29 March 2007

Thursday Thirteen: TV Show Addictions

The new series of Doctor Who is starting this weekend over in the U.K., and I've been jealously drooling over all of the little snippets of promotion that I can find between fandom sites.

The full trailer posted today on YouTube just made my little geek!girl heart go aflutter.

Damn being in the U.S. *sigh*

In any case, in celebration of my geekitude, here's my list of must-not-miss TV shows (both new and old), both geek-related and not.


Thirteen Much Loved TV Shows


1. X-Files: I started watching the X-Files during its 2nd season (but quickly caught up on all of the back episodes through the alt.tv.x-files group and lots of VHS tape trading). My father introduced me to the show while I was home on Christmas break. If I recall, the first episodes I saw were Scully's abduction episodes (which equalled instant addition... seriously... so good). I watched the series religiously all the way to the end of the run. Friends knew that they were not to call me during that hour. For the series finale, I even disconnected my phone to keep from being interrupted. :) I was so heavily into the show that I actually overloaded myself-- but lately I've been wanting to start watching some of my favorite episodes again. I have to wonder how my VHS tapes (all... god, 100+ of them? 2 eps per tape, 24 or 25 eps per season, 9 seasons)have survived.

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation: My first real geek fandom. This came onto the TV the year my parents separated, and it honestly was my weekly escape from all of the family drama that was unfolding. I never really connected with the original series. I enjoyed DS9, but it wound up conflicting with my class schedule in college (so I fell out of watching it). I never was interested in Voyager or Enterprise, either. I'm a TNG Trekker. And still watch it occasionally on G4 now that they've cleaned up some of the episodes. But oh, how poorly they've aged... :)

3. Doctor Who: One of the two current addictions, and definitely the more "she's crazy" addiction. Erich has watched the new series since it first aired in the States last summer. I casually watched it with him on occasion, but didn't get hooked until I saw the last episode (Doomsday) of the second season shortly before this past Christmas. And, both to my glee and annoyance, it was a full onset of geekdom addiction that I hadn't experienced since the X-Files went off the air (I guess I was in need of something to preoccupy my time). It's not that I didn't know about Who before the new series, either-- it's been around since 1963. Even during its hiatus during the 1990s, I remember seeing Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann in all of the sci-fi fandom mags that I'd pick up (for TNG and XF info). And during my childhood, I recall seeing a few of the original series episodes on PBS. I'll partially blame the addiction on David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston, though. *swoon*

But now I'm trying to find and catch up on any of the original series episodes that I can for backstory... I'm currently working through the batch of 1970's Who on my iPod. And I'm really excited for the next season - which starts Saturday in the U.K., but won't be on here until the summer. Arrrrgh!

4. Heroes: The other current addiction. I'm amazed at how well this show is written and produced. I love how all of the character storylines intersect and are interwoven. There are a few storylines that bore me a bit, but that happens with any show. Having Christopher Eccleston show up here was wonderful (and brought the quality up another notch, I think). It's arguably the best show on network TV right now- and allows the masses to enjoy geekdom comfortably.

5. Firefly: This is mostly Erich's addiction, but I've enjoyed the ride along with him. Great writing, interesting characters -- but sadly it was broadcast on FOX, which means it (like so many shows that don't have "when ____ attack" in the title) was doomed to be axed before its time. It didn't help that it was broadcast completely out of order, either, nor that it was a pretty specific tuned-to-geekdom show. FOX screwed up. Somehow a movie (Serenity) was made through outcry of the fans, and it spurred a mini cult phenomenon.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I was among the many who gaped when they saw that a TV show of that god-awful movie from the early 90s was being made. I mean, seriously-- WHY?!? But then one of my friends commented that it was surprisingly really good. And then another one did. And I, being the X-Phile extraordinare, laughed at them. And then they sat me down and forced me to watch it. And yeah... okay. It was very good. Completely cheesy at times. But very, very good. And I'm enjoying the 8th season, being "broadcast" through comics. :)

7. Red Dwarf: I watched this starting in junior high with my boyfriend at the time. It was on PBS pretty late at night, if I recall, as part of a British TV block (which also featured the Young Ones and Doctor Who). It was very silly, but between the geekiness, the jokes, and it being British (which was so underground in Montana), it became a little cult following. And Erich's a Red Dwarf fan as well... so I've now caught up on any episode I missed through his collection. :)

8. The Cosby Show: Did anyone who grew up in the 80s not watch this? It was one of the few shows my family watched together. We laughed with the Huxtables. We talked about some of the topics that came up that actually were good topics to think about. And I found a little thrill in watching the TV kids who grew up with a dad who was an OB/GYN... because I could relate very closely to that. On the occasions since my childhood thatI've heard Ray Charles' "Night Time Is the Right Time," it immediately makes me think of the family lip-sync serenade. :)

9. Moonlighting: This was our mother-daughter bonding show. My mom and I watched it together every week. Would David and Maddie finally get together? How many fights can one couple have- that made anyone watching them just laugh. Alas, when they did finally get together, that spark that made the show so much fun to watch seemed to wane off. *sigh*

10. Law & Order: While probably not a die-hard addiction (and I actually don't watch the current run), I love watching the reruns of this show. And I have absolutely no idea why-- it must just be the thrill of a crime mystery. I can't get into Criminal Intent, but I also enjoy Special Victims Unit reruns.

11. Project Runway: I'm not into fashion. I definitely don't have a body type that fashion designers embrace in any way, shape or form. Yet somehow, I'm just addicted to this show every year. I think it's simply watching how creativity works in other people- dealing with time constraints, coming up with ideas, and watching people dive into the profession they love. And Tim Gunn is love, of course. This is, by the way, the only competitive Reality TV show I watch.

12. The Mole: Celebrity Edition: Erich and I watched this religiously while it was on. I think it was mostly to watch Corbin Bensen and Stephen Baldwin act like idiots. But it was very funny. And oddly engrossing. Erich was far better than me at figuring out who was the Mole, though.

13. MXC: Another Erich & Mel TV show time. It's waned a bit lately, but we used to watch the what... four hours of it on Thursday nights on Spike? Japanese competitive TV is insane. Who comes up with this stuff? It's painful to watch and utterly stupid-- but it just keeps. pulling. you. in. Next stop: Ninja Warrior (which is insane, too).

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