As you can remember I promised to list ALL the shows I watched in 2020 in January. Well I got a bit carried away and now it’s February.. but it’s never too late! There’s going to be A LOT of different things here and Part 2 will contain mostly my favourites. I do know the Golden Globe nominations at this point but those comments shall be reserved for a podcast episode. Trust me, I will have a lot to say! Anyway, take a look at all the shows I watched in 2020 Part 2!
As you can probably tell by the title I’m gathering up ALL the shows I watched in 2020. Not just the full on TV-shows but also miniseries and documentary miniseries as well. There’s going to be A LOT of different things here which is why it’s also divided into two parts. It’s not technically a worst to best list but Part 2 will contain 15 of my favourites. The main idea is just to show you guys that I watched a lot of things last year but I didn’t really write about them. Also it’s a great way to ignore the Best of 2020 lists for a little while longer.
Years and years ago I compiled an alphabet of my favourite movies, actors and directors. Every letter corresponded with something or someone I liked, loved, admired. Today I’m sitting down to do the same thing… but with television shows. This is an undertaking of the year for me and I’m quite excited.
One of the reasons I wanted to do this is because TV shows have risen to great heights. They are complex, well made, demand a lot of our attention and simply put, television has has surpassed movies in certain extent. Heck, even Oscar winning actors are marching into TV shows and blurring the line between television and the. With no further ado, let’s get into this.
We lack the time to watch everything we want to, we have to prioritise and that is why I skimmed down my weekly TV schedule over the years. I just wanted to replace shows with books, and with that, I stopped watching bad TV, mediocre shows and even some good ones. Also, I’m much better with binge watching so sticking to something every week feels too stressful. Yet, there have been regrets, and here is a list of five shows that I stopped watching but am thinking about catching up with.
Looking back, I’d like to think that 2016, despite its flaws, had some really great things to offer. There’s no denying that these great things were sometimes overshadowed by the turmoil of life, but at the same time, these good things made 2016 a lot more tolerable in the long run. But before I get to my favourite books and best movies of 2016, I want to look back at some of the songs and TV shows that made me happy this year.
Has it ever happened to you that you watched a movie and a week later you have totally blanked in regarding of remembering the movie? Well, it happened to me, and I guess it wasn’t a good movie if I can’t even recall its name. So my planned review, which I wanted to write instead of studying, is going to be just a ramble about my TV-show addiction. I am gonna call this post, why I love TV-shows so much!
To be honest, I am not sure when my love for TV-shows exploded into an unhealthy addiction, I call it unhealthy because it is definitely not cool to watch SO many shows, and addiction because no matter what, I can not stop! I had a pretty busy school year, so my 2012 fall/spring shows kind of suffered a lot. Many of the new shows I stopped watching right away (most of them got cancelled anyway, so I made the right decision), a lot of the old ones I just pushed aside (House, Glee, How I Met Your Mother) and a bunch of shows piled up for me to enjoy them in a large amount during one evening (Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time). Taking this all into account and adding the NEW shows, plus the long marathons of old shows (United States of Tara, Friday Night Lights) and catching on to some still on air (The Killing, Modern Family, Skins): it is uncertain why the hell am I doing this!? Especially during my free time (even though I should be doing something important like studying!) when I get absolutely nothing out of it, I know what you’re thinking, and honestly, I too think that I am a bit mad.
Well, I just love TV-shows. I think it is the matter of escaping the reality and living through fictional characters that get into all sorts of problems, adventures and situations that I would never experience. I mean, vampires hunting you because you are a doppelganger, is far from reality but having a modern and a funny family is far fetched for me as well. Also, technically, comedies are healthier because they make you laugh (at least the good ones), some shows are unintentionally funny (90210, Gossip Girl) because they go beyond logic even though they should stay in certain limits! That leaves all the other ones which are just thrilling to watch (Supernatural, Criminal Minds, Revenge) and the sad ones (Grey’s Anatomy) – which technically are very good so I see no problem watching them. And the rest, they are great entertainment which can be cute and sarcastically funny (Hart of Dixie taught me that doctors have a lot of free time and wear high heels ALL the time) and lets face it, some shows are just life-like-awesome (Shameless, New Girl).
My rant has found its way to the conclusion, at least in my head, I love TV-shows because they are awesome! You start to like a character and they are “with you” the entire year (TV-show year) not like in movies, were your only hope is to see them in a sequel which most of the time is not a good idea. You can pile them up, skip weeks and weeks of episodes and then watch them in a row which makes it longer than a regular movie and that is good if you are me and spend most of your Fridays at home. Besides that, a lot of the shows are excellent for background (if you’re doing your make-up or something) and I am trained to multitask and it is better to watch a show while doing stuff online. Movies require more attention and I am lacking that a lot lately.
The only problem with TV-shows is that it gets predictable. I mean, if you are as experiences as I am (I know at least ONE person as crazy as me – thank god, I am not alone) you get to know the blueprint of the script and the shows in general. I mean, guessing the one liners and the plot twists is becoming more and more frequent, especially with unoriginal shows. Some, on the other hand, have the surprise element and they are willing to kill off as many characters as they want without any hesitation, some go where others don’t want to go etc. But on a larger scale, shows are pretty predictable when you mumble the next line before the character says it – happens with me more often that you think.
PS: I am now including a list of shows I watched this year, including the ones that got cancelled or ended, summer ones I am going to watch, shows that have ended but I now got to them, plus reality shows. If anyone is remotely interested in one or two of them, just comment below and I’ll do a review or something.
2 Broke Girls, 90210, American Horror Story, ANTM, Awkward. Being Erica, Bones, Castle, Chuck, Criminal Minds, Community, Dexter, Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23, Downton Abbey, Friday Night Lights, Fringe, Game of Thrones, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Grimm, Happy Endings, Hart of Dixie, House of Lies, How to Make It in America, Misfits, Modern Family, New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Parenthood, Pretty Little Liars, Project Runway, Revenge, Ringer, Rizzoli & Isles, Shameless US, Sherlock, Smash, Suits, Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Terra Nova, The Big Bang Theory, The Finder, The Killing, The Secret Circle,The Vampire Diaries, The Voice (all 3 of them), True Blood, United States of Tara, Weeds…
There is no sadder moment than the end of spring when all your favorite shows are finishing off a season. Some with a swizzle, some with a bang in order to keep you waiting eagerly until the next season. On the other hand, some shows will never make it past the first season, some long runners will never return where the last are the ones that some will miss the most. Pretty crucial cuts have to be made in order to make room for the new shows for next year and I am very aware of that situation. But although I am very invested in the what’s new and what’s cancelled part of the TV world, in this post I am focusing on my summer entertainment. No worries though, I have planned many posts regarding the news about shows I watch which covers a large amount of airtime.
This summer I am very excited because there are three shows returning for the second season! For those of you who remember, MTV came out with two new shows last summer and both of them actually turned out to be good! Awkward. is a show about a teenager, which seems like it all has been done before, but it does have some clever writing and gives me the Juno vibe in a very positive way. First season ended with an interesting choice and not to mention the big question of the author of the letter hanging in the air, but as you can tell, I am not here to spoil it for you in case you haven’t seen it yet. Teen Wolf was another one of those teen shows that ended up on my weekly schedule – it had the tortured hero in a form of a wolf, the funny sarcastic side-kick, the hot dream girl and bunch of bad guys. Despite the teen element, the show has some pretty grown up moments and intriguing mysteries which can be credited to the show’s developer Jeff Davis, the man behind Criminal Minds. Third, USA networks high rated show, Suits was probably my favorite new show last summer and I just can’t wait until it returns. Smart, quick, high class and clever – a well written show with some great characters and expensive suits, what more does a woman want!
Among other returning shows, some have been around for a long time, some just seem to be airing forever. True Blood is back and I am sure it will stir up something amazing for its fifth season which will follow the big events of the last season with some new characters as well. For Alan Ball, this will be his last season as the front man of the show, this sounds like Supernatural and Eric Kripke situation which didn’t crash and burn so I am not worried. Still, would be interesting to know what Ball has thought of next because giving us Six Feet Under and True Blood is definitely not enough – we need more! Another season for Pretty Little Liars starts, which is funny because they just ended their A-revealing season. Funny but true, the show starts in the summer and ends in the spring with a long hiatus from October to January! No wonder I keep watching it, the four girls never seem to stop being on the screen and I have no problem with that. A very entertaining chick-flick will surely come to an end soon enough but I doubt they will finish it off with this season. Weeds is returning for their eight season, and as tired I am of Nancy’s ways, I will still tune in to see what’s going on with her crazy and unrealistic life.
But of course there are new shows coming because that’s just the way it goes. I already did some research, mostly trailers of the shows and I picked couple I liked instead of listing them all because I doubt I will even watch the ones I am not gonna name here. Starting off with a serious show from HBO, The Newsroom, which will be probably a very good drama with some smart writing because the man behind the show is no other than Aaron Sorkin. For those who need some refreshing, this is the guy who wrote The Social Network – so I assume quality is guaranteed. USA Network has already come out with a cop comedy Common Law, I have heard that it is rather good (at least the pilot) and I’d say the trailer gave the same impression. Definitely going to watch it but not very sure where it will lead, two guys with guns taking counseling – that just sounds so safe. Yet again the people behind this happen to be coming from the movie world, this time behind the movie National Treasure.
This pretty much ends my list of shows I am excited about as far as their context goes, there are two new ones that are just a disaster to happen but they happen to draw me in with actors. Baby Daddy is going to air on ABC Family and that network just doesn’t appeal to me at all, but since they are bringing back the guy from Kyle XY, I am giving it a chance. Though it might end up being a very short chance because it doesn’t look good but who knows, Kyle XY was one of my favorites and it was an ABC Family’s original series which they ended mid season 3 with words “I am your brother!” – who does that?? Anyway, back to the topic, second show I want to mention is Saving Hope on NBC. This just screams horrible idea and it just looks like they are trying to copy Grey’s Anatomy’s Denny situation into a whole show with a main character being a man between two worlds. But the fact that Daniel Gillies (Elijah from The Vampire Diaries) is playing there for at least two episodes will make me watch it, if he leaves I will have no other reasons to watch it. Yes, that’s how fan-girling works.
So this is going to be my summer, not to mention the reality show So You Think You Can Dance, if all goes as planned, I am going to make short posts about every episode of my favorite shows but I am not sure how my work will help along to this lovely plan of keeping up with my posts. This is it for me but let me know in the comments what are your plans for summer regarding TV-shows?
