Must See TV!

Another thing I love about the fall, beyond mums, pumpkins, Halloween candy, apple cider, and the State Fair of Texas, is the start of our favorite TV shows again! I know some people aren't as into TV and I don't care, I love it and certain shows just make my week! I just like having the TV on all the time, while I get ready, do work around the house, nap, anything. It drives Jeremy crazy, I think. He would rather put on a good classic movie or music if he doesn't want to watch anything, but I tell you, I can find anything on and be entertained while watching it.

Anyway, I digress. My point being, I wanted to share my fall TV schedule:

Mondays
House, 7pm on Fox
How I Met Your Mother, 7pm on CBS
Gossip Girl, 8pm on theCW

Tuesdays
90210, 7pm on theCW
So You Think You Can Dance, 8pm on Fox
The Hills & The City, 9 & 9:30pm on MTV
*our favorite show Scrubs will be replacing Dancing with the Stars at 9pm on ABC when it ends!

Wednesdays
So You Think You Can Dance, 8pm on Fox
Modern Family, 9pm on ABC
Toddlers & Tiaras, 9pm on TLC

Thursdays
Flash Forward, 7pm on ABC
Community, 7pm on NBC (was later but this week they're moving it to a new time slot)
Parks & Recreation, 7:30pm on NBC
The Office, 8pm on NBC
30 Rock, 8:30pm on NBC (but I don't think this starts until October 15, next week)
Grey's Anatomy, 8pm on ABC
Project Runway, 9pm & rerun at 10:30pm on Lifetime (I have to record the 10:30pm time slot because our DVR is full at 9pm)

I also DVR Oprah and Ellen every day, but I go through and delete most episodes unless I really want to watch them. They're good "nothing else is on" shows. Who doesn't love Ellen?

If the list looks long, I've actually even given up shows in order to make our DVR schedule work (though I do have a second DVR in our soon-to-be nursery as a backup). We have always watched Dancing with the Stars, but because I like So You Think You Can Dance more and it's airing this fall also, we dropped DWTS. I also always used to watch America's Next Top Model but I don't have time for it either.

Now I'm going to explain why each show is awesome (or an awesomely guilty pleasure):

House - We started watching the House DVD's during the writers' strike at the recommendation of my in-laws, among many other people. Once we made time to start the show, we couldn't stop! You would think maybe each episode would get old, as it's typically the same format, but for some reason they don't! We love every single character, and this season is especially good and juicy!

How I Met Your Mother - I can't remember what season we started watching this on, but I know Jeremy recommended it as he had seen a few episodes. It's a little bit like our new "Friends" series, but a little sillier. There's a great blog, if you're a fan, that does wonderful recaps and gives out little known info. It's just silly and funny and fun, but the writers do a really good job of continuing to weave past story lines in current ones and give you teasers to upcoming seasons. Start from the beginning, you won't regret it.

Gossip Girl - My guilty pleasure. I love it. Drama, expensive clothes, rich kids, set in NYC. I can't get enough of it, each episode is even better than the last!

90210 - Another guilty pleasure. I was a little young for the original series, but in high school I religiously watched 2 episodes every day after school. The new series is different, but it has some of the old characters, which I love, and it's similar to Gossip Girl except set in Cali. Think drama, expensive clothes, rich kids + surfing.

So You Think You Can Dance - This is the first fall season of the show, the other 5 seasons are always summer series. We have loved this show since Day 1. I might not have been able to stick a double pirouette on drill team in high school, but watching solos and ensembles at competitions was my favorite and I still love the thrill of watching an amazing dancer perform to great music and choreography! I love that there were only a couple weeks between the summer finale and the start of auditions for this season.

The Hills & The City - Another guilty pleasure. It all started with Laguna Beach in college. We loved it! It's like 90210 but staged real life. The LC moved to LA and started her own series, The Hills, which we loved just as much. Then Whitney, LC's friend and co-worker, moved to NYC and started her own series, The City. This season, LC is no longer involved with The Hills and I think it's definitely lacking. Kristin Cavalleri (originally LC's nemesis from Laguna Beach) is now the narrator and she's just too mean to be the main character. But I really like the City! I like Whitney, I like her job and friends and I am especially liking her nemesis Olivia's struggle at Elle magazine. I'm a sucker for anything set in New York, I think.

Scrubs - Probably our all-time favorite show. It actually aired for 6 seasons on NBC then it was cancelled, had a horrible last season due to the writers' strike and getting cancelled. Honestly, I cried over the last episode and I don't even think it was that sad. It is very "Jeremy and I", it's our show, we started watching it when we were dating, watched it together when I would visit him in Phoenix, and kept watching it once we were married. I was very attached to the show! Luckily, ABC knew what a cult following it had and picked it up to continue on their network, promising better advertising and promoting. It had another final episode last season, which again made me tearful for the same reasons. I can't remember exactly, but in this new season I believe some main characters are gone and some will remain and they will focus on a new set of doctors. We'll see how it goes...

Modern Family - A new show we decided to try out, mostly because Julie Bowen (Jeremy's love from Ed) is in it. It's actually relatively entertaining and I don't mind watching it. I've found I need to give shows about 3 episodes to see if they will get better or not (I ended up loving Kath & Kim later in the season and it still got cancelled!).

Toddlers & Tiaras - Probably my biggest guilty pleasure. But I'm sorry, who doesn't want to stare at 6 year olds with fake hair, nails, tan and eyelashes? Plus the moms are killer. I guarantee you even Jeremy has to watch sometimes while he's working because it's just so outrageous.

Flash Forward - A new show on ABC this season. I was skeptical and didn't want to start a new series, but I have accidentally tuned in the past 2 weeks and I'm hooked. I believe it's created or written by people from LOST (another favorite of ours, returning for its final season in January), so it's similar in that they weave many different people's stories together with an ultimate end in mind, and you get little clues throughout each episode. That's not a good way of explaining it, but watch it. You've only missed 2 episodes so far, so set your DVR tonight and catch the first 2 online. I love all the people I recognize in it also - Penny from LOST, Charlie from LOST is apparently in it though he hasn't been on yet, the Asian guy from Harold & Kumar, even the Famous Jett Jackson (from the Disney channel, years ago) and one of House's former patients. (One of my talents is being able to name where most actors are from, no matter how small of a role.)

Community - I love Joel McHale on the Soup, so I couldn't wait to see his new series also starring Chevy Chase. Maybe I was just grumpy, but I was not a fan of the first 2 episodes. Jeremy and I decided to give it one last shot last week and it redeemed itself. Looking forward to the rest of the season!

Parks & Recreation - In its first season last year, I had to give it time to grow on my also. But it did and now it's probably my favorite Thursday night show behind the Office. Amy Poehler is amazing.

The Office - What more needs to be said? The show is genius. I love every single episode of every single season. We watch old episodes all the time. Plus tonight is Jim and Pam's wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

30 Rock - We just started watching this religiously last season, and have caught up on all the previous seasons. Tina Fey is seriously a genius. I love the parallels between TGS and SNL. Like the character John Lutz is actually a writer on SNL in real life. There is a reason it wins Emmy's all the time, people.

Grey's Anatomy - It really jumped the shark for me a couple seasons ago when Meredith "died" in the water. I stopped watching it. But I gave the following season and chance and ended up liking the story lines well enough. I like this season also, except that George is gone (sorry, spoiler, if you didn't already know). The whole merger storyline is interesting and appropriate for this time in our country...I seriously almost cried last week when people were laid off. Been there!

Project Runway - Absolutely love this show! Making clothes just astounds me, their talent is amazing. I never seem to agree with what the judges like and dislike, but if you saw how I looked right now, you might not be shocked anyway. This season, now airing on Lifetime instead of Bravo, was actually filmed a year or two ago and they have been in litigation with Bravo to change networks. There was an injunction which kept this season from airing for a really long time! (Emily, I am probably not getting all the legality right!) Anyway, I was so excited it was finally airing and it's not disappointed yet!

I know, I know, probably the biggest hole in my TV watching is Glee. Apparently everyone loves it! I'll have to catch it online or on DVD once this season ends!

Happy Watching!

{Editor's Note: I completely left off a show - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Thursdays at 9pm on FX. It is off-color and not-PC, which makes it pretty funny. Some episodes are a lot funnier than others. I tend to get frustrated when I think characters are just acting dumb (why I do not like Curb Your Enthusiasm and even sometimes Michael on the Office irks me), but if that doesn't happen to you or you're in the mood for it, it's entertaining. Jeremy really loves it, he could probably say more about it.}