What I'm Watching: Television Edition

Since cutting our cable, well satellite, cord back in the spring, the only thing I’ve missed is the DVR. I’ve pretty much found enough on Hulu Plus/Netflix/Amazon Instant Video to keep my eyeballs glued to the television to my little heart’s content. It’s remarkable how few shows I’ve been watching on the regular for any length of time (Justified and Mad Men are about it at this point). 

Orange is the New Black - Netflix

I could have sworn I wrote about OINTB previously, but I couldn’t find the post. I absolutely loved this smart, funny, unique dramedy featuring an awesome ensemble cast of nearly all women. So spectacularly good.

Orange is the New Black - Best of Remix

Scandal - ABC

I’ve binge-watched Scandal two falls in a row now and I’ve finally sucked it up and am completely addicted and watch it as it airs. This is a stressful experience, to say the least. It’s recently come to my attention that there are people who find Liv and Fitz’s “relationship” romantic. I think it’s gross. But, hell, I’m Team Mellie forever and always—that woman is a force.

Scandal - Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington

The Good Wife - CBS

I know I’m way late to the party on this, but I was turned off of The Good Wife because of the name. Little did I know it’s a smart, engrossing drama—probably the best one on network television. Can we talk about the “mid-season finale” please? Because WOW.

The Good Wife - Hitting the Fan

The Carrie Diaries - The CW

I just started watching The Carrie Diaries and I wouldn’t have ever tuned in, since I’m  bona fide Sex & the City hater, except The Amy Spalding highly recommended it on our recent podcast episode. This is a charming, and surprisingly heartfelt and realistic teen show. SATC fans will probably be bothered by the inconsistencies with the original HBO series, but I couldn’t care less. I am catching up with season two at the moment, and liking it as much as season one.

The Carrie Diaries - Read Before Use

The Originals - The CW

Y’all know I love the batshit awesomeness of The Vampire Diaries, so it’s no surprise that I am kind of loving the amped up ridiculousness of its spinoff, The Originals. Klaus is back to his snarky nastiness, and his foe, Marcel, is nothing to sneeze at. At this point, it seems like every paranormal creature has already fought every other paranormal creature, but I’m certain they’ll keep coming up with more ridiculous scenarios. 

Reign - The CW

Y’all, this show is awful. Truly, horribly awful. Like, you really shouldn’t watch it. I wasn’t even going to include it on my list due to my abject shame at having this on my Hulu queue. But, I watch it to study the complicated hairstyles and stay for the wackadoodle drama and I regret nothing.

Reign - Left Behind

The Mindy Project - Fox

I feel like I’m the only person that loves this show, but I think it’s clever and subversive. It’s probably going to get canceled and this makes me very sad, because it’s the only comedy I consistently watch and the mid-season finale was perfection. Danny and Mindy forever and always, people.

Danny & Mindy/When Harry Met Sally Mashup (h/t to Sarah Rees Brennan for sharing this video on Twitter)

Sleepy Hollow - Fox

I love this crazy little show that never takes itself too seriously. Sure, it plays fast and loose with history, but the cast has crazy-great chemistry and there’s a character referred to as “Headless.” Like, that’s basically his name. I loved Nicole Beharie in 42, and it’s awesome seeing her as this lead in this show and Tom Mison is fabulous too. (Shout-out to author Liza Palmer for tweeting about Sleepy Hollow's pilot--otherwise I never would have watched it.)

Sleepy Hollow - Abbie explains her love for baseball to Ichabod.

Orphan Black - BBC America

Holy shit, y’all! Orphan Mother Effing Black is probably my favorite new show in a long time. It hits such a sweet spot somewhere between thriller, science fiction and character-driven drama. For the record, my favorite clone is Allison.

Orphan Black - Meet the Clones

Burn Notice - USA (Netflix)

My husband has watched 99 (!!!) episodes of Burn Notice this fall/winter and I ended up watching quite a few with him. I was ambivalent about the show (though, yay explosions—we all know how I love explosions) until we rounded the corner to season five and it became an angst-o-rama and I got completely sucked in. We’re waiting on the final season from the library (it’s inexplicably not on Netflix like the other seasons) and I hear someone dies and if it’s Fiona, I will be pretty upset, since she’s a fantastic character. (I have my guesses who it is—but don’t tell me!)

Burn Notice - Michael Weston's Team Remix

I’m about ready to quit on…

Nashville - ABC

I love Connie Britton so much, but the dramarama train on this show is killing me. There are too many story-lines (three words: Peggy, pig’s blood), too many characters, too much everything except Connie’s hair and rhinestones—both of which one can never have too much of. But invariably, when I'm just about ready to quit cold-turkey, they do something to suck me back in. 

Parenthood - NBC

There’s so much to love in this show: Writing, acting, quieter stories, Mae Whitman. And yet… there’s something that’s just not working for me at this point. A lot of this has to do with the once-promising Ryan story-arc. I loved how he was initially really given a story of his own, as he was trying to function in a world that wasn’t working for him, but I am really unsatisfied with his story’s resolution thus far. 

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Header image by Daniel Go | Creative Commons Licensed