The Best Shows: Summer 2012

Back in September I posted an admission: I love television. I love it among other things, of course, but I think one can love TV without being an antisocial cretin. There are just too many high-quality programs these days.

Here's a revision of my previous list - some shows have fallen off my radar completely (The Office, Dexter), and some other new shows have caught me completely off-guard as being awesome (Sherlock, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil).

My Absolute Favourite Shows - currently on the air
- Breaking Bad
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Metalocalypse
- Todd and the Book of Pure Evil (easily the best new comedy on TV)
- 30 Rock (promoted from "well worth it" because Season 6 has been stellar)
- Sherlock (BBC)

Well Worth A Watch - currently on the air
- Game of Thrones (the show is incredible but the books are superior)
- Modern Family (still awesome, but demoted from favourites)
- Parks & Recreation (still awesome, but demoted from favourites)
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- National Geographic's Drugs, Inc
- Eastbound & Down

Shows I Want To Start - when there's time
- Alphas
- Firefly (I've seen it before, but need to re-watch to fully appreciate)
- HBO's Veep
- HBO's Girls
- The Killing (Season 2 - I really enjoyed Season 1)
- The Wire

My All-Time Favourite Shows - now off the air
- Battlestar Galactica (SO GOOD - I recently re-watched the whole series again)
- The Sopranos
- Arrested Development
- Law & Order
- Law & Order: Trial By Jury (a one-season wonder that was better than most regular L&O episodes)

If you love TV and there's an awesome show you think lines up with my tastes, let me know. I'd love to hear about it!

Best Reality Show - Storage Wars

In the last seven days, I've become obsessed with A&E's Storage Wars. This is a show where people bid on "abandoned" storage lockers (read: some poor schmuck can't pay their storage unit rent) and get to repossess all of the contents inside.

The only catch is they cannot walk inside of units that they're bidding on, nor can they open any boxes until they own it.

So when you pull open one of these doors....

... and you see a classic motorcycle, you bid up to the reasonable resale value of the classic motorcycle. But when you open the door and you see a bunch of boxes, how do you know what is inside!!?!?!

Sometimes they find art, sometimes jewellery, sometimes a safe with cash inside! Sometimes a locker is purchased for $500 that turns out to be worth tens of thousands of dollars. But, other times a promising locker turns out to be full of someone's old clothes and hangers - in other words, worthless.

That is really the key premise in Storage Wars: What's in the boxes?!?! Nothing else on the show really matters. The four "professional" buyers that the show follows around are unlikable. Some own thrift stores, consignment stores, and some are collectors, but they're all terrible people. The cut-scene commentary is really cheesy, and the grudge-based up-bidding gets a little tiresome. Each 22-minute is at least 50% non-box-opening filler. But each terrible episode still has some of the magic - that insatiable curious itch that begs to be scratched - what is in those damn boxes??!!!

One of Robyn's sisters interned in a Grade 8 class and said all of her Grade 8 boys loved Storage Wars. Every guy I know who has seen it has enjoyed it. Is needing to know what is in a bunch of boxes intrinsically programmed into male DNA? Or are there females out there who also just want to know the contents of boxes?

My Christmas holidays have been great so far. I have taken a small break from watching Storage Wars to post about Storage Wars. Well, back to work! There are still boxes of unknown contents to be discovered!

The Best Shows

I am not afraid to admit that I love television - I think there's too many high-quality shows these days to ignore. It's now the fall and there's tons of great stuff coming back to the tubes.

My Favourite Shows - currently on the air
- Breaking Bad
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
- Modern Family
- Parks & Recreation (Season 1 was weak, but 2-3 were awesome!)

Well Worth A Watch - still on the air
- 30 Rock
- Dexter
- Futurama
- The Office

Shows I Want to Start (when there's time)
- Alphas (supposedly like Heroes, but done it's superheroes done right)
- Game of Thrones (I want to finish the books first)
- The Wire

My Favourite Shows - now off the air
- Arrested Development
- Battlestar Galactica
- Law & Order
- The Sopranos

If you can think of a show that I'd like like, let me know! If you suggest Big Bang Theory I will smack you in the mouth.