Thirteen Television Shows I'm addicted to I watch A LOT of television. Getting a tivo has only added to my addiction, since now not only can I watch shows that are on when I am home, but I also can watch shows that are on while I’m at work, or better yet, sleeping. FABULOUS invention. That said, here are 13 TV shows I love – Warning, some of these contain spoilers…don’t say I didn’t warn you. 1. Heroes – Hands down the best show on television today. I mean seriously, how GOOD is this show? This is my new Buffy, and for anyone who knew me during the Buffy years, you know what a serious claim this is. Do not call me when Heroes is on, because, even if I do have Tivo, there is no “pausing” Heroes, there are no interruptions…This is Heroes people! 2. American Idol – Look, I know the show is cheesy, I know it’s a popularity contest much more than it is a singing contest (as evidenced by Melinda’s oh-so-wrong eviction last night), I know 99% of what they do is about ratings and 1% is about music, I know all that…but I still love the show. I think some really talented people get to showcase their skills, and I enjoy watching them. And I don’t care how much of a jerk he is, I love Simon and he’s right 98% of the time. 3. Ellen – this is where my love affair with Tivo grew stronger. I don’t know that I ever even knew that Ellen Degeneres had a talk show. I also don’t know that I’d ever paid much attention to Ellen at all. She was a comedian, she was funny, whatever. But then Tivo discovered Ellen for me, and I became addicted. She’s not just funny, she’s hilarious. She has great guests, and her interaction with those guests is always fun to watch. And I like Ellen as a person too. From what I can see, she is a genuinely nice person, who loves life. Her show is always a nice uplift at the end of my stressful days. 4. Grey’s Anatomy – Okay, I know this show has been better than it is lately. And I totally don’t get the whole McDreamy thing (he’s just not my type) and Meredith bugs the bejezus out of me. That said this show is great fun to watch. I absolutely LOVE Christina and her no nonsense self. Bailey is a force to be reckoned with that absolutely cracks me up, and up until the whole George/Izzie thing, I really loved George and thought the relationship with Callie was fantastic. Now he’s kind of bugging me a bit. As is Izzie with her whiny self. I mean, you were just recently DESPONDENT over losing Denny, which was, by the way, one of the greatest story lines on this show, and now you’re already all goo-goo eyed over someone else? Enough already! And yet…I do love this show, look how worked up it gets me. 5. Bones – So, one of the things I loved about both Buffy and Angel was…you thought I was going to say David Boreanez, didn’t you? Well…I do love him, but I was actually going to say…how witty the shows were. The humor was this smart, witty, sarcastic humor, and I absolutely loved it. Bones not only has David Boreanez’s “Boothe”, but it also has this witty humor. This show is smart. And not in a pretentious “We’re so smart listen to us talk about bones and bugs and dirt and the things we can learn from them” sort of way, but in a we can talk circles around each other with subliminal messages and jokes sort of way. And of course, then there’s David Boreanez’s grin…sigh… 6. Jericho – I will lay it out on the line right here, I love Skeet Ulrich. There, I said it. I’ve always had a crush on the guy, and I know he’s not your typical McDreamy, but whatever, I like him. And in case it hasn’t become apparent by my other television show choices here, I’m fascinated by these “end of the world” concepts. Jericho has both. I find this show to be an interesting study in all that is wrong AND right with our society. The true evils that show themselves in dire times, as well as the inherent goodness in people. Plus things blow up and mysteries abound, and oh, yeah, there are silly romances too… 7. Ugly Betty – Ugly Betty has received rave reviews for its representation of an average looking (which in Hollywood of course translates to UGLY) girl, living among the beautiful. They say it speaks volumes that a show about a main character that isn’t skinny, plastic and blonde is so successful. Right. This is not why I watch the show, because as much as I love America Ferreira, and think it’s wonderful that she’s willing to turn herself into Ms. Less-Than-Glamorous Betty every week, there are enough skinny, plastic, blonde characters on this show to defeat the whole “premise” in 3 seconds flat. I watch the show because it is funny, it is smart, and it is cute. It is mindless entertainment toward the end of a very busy week. It also puts me in a silly mindset before I turn my attention to the medical dramas that over-take my Thursday nights. 8. ER – speaking of the medical dramas. I know most people stopped watching ER years ago, I mean, I did too. Right around the time that George Clooney was moving to movies, and all the regulars were taking off for greener pastures or whatever, I lost interest. Then, a few years ago, during a summer of nothing but reruns, I caught an episode that took place when Carter was in the Congo. The show instantly sucked me back in, and I’ve been watching ever since. Since then they’ve dropped a helicopter on a doctor, they’ve had a shoot-out in the ER, they’ve sent a Dr. to Iraq, only to have him become one of the WAY TOO MANY victims of this senseless war, and they’ve given us back Uncle Jesse…how could you not love this show? 9. Lost – No pun intended but this show almost LOST me for a while there. Without question during its first season this was one of my favorite shows. It was “Heroes” good. But since then, it’s been slowly slipping, and up until the last two episodes I found myself to be completely bored, and very close to giving up. And then…I will avoid placing any spoilers about this show, because I know that can get me killed, so we’ll just say…WOW…okay, I’m hooked again, you’ve got me. 10. The Amazing Race – I wasn’t a huge fan of this latest “All Stars” edition of the reality Race around the world. But formulaic “All Star” crap aside, this remains the ONE reality show on television that I would actually consider going on. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m WAY too high maintenance for this 4 days without showering thing they do, but what a great way to see the world. And as long as Charla and Mirna are not on any of the future seasons, sign me up, I’ll be watching. 11. Home-Improvement/Make-over shows: I have to cheat a bit here, and combine several of these shows as one, because as far as I’m concerned, most of these truly are interchangeable. Moving-Up, Color Splash, Property Ladder, Sell This House, uh…Clean House, Clean Sweep…you get the point. A house looks bad at the beginning, and very pretty at the end, roll credits. I’m addicted to these shows, and will watch any and all of them when I’ve got a few spare moments to kill. The beauty of Tivo with most of these shows is I can skip all the crap in the middle and fast forward to see how the rooms turn out. 12. Prison Break – I debated whether or not this show still qualified as one of my favorites; because I have pretty much decided that next season is going to suck. However, up until now, this show has been fantastic, so it definitely deserves to be on this list. After the initial season, once the breaking out portion of “Prison Break” was completed, I wasn’t sure how they would pull off another season, and yet, they did. And the mysteries, the twists and turns, the action and excitement just kept on coming. But the final episode left me with a BAD feeling that the show is about to cross over into “shark-jumping” territory, and I’m having a hard time believing they’ll be able to keep it from becoming ridiculous. OH, but for the sake of my eyes receiving their weekly dosage of Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell candy…I really hope they can. 13. Dirt – it was tough to pick my 13th, because there are quite a few shows that I watch for the sake of watching, but wouldn’t miss terribly if they disappeared. Dirt falls into this category, and yet, when my brother informed me the other day that it had been picked up for a second season, I was surprisingly happy about that fact. I know this show got some pretty bad reviews, and poor Courtney Cox-Arquette didn’t “feel the love” for her role in this, but I actually really enjoyed this show. Well, I’m not sure “enjoy” is the right word for a show as dark and twisted as this is, but it worked for me. It was specifically the dark and twisted that got me. TV is full of b.s. shows, with happy endings and unrealistic outcomes. With people so completely different from anyone I’ve ever met in real life. It was refreshing (in a really depressing and morbid sort of way) to watch a show with people that I actually believe exist in the real world. The show is gritty, and that’s what makes it so fun to watch. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1.Shannon 2. Mark

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