TOP 12 TV SHOWS
Let me preface this post by saying that until I moved to California 17 years ago I never had cable. I always lived in places where cable was not an option so I would watch movies, but TV shows weren’t part of my life. Even after moving back to California I wasn’t super into TV, but I had my faves: Friends, Sex & The City, Gossip Girl, & Gilmore Girls. However, I didn’t watch these “live,” I owned all 3 shows on DVD and would binge watch them. It wasn’t until I started dating Paul that watching TV became part of my life.
To be totally honest, I used to talk serious shit about TV. I thought it was for lazy people. I always associated TV with “couch potato” and so I could never bring myself to sit on a couch and just watch TV. If I had down time I would read a book or go do an activity. I still kinda have the same mentality–I prefer to do something active or productive, but there are days when laying in bed (in my bath robe with a face mask on) and binge watching garbage TV is all I want to do.
And then there’s the other side of TV. The side where I think TV shows are better than most movies these days. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the classics (& will re-watch a classic before trying to find a new one), but movies today and I just don’t see eye to eye. Because of this, Paul has introduced me to countless TV shows and these are the ones that stuck. I’ve started tons of others but bailed after a few episodes, so these are my true favorites. Luckily, if you haven’t already seen them, almost all of them are finished so you can binge watch! My fave.
Disclaimer: I’m not a “serious” movie / TV watcher. I don’t judge shows on the cinematography or any other artsy thing like that. These shows just speak to me and entertain me.
My Top 12 Favorite TV Shows (in no particular order):
-Mad Men. The wardrobe and setting of this show alone is enough to keep me entertained. I love the 60’s time period and all the glam in this show. I remember this show starting off a little slow but once I got past the first few episodes I was hooked.
-House of Cards. Politics? When Paul insisted that I watch this show I was straight-up mad. I had absolutely ZERO interest. It was hard to understand / keep up and we had to pause like every 10 minutes so Paul could explain. BUT, it got better and I started to understand (on my own). And I was in. Deceit, lies, scandal…all the best stuff in a drama (LOL).
–Bates Motel. I love scary movies, so this show was a no-brainer for me. I also love the Bates Motel part of Universal Studios so I had to watch it. Tonight is actually the finale of the entire show *tear* but I must say, they kept me captivated throughout every season. The acting is unbelievable in this show, WATCH IT!
-Girls. I went into this hoping for it to be a modern version of Sex & The City. Not quite. Lots of sex and nudity, but no fabulous clothing or apartments. In fact, nothing about this show is fabulous. But it’s real and relatable, which I love. I also die for Elijah. With the episodes being just under 30 minutes, I looked forward to my little dose of Lena Dunham every Sunday night.
-Big Little Lies. One season only. This one just aired on HBO a couple months ago and with such a star-studded cast I had to watch. Not gonna lie, the first couple episodes weren’t too thrilling to me. But like many shows, you just have to give it a real chance to get interesting. So glad I kept going because I became obsessed. I’m also equally obsessed with the soundtrack. If you’re a book reader and haven’t watched this show yet, I would recommend reading the book first. I’m super bummed I didn’t read it, it seems like the type of story that would be amazing as a book.
-American Horror Story. Definitely part of my top 5. I LOOOOVE this show. As I mentioned, I love scary movies and this show is scary but tasteful. The themes (except for Freak Show, which I didn’t exactly love) are always great, and the cast is amazing. If you’re not into scary, you can always just watch the season of The Coven. It’s not scary at all, and the whole season has a huge Stevie Nicks influence, which is clearly reason enough to watch.
–Ray Donovan. It might just be all the LA references in the show, but this show makes me happy. I secretly love watching people do bad things (for a good cause) and I just feel for the characters. If you want to watch Liev Schreiber be a total badass, watch this show.
-The Leftovers. Super fucking weird. Still kinda confused, but totally into it. It’s on the last season now, so hopefully things will wrap up / make sense. I don’t even know where to begin summarizing the show, but if you’re into story-lines that leave you hanging, and hanging, and hanging, this show is for you.
-Stranger Things. I love the 80’s throwback feel of this show. It’s almost as good as the 80’s. Mix in the creepiness and Winona Ryder and this show definitely has me excited for season two.
-Orange Is The New Black. YESSSSSSS. Somehow, this show makes prison seem like summer camp. I mean, obviously not really, but the relationships developed in this show are very endearing. I think this show has the perfect mix of comedy and drama.
–The Bachelor. Okay. I know what you’re thinking. How in the world is this show on this list, right?! Well…….remember how I said I like to watch garbage TV in my robe? Yeah, this is one of them. It’s SO bad, it’s SO good. One of those. I could do an entire post about my garbage TV shows and what I get out of them, but I’ll spare you. But in case you were wondering, other shows in that category would be Kardashians and Housewives. I’ll leave it at that.
-Divorce. I love this show, but it’s only one season deep. I don’t want to rave about it too much, but so far I’m loving it. SJP is obviously a major highlight of the show, but overall the dialogue and story-line is on point for the type of show I like / watch so I’m into it.
What are you guys watching? Anything I’m missing out on? I’m not super into shows that are too PG (if you know what I mean). Since almost all my shows are either over or coming to an end, I’m on the hunt for some new TV shows to start watching. Leave your suggestions below in the comments!