TV

I hate it when my DVR gets too many shows. I feel like I have to keep it down to 25 shows, and no more than about 4 episodes of any show. This week while Ashley is away at camp, I have been playing "catch-up". There are a few shows - okay, more than a few - that I really like right now.

Leverage on TNT stars Timothy Hutton as the mastermind of a group of criminals gone good. The group of five criminals fight for the rights of "everyman". The characters are not the average stereotypes. The computer geek is not a pasty white guy, but a muscular black man. The grifter is a beautiful British woman, the thief a quirky blonde woman and the martial artist a redneck beefy white guy. The dialouge is sharp, the cases are relevant as to what is going on in the world today. They have touched on the bank bailout, ponzi schemes and healthcare fraud. This show is fun to watch.

I am a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I have always loved a good trashy vampire romance/mystery. True Blood on HBO brings the characters to life. I believe that some of the actors have been miscast and I'm not sure I like how much the television series has strayed from the books. Basically, True Blood is trashy fun, lots of blood, sex and violence, just what every girl needs!

I'm going to lump a few shows together here. Nurse Jackie, Weeds and Hung. They are all half hours shows on HBO or Showtime. They are addictive and naughty. Hung is about a high school football coach who moonlights as a male hooker. Weeds is about a suburban mom who sells drugs and Nurse Jackie about a nurse who seems to be addicted to drugs, sex and lying. Weeds and Nurse Jackie are well written and have mulitiple, crazy storylines that are fun to follow. Hung trails behind as far as the writing quality, but there is something about it that keeps me watching.

HawthoRNe on TNT stars Jada Pinkett-Smith as the Chief Nursing Officer at a hospital. She is a widower raising a teenage daughter on her own. She plays the role well, she is fiesty! For me, HawthoRNe will fill the void that ER left for me. The show was just picked up for a second season.

Being Human is on BBC America. It follows the life of three roommates, a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost. The show has that camera work that most British shows have, which is a little different than what we are used to in the US. I am a sucker for a British accent though, and the witty lines are delivered wonderfully. The storytline isn't anything amazing, but it sure has potential.

I also like USA's Burn Notice, Monk, Psych and In Plain Sight.
Burn Notice is about the life of a burned, or outed, spy and is set in Miami. Besides Jeffery Donovan's voice, Bruce Campbell is the best part of this show. It is full of action, mojitos and explosions.
Monk is in its final season and stars Tony Shaloub as a retired police detective with OCD. He is delightful to watch. The cases are fun and the script is well written.
Psych is hilarious! It is chock full of 80's pop culture references. Shawn and Gus have been best friends since childhood, and now run a fake psychic consulting business. Shawn's father was a police officer, and raised Shawn as if he were in a police academy. Shawn was too lazy to get the schooling needed to be a cop, so he contracts with the San Fransisco PD as a "psychic". There are no real psychic visions here, Shawn just uses his sharp obsevation and puzzle solving skills and pretends that he has visions.
In Plain Sight is a drama about the US Marshall Service and the Witness Protection Program. It follows Mary Murphy who is a bitter, bitchy Marshall. She is mean to her fiaince, her mother, sister and coworkers, but they all seem to love her anyways. The witnesses that Mary Protects change with each episode and keep the show from getting stale.

There you have it. This is what I have been doing with my free time. Watching loads and loads of TV. TV is my guilty pleasure, I feel bad that I love it so much, but not bad enough to stop watching!