Thursday Thirteen: TV Shows I Adore

1. Project Runway

Possibly my favorite TV show of the year.  I love the construction process of sewing.  I sew myself, not amazingly but I do work at it.  I love watching the creativity of what it takes to put these fantastic garments together to put it on a runway.  By far it’s one of my favorites every year.

Anyone watching this year? Oh. My. Lanta. Has there ever been a more dramatic season?

2. Tool Academy

This is my really bad TV addiction.  It’s the first reality show I ever watched and I hope and pray that they make more seasons of this show.  The premise is that girlfriends take their bad boyfriends to the Tool Academy to reform them.  Honestly, these chicks should have left these guys a long time ago.  Most of the time I can’t believe these people are real, but there they are, stripping off their clothes and dancing on TV thinking they’re the shit.  The first episode after the tools have made fools of themselves unbeknown their girlfriends are watching is always my favorite.  The reveal is priceless.

3. Dexter

There’s something so very sexy about Michael C. Hall.  I’m one – maybe even two – seasons behind right now, but I still love the show.  It takes the bad guy and makes him good.  The monster is relateable.  You’re left not knowing who to root for but hoping for the death still the same.  The only way it could be better was if Michael C. Hall danced and sang on the show.

4. Alias

The show hasn’t been on the air in a long time, but I loved this show.  I own every season and I watch it every so often to remind myself just how cool it is.

In case you don’t know what the show is about, it’s a show about a secret double agent, working both for the CIA and a rogue organization.  There’s lots of really awesome fighting scenes and costumes with wigs.  Plus, it’s Jennifer Gardner kicking ass in stilettos.

5. Burn Notice

So I have a thing about spies.  So what?  Burn notice has it’s own sex appeal.  There’s Jeffery Donovan, aka, Michael Westin, and his super sexy co-star Gabrielle Anwar aka, Fiona.  I’m seasons behind right now, and I think the show’s been canned, but the neat thing about Burn Notice is how it merges styles.  Alias is cutting edge spy gear.  Burn Notice mixes some cutting edge tech, but it also works the old school stuff.  And, you learn a heck of a lot that you would need to know for your own stake outs, should you ever need to do one.

6. Real Housewives of New Jersey

There’s something about this show that’s all about the shock value and asking yourself if these people are real.  Really, any of the Real Housewives girls.  The people, rather than characters, are so over the top, so crazy, and hard to believe that it’s addicting.  I don’t know how they live like they do but it’s a hoot to watch the crazy.

7. Anything with Gordon Ramsey

I think Gordon Ramsey is fantastic, even if he needs a thesaurus to use words besides stunning and amazing.  Master Chef, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, I’m a fan of them all because of the man behind them.  I’m a fan of tell-it-like-it-is, and calling people on their shit.  Ramsey takes no crap, no attitude and no excuses.  But, he can turn his act around and reach out to people who really need help, who are really trying and be really awesome.  I think that’s what won me over in the end, that he’s a hard ass, with a softish center.  I hope he doesn’t read this, lol!

8. Tattoo Reality Shows

Inked, Miami Ink and LA Ink, they’re fun to watch.  I got started watching Inked because I needed something mindless to watch or have going on in the background while I’m doing things around the house or writing blogs or whatever.  Inked led to one of the others and the others.  I like tattoos.  I like the unscripted format where I don’t have to pay attention to a story arc.  Also, I like tattoos and seeing the crazy crap people do in real life without being asked to.

9. River Monsters

This show has spawned so many writing ideas it’s unreal.  Again, I was looking for something to stream while I was at work that could be background noise.  I forget how I got to watching the show.  It was really a random picking out of a list that has turned out to be one of my favorite shows.  I’ve learned so much about animals and different parts of the world and fish.  I would totally suggest it to anyone, with one warning.  You will be afraid to get in the water.  Any body of water, ever again.

10. Dr Who

A quirky, British show about a time traveling alien in a police box with a friend or two saving the galaxy.  There are so many reincarnations of the show because the Doctor can be reinvented thanks to his regeneration.  Yeah, dude regenerates himself.  The show is crazy and funny and weird.  I highly suggest it.

11. So You Think You Can Dance

There’s something about watching these people with real talent showing what they’re capable of.  I love the variety, the different styles and backgrounds the contestants come to the table with, and how they learn more.  Not to mention that a guy I worked with won a few years ago.  That was really exciting.  And each season I want to learn to dance all over again.

12. Deadliest Warrior

I started watching this on a whim and oh man have I learned a lot!  They take two different warriors and pit them against each other.  They have like five different categories that they rate them in, all the while you learn about the history and how the weapons are used.  In the end they have two warriors duke it out and a winner is named.  It’s a great show if you have any interest in fighting styles or history.

13. Hockey

Ah, the love of my life.  Hockey.  I’ll watch it any way it comes, pro, minor league, professional or Olympic.  Hockey is the thing my TV lives for every year!