TV to Inspire: Shows I Watch

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine requested  that I send her a list of all the shows I watch. At the time, I was watching a show that she fell in love with (can’t remember what that show was?? Anyway), and I guess she thought I had interesting tastes in TV.

Well, I finally got around to creating this list. I pick my TV mostly by what I like in general: I’m a superhero nerd, I’m a writer, I love love stories, I love to laugh, and I like dramatic action. The TV shows I watch give me inspiration for some of my stories, motivation to work on my crafting projects, and some great new music for playlists (I Soundhound a lot while watching TV) among other things.

Here’s a good sampling of many of the shows I watch right now, categorized by my interests/likes. Some of these fall into duplicate categories, but I’ll only list them once. These are in no particular order.

Regularly Watching

Dramas (aka “Good Stories” or “Good Writing”)

• Ozark
• Manifest
• How To Get Away With Murder
• For the People
• Succession
• The Good Fight
• The Bold Type
• Queen Sugar –from the book Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile: This is here, and not in the TV from a Book section, because I fell in love with this show for the show itself. I didn’t read the book or have an appreciation for the book before I watched the show. Also, the cinematography is amazing (can’t get that in a book).
• Black Love –Love what I have seen so far, just need to add it to my queue to keep watching.
• Ballers
• All-American

Action Shows/DIY shows (My “Weekend DIY Girl” side)

• The Rookie
• Blindspot
• Legacies
• This Old House
• P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home
• Growing a Greener World
• For Your Home
• Design on a Dime
• Ask This Old House
• Black Lightning (Honorable Mention– interest waning in season 2)

TV From Books (The “Nerd Bunch”)

• Younger –from Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran
• You –from You by Caroline Kepnes
• The Flash –from the comic book series (DC)
• The Handmaid’s Tale –from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Marvel’s Runaways –from the comic book series (Marvel)
• Marvel’s Jessica Jones –from the comic book series (Marvel)
• Marvel’s Luke Cage –from the comic book series (Marvel)
• Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger –from the comic book series (Marvel)
• The Gifted–from the X-Men and EXiles comic book series (Marvel)
• Outlander –from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
• Supergirl –from the comic book series (DC)

TV from TV

• Homeland –from Israeli drama series Prisoners of War (2009)
• Charmed (2018) –from Charmed (1998)

Guilty Pleasures (aka “The Ratchet (the correct word is Wretched!) Bunch”)

• The Real Housewives of Atlanta
• The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
• Vanderpump Rules
• UnReal
• Empire
• Star
• Claws

When I Need a Laugh

• Grown-ish (Black-ish gets an Honorable Mention. I’m not really a regular watcher)
• Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
• The Big Bang Theory
• Insecure

Reruns I Keep Re-running

• Star Trek: TNG
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: DS9
• Scandal
• House
• Living Single

Sporadically Watching/TBW

Upcoming Shows/Shows on my “To Watch” List

(They interest me, but I have yet to really dive in and put them as my favs.)

• Game of Thrones–This is kind of like The Sopranos for me (see below). I missed the initial hype, and it’s almost slipping away (last season). It looks like it might be my kind of thing, but I don’t know. The 1st book is in my TBR pile as well.
• Black Mirror
• Atlanta
• Harlots
• Pose— Only 2 episodes in so far
• Bosch
• Killing Eve
• Good Girls
• Dietland–I’m trying here, for my sisters (the BBW club)
• Good Trouble–new series
• Star Trek Discovery –on principle, I don’t like what CBS is doing with its All-Access platform, and this show had issues in production, but I am a Trekkie, so I have to check it out. Plus, it got a Season 2, so…
• A Million Little Things –see “This is Us” (below). Trying to get past the 1st ep. crying spell.
• The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Also, I thought these two categories would be pretty cool:

Shows that a lot of people like, that I don’t/didn’t watch (& why)*

• Stranger Things* — Aliens? meh. Trying to get convinced to add it to my queue, but I haven’t yet, so it stays here.
• TrueBlood — The books are so much better and richer when it comes to story. HBO went overboard on the shock value and forgot the story. Also, one of the fun Easter Egg/tropes in the books couldn’t be repeated on screen because of fan response.
• This is Us* — Watched 3 episodes, cried uncontrollably, can’t go back.
• Grey’s Anatomy* — Got invested too late, couldn’t stay invested.
• The Walking Dead* — I don’t do zombies. I don’t do much horror. (“Legacies” is hanging on by a thread with their latest episodes)
• The Sopranos — Missed the hype. Not sure I want to go back now that it’s over.
• Being Mary Jane (Is this one over?)* — ditto Sopranos
• The Haves and Have-Nots* — Too soap-opera-y for me. Plus, I never got invested.

*still running as of Jan 2019

Shows that I wish weren’t canceled/that created a “ShowHole” even though they ran their course

• Mistresses –from the BBC series Mistresses (2008): It was going off the rails, but the fact that it’s gone created a summer “showhole” for me. If they had kept the show in LA where Alyssa Milano could stay on, this might still be running.
• Devious Maids –Created a fun-bingewatch “showhole” in the summer for me, but it was starting to lose it.
• Sleepy Hollow –I wish this wasn’t canceled, but I totally agree with why. Google all the controversy about it. I’m totally with fellow fans on this one.
• Fringe — Went off the rails, but I still miss it!
• The Originals –obviously a vampire show can only go for so long, but I miss this one! Legacies can’t fill this showhole.
• Reign –the CW didn’t really give this one a chance (same with The Coven–Although, I’m glad most of those actors got other roles in some great CW shows.)
• Gossip Girl –I miss the drama and love-relationship aspects. And Ed Westwick. But if there was a good adult version of this, I wouldn’t mind–The show itself ran its course. (same for One Tree Hill and The O.C.)
• The Client List —Claws fills this showhole nicely, but I do wish I knew what happened! I need closure!
• Girlfriends –I still need closure.

What are some of your favorite shows? What more should I be watching?

Note: This is one person’s ginormously uncontrollable TV habit. It is by no means indicative of anyone sane.  Seriously though, I was not paid to mention, endorse (or disparage) any specific TV show, network, or TV streaming service. This is merely my opinion about TV shows and commentary on my personal choices.