Television, television
March 7, 2011A few months ago, my boyfriend, Rob, and I were forced to come up with a system with regards to television. We each simply had too many shows that the other had not seen, which we found unacceptable. We agreed to watch one season of one of his shows, and then one season of mine, alternating until we ran out of seasons. This is not likely to happen for some time. He plans to show me all of Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Dead Like Me, and Fringe. I am working on showing him Doctor Who, Community, Buffy, and Angel. It’s going to take awhile.
This presents me with the opportunity, though, of addressing my favorite geek television shows. And so they are as follows:
I could not begin this list with anything else. Yes, it took me a long time to actually getting around to watching this show about three years ago. Most of the reason for that is the pilot episode being an hour and a half was always daunting. My thought process was always, “Well, I could start watching Firefly…but I don’t feel like sitting down to watch a full movie right now.” Finally my friend Nick forced me through it. And I am so glad he did. It is a truly spectacular show that I (along with everyone else who has seen it) wish had never been cancelled. Even though it is thought of as a “nerd” show that takes place on a spaceship, it really isn’t. Once you’ve seen it, you realize it could take place anywhere. Joss Whedon just decided to put it in space. If you have not had the pleasure, take a little bit of time to check this show out. It’s only 14 episodes, plus the movie Serenity, and it is well worth it.
I’ve talked about it on here before, so I’ll keep this brief. This show is incredible. It has wonderfully written characters and storylines, as well as keeping a balance between fun comedy and intense drama. It’s very easy to drop into, as most episodes are fairly self-contained. One of my favorite things about it is that it can very easily switch between a futuristic alien spaceship and a period piece in Shakespeare’s London. Ah, the beauty of time travel.
I’m still trying to figure out why people who aren’t nerds like this show so much. My friends and I at school loved it because we know real people like all the characters. And obviously we love the jokes about physics, engineering, video games, and scientists. It’s a fun show if you’re a nerd because they actually get it right. Most movies and shows portray nerdy scientists to the extreme stereotypes. This show does that, too, but they take the time to make accurate physics and comic book jokes, which is very refreshing when you’re a socially-functional geek like me.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel
Okay, I know there are a lot of people who strongly dislike these shows along with the die-hard fans. So I will start by saying I don’t care. I don’t care when it’s campy, or the dialogue is unrealistically witty, or the plot gets ridiculously convoluted. It is an enjoyable show with engaging characters that I fell in love with. Yes, season 4 was a bit of a stumble with that whole Riley mess, but it had some incredible episodes (including “Hush,” which had only 5 or 10 minutes of dialogue in the whole episode). And yes, the last two seasons of Buffy got incredibly ludicrous with some of the plot points, but I love it.
For now, that’s it. I also love other shows that I wouldn’t consider “nerdy,” like How I Met Your Mother and Community. I would have included Lost in the list, but that show started losing it after Season 2, in my opinion. Can I just put seasons 1 and 2 on the list? Because they’re great.
So far I’m enjoying Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica, but since I’m only a season into each one, I cannot conclusively give an opinion, as they could both go the Lost route and change my mind. Oh, and no joke, I cannot watch BSG without thinking of Jim making fun of Dwight on The Office.
