My Top 5 TV shows

There are five shows on television that I really enjoy watching each week. Four of the five of them are on after 9PM so I rarely watch them on a real television. (that’s past my bedtime) Instead, I have my Powerbook automatically find them online the morning after they are on. It finds the video and puts it in my “Video” folder. I like it that way because then I can watch it at a time it is convenient for me then just trash the file when I’m done. Also, there are no commercials in the shows so I can watch a 30 minute show in a little over 20 minutes.

So I thought that I would list my favorite shows and why I like them. I’d like opinions on these shows if you have them, or if you have a show that I should check out then I’d like to know about it.

First a disclaimer, the overwhelming majority of what I watch is sports. Every morning I wake up to SportsCenter and each evening I can usually be found doing my work with a ball game on. I won’t be listing those in my five shows. I don’t think it counts really. That would be comparable to asking someone to list their five favorite smells and then requiring them to list “oxygen” as one of them. Like oxygen, sports is a necessity and a given. OK, on with the shows.

1) Scrubs- I remember watching this show once a few years ago and not really thinking that it was that funny. Perhaps my sense of humor has changed. (I can’t really say “matured”.) Because now as I watch it I laugh out loud. The characters are so original in this show. Each show really has a good lesson or two in it. And I think that every guy in this world either has a friend like Turk, or wants a friend like Turk. This is my favorite show on TV.

2) 24- Quite possibly the most stressful hour on television. Jack Bauer is a Federal agent that is in stressful situation after stressful situation. The interesting twist to this show is that the show is in real time. Meaning each season is 24 episodes long and each episode is an hour from a 24 hour day. So after one full season, you have actually only watched 1 day in the life of the characters. The first season was incredible at following the time very well. The second and third season was a bit of a stretch, but this fourth season is doing well in making it realistic. This show is very addicting. All the past seasons are available on DVD and if you watch the first few hours from the first season, you will be hooked.

3) Wildboyz- I am usually not much into the MTV shows. Real world and Road Rules were always a bit too much for me. But Wildboyz is an exception. Steve-O and Chris travel the world and experience life in all sorts of places and with all sorts of animals. This is not a scripted show, it’s kind of like a National Geographic for a new generation. This show really gets me laughing because of Steve-O and Chris. In the last episode they hung meat from the bottom of a hammock and put it between two trees in the middle of Africa. Then, they tried to sleep while lions were pulling on the meat and moving the hammock all around. These guys are crazy!

4) Extreme Makeover:Home addition- I usually don’t like shows like this. For instance, “Trading Places” has always encouraged me to trade my place in the house when it came on the TV. But Extreme Makeover: Home addition is different. They don’t stick themselves to ridiculous budgets so their houses are always amazing. And they build a full house in 7 days for different families that really deserve a break in life. I admit that a time or two my eyes have gotten a little moist at the end when the family sees the house for the first time. The host of the show is a Spaz, but you get used to him.

5) American Chopper- ok, back to manly shows. This has got to be one of the most manly shows. My eyes don’t moisten while I watch this show, but my mouth usually has drool ready to fall. They build the most incredible motorcycles and are really entertaining in the process. Paul Sr and Paul Jr are fun to watch and the younger brother Mikey always has a funny comment to slip in. Having an Orange County Chopper is number two on my list of wants in life. (Preceded only by meeting James Taylor)

One thing that I don’t like about shows 4 and 5 (and most reality shows for that matter) is the common theme is something to the affect of “We only have a few more days before this______ has got to be done. I just don’t know if we are going to make it this time.” But I think that most of the American Public is starting to understand that if the show is on, there is a pretty good chance that the project met the deadline and the ending is happy.

I recommend all of these shows to everyone. Are there any other shows that I should check out?