My Favorite Current TV Shows

A few months ago, I posted a list of my favorite TV shows of all time (which can conveniently be found here). I thought it was time to follow that up with a list of my favorite shows out of what is still on the air now. And since two shows on the list just had their season finales, one is about to have its season final, and one is about to have its season premiere, what better time than now? A pair of notes before I get to the list, though; honorable mentions, if you will. Supernatural would have made the list two seasons ago when it was at the top of its game, but lately, while it still has its share of awesome episodes, I feel its best days are in the past. How I Met Your Mother also had a shot at making the list, which would have made it the only crossover between this list and the all-time list, but I'm starting to feel the bloom is off the rose there... not enough time is being devoted to the main storyline and I'm tired of the teasing! It's like being with a woman who never lets you get past second base! Unlike these shows, which pretty consistently hit some grand slams.

See what I did there?

The Big Bang Theory
I just started watching this one recently when I got tired of hearing everyone rave about it all the time. I got so sucked into it after the first few episodes that I ended up watching all five seasons within 8 days. Not only is this show hilarious, but I swear to God I have had almost every single geeky conversation they've had on the show with my friends at some point in my life. The Terminator Time Travel Paradox? Been there. Which Green Lantern weakness was lamer, yellow or wood? Done that. Which Star Trek movies was worse, the Motion Picture or The Final Frontier? Check. This is a comedy for my people. Plus, Kaley Cuoco.

I know this isn't what it's meant for, but, "Bazinga!"

'Nuff said.

The Walking Dead
Zombies. What more to you need to know? If you do need to know more, fine. It's based on an awesome comic book, has crazy violence, and is really a study in the degeneration of humanity in the wake of catastrophe. Sure, some of the episodes have been slow. But that's because it's not all about the zombies, it's about the people. How do you hold onto your humanity when social conventions are gone and it's a fight for survival, all day every day? Sure, some of the episodes have been slow. But that's because it's not all about the zombies, it's about the people. And, like I said, zombies.

Game of Thrones
How could this show not be on my list? Kings, queens, armies, sword fights, mysterious threats from beyond... and dragons. Can't forget the dragons. All it's missing is magic and it would have pretty much everything I've loved to read about since I was like 10. Plus, it had one of the biggest "Holy shit" moments I've ever seen in a TV show last season, which is why I'm glad I never read the book before. And let's not forget, Tyrion Lannister. How awesome is Pete Dinklage in that role. Do me a favor if you're ever tweeting anything about Game of Thrones or just Peter Dinklage in general: use the hashtag "#dinklagefetish." A few friends and I did that during the first season and eventually got the hashtag to be searchable on Google. We plan to repeat that feat this season, come join the fun!

#dinklagefetish

Shameless

If you haven't caught this on Showtime yet, you really should. A remake of a successful BBC show, it is easily one of the funniest shows on television, as well as one of the most touching. The cast, none of whom can really be called stars except for William H. Macy, is absolutely fantastic, especially Jeremy Allen White as "Lip." I swear, if this kid isn't huge one day, there's something wrong with Hollywood. Quite a few episodes of this show have had me tearing up, especially his performance. Which is surprising; he manages to steal just about every episode from Emmy Rossum, whose talent and utter sexiness is why I started watching the show in the first place.

Humina humina...

Seriously, though. My maleness aside, watch Shameless. You won't regret it.

Doctor Who
The wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey adventures of the Timelord known as the Doctor had to top my list. Episodes of this BBC gem alternate between touching, riveting, exciting, and thought-provoking almost every five minutes. You know any show that is on the verge of being around for fifty years has to be something special, right? There really is no way to describe the show without giving too much away, and I don't want to ("Spoilers, sweetie!"). It's just awesome. For me to say that about something that comes from England, you know it has to be true. Damn Limeys. That's okay, even the Doctor prefers Americans...

 He wears a stetson now. Stetsons are cool.

There's the list. You know the drill. Like any of these shows, hate any of them, have favorites of your own... I want to hear about it. Click the comment box and get going!

Goodreads Book Review - Darth Plagueis

Darth Plagueis (Star Wars) by James Luceno

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I wanted to give this book 2.5 stars as it really is average, but the system doesn't allow halves, so I rounded up to be generous. On the one hand, this tale of the Emperor and his training at the hands of his master, Darth Plagueis, is weighed down early and often by focusing on politics and midi-chlorian science, two of the most hated aspects of the prequel trilogy (aside from Jar Jar, of course). On the other hand, the few action scenes are thrilling, and it is fun watching the chess game the Sith play as the events in the book eventually include not just Plagueis and Sidious but Darth Maul, Sifo-Diyas, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Count Dooku as the story begins to dovetail with The Phantom Menace, ending at more or less the same time as the movie. Overall, not a great book but a recommended one for people interested in the details behind a lot of things only hinted at in the prequels.



View all my reviews

Happy St. Patrick's Day from a Lazy Irish Blogger

Because it's the day of my people and I can't find the motivation to write up a blog of my own, here's a list from the net of the 30 Sexiest... well, you can read the title below. A warned, though; it's one of those lists that annoys the crap out of me by starting with #1 and counting up, thereby killing all suspense. But, y'know, something is better than nothing! Slainte!

Irish Girls | The 30 Sexiest Celtic Women Caught Wearing Green

Dick Punch Trailer

Over the summer, a friend of mine worked as a PA on an independent film and the trailer is now available. I checked it out and it made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with anyone who might be reading this; you can find the trailer embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

Dick Punch Trailer from Good Company on Vimeo.

Goodreads Book Review - The Strain, Book III: The Night Eternal

The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't want to say too much about this book because there are so many spoilers, but it was definitely an intensely satisfying conclusion to what was a really good trilogy. The entire series had a lot of interesting ideas about vampires and how they function, and what was, to me, an even more interesting explanation for their origin. It was so good, in fact, that I barely even mind how it just made one of my own story ideas virtually moot... but anyway. The last 100 pages or so, in particular, are really gripping and exciting and just propelled me to want to finish it as fast as possible, and even now that it's done and more is impossible, I want more anyway. I can't recommend this series enough.



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The 10 Movies I'm Most Looking Forward to in 2012

I'm finally getting around to writing up this list of the movies I'm most looking forward to this year. I know, March 4th is a little late for this, but don't worry, none of the movies I've already seen this year would have made this list anyway. And I know, you're going to notice that The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey aren't on the list. That's because everyone knows I want to see them. Hell, everyone wants to see them. If I included the obvious ones, it wouldn't be a very interesting list at all, now would it?

10.) The Hunger Games
Okay, true confession time. I'm not all that excited to see this, but I couldn't think of anything else to put at #10, and my own personal brand of OCD would have kittens if I made a list with only nine things on it. Besides, I do like the cast, Jennifer Lawrence is talented as hell, and I've always been a sucker for a pretty girl with a bow and arrow, so there we go.

9.) The Bourne Legacy
I really enjoyed the Bourne Trilogy, so I have to admit I'm more than curious to see how this "sort of spinoff" will turn out, and how it might or might not relate to the originals. Also, I do enjoy Jeremy Renner, so I have high hopes that this will be a good time.

8.) G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Yes, yes, I know. The first one was pretty damn bad, but it did have a few good elements to it... namely, Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow, and the idea of Zartan replacing the president so Cobra could take over. From the trailer, the sequel looks to have kept those good parts while taking most of the bad parts of the first one (Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid) and upgrading them to Bruce Willis and The Rock. Sure, there's a chance it will still suck... I mean, Channing Tatum is still there... so we'll see what happens.

7.) Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Come on, how could you not want to see this? It's one of our nation's greatest leaders fighting vampires. If that kind of absurdity doesn't peak your interest, I'm not sure what else possibly could.

6.) Untitled Taken Sequel
So far, that's the only title I can find for it. Because, clearly, just calling it Taken 2... or with the way everyone loves barely clever puns these days, Taken Too... would be too simple. Snark aside, I love Taken. I loved Taken so much that after I saw it the first time on the internet, I paid to see it in theaters. While I don't necessarily think the concept, as great as it was, has legs for a sequel, Liam Neeson has built up more than enough trust with me. Then again, he IS in Battleship.

5.) The Expendables 2
Sure, The Expendables wasn't exactly Citizen Kane or anything, but it was a damn fun action movie featuring everyone I ever watched in ridiculous, barely plotted action movies in my childhood all on screen at the same time. The movie was so manly that I not only grew a third testicle while watching it but went through puberty again. Twice.

4.) World War Z
As much as I'm starting to feel like I'm getting zombie fatigue with how prevalent they are in entertainment and pop culture now, I absolutely loved the book, so i can't wait to see the movie.

3.) American Reunion

 

Now that is some clever marketing.

Because, really, how can you not want to see this?

2.) Prometheus

Without even getting into how awesome the trailer looks, it's Ridley Scott and it's science fiction. That's like the movie geek equivalent to "you had me at hello." And am I the only one who thinks every time Scott says this isn't a prequel to Alien and that the Weylan-Yutani connection is the only connection, he's full of shit?

1.) The Cabin in the Woods

Joss Whedon produces a horror movie he co-wrote with Drew Goddard (writer of Cloverfield, among many other Whedonverse episodes), who directed the movie. No-brainer here for me, people. I've in fact been anxiously waiting for this for years, since the first time I heard about it, and the trailer made me even more stoked.

Critics who have seen it have described it as "the biggest game-changer for the horror genre since the first Scream." That's some fairly high praise right there. I am all about this movie.

Of course, if I hadn't left those other movies out at the start, this list would be wildly different, not to mention anticlimactic. So, what do you think of these flicks? What are you looking forward to? Hit up the comments and lets talk about it!