way events and emotions are portrayed takes a little getting used to, since everything's slightly over the top on this show, but once you start looking at it as a big, loud stage production it all sort of works.
I watch the Epic Cheer Coach Lays the Smackdown On Everyone Show, the Oh My Goodness They Totally Just Went There Show, and the JOURNEY/QUEEN/BON JOVI/MY FAIR LADY IN THE HIZZOUS YO!! Show. I know other people watch the Actually Paying Attention to the Plot and Care About the Characters Show but really? I can't be bothered to take it that seriously. [python] It's all much too silly. [/python]
Bones
I saw the first season on DVD a while back and really enjoyed it, so I'm watching the current season despite the fact that I've clearly missed a ton of character arc stuff.
Some people object to Numb3rs on the grounds that it treats math as if it were magical and applies it in ways and situations where it totally wouldn't help. I sort of have that problem with Bones on occasion because really? Reconstructing the barrel grooves on a lost bullet by looking at the hole said bullet made in a skull? Pull the other one, it's got bells on. But I really like David Boreanaz as Booth and I totally want Brennan and her huge collection of chunky necklaces to be my friend. Their partnership is adorable and fun to watch and I enjoy the dorktasticness of Brennan's team at the Jeffersonian. I am baffled by Sweets and don't know why he's on the show but his interactions with Booth and Brennan occasionally justify his existence, so I guess he gets a pass.
I mostly just watch the Kirk and Spock Booth and Brennan Bicker Amusingly and Solve the Save the Day Show. There is also a I Kind of Want to Marry Hodgins Show that I tune in for occasionally. As with Castle, I know there's a whole Booth and Brennan OTP Show, but I tend to enjoy unresolved romantic vibes more than I enjoy open romance, mostly because Hollywood seems to have very different ideas about what makes open romance enjoyable than I do.
Fringe
I watched the Pilot a while ago and decided to keep up with the current season, catching reruns of Season 1 when I can.
This show is totally guilty of being (or at least starting out as) X-Files Lite, but I don't really mind this for a couple of reasons: I like Olivia Dunham, I adore Walter Bishop in his complete and utter insanity, and I am not ashamed to admit that I have a soft spot a mile wide for Joshua Jackson due to the fact that I had a huge crush on him when I was in the ten-to-thirteen age range and he was starring in the Mighty Ducks movies. Also, Fringe's mytharc is approximately 200% less annoying than X-Files' mytharc. I will take the technological singularity and parallel universes with Leonard Nimoy over top-heavy government conspiracies and alien invasion threats somehow involving the Mayan calendar any day.
I totally just watch the Walter Bishop Solves the Equation/Formula/Whatever While Dropping Acid and Talking to the Cow And Then Makes a Souffle And Attempts to Bond With His Son in Bizzarre Ways Show. I don't mind the Olivia Is Going To Save Us All From the Other Universe Show at all, it's just not as funny, so I sort of forget about it sometimes.
Supernatural
I'm getting more and more behind on writing my weekly episode reviews for this.
Season 5 has thus far been a weird mix of awesome hilarity, warm fuzzies with a healthy side of angst, and spectacular canon/continuity fail. My approach to the mytharc has become "Okay, Show, whatever you say, call me when you're ready to start making sense again!" But the monster of the week eps still fill me with glee, and even the mytharc eps have lots of brother stuff to recommend them, so I'm pretty happy regardless. I'm tempted to sit down, write out a "As Far As I Can Tell, This Was Azazel's Grand Plan" post and invite fandom to help me refine its canon-compliancy and help me handwave to see if we can actually make it look like a plan that someone made all at once rather than the monstrous victim of sequential storytelling that it is.
I watch the Sam and Dean and Dean and Sam and Let's Not Forget the Car Show. Also the Dean and Castiel Crack Me Up Show, the Sam Winchester is Hot and Has a Chewy Character Arc Show, and the Bobby Friggin' Singer is Awesome Show. Apparently there are still folks out there watching the Demons and Angels and DOOM Show, and though I can't say I understand why I'm glad they're out there since they're usually the ones who write the best fanfic. The people I really don't understand are the ones who seem to be watching the This Show is Stupid and Makes Me Angry and the Writers Are WRONG and I Hate Everything Show. Um...TV is for fun? If you're not having fun? It's possible you should maybe stop watching and take up a different pastime? Like crochet? Don't get mad at me, I'm just saying? Question mark?
Psych
I've seen random episodes of last season and am keeping up with the current season.
This show just makes me giggle. I...don't really have anything much beyond that. The constant barrage of deadpan silliness appeals to me and I would watch for that regardless of the show's premise. Also, I kind of adore Shawn's dad. And I really need to hunt down some SPN crossover fic.
As stated, I watch the Aahahahahahahaaa Show. All the slightly more serious shows that I'm sure are in there are mostly invisible to me.
Stargate Universe
I have been staying current with the show since the Pilot.
Okay, I mostly watch this because a) it purports to be a Stargate show despite the fact that it obviously wants to be Battlestar Galactica more than anything else, and b) I love Eli, am fascinated and terrified by Rush, and am coming to really like Greer. Other than that the characters all kind of annoy me, though I'm, okay with Young. I do appreciate that they're trying to make a more serious, grown-up, realistic show. But since Stargate never bothered to be any of those things, I sort of wonder why they're making a spin-off instead of just detaching to make a whole new show.
I'm currently watching the Maybe Next Episode Will Make Me Love It Show with a side of the Eli is Adorable Show. We'll see how long this lasts.
White Collar
This show has only aired three episodes and already it's become the show I'm happiest to see pop up in my Hulu queue. Nothing will ever replace either Stargate or Supernatural in my heart, but Stargate has been over for a couple of years and Supernatural is a lot of work at this point. I have no emotional investment in White Collar, it's filled with banter and pretty, I love the characters, and there is no top-heavy mytharc! Yay! Also, I think Neal Caffrey might be my newest TV boyfriend. I could easily get properly fannish about this show, at least to the point of reading fic, though I doubt I'll be inspired to write any, myself.
I watch the Wheeee Clever Crime Capers and Snark Show as well as the Finally a Married Couple With No Marriage Angst on TV Show.
Numb3rs
I'm behind on this, haven't seen the last few eps. Other than that I'm sort of current. I missed the back half of last season, but I know mostly what happened in it.
I am saddened to hear that fans think this is probably the show's last season? Woe. I only have a vague idea what's actually going on with the plot of most episodes, but I adore the ensemble cast to bits and I'll be really sorry to see them disband. I have enjoyed the mix of fedcakes and geeks that the show offers, the family element brought by Charlie, Don, and Alan, and the existential oddness of the one and only Larry Fleinhart. The show hasn't been quite the same since Megan left, but I still felt it was going strong.
I watch the Who Cares What's Going On With the Case When There are So Many Lovable and Amusing People Running and Talking and Shooting? Show. I'm not convinced there's any other show in there, actually.
I'm also re-watching Stargate with redial_the_gate, as always, but I hardly need to tell you how I feel about that show, do I? *grin*