Pyles of Clutter

Downton Abbey

I'm obsessed.

My new favorite TV show is Downton Abbey on PBS. Downton Abbey is a show about the Earl of Grantham, and the Crawley family. The Earl has an American wife, three daughters, and a very staunchly British mother. We are also privy to all the problems "below stairs" with the servants. It reminds me a lot of "Upstairs, Downstairs", a British TV series that I've watched all the episodes of.

The problems range from loved ones dying on the Titanic, war breaking out, love between upstairs and downstairs, and even a dead body in a bedroom illicitly. One of the reasons I love this show so much is that the stories move along pretty quickly. Not everything is resolved in an episode, but they aren't drug out over several episodes. I also love that the characters feel real, well, real for a TV show.

Things I love:

*Lord and Lady Grantham sleep in the same bed, even though it is unconventional. He loves his wife, and doesn't want to be away from her, so while he has his own room, he spends most nights in her room. I love that.

*The characters are allowed to evolve. The maid to Lady Grantham is a vindicative, vengeful woman, but at one point she realizes that she has judged harshly and tries to make amends. I love that they have allowed her, and many others, to grow beyond their assigned roles in the beginning of the show.

I took a little quiz on facebook about which character I was from Downton Abbey. Apparently, I'm a downstairs type of person, the lady's maid, Anna Smith. I guess that's pretty true. I'm loyal to my friends, I'm a work horse, I'm willing to sacrifice for the things I believe in, and if you ever need to hide a dead body, I'm your gal.

:)

Go watch and and join the Downton Abbey revolution!

TV Watching...

I have a bit of adult-ADD, I know I do.  I cannot sit and watch tv unless I have some other thing to do, such as now, when I'm watching Perry Mason and typing up this post.  I'm grateful to have a DVR at times like these so I can go back when I miss something important.  Anyway....

These are my favorites right now:

1.  Pushing Daisies-- Did you watch this in the fall?  Because of the writer's strike, it hasn't been on since the fall.  I can hardly wait for it to come back on.  It is the most refreshing tv show I've seen in a long time.  It's quirky, funny, clean.  What could be better than that!  The premise is a man, Ned, has the ability to bring people back to life, but if he touches the again, they die permanently.  If he leaves them alive, then after a minute, someone else has to die. Yikes!  Ned finds his first crush dead in the morgue and brings her back to life, but then he can never touch her again, or she will die permanently.  Oh the intrigue!  He solves homicides by bringing people back to life for a minute, finding out who killed them, then touching them again.  It is so funny.  Watch it!

2.  Eli Stone--  This was a replacement show this winter.  It was also a different show also, with a feel good tone to it.  Eli Stone is a lawyer who starts to have visions of things to come, because of an aneurysm in his brain.  From those visions, he takes certain cases that have significant meaning to Eli and his loved ones. He ends up in the doghouse with his boss, his fiance, his family, his secretary, everyone.  And all the while, he is trying to decided whether to get rid of the aneurysm or to live out the remainder of his days with it, like a time bomb in his head.  It is an interesting show, pretty clean, a little preachy, but definitely leaves you feeling hopeful about the world.

3.  Burn Notice--  I LOVE this show!  It was a new show last year on the USA Network.  AJ and I watched this faithfully all last season, and finally, finally the new season starts next week!  Yahoo!!  The plot is that a spy, Michael Weston, has been burned, which means that the agency he is working for has cut all their ties with him, and left him to fend for himself, even if that means he gets killed.  Michael winds up in Miami, trying to figure out who and why he got burned.  He takes on cases of all different mysteries, solving them to make money.  This is also is a feel good kind of show.  The violence is pretty minimal, and it doesn't have much of that really dark feel to it like a lot of the criminal shows do now.  It's pretty witty, original and the guy who plays Michael is pretty cute, and I love Sharon Gless as his pesky mom. 

4.  Samantha Who--  This is a sitcom about a girl who is hit by a car and when she comes out of her coma, she doesn't remember anything about her life.  Yes, she has amnesia.  But as she starts to piece things together, she finds out that she wasn't a very nice person.  Now she doesn't want to be that person anymore, and so begins to make amends for things she has done.  It's really funny.  Christina Applegate plays the confused Samantha pretty well.  I love it.

5.  SYTYCD--  Otherwise known as So You Think You Can Dance.  Love, Love, Love this show.  I've watched a lot of dance for a lot of years.  My oldest girl has been dancing for 14 years.  That is a long time.  And so we have seen a lot of wonderful dancers, seen a lot of great dances.  It blows me away that a lot of the dancers on this show are still teenagers too.  Teenagers!  It takes my breath away.  It makes me wish I could dance.  Or just be about 50 pounds lighter.  Either would be fine.

Now I still have a lot of my old favorites on my DVR, such as Monk, Pysch, Criminal Minds, The Office.  I'm not so enamored with Grey's Anatomy anymore, or the CSI's.  I watch the original CSI because it's in Vegas, and I'm all about Vegas now.  Not that my son is anywhere near what they are talking about but you know how it is. 

So I hope you get some good shows to watch.  I'm getting pickier as I get older. 

TV Land

On my Tivo:

1.  Planet Earth-Discover Channel

Is anybody else watching this incredible series?  It was a ten parter of the most interesting look at our Earth that I have ever seen.  Each segment is filmed specifically on a certain part of the world, or a certain enviroment, say The Plains of the World.  I love the looks at the plant life, and the animals there.  So beautiful.  On Sunday, it had a marathon of all the segments in a row.  I'm in heaven!  Just watching them over and over again.  LOVE that show.

2.  The Deadliest Catch-Discover Channel

I find this to be the most fascinating show.  The premise is Alaska crabbing boats.  We watch them get ready for the season, go through the season, and finish the season.  I had no idea how these crabs traveled, and how they are caught.  Or how big they are!!  Now, a disclaimer.  These are the real crews of these boats and their language is a little "salty".  Everything is beeped, but, you know how the mind works.  I truly think I could be a crabber now.  I know how to make the bait, set the pots, reel them back in, and follow the crab trail.  Really.  Fascinating. 

3.  Shear Genius-Bravo

Okay, this is a guilty pleasure.  It is along the same lines as American Idol, only with hair stylists.  If I had written this post a few weeks ago, it would have been Top Design, a competition between interior designers.  I'm a little afraid to say that I love the drama of it all.  SO funny.  The stylist involved aren't too nasty to each other, but they are totally into the drama.  And to see the things they come up with, oh. my. goodness.  The first challenge, they went to Michael's, (yes the craft store,) and bought like $75 worth of things that they had no idea what they were going to do with them.  The next day, they took those items and made some kind of hair design on the heads of these models, whose hair was halfway down their backs.  It was so intriguing to see what they came up with.  Really.  Intriguing!

4. Perry Mason- Fox Channel 28

I am a sucker for the simple shows of the past.  No tricks, no play with the cameras.  Just a simple story, with great endings.  I want to know an honest lawyer like Perry Mason.  It is so awesome. 

5.  Dancing With the Stars-ABC

Another guilty pleasure.  I love those ballroom dances.  Watching this show makes me wish I could take Ballroom lessons, but alas, even if I had somewhere to take lessons, I wouldn't have a partner.  The progress that these stars make is nothing short of amazing!  They go from bumbling through their first dance, to really making the moves towards the end of the competition.  I find it so inspiring!  This season, Joey Fatone is hiliarious, and a great dancer.  Antone Apolo Ohno is surprisingly graceful.  My one complaint is that the judges go easy on Heather Mills because she has a fake leg.  Please!  It's a competition!  If she can't keep up, out you go! 

6.  Monk-USA Channel

I love the early seasons of these.  I love his weirdness, his obsessions, his compulsiveness.  It makes me feel so much better about myself.  The old ones are better than the new ones though, and Sharona was better than Natalie.  Just my opinion.

7.  Various cartoons-Disney Channel, Nickelodeon

Tessa loves her tv, as much as her momma.  She loves Pinky Dinky Doo, Little Einsteins, Max & Ruby, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  The problem is that she has seen all these cartoons over and over again, and so she gets bored with them.  I programmed my tivo to tape only the new episodes, so when they show up, it is the most exciting thing!  Tess is always so excited, and I have to say, so am I!  I love these cartoons.  They are so simple, and the only thing they teach is how to get along with other people in your life.  So great.

8.  Various criminal shows-

I'm a sucker for a good mystery.  When I have time I watch those shows; Criminal Minds, CSI, Bones, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Numbers, Shark, Cold Case.  I'm sure there's more, I just can't remember what they are.  My kids watch Prison Break.  I don't.  My favorite of all those: Criminal Minds.  My least favorite: CSI:Miami.  I like to try and figure out what happened.  But really, my most favorite, Perry Mason.  It just is.

9.  Various "relationship" shows-

Among the relationships shows that I like to watch: What About Brian, Men In Trees, Grey's Anatomy, House (which isn't totally a relationships show, but I had to put it somewhere), Heroes, Friday Night Lights, ER.  Men In Trees is pretty light hearted, and very funny.  I also enjoy Grey's Anatomy, along with half of the world.  I have lost my mind with Heroes, I lost track of the story.  I don't watch Friday Night Lights that much, but it is a cult following among the rest of the fam.  What About Brian is funny, but not so light hearted.  That is the extent of my relationship shows.

10.  Various sit coms-

If you aren't watching The Office, you need to right now!  It is so funny!  I'm not usually one for stupid humor, but Dwight is absolutely the funniest thing I have heard in a long time.  "Un-shun!  Re-shun!"  We go around my house saying that.  SO Funny!  What other comedies do I watch; My Name Is Earl, The Class, The New Adventures of Old Christine.  All of them funny, but The Office is the funniest.  Really.

What's on your Tivo?  What do you absolutely have to watch every week?  What do you stay up past your bedtime for?