Must See TV

Other than sports I've never been one to watch a lot of TV. That has changed a bit lately. I think there are two reasons for this. First of all having a DVR makes watching your favorite shows much easier than in the past. If I had to sit down and watch the shows as they were airing I probably wouldn't be able to watch nearly as many shows as I do now. Watching TV when you have time and at your convenience really makes following shows much easier. The other big thing that helps is not having constant pressure to study for the next test. I've had a DVR for several years now, but for the past 8 to 10 years I've always had tests coming up around the corner so I felt like I had to be studying every free minute that I had. Don't get me wrong, I still do a lot of reading and studying, but because I don't have tests all of the time anymore most of my studying happens during the day while I'm at work.

In some small way I feel like I've made it because I now have premium cable. We used to have Netflix but it got to the point where we weren't really using it much so we decided to get rid of Netflix and get HBO. I have little to no interest in most of the movies on the show but their documentaries and original shows are almost always excellent. One of their old shows I've been watching a lot of recently is Curb Your Enthusiasm. Curb was created by Larry David, the co-creator and writer on Seinfeld. If you liked Seinfeld you will like Curb as the shows are very similar. Basically, the show is about Larry David as he runs into everyday things and he isn't afraid to say what is on his mind, which creates awkward and funny situations. He frequently says things that I think most people would like to say in real life but their internal filters won't allow.




Another show that I've been watching on HBO is Boardwalk Empire. It stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, a politician in Atlantic City during prohibition involved in alcohol smuggling. The show is based on real events that happened during the time and features well known gangsters such as Al Capone and Arnold Rothstein, famous for his involvement in the 1919 World Series scandal. I'm a huge gangster genre fan and this show is done very, very well. Of course, Martin Scorsese is involved so I shouldn't be surprised.




I felt obligated to start watching The Biggest Loser this year since Anna K was on. I've never had any interest in the show in the past but I must say it is pretty interesting. In the beginning some of the contestants were losing 30 pounds per week, which is absolutely amazing. This year they divided teams by age and Anna's team is the old team, which is absolutely not fair to her at all. The older people don't get anywhere near the intensity the younger people reach. The show itself is fairly interesting, but as an Anna fan it is interesting to see her in this kind of environment because you get to see emotions from her that I've rarely seen from her on the tennis court in the past. She's a typical Russian, meaning she's very reserved and keeps to herself in general, but on this show she shows some emotion which is nice. I hope they keep her around for the next season.




During the NLCS TBS bombarded us with promos for The Big Bang Theory. I've been somewhat intrigued with the idea of the show but have never checked it out. Finally after seeing about 100 ads for it I started to record it. Plus it's a bit easier to watch now that it's on TBS all of the time. I've only seen 4 or 5 episodes but so far I really like the show. I'm a bit of a science nerd myself so I appreciate jokes about physics. And once I heard a joke about Ubuntu I was hooked. Jim Parsons' character Sheldon is hilarious on the show, and I really like girl-next-door pretty Kaley Cuoco, who plays Penny on the show.




These are all of my weekly shows, and it doesn't even include regulars PTI and Attack of the Show, along with sports and a few others. I might have to cut back on one of my jobs so that I have more time for all of this TV!