Thankfully, my fiance and I don't have cable. I say thankfully because I would probably spend hour after hour flipping through the channels looking for something to watch instead of doing something (I deem) more productive, like reading books, writing blog posts, or wasting time on Twitter/Facebook. However, we do subscribe to
Hulu Plus, which I LOVE because there's fewer commercials, and I'm not tempted to switch from one program to the next. Each week, we eagerly await the release of the current episode of our favorite shows, and though they're a day late, we enjoy the fact that we can watch them at our own convenience. Anyway, for today's Top Five Friday, I'm sharing my five favorite TV shows from this season:
1. Desperate Housewives
I'm awfully repetitive on this blog. Mentioned in November's
A Librarian's Thanksgiving post,
Desperate Housewives has been, and probably will be, one of my all time favorite shows. I actually caught on to it pretty late - like four seasons late. But ever since I checked out season one from the library, I have fallen madly in love with the ladies of Wisteria Lane. I've laughed, I've cried...eh, you get the point. And, quoting one of my favorite singers, as "everything's temporary if you give it enough time," sadly, this current season is the last for these ladies. I'll always remember Susan's quirky clumsiness, Bree's sophistication, Gabbi's materialistic want for happiness and Lynette's realism - and I'll strive to emulate a little of each of them in my own housewife - er - husbandry.
2. New Girl
I loved Zooey Deschanel in
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, adored her in
(500) Days of Summer, and idolize her as the lead singer of
She and Him. I could go without saying, then, that I have fallen in love with her all over again in
New Girl. When Jess, a twee, offbeat young woman, breaks up with her boyfriend, she finds a room in an apartment with three single guys, crashing their stable environment with her unusual behavior. Clever, quirky and all too relatable, I love the show because it reminds me of my own mid-to-late-twenties life and some of the interactions I've had with previous roommates. Schmidt, Nick and Winston are pretty much stand up guys who've accepted Jess as one of their own, despite her bubbly, offbeat personality - isn't that what everyone wants in roommates?
3. Once Upon a Time
How many times can the fairy tales be remade, rehashed, and re-envisioned? When I first heard about ABC's
Once Upon a Time, I thought, "Oh no, here we go again." How I've been pleasantly disproved! I was first reminded of NBC's mini-series,
The 10th Kingdom, in which Kimberly Williams-Paisley played a girl who's sucked in to fairy tale world from modern New York to save the kingdoms from trolls. In
Once Upon a Time, it's the other way around. When the son Emma gave up for adoption as a baby shows up on her doorstep, he draws her to Storybrooke, a small town in Maine in which she finds that magic just might be real. Convinced the town's occupants are all characters from a book he totes around, Emma's son seeks her help to bring the truth to light, despite the consternation of his adopted mother, the witchy mayor of the town, Regina. Switching back and forth between modern Storybrooke and fantastical flashback fairy tales (rewritten with stretching liberties), ABC's interrelated take on Snow White, Red Riding Hood, and all the other classic stories definitely has captured my attention this season.
4. Modern Family
A gay couple raising an Asian child, a man well past his 50's married to a hot Hispanic muchacha, a naive real estate agent with an overbearing, competitive wife - how much more modern can you get?
Modern Family is another show that I caught on to pretty late, but have enjoyed immensely since doing so. Ed O'neill is hilarious as Jay, the head of a large unconventional family. Father of an adult gay son and proactive daughter and married to gorgeous Gloria from Colombia, Jay has been given a second chance with his second wife and her son, Manny. Mix in Mitch, Jay's son, and Cam, a gay couple raising an adopted Vietnamese daughter, as well as the child-minded son-in-law, Phil, and the cultural clashes, misunderstandings and comedic trials ensue. I appreciate how the show both embraces and confronts stereotypes often in a way that makes you laugh. Or cry. Or laugh so much you cry!
5. The River
Made by the same people who did Paranormal Activity, The River was, in my opinion, one of TV's most thrilling series this season. When they receive a signal from an emergency beacon six months after television documentary star, Dr. Emmet Cole, disappeared on an expedition in the Amazon, his wife, Tess, and son, Lincoln, pull together a crew to chase after it, hoping that they will beat the odds and find him alive. What they don't know as they navigate the uncharted territories of the Amazon basin is they're in for much more than they bargained. Encountering dangerous plants and animals, vengeful spirits and a powerful demon who doesn't want them there, they press on, despite the risk in which they place themselves and the crew. I love to be frightened - and each episode definitely instilled a bit of fear and wonder. The series kept me thinking, "Okay, what could possibly happen next?!"
So, now that the season's nearly over, I want to know, what have I been missing? What shows have you been watching that you'd recommend? Please comment below - I need something to watch this summer!
