What I Like a Lot

This is a post about the things I enjoy on television, Hulu, and Netflix. This is different than Recommendation Wednesdays because that section is for things I run across randomly and think would make funny little paragraphs- bite-size morsels of comedy. This section is where I list my longest-enduring favorites, which I hope you’ll watch so we can discuss together! Even if you all band together and decide I have crappy taste!

1. Doctor Who (BBC America)

Doctor Who is my favorite television program, and I stumbled across it quite by accident. I was looking in the “Recently Added” section on Netflix, and I had heard of Doctor Who before. I’d run across it on PBS as a kid and thought it looked interesting with no real access point to jump in. Then, my choir director at church started watching it and imitating Daleks during rehearsal, so I thought there must be something redeeming. I started the first episode and loved it so much that I thought, “I can’t take this journey without Dana. This is definitely something she’ll want to see.” But The Doctor had me at antiplastic, and I’ve never looked back.

2. Scandal (ABC)

Shonda Rhimes proved her TV mettle with Grey’s Anatomy, but Scandal is in a class all by itself. The reason to watch Scandal is that no one is safe. Ever. For any reason. No, wait. The real reason to watch Scandal is Kerry Washington. Her lips should be their own character (imagine a Family Guy cutaway here).

3. JEOPARDY! (Syndicated)

A lot of people forget to put JEOPARDY! on their favorites list, but that doesn’t mean they don’t watch it every night. I intentionally put it here because it’s the one half hour of television that is just about us nerds. And I didn’t come up with that idea. My friend Hope did. I just ran with it.

4. Spy (Hulu)

Spy is a brilliant show about an average loser guy who is raising a child with his horrendous ex-wife. Both his ex-wife and his son extol the virtues of his loserdom on a daily basis. Things get interesting when he goes to apply for a job as a messenger with the government, walks into the wrong room, and takes the MI:5 exam… never knowing what it is. He gets incredible scores, hilarity ensues.

5. Burn Notice (Netflix)

I think that Burn Notice is still on television, actually, but I don’t know what channel. If you haven’t seen it from the beginning, you’ll want to. It’s the story of Michael Westen, burned spy stuck in Miami with “a trigger-happy ex-girlfriend, a friend who rats you out, and his family, when he’s desperate.” Probably not a direct quote, but close enough. I don’t want to give away any of the story, so my favorite part of Burn Notice is the gadgets and the way Michael explains step-by-step how the action is going to go down. And Gabrielle Anwar is just the most gorgeous thing on television, anyway… except for Kerry Washington’s lips.