Best TV Shows Ever

I’ve had a writer’s block for the past two weeks, which is intensely annoying and really doesn’t provide very interesting writing material. Now that I’m pretty content with my life and not all broody and depressed, it turns out that I don’t need to write all the time to get my emotions out. And I think that’s for the best. I was freaking myself out with the way some of my posts were going.

I’ve decided instead to write about my top TV shows, in no particular order. What you may deduce from this post, and which is very true, is that I’m a TV junkie. It’s entertaining and a nice escape from life’s havoc (okay, my life isn’t filled with havoc, but a lot of people’s lives are, and these shows provide a reprieve from that).

Friends
I know this show isn’t on anymore, but I couldn’t NOT mention it. It’s one of my all time favourites. Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe saw me through my formative years. My high school best friend and I would watch this show so much that our humours began to resemble theirs (and, to be honest, I think they still do). They went through their ups and downs on the show as I went through them in my own life, and Friends saw me through some tough times. It’s the best show to put on when you need a good laugh and a sense of normalcy. I still put it on when I need a show that relates to my real life in a humourous way. I know it’s a weird attachment to have to a TV show, but these “friends” became my friends. Does anyone else feel this way about a TV show or character? No? Yeah, me neither…

Dancing with the Stars
A fantastic combination of drama, comedy, and dance. Every week, “stars” (I use this term loosely, as Kate Gosselin was on this season, and we all know that she is hardly a star) try their hands at dancing with their professional partners. Lots of sequins, lots of really fit men with their shirts off, and lots of women in fantastic costumes (with fantastic bodies, the bitches). They fight and they dance, and we, as the viewers, get to see the relationships flourish (Maks and Erin – if they aren’t together now, they better be soon or they might spontaneously combust) or flounder (Tony and Kate – no explanation needed as to why).

The New Adventures of Old Christine
Elaine from Seinfeld now plays Christine Campbell, a divorced mother of one whose ex-husband is dating a much younger, fresher Christine. We watch as Christine falls in love (with every man she dates), runs her business (a women’s gym, ironic since she eats everything she can get her hands on), constantly tries to live up to the expectations of the rich moms at her son’s school (usually failing), and continues a love affair with wine (can’t blame her there). She’s self-deprecating and seriously defeatist, but in a way that makes it impossible not to love her. I can see myself as her when I’m in my 40s. I refuse to consider whether that is good or bad.

The Office
Anyone who works in an office can relate to this show – the mundane lifestyle of sitting at a desk all day and the often tiring task of trying to work with people that, in reality, you wouldn’t fraternize with in any normal situation (I’m lucky enough to work with a really good friend of mine, and she is the only reason I haven’t pulled an Andy Bernard and punched my fist through the wall). Dwight Schrute might be the funniest character on the show, with Andy and Michael following closely behind. The whole cast is beyond talented, and they portray office life perfectly, if at times somewhat far fetched. The love affair between Jim and Pam adds romance to this show, and makes you (read: me) think it’s possible to meet someone as great as Jim in a little office. I keep wearing those cardigans, but my Jim has yet to find me!

True Blood
Yet another vampire show. There are so many of these out there that they’re starting to lose their novelty. True Blood, however, is everything that you love from Twilight and Vampire Diaries, to name two of the most popular, plus the sex, drugs, and danger that is left out of the shows aimed at teens. While Twilight and Vampire Diaries are entertaining and carry their own danger and sexually charged tension (Vampire Diaries more so than Twilight – that’s what happens when a book is written by a Mormon woman), they stop short at delving into the “good stuff” for the sake of network television and pre-teen drama. True Blood leaves nothing to the imagination, and I love it for that. All the taboo drugs, vampire sex, murder, blood, and vengeance are rampant in this HBO television show, and it makes for some great TV. Watch as Sookie battles her feelings for vampires Bill and Eric, while Jason experiments both with vampiric tendencies and religious battle for vampire death. Questions are brought forward in every episode. Are vampires bad or misunderstood? What other creatures are out there, bringing danger to the residents of Bon Temps, Louisiana? And WHEN do we get to see Vampire Eric with his shirt off again?

House
This is the ONLY hospital drama that I watch. I can’t do Grey’s Anatomy, with their over the top drama and minimal doctoring. Most doctor shows use the hospital as a setting for other situations. With House, the hospital and medicine IS the show, and the other situations are based around what happens in the hospital. And Hugh Laurie, Dr House himself, is fantastic. He’s mean, granted, but he’s mean when people are stupid and sarcastic at the most opportune moments. His dry sense of humour is exactly that of Sherlock Holmes in the new movie of the famous detective – funny and endearing. House and Wilson play off each other like an old married couple, and House is one of the few title characters that actually make the TV show. I often find that the title or main character isn’t the one that is the funniest or most likeable (Seinfeld, anyone?) but that’s not the case with Dr Gregory House. His smarts, his humour, and his rugged good looks make him the sexiest doctor on television. Yes, that’s even above “McDreamy” and “McSteamy”.

How I Met Your Mother
It’s like the new version of Friends. I was never interested in it until my University roommate brought the seasons to our apartment. I sat on the couch and watched two full seasons in a couple of days (I never said I was a good student). The characters are hilarious, and Neil Patrick Harris (NPH!) rocks my world. The situations that he gets into with women are so extreme that, despite him being a player, you can’t help but love him. Ted is the good guy, Marshall is goofy and funny and way too cute, and Lily and Robin are you and your best friend. They are so relatable and, honestly, they make you realize how important friends are in your life. Friends are like your family, and these guys are the friends that everyone wants. Or at least I do (really, I have friends, and great ones at that. It’s starting to sound like I just sit at home and pretend that fictional characters are my best friends. That is not the case).

Glee
What’s not to love? Singing? Check. Dancing? Check. Reliving your high school days and realizing it’s ok to be nerdy? Priceless. I mean, check. The Glee Club is the culmination of the nerds at McKinley High, along with some cool kids who are there by force. They sing, they dance, and they try to figure out how to live in the cruel world of high school. It’s a show for all the underdogs and for every person who was bullied in school (I was one of them. Surprised? Probably not). And really, who doesn’t love musicals? It’s like High School Musical, but you can watch, and be really excited for, Glee without feeling ashamed, like you do when you buy tickets a week ahead and line up with all the 12 year olds to see High School Musical 3 in theatres. It happened. I’m not proud.

Modern Family
There are a lot of mockumentary shows on networks now, and some are better than others. Modern Family is the best, in my mind. It follows three families – the patriarch, Jay, and his new wife and stepson, Gloria and Manny; Jay’s daughter Claire and her husband Phil, with their three children; and Jay’s son Mitchell and Mitchell’s partner Cameron, with their adopted Korean daughter, Lily. They are three normal families. Painstakingly normal, really. And that’s what makes the show so hilarious. It’s relatable, heart warming, and hilarious. You’ll see your own family in their craziness, and realize that no one is perfect and everyone has problems. This show helps you see the humour in your own problems and realize that, maybe, whatever you’re so worried about really isn’t worth it when you have your family behind you.

Castle
This is one of my most favourites. I’m not one for dramatic television that is NCIS and CSI, but Castle brings drama amongst hilarity. The perfect combination. Richard Castle, wildly famous mystery novelist, teams up with Kate Beckett, a hard nosed NYPD murder investigator, in order to get material for his latest series based on a female NYPD detective. The sexual tension between the two main characters is palpable and they play off each other fantastically well. Castle mixes cop drama with comedy, keeping the show light yet suspenseful. It’s interesting, sexy, and funny. It’s like my perfect man.

Chuck
I just came across this show recently, and it is what I consider to be one of my greatest discoveries. This show is genius. It follows a computer nerd who happens to get all of the CIA’s secrets uploaded into his brain (and they make this seem completely possible) and is now one of the government’s most valuable assets. To protect him, the CIA sends two agents, sexy John Casey and gorgeous Sarah Walker. Together, the three of them fight bad guys, fall in love (Chuck and Sarah, with whose relationship I am far too invested for it to be considered healthy), and carry guns. I want to be Sarah Walker. I want to fall in love with Chuck Bartowski. It’s funny, romantic, dramatic, and full of action. It’s so exciting that it makes me want to be a CIA agent. I actually applied. Still waiting to hear back.


Love,

Bella