The title of this post is a sentiment I’ve shared with The Boss for many years. With few exceptions, my TV watching over the past 25-30 years has consisted mostly of live Sports. I’ve enjoyed a lot of non-Sports TV over the years. Mostly documentaries and Science Channel type stuff, but rarely any episodic TV. It’s just dawned on me recently that, over the span of the last few decades, very few shows have made it to the level of “Must Watch”.
As best as I can recall, here are the only shows (I’m thinking since high school in the early ’80s) that I carved out time for each and every week they were on.
The Sopranos was the big one. The show itself, along with the advent of the DVR, changed television viewing forever.
Entourage. Another HBO show. Jeremy Piven was worth the price of admission each and every week.
Rockstar: INXS. In 2005, reality TV helped my favorite band pick a new lead singer. I’m still blown away by how great the House Band was during that show. It was only on during the summer, but I was locked in to that puppy.
Add to that list The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I’ve only missed a handful of these nightly shows over the years. Most are watched “after the fact” on DVR, but I still count it since only a day or two goes by before I get caught up on missed shows. Both shows are consistently funny and usually spot on with their views.
I think that’s it. I could be forgetting something. I’m sure I’m forgetting something. But that brings us up to present day, where an interesting phenomenon is taking place. And it all started with a big bang.
My son (11 years old at the time), introduced me to The Big Bang Theory during Season 6 last year. After watching a few episodes, I became hooked. We rented DVDs and watched every episode from the beginning. Now in Season 7, I’m a full fledged fan and have elevated this show to “Must Watch” status for the foreseeable future.
What this breakthrough show has allowed me to do is take a chance on some of the new shows that recently started. Who knows if any will stick, but I’ve given a fair shot to several shows that my wife is DVR-ing every week anyway. Here’s a list of shows I’ve seen every episode of so far this fall. None are super duper, but a few have a chance to improve.
- The Blacklist has potential, but it conjures up too much Silence of the Lambs. James Spader is working with a bunch of actors well below his level.
- Agents of SHIELD is kinda interesting. Agent Coulson was such a great character in the Marvel movies. Can he carry this TV show? He needs to. No one else is very interesting at the moment.
- The Crazy Ones. Robin Williams is great, but his daughter is unwatchable. The two young guys are funny.
So we shall see how things go as the Fall progresses. Happy viewing.