Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, writing-related question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.
QUESTION: I know we’re all a bunch of literary types around here, and we never (well, hardly ever) watch TV (that beastly creation that sucks out your brain), BUT … I’m sure you may once in a while (completely by accident, of course) catch a show or two. Let’s all ‘fess up and share our favorite guilty TV pleasures.
Jamie Wallace: I don’t watch much, but I do have a few favorites that I must confess: American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Bones, Castle, and lately something called Burn Notice. I watch a few things on the actual television (via DVR – I hate commercials!), but the bulk of my viewing is done in bed on my iPhone via Netflix.
Julie Hennrikus: I do watch TV. I don’t feel guilty about my Castle, or Masterpiece Mystery addictions. I watch Matlock and Murder She Wrote if I catch them. And I watch a few shows on USA and TNT. Guilty pleasures? Cupcake Wars and Chopped. A little guilty about watching (actually DVRing for a continuous viewing party) Dallas. And I love that Project Runway is back, with my beloved Tim Gunn.
Lisa Jackson: I have a few guilty pleasures, and am thankful that most are on Hulu so the commercials are kept to a minimum and I can watch them any time. I am addicted to (in no particular order): Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Nikita, Grimm, Rookie Blue, Master Chef, Destination Truth, Bones, Private Practice, Once Upon a Time, Longmire (in its 1st season), Eureka (apparently this is the last season), and Castle (but mostly because of Lee Lofland’s review of police procedure after each episode; and Nathan Fillion is easy on the eyes).
I’m hoping Arrow and Elementary will be interesting (they are new shows this fall).
I enjoyed Happy Endings, Alcatraz, In Plain Sight, Prime Suspect, and The Finder, too – but don’t think any of them are coming back.
I really enjoyed Awake last season, right up until the last minute of the last episode of (what I think is) the one and only season.
Susan Nye: I’m a fan of hottie buddy shows – hottie detectives, hottie CIA agents, hottie FBI agents and hottie lawyers. Put a couple of good looking crime fighters in Brioni suits on the air and there is a good chance I’ll get hooked. I probably miss more often than I watch but Bones, Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice and Suits are all on my list right now.
Deborah Lee Luskin: I don’t own a television, but that hasn’t stopped me from watching TV via netflix on the computer. For a while, I was hooked on Lie to Me: I watched two and a half seasons in about three (sleepless) nights. Ditto the first season of Downton Abbey. More recently, I watched the Masterpiece Sherlock. I fantasize that if I had a TV, I’d not only watch it in moderation, but fold the laundry as well.
Wendy Thomas: Last year for budgetary reasons we cut our cable down to basic. Add that to the fact that we don’t allow the TV to be on during the school week and what you end up getting is a very illiterate television viewer. I do try to watch some shows after the kids have gone to bed (my choices are very limited, it’s usually Cold Case or Criminal Minds) and as much as I’d LOVE to set sucked into some of these shows, (Walking Dead, Revenge) I just can’t commit to being there at the same time each week (I know, Neanderthal household here, we don’t record TV.) I tend to wait and watch the entire series on DVD years after it has been released.
Having said all that, I have found myself since the start of the Olympics parked in front of the TV watching NBC’s horrendous coverage every single night. I figure being a true couch potato for a few weeks every four years is definitely worth it.
Its a good post….. 5 stars…!!!!!!
My guilty pleasure was Desperate Housewives – I literally cried all the way through the last ever episode knowing that there wouldn’t be any more. I did the same thing with Friends too!
I love series like West Wing and Mad Men which I buy as boxed sets and watch as and when I can. Waiting to watch Twenty Twelve which is a spoof series about the current 2012 Olympic Games. Most of terrestrial TV in Uk is rubbish but at the moment I am glued to the Olympics on BBC. The coverage is constant and brilliant – UK just won another gold medal for girls rowing. Yippee!
I really don’t watch TV – used to when I was younger but don’t at all any more…but maybe I should reconsider
I have been known to watch Master Chef and So You Think You Can Dance. My favorite shows are Bill Moyers and Doc Martin — those I don’t feel guilty about. But I find that the busier I get with my own life and art projects the less I want to be around T.V. at all.
I love to watch Mad Men and Suits….set my DVR if I won’t be home. I’m a loser and even got sucked into the bachelorette this season. That darned Emily was just so pretty that drama was bound to follow.
oh finding lots of my own guilty pleasures here
I watch cartoons and i don’t really see any problem with it. “Ben 10 Ultimate Aliens” and “Phineas and Ferb” are some of the “few” cartoons i watch.
My husband and I watch Jeopardy together almost every night. And I use Netflix to keep up on Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Sherlock Holmes and several British shows.
Most of the time I end up watching irregularly, so it’s hard to get hooked on a particular show but if it ends up ON Demand through Comcast, I might pick it up. Very sad now that House is over. Love Hugh Laurie – such a HUGE talent all around. A few months ago I got hooked on Storage Wars and Antiques Roadshow, tacky as they are, because my mom was in rehab and that’s what she was watching. My newest favorite is Falling Skies – cheesy sci-fi but great story line!
Mostly I love independent films or watch for movies by great directors like Scorcese, Burton, etc.
We cut our cable back to basic a few years ago and I’ve stopped watching most current TV. Though lately I’ve discovered the joys of 70′s TV shows on Netflix – currently I am watching all of “Adam-12″ I loved that show as a kid. I’ve been telling my wife that watching it is, “research.” So far she hasn’t ask, “research for what?”
I am a “junk tv” fan. I grew up reading, writing, and watching tv- lots of it. I still do- junkier the better. Dancing with the Stars, a must. Also some violent shows- even though I’m nearly a pacifist and wouldn’t think of owning a gun- so Sons of Anarchy rules. And then there’s Suits, In Plain Sight, The Closer, Justified, and so on.
And I still love reading and writing.
Breaking Bad!
I am pretty much a USA Network junky. My favorite is American Pickers and NCIS. That Mark Harmon is still so easy on the eyes!
“Revenge”!
We dropped our cable period. So, I’ve been ordering movies and series from the library. Being a cancer survivor myself, we both loved the humor of “The Big C” even though it is “R” rated. Laura Linney is great. My husband and I are both hooked on “”Mad Men and “Downton Abbey.” This week we’ve been watching “Centennial,” which is a six disc set. My husband loves it!
Haha. I’m usually away at college for nine months out of the year, so when I come home I feel the need to “catch up” on my shows. This summer I finished Mad Men, Pretty LIttle Liars (only watched because of my sister) and now Dexter!
Love Grimm, Bones, NCIS, Fringe, Person of Interest. and Criminal Minds Watch reruns of Dead Like Me, Jag, The Waltons. Wish Homicide Life on the Streets was still on!
I gave up wrestling my husband for the remote decades ago so I only peek at the TV rarely. However, my daughter recently introduced me to Netflix and we have gone through Dexter & Heros but most of the time I’m in my own creative world at my desk and that suits me as well as my muse.
I have the television on day and night. I write, I comment, I’m on the phone, on twitter…in no random order, if it’s junk on cable, I am watching. I am facinated by the craziness of television .
Revenge!!!