TV series I have been watching - part 7

It is time for another exhaustive list of TV series I have been watching. Some are great, some are horrible, but the moral of the story is I just can't stop :) Here it goes:

• Caprica - A spin-off from Battlestar Galactica, it showed a lot of promise, tackling the culture of the twelve colonies, issues like emergent AI and virtual life. However, it did not appeal to the public so it was cancelled. I am yet to see the last episodes from the series, but I expect the quality of the show to have plummeted long before the official news of the cancellation. When a network exec puts limits like "get me audience or die" people just lose interest in doing something and it quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Doctor Who - one wacky adventure after another, I still watch this British series. What it lacks in budget it compensates with weird plot lines and original writing. Quite refreshing.
• Eureka - a silly sci-fi comedy, I would have expected it to die after a few seasons. Alas, people like easy, silly, pointless shows and only resent the ones that makes them think. Season 4 is expected to resume in July 2011.
• House MD - I am kind of stuck watching this less and less medical series, because my wife likes it. I am bored by the plot, characters and almost everything in it except the occasional interesting medical fact. I hear season 8 might be the last.
• Criminal Minds - some episodes are pretty stupid, others are brilliant. The exposure of the minds of serial killers through behavioural analysis is a great subject. Alas, they put too much focus on the procedure and too little on the actual principles behind the work of the FBI unit. Don't fret, though, a spin-off with Forest Whitaker as the lead of another crime fighting group. Unfortunately, the joint episode from Criminal Minds that shouls have presented the new characters was weak and the new team pathetic.
• Southpark - this animation comedy series has its bad moments, but usually it is exceptionally funny and making fun of recent events.
• Dexter - the show keeps holding strong, even if they kind of drifted from the perfect quality of the first seasons. I hear season 6 might be last, even if the fourth book in the Dexter series, Dexter is Delicious, is now available. Lucky for the TV series, they only got inspiration from the books which were not of such good quality as the show.
• Big Love - interesting story about a mormon family trying to maintain their plurimarital beliefs in the face of adversity from goverment and other mormons alike. The 5th season is to start soon, but it is also the last. It kind of went bad from the third one, anyway.
• Fringe - I am yet to watch the episodes from season 3. It is a pretty dumb show, so people like it. I am waiting for a period in which I have nothing to do in order to watch it.
• True Blood - I like True Blood! It's not the vampires, but the feel of the backwater town that is plagued by all kinds of supernatural creatures. I think the show did great, but lately it kind of stuttered. Season 4 is to start somewhere in June
• Californication - luckily, father Christmas brought us two preair episodes from season 4 which should have started next year. I still like the show, but it is a far cry from the greatness of the first season, during which I wanted to make a son and name him David Duchovny.
• Breaking Bad - is it good anymore? The show started great and I did watch it religiously, but it does seem to get less and less interesting. It's a crystal meth male version of Weeds.
• Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Billie Piper could not have been more perfect for this series. She was delicious from the first time I saw her in that silly video clip of hers. The show was sexy, interesting, and will continue with a fourth season, which is said to be last. Why, God, why?!
• Entourage - this series is another television gem. It features the Hollywood adventures of a talented actor and his close childhood friends. The show managed to maintain a consistent positive feel for five or six seasons, which made it both great and original in this world of TV drama. The last seasons, though, went for a dark weird vibe and the eigth season will be both short and the last. A feature film is in the works, maybe, but it doesn't matter, since the original feel is pretty much destroyed.
• Stargate Universe - Yeah, finally a Stargate show that takes itself seriously! Or so I thought. When the audience didn't like the dark and gritty atmosphere, the black wind of show cancellation made everybody not give a damn. The result is a half baked show, troubled by financing and screenwriting issues. Poor Robert Carlyle did a marvelous job, but a single good Scottish actor can't save a show from its evil masters. The second season of Stargate Universe will also be the last.
• Torchwood - A Doctor Who spin-off, it took a big break after an attempted publicity stunt. Season 4 is to start next year. Fun series, but when you take Doctor Who, you Americanize it and then you make it even sillier, you are bound to miss somewhere.
• The Sarah Jane Adventures - another Doctor Who spin-off, directed almost exclusively towards young kids. Of course, I watch it and enjoy it very much.
• V - the original miniseries was not great, but that is no reason to make a stupid show like this. It is about aliens invading Earth via subterfuge and manipulation and the human resistance. It quickly turned into a involuntary parody of World War II movies with dumb Germans and smart Allies.
• Men Of A Certain Age - suprisingly good and serious, it is about three middle aged guys and childhood friends living their lives. It is funny, but deep, with characters that feel real and jokes that really make you think and smile. Way to go, Ray Romano! Season 2 just started.
• Weeds - the show just ended its sisth season. The seventh should be its last. Not even the babeliciousness of Mary-Louise Parker could save the last season, which was boring and kind of pointless. Started so well, though.
• The Good Wife - it is a lawyer show, mostly directed towards women, but I like it. Characters are complex enough, the law cases feel real and the plot is interesting.
• The Walking Dead - woohoo! Zombie series! Also made after comic books, so they can't fail too much. I like it, but since it focuses on the personal drama of the survivors and not the survival itself, and since the zombies are slow and ridiculous... meh! :)
• Shattered - Canadian show starring Callum Keith Rennie, which you may know from Battlestar Galactica, it is about a cop with split personality disorder. Not very realistic, with a 70's feel to it, even if it is supposed to take place in the present, but I watch it nonetheless. I wonder if there will be a second season to it.
• Haven - supposedly based on a Stephen King short story, it is basically a mashup between Fringe and Twin Peaks. It's worse than both, but it is easy to watch when you shut your brain down.
• Rubicon - The wife watches this, I can't. It is like somebody accidentally dropped a bit of Lost in Nikita, but also removed the hot chicks.
• Royal Pains - an easy medical slightly-comedy show. Started funny, now it's just boring. I will tell you when it's over.
• Identity - British police drama that had some potential. The Brits cancelled it after it's first season, but the ABC network is said to want to make their own series.
• Lost Girl - Canadian show again, this time a sort of supernatural thing with a hot bisexual chick that is also a succubus as the lead. Buffy like, nothing serious, but at least it's sexy.
• Nikita - Nikita is now an American-Asian, still bad-ass and with Michael wrapped around her little finger. Pointless show, really.
• No Ordinary Family - a family of super heroes! What could be cooler? I stopped watching it after the pilot episode.
• Better with You - my attempt to watch something really easy with the girls, a show with background laughter and stuff, it's about three couples of different ages and their developped manierisms. Instead of actually analysing the causes and finding solutions, though, they just focus on the inevitability that all comedy American couples look and sound the same in their age group. Yuck!
• Pioneer One - this is a show that is created by an independent studio (read: two guys in a garrage), freely distributed via Bittorrent (legally) and financed through donations. For 20000$ an episode, it is pretty cool. I donated some money since I really want this to work. Don't expect a master-piece, but I personally enjoy it and await the release of the third episode.

Phew, that's about all. But there are also the shows that I intend to watch! :) Here is the list:

• Terra Nova - a show that is supposed to start in the fall of 2011. The synposis sounds kind of ridiculous, but hey, it's sci-fi!
• Tilda - an HBO comedy about two blogger women journalists: Diane Keaton and Ellen Page. Both are annoying, but good actresses, and HBO does good shows. Let's see how it goes.
• Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior - I mentioned this show as the spin-off from Criminal Minds. I don't hold high hopes for it, though, based on the episode that presented the new team.
• A Game of Thrones - I've read the books and they were great! I predict the show will be epic, since the books themselves were detailed, complex, with great story and a bit of fantasy as well. I can't wait for the show to start.
• Falling Skies - aliens are attacking, again. I wonder if they started this show to finally bury V, which sucks. However, how much better can another show be when the plot is that an advanced technological race comes to Earth to occupy it. I mean, this dump?!

Ok, now it's over... or should I mention the anime series I am watching as well... how about the web series? Hmm... :)