2013 in TV

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TV

2013 in TV

2013 will always be the year of the TV show graveyard for me. Is it strange that I’m proud of the amount of TV I dropped in the last year? It felt ridiculously good to let go of so much.

I said farewell to Revenge, True Blood and The New Girl. Started and stopped the UK version of The Bridge – The Tunnel. Gave The Crazy Ones a decent shot, but that got old real quick. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D was just woefully bad and boring and poor. The Blacklist went a little bit too Alias on me a little too quickly.

We said goodbye to Dexter. Well, with a few Deb like expletives attached. What an AWFUL way to end, what was, an excellent TV series.

The Borgias was cruelly cancelled to. Left without an ending fans were craving. Still, an excellent three season TV show.

In amongst the poor showing in TV for 2013, we did get some brilliant new showsHannibal and Masters of Sex. Can not wait for the return of both of these shows. Though, it’ll be a long wait for Masters of Sex. Hannibal returns next month and looking forward to more of the ridiculously dark and creepy stuff from that show. Honestly amazed that it’s a network TV show.

Breaking BadAlso said goodbye to Breaking Bad. But that show knew how to go out. And it went out beautifully. Sure some say it felt a bit rushed. But the ending was everything I had hoped it would be. And one day, I can’t wait to watch it all over from the beginning.

In 2013 I finally finished watching The Wire! Can’t remember in which year I started watching it. Whenever Sky decided to start airing it from the beginning. So it’s been a couple of years at least. And now I understand all the The Wire references in pop culture.

The first and second seasons of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown came and went this past year and they were both glorious bits of TV. Pretty much CNN throwing money at Bourdain telling him he can do whatever the fuck he wants, and he did. Amazingly.

Was introduced to Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and consumed the first two seasons in a matter of, probably, just the one day. And now the third season’s kicked off – this is a show I can’t be missing.

The AmericansThe Americans was one of my favourite new shows of the last season. The eighties setting, seemingly perfect soundtrack and seeing the whole Cold War thing from the other side – brilliant show. Season 2’s starting at the end of February, so if you haven’t already watched the first season, you’ve got a little bit of time to catch up!

2013 gave us the magical return of Arrested Development. While it got massively mixed reviews, personally, I really enjoyed it. Yet to give it another watch, but that time will come. It was smart, funny and perhaps a little darker than the previous seasons.

Very late on in the year, Almost Human started. With the handful of episodes I’ve seen, I am impressed. Like I’ve said before, it’s not hugely smart or original, BUT the lead characters are engaging and charming and it’s easy to watch. Let’s see if the quality can be maintained in 2014.

I do have one major TV regret for 2013 – not watching House of Cards. It simply passed me by and I kept ‘forgetting’ to start watching. In the next month the second season is going to start. Wonder if I can get the first season seen in that amount of time?

There’s a lot to look forward to this year – the return of Justified among the top for me. Though, I wonder, by year’s end, how much I’ll still be watching.

22 Comments

  1. Enjoyed the Ricky Gervais installment of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, any other must-see episodes?

    The Wire, I may try and watch season 2, I was mightily impressed by season 1(despite the profanity, which in other cases was make or break for me)

    • Sarah Silverman’s was good. Oh and Chris Rock, Don Rickles, Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks, Michael Richards, Alec Baldwin and Larry David. A lot of good episodes. Michael Richards in particular.

  2. I’ve also been dropping shows left and right lately. Some are ending, while others just aren’t that exciting. We’ve just started watching Orange is the New Black, and it’s been refreshing to see something different. It combines drama and comedy and a really fun way.

    Can’t wait for Justified! Tonight!

    • I saw an episode in Bahrain. It made me LOL. Though in the beginning, I was dubious. Just started on Archer too.

      • I don’t really like Archer because it’s too shouty – it’s not a relaxing show for me! Mark enjoys it though.

        But Bob’s Burgers, oh my life it’s hilarious. We’re almost at the end of series 2 and it just hasn’t stopped being funny.

  3. Just finally finished Dexter last night. Can’t believe how unbelievably odd the ending was. And not in a good way. They really dropped the ball there. Such a shame. At least BB went out on such a spectacular high!

  4. I think once you start House of Cards you won’t be able to stop. The first season is brilliant, though it falls off a little bit in the last couple episodes. Still looking forward to season two though!

    • I do just want to power through all of them in one fell swoop. When I get a few hours to spare 😀 Hopefully before season 2 kicks in. Doubtful, but maybe.

  5. You shouldn’t feel bad for giving up all those shows, great that you don’t. Those shows were a waste of time and there are much better things to watch. 2014 looks pretty great, on paper at least, with True Detective starting and with all those potentially great TV shows from HBO, AMC and FX that are to come. Hopefully they won’t disappoint because they sound very promising.

    By the way, have you watched Orange Is The New Black? I also need to watch House of Cards but my biggest regret is that I didn’t start Breaking Bad. Haven’t seen it yet. It’s shameful.

    Glad to see Almost Human still delivers. I watched the pilot and thought it was ok but haven’t watched the next one yet. And I am looking forward to Hannibal and The Americans. Suddenly there aren’t 10 months to wait for another season anymore. Keep up the great work.

    • Very excited about True Detective. Very, very excited about it.

      Orange is the New Black is on my to-watch list.

      Yeah, Almost Human isn’t anything to shout about, but it’s that inoffensive sort of entertaining show.

      Hannibal should be very exciting. And Americans. Only a few weeks for one of those 😀

  6. A nice look back. You should check out House of Cards, it was very good. If you like twisty/turning political type stuff, like The Wire, you’ll probably like this show, too. And just like you, I can’t wait to watch the new season of Justified. I tend to marathon it, so I’ve got a couple of months to wait before I can do that.

    • Can imagine Justified makes a good marathon-y show. Haven’t checked out the first episode of season 5 yet, but will do shortly.

  7. I think my favourite TV from 2013 was Motorway Cops! Glad the new series has just started!

    I’ve just started watching The Americans so we’ll see how that goes. I’m way behind on Breaking Bad…I’ve only just started series 2.

    Thanks for the recommendations Jaina…it appears I’ve got a lot to catch up on.

    • The Wire is a near flawless piece of TV. The ending is pretty close to perfection too. Same with Breaking Bad. Very excited to hear what you think about both.

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