Five Things on Friday - TV Edition

Five Things on Friday is a weekly list of five things. Subject to be determined by me, but feel free to make suggestions in the comments. I will list my five things and then open the comments up to you, my loyal followers, readers, fans, groupies, what have you. Please respond. Or else, I'll feel all alone in the Earth. It'll be bad. Really.

This week, we'll be discussing television. When I was in high school, I had a button (remember those, man I had a LOT of buttons) that said "Theater is life, cinema is art, television is furniture." I more or less believed that. I mean, I liked TV. I watched TV. I watched SNL and cartoons and My So-Called Life. I loved that show. That was probably my first brush with must-see-TV, but since it only lasted about 14 episodes, it didn't really catch.

When I was in college, I became addicted to The X-Files. I had actually watched that show in high school, too, but in college, I got really sucked in. I would have "parties" where everybody I knew piled into my tiny dorm room and clustered around my tiny TV. That, my friends, was the beginning.

Since then I have had many all-out television addictions, ranging from the sublime to the trite to the train-wreck-can't-look-away. I have come to understand that television, when done well, is art, too. And, that at seventeen, I was a pretentious twit. Seriously, I don't know how any of you tolerated me.

Here, for your perusing pleasure are five of my TV addictions. I'm not calling them my top five, because I frankly couldn't decide. This is just a random sampling. (And by random, I mean, the first ones that popped into my pretty little skull.) Let me know if you share any of these, or what your rush-home shows are. I won't mock. I promise. Unless it's really cheesey.

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Obvs. I became obsessed with Buffy long after it had started. I think it was in the fifth or sixth season. I didn't get WB, so it was whenever they started doing re-runs on FX. I watched and I loved and then I watched and I bought and I watched and I borrowed and I obsessed and by the time it went off the air, I was in need of detox. I still haven't really detoxed. Here's what I love about the Scoobies: witty dialog, lovable characters, real conflict, intelligent banter, Spike. Here's what I hate about the Scoobies: nothing.

2. Firefly - Also from Joss Whedon, the star in my sky. I watched this rabidly for the nine or ten weeks it was on Fox. I hate Fox, though, because they are cancel-happy. Then, I watched them on SciFi (back when it's name was respectable). Finally, I saw Serenity in the theater and bought the DVD's. There's only like 14 episodes plus the 2-hour movie, but this is the best TV ever made. I feel perfectly fine making that declaration. Here's what I love about the Serenity Crew: witty dialog, amazing characters, compelling backstory, the whole space-western feel, River-freaking-Tam. Here's what I hate about the Serenity Crew: there's not enough. I can watch the whole catalog in one sick day if I really work at it.

3. Doctor Who - So, I came late to the party. Waaay late to the party. I had never even heard of The Doctor until I spent a month in the UK and even then, I just had some vague notion that it was a TV show with a blue box. When the series started up again, I had no idea. I didn't really start watching until we got satellite and I got BBCA. David Tennant is forever my doctor, but I like the new guy okay. He's growing on me. Here's what I love about The Doctor: the history - I could start watching now and watch for three or four years before I'd see it all, the one-liners, the total seriousness of the show mixed with the total cheesiness of some of the aliens. Some of them are as creepy as the twins in The Shining and some of them are... well... Daleks. Here's what I hate about The Doctor: Since it's on BBCA, I can't seem to get streaming episodes on the web, because they are all only available to those in the UK, it appears. So, I have to watch the back episodes on YouTube in 9 minute increments.

4. Supernatural - This show is really well-made goodness of stress and edge of your seatness and laughing your way right out of your seatness. I've recently gone back and watched the first season, though, and I'm not sure what hooked me in the first place. I'm telling you this, because maybe, if you are new to it and thinking, "Wow, I like funny horror and that Jensen Ackles is a cutie pie," then maybe you should start on the second season. Which is better than the first. Here's what I love about the Winchester brothers - they don't take themselves too seriously. Watch this. Really, watch it. I'll wait.

The music, the car, the brothers - I am obviously on team Dean, but Sam isn't exactly hard to look at and even Cas is nice enough. Also, I want to take Bobby home. I am in love with him, the way I used to be in love with Sean Connery. I recognize it's highly inappropriate, but ahhh. Here's what I hate about the Winchester brothers - cliffhangers. This show is all about some cliffhangers. I seriously think my head might explode before fall.

5. M*A*S*H* - I have seen every episode probably three times and I will still turn it on at least once a week. Alan Alda is so not my type and then he waxes all poetic about non-violence and the evils of war, and I swoon. It's sad. I'll probably never outgrow it. Here's what I love about the 4077 - it never gets old. The stories here are eternal. War has always been and will always be a system of breaking thing (and people) while a dedicated few try to put them back together again. That is not a political statement, just the way I see it. Also, Klinger. Really shouldn't be funny still after what 20 years? But is. Here's what I hate about the 4077 - Frank Burns. I can't think of a single episode that wouldn't be better without him.

Okay, you're turn. Whatcha like, huh, huh?