Screen time

A few years ago, Evan and I gave up on cable and decided to subscribe to Hulu Plus and Netflix instead. It helps to have a techie husband - I only half understand the computer-as-television thing. There's a lot I miss about cable, like the Food Network and HGTV, but for the most part, it's made me a better television viewer. I only watch shows and movies that I love; I don't fall prey to whatever crazy reality show is on that night, and I don't get sucked into whatever movie TBS is airing for the millionth time.

Lately, though, there's been a drought. It's summer, so it's all reruns and America's Next Pickup Artist, etc. Instead, I've been watching a lot of Friends on DVD, and Evan and I have taken to rewatching Alias on Netflix on Demand (it's great, even the second time around). Still, I'd love to have some new shows in DVD rotation (god bless Friends, but I've watched each episode so many times that I feel like that doctor, in the one where Phoebe has the triplets, who is obsessed with Fonzie and...well, you see where I'm going with this).

Last night I remembered that the Writers Guild of America recently put together a list of the 101 best written television shows. Friends is number 24, and other favorites like the West Wing and Friday Night Lights are on there, too. Evan told me to put together a list of the shows I would like to watch, and he'd see what he could do about finding them (many of them aren't on Netflix, annoyingly). These are my top 10:

Thirtysomething

The Sopranos
MASH
Northern Exposure
Murphy Brown

Will and Grace
Moonlighting
LA Law
St. Elsewhere
Seinfeld

Of course, when I sent Evan the list, he made fun of me: "MASH?! Moonlighting?! Who are you?" Hmmm. Looks like I'm my parents...in the '80s.

Wouldn't it be fun to marathon these shows? Which would you want to have at your disposal?

P.S. Friends sometimes gets a bad rap - my brother recently chided me for saying it was just as good a comedy as Seinfeld - but I really do think it's a terrific, seminal television series. If you're a fan, here's an interesting article from the May 2012 issue of Vanity Fair.

P.P.S. Did the title mislead you? We generally don't have the television on in front of Jack and Nellie except for some news in the morning. I will, from time to time, play them "Elmo's Ducks" or "Elmo's Got the Moves" on YouTube if we're inside and it's after dinner and I'm starting to lose it a little. Nellie prefers the Ducks, but Jack likes the Moves because for a second and half there is a singing beach ball, and well, that just about makes his week.

P.P.P.S. The photo is not mine, I took it off a Friends fansite, and I'm pretty sure it's not theirs either. Anyway, it looks like they're watching television, right? Wrong. They're looking at Ross who's trying to settle the bet of who knows who better, the guys or the girls. I told you I need a new show to watch.