My Weekly Wonders: How I Met Your Mother

During my Christmas break I began to watch a show called How I Met Your Mother. This show is one of those comedies that everyone loves, whether you're a comedy nerd like me, or just like to sit down, watch some TV, and laugh.  It's similar to shows like the Big Bang Theory in that you don't really need to see other episodes to get what's going on. Not saying you can totally jump in anywhere and understand exactly what is going on though because there are certain sections of the plot that are accumulative throughout the episodes and even seasons. Either way, it's a very good show and one that I am currently getting very addicted to. Here are three reasons why you should watch it.

1. I love every single character and you will too.  It's based around five young adults; Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily, and Robin, who are all unique, funny and very interesting. I know I say that for pretty much every show I ever talk about, but it's totally true.  You absolutely, one hundred percent, fall in love with these characters. Whether it's Barney with his perpetual promiscuity or Lily and Marshall cute and loving relationship, you never ever get tired of them.

2. Every episode is different. It's not the same thing over and over again like solving a crime or curing an illness. HIMYM (yeah, pretty great acronym) always has some new comical story. Whether it's searching for a loved one with the same Halloween costume every year or the "pineapple incident" in which Ted wakes up from a crazy night not knowing where the pineapple in the room was from, this show is always creative in bringing new stories.

3. Lastly, every season is currently on Netflix.  That's six seasons of amazing television... free! That is, if you have Netflix.  If not, that really stinks, you should totally get it.

There you have it, three legit reasons why How I Met Your Mother is amazing and more importantly why you should watch it.   

A Timeless Pleasure

This weekend was a little rough, but whenever I'm down there's one thing that ALWAYS cheers me up. Okay this, plus some really good friends and some really good TV. But if those aren't around and all you have is a computer, check out Whose Line is it Anyway? on YouTube. It's an improvisational show hosted by Drew Carey, the guy who hosts The Price is Right and used to be on that show with the theme song that screamed "Clevland rocks!" It doesn't make any new episodes anymore, but the old ones are comically timeless and hysterically funny. Here's a clip! :)

Why Cancelled?

Some shows don't always last. They can be good, but just not have enough viewership. Of course there are many shows that get canceled for just reasons... cough Pan Am, Work It, Man Up, Charlie's Angels, The Playboy Club cough. Let's face it, all of these shows, who all premiered this year, were terrible.  It saddens me what networks try to pass off as TV sometimes.  I mean Work It? Really? A show about two men dressing up as women to get a job. Did people really think that was going to last? This year has been kind of a failure for new shows. Okay, it's been kind of a failure for comedy shows.  If you think about it, most drama television that was created this year is actually doing really well. But why? Why do some shows do really well but others crumble? How does this system work? Let's investigate.

This year* one of my favorite TV shows called Lie To Me was cancelled. I think I liked this show mostly because it tied in with my interest in psychology. The show was based around a team of psychologists (scientists? crime stoppers? whatever.) who used science to tell if people were lying. This was really interesting because it was actually based on a real science. The show's main character Dr. Lightman, played by the amazing Tim Roth, was actually based of a real behavioral scientist named Dr. Ekman. Lightman and his team use psychology to interpret microexpressions and detect if someone is lying.  They use this for various high profile crime cases or other special cases that they are hired for.  Unfortunately this very interesting show was cancelled. Why? I can only guess. First of all, it's not the "typical cop drama." There are few dramatic gun scenes or much violence at all.  The cases are varied, but they tend to be solved the same way; finding out if they're lying and using that to solve the case. I'm obviously making this sound pretty black and white, but the truth is, a show that is based around science and justice doesn't hold up as much as law and justice. I'm not sure why.  As for the characters, they did not have much depth to them. Cal (Lightman) was always breaking rules, and his teammate who was a psychologist (Foster) was always keeping him in line.  But their relationship was kind of awkward, like they were brother and sister or something. Cal and Foster weren't like let's say Cuddy and House who would have this on and off relationship and had a very interesting dynamic. Instead they often made me feel awkward to watch them. But I digress. This show I felt was an example of a TV show that wasn't really given a chance.  They had very interesting content, they just needed to go somewhere with it.

Another show that I was just reminded of the other day is Dead Like Me, a show very different from Lie To Me but also cancelled after a few seasons.  Dead Like Me was a dark comedy on Showtime that was based around grim reapers who helped people through the stage of life to death.  It was a very strange show, but I gained a liking to it.  It had interesting story lines, complex characters, and it was all free on Hulu. The free part was probably the strongest reason I watched the two seasons of this show... but it provided good entertainment for that summer.  Why did this show get canceled? This reason I can be bit more definitive on. The characters were great and the show had interesting content, but it just went a bit too far.  The whole grim reapers thing just did not go over well with people.  Shows with vampires, werewolves, witches, superheroes typically do well, but I don't think many people were very fond of the concept of helping people reach death.  The grim reapers did not cause it, they were just there to help along the inevitable. The show was just kind of weird, and people didn't get into that.

So is there a formula to being a successful television show?  If you have the easy job of watching the shows and not having to actually make them, then I would say yes. All you have to do is make content with good actors and interesting stories. But it's never that simple. Even when all of that is accomplished shows still do not last.  It's honestly just a factor of whether there are enough viewers.  Shows like Community who are actually really good but don't get too much viewership, tend to get pushed out to make room for other shows that do. That is exactly what happened to Lie to Me and Dead Like Me. These were decent shows, but because they didn't attain the amount of viewers required, they did not survive.




*When I say year I don't mean 2012. I know that doesn't really make any sense, but my years are based on the school year and also when mainstream television is on: fall, winter, spring. So my new "year" really begins when the new seasons of television begin. I know it's not right, but it's much easier than saying last year and then clarifying that it's still the same season (season as in TV season). 

My Weekly Wonders: Modern Family

I must admit, I did not like Modern Family when I first heard about it.  This was partly due to the fact that it was an ABC comedy, in which at the time I had the idea that they could not make good comedies, but mostly due to my ignorance and stubbornness to not watch the show. I remember one year, Modern Family was winning a whole bunch of Emmy's and I was getting really mad because I thought they didn't deserve it. Now that I have actually watched and experienced the amazing writing on the show, I can now say that every one of those awards was completely deserved. This show is absolutely brilliant, and I'll tell you why.

Modern Family is based around three families that make up one big family. The first consists of a gay couple named Mitchell and Cameron who adopted a baby Lily, the second is a mother and father named Claire and Phil Dunphy and their kids Haley, Alex, and Luke, and last is Claire and Mitchell's father Jay and his much younger wife Gloria and her son Manny.  Confused? Don't be.  After you start watching the show, their family really feels like your own family. They do embarrassing things, hang out all the time, and are always there for each other no matter what they do to each other.  

Each family has their own unique characteristics, that when brought together, leads to almost chaos.  We find Mitchell and Cameron usually getting into small fights are so minute that it never threatens their relationship. Such as is in a recent episode when Mitchell brought home a trophy that he was really proud of, but the next day Cameron got out one of his old trophies. As you can see, Mitchell got a little sensitive, but realized he was overreacting and went looking for other trophies of Cam's. He then found a multitude of first place trophies in which he was very impressed with, but to Mitchell's dismay he also found a rodent crawling around and started violently stomping on the ground near the trophies as to which Cam thought he was doing to his own trophies. A lot of the "fights" Cam and Mitchell have are mostly just misunderstandings or a few hurtful words that were taken out of proportion.

The Dunphys also have an interesting dynamic. Phil is not always the brightest, and ends up looking to Claire a lot of the time for how to parent. The two together are hilarious, embarrassing, and definetly not the average parenting couple.  One of my favorite episodes that I like to tell people about is the time when Haley was trying to write an essay for college but was complaining to Claire about how she didn't have any obstacles to overcome in her life and told Claire that she was "too sheltered."  At first Claire was starting to get worked up about it, obviously agitated that Haley was not grateful for her well lived life. But Claire suddenly stopped and told Haley to get in the car "I have to show you something." Naturally Haley was very confused, but followed her mother to her car.  The two drive out a fairly far distance into what looks like the middle of nowhere.  It is there that Claire explains to Haley that there something she never told her and that she should get out of the car and look at the tree across the street.  Haley questionably gets out of the car and walks over to the tree. Claire then drives off, yelling out the window "there's an obstacle to overcome!"

Jay and Gloria's relationship can pretty much be summed up in this clip of that was in a recent episode.

Just with it's very well written scripts, Modern Family would've done very well. But too top it off, all the actors and actresses are amazing.  They are all, except for the kids, nominated for Emmy's every year. If you think about that, that's pretty crazy.  That's six people just from one show! Plus of course the show is nominated as well because it's so hilariously funny.  The amount of crazy and embarrassing circumstances these characters get themselves into will literally keep this show airing for many many years to come.

Books & Television

When I think of the two entertainment sources that books and television are, I find myself thinking of them quite possibly as opposites.  This may just be me, but books just seem like something that is drastically different from television. And yet books are what bring about not only some of the most popular movies but popular television shows as well.  If you're thinking to yourself something along the lines of "what? what shows are based off of books?" then you have come to the right blog.  It just so happens that over the months of blogging endlessly about various of shows I have accumulated the knowledge of many popular shows that have indeed been previously written as a book.  It's crazy right? Not really. If you think about it, movies use books all the time because books provide really great characters, interesting story lines, and can create multiple sequels or in this case multiple episodes/seasons. And now what you've all been waiting for... here is the list of popular shows that have been based off a book:

Show:                                     Book:
Boardwalk Empire           Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic
                                                 City  
Bones                                    The Locator
Dexter                                  Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Game of Thrones               A Song of Ice and Fire
Gossip Girl                          Gossip Girl
M*A*S*H                            M*A*S*H
True Blood                          The Southern Vampire Mysteries
The Vampire Diaries        The Vampire Diaries

The Return of Izzie?

Hey there Grey's Anatomy fans! If you haven't heard, the beloved (or not so beloved) Izzie might be returning to Seattle Grace.  Yes, it's true. The actress Katherine Heigl has asked to come back and join the cast for the eighth season of Grey's.  For those of you who aren't familiar, Izzie was one of the main characters for a very long time on the show, and then one day randomly left the show.  Her exit was kind of strange, and I felt myself wanting to see her come back.  Maybe some of my loose end tying prayers will finally be answered.

Izzie Stevens began her role on the show in the very beginning. That's right, back in the day when Meredith, Christina, Karev, and George, all began there journeys to becoming surgeons.  Back then Izzie was dealing with her post-model status, Meredith's mother was still alive, and George acquired his infamous nickname 007. As the interns traveled along through the many drama-filled years, many moments in Grey's history come in mind when thinking about history. Like her fairly tale relationship with Denny the heart patient in which ended with tears (both her's and mine) as he dies after she risks her career to get him a new heart.  Another memorable image of Izzie is when she got cancer.  I remember her picking out wedding dresses and planning her big day to marry Karev, while dealing with harsh side effects of her chemo treatment. That was the easy I wanted to remember. The one that was hopelessly in love with Karev and fighting (and winning) her battle with cancer.  Although she survived, my favorite character George did not. The scene where the group is sitting on a tombstone, a fair distance from the funeral, is my favorite. I knew Grey's could make me cry at a funeral, but it took me aback when I found Izzie and others laughing. Not laughing at George of course, he was a best friend of them all. No, they were laughing at how many crazy things had happened. It was a strange and yet moving moment in the show, and I think it's one I will always remember.

Sadly Youtube did not provide the funeral scene, instead here's a clip of Izzie after Denny died:

So some might be against Izzie's character coming back. Maybe because she left Karev and maybe beause they never liked her. Whatever the reason, it will be up to the writers and producers of the show. They already have so much content.  They have dozens of different story lines, characters, and medical problems that all can create new dramas for the show. Yes, Izzie would spark some new interest, especially in fans of the earlier seasons, but in all I think the show will still be relatively the same.  Despite this realization, I really want Izzie to come back. Her character brings a different kind of flavor to the already flavorable cast. Ha, get it? Flavorable.. sounds like favorable... yeah. Anyway, for now we don't know what is in store for this twisty turny show, but whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be the awesome drama that Grey's Anatomy is. 

Raising the Bar: The Increased Exposure to Violence and Sexual Content

With the advancement of the entertainment industry, more specifically the television industry, comes an increased bar that must pushed in order to be successful. Whether it is increased violence, sexual content, or whaterver else, these alterations that continue to increase exposure are becoming a threat to the children of our society.  Many are concerned about the many shows on mainstream television that are exposing adolescents to mature content, arguing how easy it is to get access to this. 

In my psychology class we discussed the correlation of violent TV and agressiveness. Although it does not cause agression, the more television violence children watch a correlation portrayed the more they were aggressive.  I've discussed this before on my blog in the post TV Violence, but I didn't address what should be done about this issue, or at least what I think should be done about this issue.

In my psych class we had to write a response to the question of whether networks should restrict the amount of violent content.  In my opinion I don't think it's how much violence that is the problem, I think it's how much children are getting exposed to it.  If parents are so against having their kids watch these violent/sexual shows, then don't let them watch it! It's like saying a movie should have less mature content but still taking their kids to it.  Why would you do that?  Not everyone can look out for your own children. 

But of course there needs to be a limit. There can't be naked scenes on FOX after American Idol because kids WILL be watching that.  Parents know shows that are appropriate and will let their children watch it.  But it has to be a network wide thing (except for channels like Showtime and HBO, please don't let your kids watch that!). I think all the networks should have a meeting and put a limit on how far they can go with language, violence, and sexual content.  If there is a restriction, then they will stop pushing each other to go farther, and instead work on bettering what they are already have with actual quality and not just throwing out the next big scandalous plot.

I must also point out the fact that I've been watching violent shows every since I was in elementary school. My favorite show when I was very young was Power Rangers. Although it wasn't a super violent show, it definetlly exposed me to a lot of new things that I wouldn't of learned watching Scooby-Doo or Spongebob.  One example in particular includes an episode or movie of Power Rangers where they said something that I immediately repeated to my mom.  Of course my mom responded with "where did you learn that?" because it was something that was kind of rude and definetly our of my vocaulary beforehand.  At first I could not think of what this phrase was exactly but after some extensive google searching and looking back on my VCR tapes... no I still couldn't find it. It's going to bug me, so I'll keep searching!

Basically what I'm trying to get across is the fact that I watched violence and a bit of mature content and I turned out absolutely fine. I know many more examples of this as well. I'm not saying the correlation is wrong, just suggesting that it IS a corelation and not cause and effect. There may be lots of violence out there, but I don't think that is the reason for the violent people that live in our society today.

Is Gervais a good guy after all?

My predictions were actually prettty inacurate about how bad Gervais would be at the Golden Globes. Not bad like he would bomb, but bad with controversy.  Instead of being his normal not caring who he hurts self, he attacked a lot of people that weren't even in the room! Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and Mel Gibson to name a few.  Here's a video of his monologue:



My Weekly Wonders: Saturday Night Live

Last week I forgot to do a weekly wonder! I know you were all very heart broken.  And yes I know the only person that ever looks at this blog is my teacher to count how many posts I have written, but I don't care. I will continue to address my lack of an audience as if I have a large viewership.

Anyway, this week I would like to spend some time talking about something that is very near and dear to my heart.  I have talked about this show before, but never in such detail that I am right now.  Saturday Night Live, has and will always be a classic. There's no doubt about it.  If someone says "Oh SNL? That used to be good..." they can shut-up, because humor is a timeless medium that travel throughout generations altering its ways as it finds its audiences.  Basically what I'm trying to say is, the youth have a different sense of humor than you. So calm down. If you don't like it, don't watch it. Is this babbling bringing a little deja vu to you invisible audience? If so you are a true because it's on television.. member? addict? follower? I'm not sure. When SNL first started its season in the beginning of the year I posted a blog-post about how annoyed I was with people saying SNL isn't good anymore. I also talked about how excited I was for the season to start considering elections were coming up in a year. Here's the post, check it out!

I started watching SNL either late elementary school or early middle school. Of course at that time I understood absolutely none of the jokes, but that was okay because there was also a lot of physical humor that I found to be quite amusing.  As I progressed in school and learned more about life outside of a middle schooler brain, I began to pick up on the "adult humor." My parents were always pretty cool about me watching the show, which surprises me now as I watch some the sketches. I mean, I've watched sex scenes with my parents in movies, but I still get uncomfortable during Keenan Thompson's skit where he is an old man selling a DVD with various "sexual poses." What was even more awkward was the fact that when I was a freshman I had a foreign exchange student from Japan stay with my family for two weeks and of course we thought it would be a good idea to watch SNL. Of course she didn't get any of the verbal jokes because most of them are culture related and use specific social/political/economical jargon that no foreign person who is still trying to learn English would get. Therefore, once again, like the twelve year old me, she picked up on the physical humor.  And what comes up? The Keenan Thompson pose skit of course! Fun time with a Japanese person and your parents all watching together!

As you can see, SNL has really become a central TV show in my life. Many of my friends enjoy it as well (some of them watch only after being forced).  I quote SNL all the time with family and friends. One of my favorites? The "just-kidding lady" that appears on Weekend Update.  If you've never seen this, you're in for a horrible surprise... just kidding!

So why has Saturday Night Live lasted so long? What's the secret? It's simple actually, it's original.  A new host and music guest each week. Creative writers writing new material each week.  Plus, it's live! You get to see real performers in their raw form.  This is especially enjoyable for me because I absolutely love seeing actors in SNL crack. Cracking simply means that they start to laugh during a sketch.  There's one that I like specifically like watching because the material is so good that he comes on the Weekend Update all the time, but every time he starts laughing.  Yes, it's the beloved Stephan. Here's a clip:

This not have been the greatest explanation of why SNL is so amazing.  But I promise you, there may be some iffy skits, but many of them are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny.  I don't laugh easily, but a Saturday night on NBC will always have me smiling and giggling endlessly.

The Speeches

Talking about the Golden Globes got me thinking about acceptance speeches. Here are some good ones!

And the Golden Globe goes to...

I'm not as excited as I thought I would be for the Golden Globes this year. If you're unsure (I get confused as well) the Golden Globe awards give out tropheys to both outstanding television and film.  It would seem like a long show right? Well it is, but they cut out a lot so it actually could be a lot longer, but we'll get to back to that in a minute.  The Emmy's are just television, and the Oscars are strictly film. Then of course there are others such as the People Choice Awards coming up and all the random music awards that I don't pay attention to.

Anyway, this year Ricky Gervais is once again hosting. This surprises me so much, but actually not at all. Last year he "offended" a lot of people going his comedy routine.  It was both awkward and enjoyable at the same time.  Many people got mad at this for some reason. I mean yes it's kind of rude to make fun of you in front of millions of people, but common! They're celebrities! It's not like they've faced a hard life or something. Their job is to be put in front of millions. Being made fun of at an award show is just one of few hazards of being an actor/whatever else they might do.  So people got mad at Gervais. Was that not expected? We all know he's not afraid to let it all out. People got offended, and yet he's back again. Why? Because he's good TV. People tune in just to see him make fun of the top stars of Hollywood, and that's why Gervais keeps getting hired.  He makes them mad right after, but over time they just want him more and more.

Because this is a television blog, and I know very little about film, I will focus on the nominations for TV.  I'll start with drama because that's easy. I honestly have not watched any of the shows that are nominated. This is sad I know but these are shows have started not too long ago! American Horror Story, Boardwalk Empire, Boss, Game of Thrones, Homeland... these all started either this year or the year before. Plus they are all on channels that are less accessible (HBO, FX, Showtime, STARZ). The actors/actresses that are nominated are the same story.  I haven't seen any of these shows!

It kind of stinks how award shows choose shows that are more recent, but it's understandable. Most shows put out the best of their content early on to hook in viewership.  As seasons accumulate, the content dwindles as they run of plot material.  But what really surprises me is that the actors and actresses that work on these amazing shows also stop getting nominated (Hugh Laurie, Michael C. Hall, etc.) Is this because the shows get worse so the actors have less to work with? Or do the actors get worse with it? Or maybe they are just not being paid attention to? I'm clueless as to the reason, but you can see why I'm upset that the shows that I know and love don't get any recognition anymore.

With comedy you can find exceptions to this "television degradation" (yes, I did just make that up). This year Glee and Modern Family are nominated once again.  Modern Family I get, but Glee? I know the category is "comedy/musical" but really? Not 30 Rock or Parks and Recreation or any other comedy out there that is putting out really great stuff? I love Glee don't get me wrong, but I really don't see it being that great.  It was! It was great. But one of those shows that I really do believe degraded... As for the actor/actress nominations, I feel a lot better. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Alec Baldwin, and Johnny Galecki, these shows have been around for awhile!

Whether you've seen ever show I listed, or never even heard of it, the Golden Globes are a treat. You get to see al your favorite people from the big screen to little come out all dressed up and ready to get.  Gervais will be an interesting host no doubt, and I'm sure there will be plenty of good times as the speeches roll through the comedy section.  So go check it out! It will be airing next Sunday at 7 on NBC.

For the complete list of nominations check out the Golden Globes website.

Hiatus Depression

During my holiday break, I was able to watch a lot of old shows that I don't normally watch.  This is mostly due to the fact of excess time, but also from the depressing hiatus the swept throughout every network. Every year, around Christmas, shows go on multiple-week long breaks, many of them to celebrate the holidays if they are shot live or relatively recent.

But the shows that make episodes many months beforehand are much different. They don't necessarily need the break. There are a few reasons why I could see the break would be necessary. One is that they just follow the pack.  Many shows take breaks as sort of a tradition, a custom that all networks do to celebrate the winter holidays. There is also the idea that not many viewers aren't going to have time to watch these new episodes.  During the holidays, famillies are spending time with each other, going on vacations, not watch television.  Networks have realized and taken advantage of this by playing reruns instead. This is annual break deems necessary for networks to get the amount of viewership they so desire.

Lastly, some (and only a few) shows are already finished with their seasons! These shows aren't going on hiatus for the break, they're done for the year! They don't begin again until beginning of the fall again. This seems kind of crazy to me. That  a show could end so soon in the year. But Dexter, for example, is finished with it's season. There are a couple things that cross my mind when I think of this situation. One, how the heck do they get it done so fast? I'm thinking they start shooting earlier than other shows. Two, they only have twelve shows in a season. Twelve!? Most shows have like twenty-two to twenty-four! Who gave them the right to cheap out on the number of shows? And lastly, this is way worse than waiting for a short holiday break. I have to wait until freaking August to see what happens. And of course it's Dexter so it's end with the biggest cliff hanger in television! (I won't give it away if you haven't seen it.)

I'm not sure where my point is in this blog. Maybe that fact that I hate hiatus's (hiati? that looks like Haiti...)? Or that I hate cliff hangers in television? But I love cliff hangers. No, I love figuring out what happens after cliff hangers. Anyone ever what the lion library show (Between the Lions) with the cliff hanger guy?

There will always be a hiatus, break, whatever you want to call it for a television show.  It's a must, whether we like it or not. Does it have to me for such prolonged periods? That's debatable. But We must remember, the cast and crew do need a break once and awhile. Don't you wish television revolved around your obsessive needs?

I Love Iowa

Well the Iowa caucuses are tomorrow, and what better way to celebrate being an Iowan than to be bombarded with political campaigns when you can't vote and even if you could, wouldn't for any of the candidates... And to put the cherry on top some guy who lives (lived?) in Iowa  wrote a nasty paper on why pretty much everyone living here are stupid hicks who live on farms. I'm not even going to bother posting the article, one because I really don't like it, and two because I can't find it. Either way I just would like to say how much I love Iowa. It's been my home all my life. I recently found a video online that made my heart flutter with excitement. It shows that there are other people out there that love this small corn state as much as I do.  Thank-you to whoever made this. It may not be television, but it deserves to go on this blog. Enjoy!

Oh and because this is a school blog, here's the clean-ish version:

My Weekly Wonders: Law and Order SVU

As I've makes been soaking in the pleasure and relaxation that makes up winter break, I've also been enjoying watching lots of TV that I wouldn't normally watch during the school year. Not because I don't love these guilty-pleasure shows, but they aren't part of my "necessary list of TV shows." That sounds incredibly nerdy and sad, but it's true. With a busy schedule of school and extra curriculars, my life is waaay to hectic to be able to watch every show I want to watch.  So this week, after the holiday celebrations, I sat down to work on my new puzzle and watch one of the most beloved shows of my family; Law and Order SVU.

Though it's true that it's not specifically the Special Victims Unit that my family has always loved, this show is the current favorite as we cozy up next to a fire. But Law and Order in general has dated back for over a decade as a family pick. Yes, I'm talking back when Criminal Intent and plain old Law and Order were still on air and reruns with Lenny (if you were a real fan you'd know who I'm talking about) were playing constantly on TNT. Just as I did this week, my mom, sister, and I used to get out the fold-up card table with marshmallow tong burns and put together complex puzzles of puppies and random barns.  My sister was pretty addicted to various crime shows, and Law and Order, with it's plot twists and crime/court-room action, was just one of the many that she loved. Her obsession became ours as we watched episode after episode of these amazing shows.

My history with Law and Order has been a long one. I mean, I can literally recite every introduction that comes before each show. You know the one with the deep voice that comes before the dun-dun? Don't believe me? In the criminal justice system... just kidding. But I do know them all. But why has Law and Order SVU become my favorite? My family's favorite? How can it be basically the same show but still be different from the others? Well, first off I'd like to admit that I feel kind of creepy to announce that this one is my favorite.  Why you ask? It's called Special Victims Unit. Those "special victims" include either victims of sexual trauma or children. Or both. To an outsider that sounds really creepy, as if I enjoy to see that kind of thing. But it's not what is happening to the people that makes it enjoyable. It's the story-lines that follow. The cases are really interesting, and they always ALWAYS have a twist to them. Almost to the point that you can start predicting it. When my mom and I were watching an episode the other night and started shouting out what we thought was going to happen next. "She's gonna shoot him!" or "It was the dad!" or often right before the jury speaks, "Guilty!!" It's so fun, even if you're totally wrong.

Yes I know you're totally jealous but it's true I really do have this memorized...

What makes SVU different from the rest is not just because they deal with different crimes.  It's mostly due to the fact that they deal with different drama. Drama that I think is most appealing to audiences and a reason for why it has become the most popular. After a week of watching SVU and being made fun of for it from my dad, I found him sitting in the family room watching Law and Order Criminal Intent. After poking fun at him, I questioned why he liked this one better than the other.  We finally come to the agreement that SVU is a lot more drama and excitement based, whereas CI is a lot different. Its fans get their fix from the complex mysteries that unravel before their eyes. My dad wasn't so keen on the whole tear-filled, back-story of the detectives, drama that is SVU. But that's exactly why I love it. I love connecting with the characters in a way that is much more than just seeing them solve crimes.

Sadly my holiday has come to an end, and therefore my guilty-pleasure television must also. But hopefully Law and Order SVU and all the other ones out there, will continue to play for a long time. Their crazy plot lines will literally leave you breathless and always coming back for more.