When I was a kid, I watched my fair share of television. And another person’s fair share. And even a third person’s fair share. I can tell you all about Samantha Stephens, Jaime Sommers, and Diana Knight. If you have a question about Lori Beth Cunningham, I’m the person to call. Same about Angela Channing, Fallon Colby or Valene Ewing. I can name all six Brady kids. And yes, I watched the reunion specials. But then, something happened. I went to college and stopped watching as much television. Oh, I still watched often, but not as often. I found similarities in my life with characters such as Monica Geller and laughed at other characters like Daphne Moon. But I didn’t watch as much. I fell in love, married my wonderful hubby, and had children. I watched less and less unless you count almost every episode of Bear in the Big Blue House and Curious George. With my children now getting old enough for me and my wonderful hubby to start watching television again, I’ve found it hard to decide what to watch. My wonderful hubby extols the virtues of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. My tastes run lighter than those two very critically acclaimed, thought-provoking dramatic shows. So I’m playing catch up with television.
First on my list was How I Met Your Mother. I laughed and cried watching eight seasons on Netflix so I could watch the final season live. For the interests of all involved and because I don’t like to whine or post negative reviews online, we’ll skip how I feel about the final episode. Notice I did write feel because the finale still evokes strong feelings in this romance writer.
I’ve wanted to start watching The Office or Parks and Recreation, but last year at RWA Nationals, I heard wonderful things about Castle. When an episode showed up on my cable provider without commercials, I watched the pilot. Then I introduced it to my wonderful hubby who loved Firefly. So he now watches Castle with me. We are presently on the second season. I’m enjoying having a television show to enjoy with my hubby.
I’ve also started watching Downton Abbey. I’m at the start of the third season. I’ve had friends tell me I should stop now because they cried at turns of events. Since I have an account on Facebook, I know the spoilers. I know what’s coming, but I’m determined to watch the rest of seasons three and four before January because my wonderful hubby loves this show. I admit I like certain characters, but not all the story lines appeal to me. I don’t know many people other than my wonderful hubby of having the dilemma of having to choose whether to watch The Walking Dead or Downton Abbey live and wait until the next day to watch the other show.
For the first time, I am not caught up with any show on television. The only show I stayed current with over the past eight years was Psych which came to an end this year. Yes, I already miss Shawn and Gus. I loved the show so much that Cupcake and Chunk’s teddy bears are named Shawn and Gus. I also stayed current with Monk. That was the last finale I loved when I watched it live on television while it was being broadcast; I didn’t watch the Psych finale until last month although I did love the finale of that as well.
But I will trade not being attuned with modern television shows in return for having television take a backseat during my children’s early years. In the words of the immortal Chance (Peter Sellers’ character in Being There) although with quite a different context, “I like to watch.” What’s your favorite television show? What show on television that is still in current production is your must see television? Let me know.