Tuesday 15 July 2014

Top Ten TV Shows

I haven't participated in Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish for a while now, but it's a good way for me to feel like I've been posting while not actually having to find the mental capacity to write reviews, so here it is! It helps that this weeks' topic is amazing. 

I don't talk much on the blog about my obsession with boxsets of TV shows and movies, but they are my other love. I don't have as many DVDs as I do books, but we do definitely have a lot and it's been a long time since I've really thought about the series that I love, so this will be fun! Here are my top ten TV series!

10 - Scrubs

I have to admit I've not watched this for years, but I do still own the first 8 seasons of it and frequently walk around humming songs from the musical episode. There's a lot that annoys me about it, but equally a lot to love, and Dr. Cox is one of my all-time favourite characters. Plus there are still certain episodes which make me tear up every time I watch them. Although I haven't watched it for ages I doubt I'll ever bring myself to get rid of my box sets!

9. Mr. Selfridge

I only started watching this because it had ladies wearing pretty dresses and men wearing top hats and then it turned out to be really interesting and have some awesome people in it. Love the mixture of history, glamour and scandal and the plot twists they keep throwing in. I also love Jeremy Piven as Mr. Selfridge despite his tendency to be a douchebag. He balances it with so much social responsibility and being an awesome boss I just can't help loving him. 

8. Once Upon a Time

I still haven't seen the last few episodes of Season One of this as Lovefilm kept inexplicably not sending us the sixth disc, so I'm keeping my eyes open for the box set so I can finally get to Season Two! There are things about this series that are a bit cliche and over the top, but it's a series based entirely on fairytales and fairytale characters so there was pretty much no way I wasn't going to love it. Rhys and I have been pondering for a while why it is that we can't hate Rumplestiltskin...

7. How I Met Your Mother

Disclaimer: I haven't yet seen the last season and I'm fully aware that the final episode will probably destroy any remaining respect I had for the show's writers. That said, the first four (and a bit of season 5) seasons pulled me out of my post-Friends slump and I love love love Marshall and Lily. Since we got rid of our TV licence over a year ago, I'm well behind and need to do some catch up watching from season 6 onwards, but who knows if I'll ever actually bother to watch the final episode? 

6. Doctor Who

I never thought I'd be into Doctor Who. I seriously resisted watching it when it was first reincarnated, but then was forced to while babysitting and fell in love. Then I met Rhys, who is pretty into it, and so I inherited a set of box sets which we've since watched over and over, and then I decided that Karen Gillan was the most awesome thing ever so I started watching it regularly and haven't looked back. There's so much to love. I'm still not sure how I feel about Peter Capaldi....

5. Black Books

"If you live in a council house,next to a river, but are not blind..." enough said really. If you haven't ever watched this series, please please do. One, it's set in a book shop. Two, Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey have probably never been funnier, and I say that having seen Dylan Moran live. Three, the piano episode!! 4, doing your tax return really is exactly like it is in that episode where he does his own taxes. 

4.Sherlock 

I have no words to describe my love for Sherlock, and it's only slightly dependent on my love for Benedict Cumberbatch and his amazing coat. So well written, such awesome actors, such brilliant twists on the original stories. I wait for every season with ridiculous amounts of excitement and anticipation, and then, three episodes and it's over and back to the waiting! I am beyond excited for season 4. 

3. The Big Bang Theory

Mostly I love The Big Bang Theory for how many kids I've met who are no longer afraid to say they love science (and maths, computing, and even English and other such geeky subjects!) because of this show. My little brother freely admits that Sheldon is his role model, which does more than slightly worry me, but I'm sure there are worse role models to have in today's society! The main characters in this are far and away the most relatable of any show I've probably ever watched - I know somebody like almost all of them. Again, I'm really behind on it since we don't have a TV licence and can only run BBC iPlayer through the TV without a massive faff and loads of cables I can never find, but I'm planning on buying all the seasons ever pretty soon!

2. Gilmore Girls 

My sister got me into Gilmore Girls years ago and everybody else in our family hates it, so it's like our secret love and the other week we were actually having a conversation about the characters as if they were real people. I think I probably love it so much because it really feels like they are, though. I feel like if Rory Gilmore and I met in real life we'd probably be really good friends, because of all the reading and stuff. People like to tell me that the series is really 'girly' and 'silly' and 'unrealistic' but actually if you pay attention, they reference a lot of obscure things from literature, music, theatre and various other paths of life, and actually you have to be pretty smart to fully appreciate the humour most of the time, so there all my other siblings, it's not mind-melting rubbish! Also I don't know a fan of the show who doesn't want to live in Stars Hollow, and it always, without fail makes me want to eat junk food, read books, and go back to school...

1. FRIENDS

I've owned all ten seasons since before it ended, and I can give you a Friends quote for almost every situation. I totally understand all the things people dislike about it as a series but I love it in spite of all its' flaws. It's the sitcom I grew up with and I don't think anything else will ever be quite the same for me :-) I think I've probably watched every episode more than ten times and I often laugh preemptively. Because I'm the coolest, and there's nothing you can say to make me ashamed of it!

9 comments:

  1. I love Friends! Like you, I have a quote for every occasion :)

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  2. " but it's a good way for me to feel like I've been posting while not actually having to find the mental capacity to write reviews" ME TOO! It means I can blab on about books and still call myself a book blogger without actually having to write about books in too much depth. Win! ;)

    Yes Scrubs. I love it. And especially the musical episodes in which I tell my husband SEE EVERYONE LOVES MUSICALS. (my post today is about top ten musicals). Great list!

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  3. Scrubs: JD & Turk was a bromance that brought me to tears (of laughter). Dr. Cox is my fave, and that Dr. House parody episode was AWESOME.

    Once Upon a Time: ran through Season 1 like a marathon runner, but lost momentum in Season 2, shrug. Maybe I should give it another try?

    How I Met Your Mother: this was totally my FRIENDS rebound show. Slap bets and dopplegangers! :)

    Doctor Who: we're always going to miss the previous doctors (Tennant! *cries*)

    Sherlock: I will probably be 75 by the time they finish this series, at this rate. WORTH IT.

    Gilmore Girls: I'll admit it; I'm Team Jess.

    FRIENDS: the Thanksgiving specials. The one with Brad Pitt at his loveliest <3. I remember taping the finale on VHS and crying, thinking that it was all over. Turns out, I'm watching a rerun (Rachel just had her baby) on TV right now!

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    1. I'M TEAM JESS TOO! He's frickin' beautiful, and he reads everything and adores Rory. YES.

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  4. I'm with you on all of the shows on this list that I've seen (all of them apart from Mr Selfridge and Once upon a time).. apart from maybe the big bang theory, which I find very.. inconsistent.

    But yes, I totally do the laughing before the joke is actually said thing in Friends, which really confused my husband when we tried watching them together (his first language isn't English, and he's never seen them before so he kept on thinking that he just didn't understand, hehe).

    I love the Gilmore Girls. Actually reading this has made me really want to rewatch it. And I want to try watching Once upon a time now!

    How I met your mother... I actually enjoyed most of the last season more than I'd enjoyed the seasons before it, but the last episode annoyed me. I already sort of knew what was going to happen before watching it though, which was probably better than being unprepared.

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  5. I also added Friends on my list! It's such a staple in my life and yes I too have most of the lines memorized haha

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  6. I sooo have a Friends quote for every occasion too! (This is why we're friends) I feel like there was a whole time in my life where I literally just responded to everything with either a quote from Sex and the City (ugh, but still) or Friends- those shows kind of have it all covered!

    Damn, now I want to choose my ten favourite TV shows, but I'm not sure that's going to be a long enough liiiiiist!

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  7. Oh, I love Scrubs, though I haven't watched it for years. I associate it with my uni years because it always seemed to be on when I went to "the boys' house" where my then-boyfriend and his mates lived. That episode when Cox's friend died! :'( ("My screw-up"? Something like that.) And the Janitor is the BEST.

    I enjoy the Big Bang Theory but have fallen out of love with it. I was lamenting the lack of geeky girls - specifically fangirls, Amy and Bernardette don't quite count in the same way - and then there was an episode when A GIRL WALKS INTO A COMIC BOOK SHOP! Oh, the shock! Oh the awe! Oh, her only purpose is to try to seduce Leonard. Grrrr. I never quite felt the same after that one.

    I LOVE Black Books. It is very cathartic to watch Bernard say the things I could never get away with.

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  8. Oh how I miss Gilmore Girls! That's a show that never ages, either. The dialogue to just so great.

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