Bev's Favorite TV Shows

Since so many other Holidailiers have been writing entries about favorite TV shows, I will write this next-to-last entry about TV, since I am such a TV addict.  Here are my top 5

1. BIG BANG THEORY

I am not a sit com person any more, but I have watched (and loved) this show since the first episode.  The story of four science nerds, living in Pasadena and working at Cal Tech.  Leonard the Sheldon are roommates, and both are physicists.  Howard is an aerospace engineer who has been to the Space Station and Raj is an astrophysicist from India who spends a lot of time Skyping with his parents.  All four have girlfriends, and now in Season 11 two are married, with Sheldon and his neuroscientist girlfriend Amy are planning a wedding.  The script for this show is sharp, and even after this long still as witty as ever.  Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is the wunderkind from Texas, with the born again mother around whom the situations often revolve and is so quirky that there is now a spinoff about his childhood, Young Sheldon which is just as funny.

2. NCIS

A spin-off from the old series Jag, which I did not watch, I have been watching this show for probably all of its life (and if I haven't been watching from the beginning, I have seen the shows so often in reruns that I have seen each one many times).  This is an unusual show for me to like, but it's the chemistry among all of the characters that make this a must-watch for me.  With Mark Harmon at the helm of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, as Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs he commands a group of faithful which has changed over the years, though this season (the 15th) there seems to have been more changes than before.  With long-time cast members Cote dePablo (Ziva) and Michael Weatherly (DiNozo) leaving and Paulie Perrette (Abby) about to leave the show, the feel is different and I do begin to think they are not taking the scripts as seriously as they did before.  I see the end in sight, which will sadden me, but it will run forever in syndication.  I love the tongue in cheek humor (like when someone asked Gibbs what medical examiner Ducky (David McCallum) was like as a young man and he answered "Illya Kuryakin," McCallum's character in the old show The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)

3. OUTLANDER

This TV adaptation of Diane Gabaldon's wildly popular series about the time-traveling Claire Randall, who accidentally finds herself in 18th century Scotland, is now in its 3rd season and ready to air the 4th in the fall.  What makes this show so special is not only the plot, which is hard to define as science fiction, romance, or adventure, is the production quality.  The costumes alone are fabulous (the gowns for Claire the season they spent in Paris were gorgeous and Claire's wedding gown when she married Jamie (below) was amazing). (She also has a husband back in the 20th century, but let that pass.)  The romance is wonderful and someone says it has the best sex scenes on TV, but it is so much more than that.  I read today that STARZ may be ending which would kill Outlander, but there is such a rabid fan base for this show, it might start riots.  Fans in the US are facing the prospect of losing their favorite show as a major cable provider threatens to axe its coverage. Now stars and production staff from Outlander are joining in a new campaign to help save it.

the wedding

4. SCANDAL

Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) is the most powerful woman (or man!) in Washington, DC.  She runs a crisis management agency and is the person you call if you are a big name and get yourself in trouble.  This is a political thriller partly based on George H.W. Bush's press aide, Judy Smith, who is a co-executive producer.  When the show began, Olivia was also the president's girlfriend and hot sex (hotter than Outlander) was a big part of each episode, as the president showed up at her apartment and while the secret service waited outside, they enjoyed each other, but the relationship has evolved significantly, with and without the first lady's permission.  (Olivia even became the public "president's girlfriend" for awhile and moved into the White House.)  Now while their attraction remains, the affair is over and the former first lady is now the president.  Olivia's parents are horrible people who wield even more power than Olivia, and her father (the incredible Joe Morton) runs a super-secret organization which keeps the current administration in power by all sorts of means, which include assassination, if it requires it.

5.  JEOPARDY

Jeopardy is the long-running answer and question game that I started watching in its daytime version, which debuted in 1964 with Art Fleming as the host.  Alex Trebec took over when it became a prime time show in 1984 and it is the only quiz show which has been awarded a Peabody award and 33 Daytime Emmy awards.  The Trebec show is now in its 34th season.  TV Guide lists the show as  #45 of the 60th greatest shows in television history.  This is a must watch for Walt and me and if we can't watch the show at night, we record it and watch it later.