Top 5: Shows I Enjoy Watching Collectively

I've been having a really rough week.  The kind where you want to cry all the time and you don't know why.  Everything that everyone says makes you hurt but not because they're mean or rude, just because, well, because.  In that frame of mind I feel this ridiculous need to justify myself, to explain not only why I am NOT ashamed of the amount of TV I watch, but also why I love to write about it.

TV can connect you to other people.  It's more than if you have show in common you have an easy conversation topic with another person (You watch Fringe? I watch Fringe! So that thing with Peter, what's that all about?), even though that is amazing for socially awkward people like me, and I have friends with whom I can have lengthy conversations entirely about TV.  (Every time KP and I hang out in a group our friend roll their eyes when we start talking TV, knowing if they don't intervene we won't stop.)  It's more than that.  Recommending a show to a friend lets them get to know you better; you trust them a bit more by granting them access to your opinions and thoughts, when you agree it becomes a bond, when you disagree it become fodder for debate and seeing things in a new light.  When you watch a show with someone you create the memory of that act, and when you watch that show later it makes you think of that person.  I adore the texts I get from friends that say "I was watching such-and-such today and it made me think of you."

So in the spirit of TV as act of community, these are shows that I prefer to watch with other people.  I will watch these shows by myself, but if I have the chance to share them with someone else I will, because it makes already enjoyable shows so much more enjoyable.

Burn Notice
For Sis and LilBro this is like OUR show.  I'm not sure how, I'm not sure why, but somehow it became our go-to show to watch when we're all in the same place, usually only a few days at Christmas now that we're all adults and such.  And without them I just don't enjoy the show as much.  I still like it, just not as much.  Sam seems funnier when my brother is there to laugh with me.  Michael's schemes seem more outlandish and fun with my sister cheering along too.  At this point it almost feels like a betrayal to watch Burn Notice on my own, like I'm cheating myself and my siblings out of the lazy hours, bottles of wine, and random bullshitting conversations entailed in watching.

Battlestar Galactica
I will watch this show anytime, anywhere, with anyone or with no one.  While I do not love it any less when flying solo, watching BSG with other people is one of the supreme joys in my life.  I can tell when, where, and with whom I watched every episode of this show, and all of that information informs my relationship with Battlestar Galactica.  The mini-series was an adventure in Christopher and Calah's apartment, our second semester of grad school,  their infant daughter alternatively laughing hysterically or crying depending on how much attention we were paying to the show.  The first time I saw "Unfinished Business" I only caught half the dialogue because Jennie, Jason and I were occupying a table at the Knight's of Columbus in Dallas where Tom was tending bar and it was a raucous night.  (Of course, the immensity of that episode wasn't lost on us, we understood even without the sound.)  The revelation of the final five Cylons has less impact on me than I think it should have because I was watching by myself on Mal in the middle of the night, in my room in the apartment shared with the roommate who frightened me.  The finale was extra sad because it was the end of "BSG Viewing Party at the Russells'."  Watching BSG together made a little fleet out of me and my loved ones, no matter how far flung we get.

The Office
Awkward humor is so hard for me to take, even though I love many shows that revolve around awkward people doing awkward things that make me feel awkward.  Therefore, I'm more likely to turn off an awkward-humor show if I watch by myself.  (At least the first time I see an episode.  Re-watch isn't as bad, but that necessitates getting through it the first time.)  The Office is the best example of that personal phenomenon.  If it's just me I get about 2 minutes in and bury my head in my arms and then can't watch anymore.  If I'm watching with a group I bury my head in my arms, but the solidarity with others keeps me going, and I'm better off for it.   This is a show where without other people it wouldn't have happened and I'd hate if I'd have missed the many wonderful seasons (and don't forget that this show was really wonderful for a long time) of the Dunder-Mifflin bunch because I get going when the going gets uncomfortable.

Doctor Who
A major theme in Doctor Who is the fundamental need for communion.  The Doctor always has a companion, things go to complete fuckery when he doesn't.  So it makes sense to me that traveling with the Time Lord is just more fun when my blue box (aka my blue couch) is occupied by more than me.  Especially since I spend so much time while watching Doctor Who going "wait, what the bleepedy-bleep just happened?!?"  It makes me feel less like a crazy person when there is someone to hear those exclamations.
Also, Doctor Who has the tendency to float you along on jaunty adventures and quippy dialogue only to sucker punch you with devastation and tragedy (Davies, I still don't forgive you for Donna); the comfort of a watching companion or two gentles the experience because there is a hand to grab when something exciting is happening but also someone to pass the box of tissues when your heart (inevitably) breaks.  Plus, accent decoding is much easier with multiple ears.

The O.C.
This show is so ridiculous and awesome and awesomely ridiculous that it demands to be watched with others.  The Cohen-Atwood-Cooper-Roberts blended family is always a joy to watch, but it gets so much better with a friend to simultaneously roll their eyes at Marissa's dumb-ass-ery or get a little equally verklempt at those perfect Ryan and Seth moments.  I have happily spent many an afternoon cleaning and organizing to the background of soapy sunshine and emo antics, but the full glory of The O.C. (the touching family moments, the funny declarations of love, the sad sad car accidents) really comes into being when observed in conjunction with good friends.  And by good friends I mean people who have an equal lack of shame and love of upper-middle-class drama.  Or just people who drink as much as you do.

The TV Girl

The Office (7): Does Anyone Else Think David Wallace Must Be an Idiot?

I know that such questions are not on the mind of others, since Michael’s trip to corporate was barely a subplot of “The Duel,” but I revel in useless questions, and it seems to me that someone has to ask. How is the man who both promoted Ryan and wants management tips from Michael, is the CFO of a company? I may never know. Or I could just chock it up to the standard joke about corporate America that no matter how dumb you are you can rise to the top.

This is all incidental, because ANDY TRIED TO RUN DWIGHT OVER WITH HIS CAR AT 5 MPH! I can’t believe that I live in a world where I really do feel bad for Andy and how he has been so badly treated by Angela. Andy, guy who went fishing for Jim, has my full support in trying to break Dwight’s legs. I’m with Oscar: he needs the win.

But since they both decide to move on from Angela, I guess they both win. And Kevin got to win by making fun of her. Granted, she is probably going to make everyone even more miserable now that she will have neither frequent sex nor someone to boss around, but in a way it is like the celebration in Munchkin-land for all of Dunder Mifflin. For now, the wicked witch is dead.

Jim was so adorable as he tried to keep the peace; not convincing Michael to keep his mouth shut, collecting all Dwight’s weapons stashed around the office, running out to make sure Dwight was okay. And Pam was out of the way. I am a big fan of her keeping her mouth shut until she decides not to be a shrew.

The TV Girl

The Office (9): I Forgive, I Forgive!

I forgive last season!

In my humble opinion there were many problems with last season, but the biggest one was Jim and Pam. So many things about the treatment and presentation of their relationship felt strained and odd. (I actually got in a debate with two friends last night about Jim telling the camera that he bought an engagement ring a week into dating Pam; I found this incredibly off-putting, but I am apparently the only one.) But the real Jim (self deprecating but self aware social commentator) and Pam (slightly awkward but in an endearing way) have returned to take back the show from those smug twats that were impersonating them. Jim’s proposal was sincere and meaningful and totally warmed my heart.

Ryan is back at the bottom of the totem pole where he belongs. The idea of Ryan as Michael’s boss might have been doomed from the beginning; no execution would quite live up to the concept. But what better punishment for fraud than having to return to that company as a temp. Embittered, revenge-list-writing Ryan cracked me up.

The Dwight-Angela-Andy situation is possibly beyond my powers of analysis. What is one to say? Dwight gave a what-up to the camera while leaving the storage closet he and Angela just had sex in, that participation of his singing group in the wedding is the deal-breaker for Andy, and Angela verbally abused Kevin. What does one say?

Will Holly be sticking around? She should, because her dorkiness is supremely preferable to Jan’s, um, tenacity.

Plus, Phyllis stole the Party Planning Committee from Angela, Stanley was a Black Panther, and Toby is in a Costa Rican hospital with a broken neck! Brilliant.

Even the structure of the plot complimented the extended time, so it didn’t seem too thin, the way the long episodes last season did. Congratulations The Office; you have regrouped, rallied, and returned from the brink of disaster.

The TV Girl

The Office (6): My Prayers Were Not Answered.

Well, kind of.

I will admit that I am kind of a hoarder: some times I save up episodes of shows I enjoy so that I can watch them when I am having a really rotten day or need a pick-me-up. That is what I did with the last three episodes of this season of The Office, and even though everyone else saw the finale a week ago, my strategy is totally worth it for me. Today was the right day for some time in Scranton.

Since, no matter what is going on in my life at least I am not facing federal prosecution on charges of fraud. Oh how the lowly have fallen. Despite Ryan’s utter failure as an authority figure, and his newfound drug problem, I didn’t think that he would go so far as to hoodwink investors, but now that I think about it, it does make a lot of sense. Of course he lashed out at Jim for complaining about the web site because that would draw attention to what he was doing. Funny how we think people are just being tard-holes, but really they are engaging in criminal activity. Note to self; observe co-workers more closely.

Not that I want the kind of close observation that Phyllis got. Who knew all it would take for Dwight and Angela to get back together was her accepting a marriage proposal from another man. If Andy was slightly less ridiculous (even though he wouldn’t be nearly as funny) I would kind of feel sorry for him. He thinks that Angela is just completely cold, not that she is cold and still emotionally invested in another guy. She is apparently a bit confused about some of the Christian virtues, for instance fidelity, or honesty. Granted she cheated on a guy who has been carrying an engagement ring in his pocket for six years with a guy that owns a beet farm. Really, in this situation what would Jesus do?

Jim’s engagement ring for Pam stayed in his pocket and now Pam is disappointed. It sucks that Andy co-opted all of Jim’s planning, but it is kind of karmic, since Jim was planning to co-opt Toby’s going away party. Jim’s speech to Michael about how you should get to know someone before you tell him/her that you love him/her showed that Jim has to propose to Pam in the office; it has been the setting of their entire relationship (hopefully not in an Angela/Dwight way). But shouldn’t he propose on the roof of the building where they had their first “date” of grilled cheese? The big gestures don’t really work for Jim, like how he told her he loved her and kissed her, and she still remained engaged to Roy, so he should leave the extravagant public displays to the Andy’s of the world, make her a sandwich and ask her to marry him.

But will Michael ask Jan to marry him now that she is pregnant with some a random dude’s baby? This is what I am saying about my prayers being ignored: pregnant Jan is the Godzilla to Michael’s Tokyo and I simply do not think another human being should be subjected to what will happen to him if he tries to be all baby-daddy. (Minor problem: IVF is expensive, time-consuming, and usually requires someone to give you shots, so how did Michael not notice what she was up to? And if she got pregnant while they were still together why was she getting all drunkedy-drunk at the dinner party they threw?)

Jan’s pregnancy makes me wonder if Holly will be a character next season, or if it was only a guest spot for Amy Ryan. She was great by the way. She managed to treat Kevin “delicately” without making it look offensive or cartoonish. If she stays, I am starting a pool to decide how long it take Kevin to figure out that she thinks he is mentally handicapped.

The TV Girl

The Office (8.5): How Old Was That Catalogue?

I expressed a fear yesterday that I know many other fans of The Office shared with me: would our beloved show ever be as good as it was in Season Two? (Season Two is what I meant when I used the word “again.”) Last night, for one episode, my fears were assuaged. That was an awesome episode. It had all of the elements that were missing from the last episode: the majority of the episode took place inside the office, there was at least on work-related plot line, the incidental characters got to have their say, Pam and Jim seemed like themselves and not strange relationship robots. Again, awesome!

I know that we will never know and we are probably better off not knowing, but I have to ask: what does Creed need three office chairs for?

I am so jealous of Andy and Kevin. Am I the only one who would love to reinterpret/reenact a scene from The Godfather? I wish I could call a meeting of the Five Families to address minor inconveniences to my day. I loved their righteous indignation over the parking situation, and the enthusiasm with which they attacked the problem. And major points to Mr. Andrew Bernard for matching his socks and his tie.

Disagree with me all you want, but Michael Scott is a better character as a jerk. The guy is a total ass-hat and it is fantastic. He requires his employees to set him up on dates with their friends. He tells a woman he thinks is ugly that all he wants is a companionable relationship, and he tells a woman he thinks is hot that he should be having a torrid affair. He visits the grave of a total stranger and sings. He is preposterously self-involved, and while the small moments of vulnerability make him bearable, attempts to make him sympathetic or relatable do not do the show any favors.

And Dwight's old-world understanding of male/female interaction can only be described in one word: brilliant.

I suppose I should talk about the big news from last night’s episode. Well, if I must. Jim is going to propose to Pam! And he is going to fake her out about it to torture her and us! That is the prank-pulling guy Pam (and we) fell for. Though the rational part of my brain wonders about the wisdom of buying a ring after dating for a week, or the wisdom of getting engaged so soon after ending an engagement, I am unable to hear that rational part of my brain over the excited giddy part of my brain. I think Jim and Pam’s marriage would be a good place to end the series.

The TV Girl

The Office (7): Please No Jan Babies!

I have been under whelmed by Season Four of The Office. The hour-long episodes are tiresome; the plots are exposed as thin when prolonged past half an hour. While I am one of the five Karen fans out there, I am glad the Jim/Pam storyline has moved forward. But I feel like they are no longer characters; as if now that they are in a relationship neither of them have any personality or aspirations. All of Pam’s desires for a more fulfilling career really stemmed from her unhappy engagement to Roy? Jim will be perfectly content to work at a desk next to Dwight as long as he goes home to Pam? In real life when people begin a new relationship they have a tendency to insulate themselves, not wanting to share their happiness with friends, keeping all of themselves for each other. Real life is one thing, but when this is the prospective of fictional characters towards an audience then the show suffers.

Furthermore, I wish the episodes would be more confined to the office. Last night’s episode demonstrated how necessary the supporting characters are to the overall effectiveness of the show. This episode basically concentrated on the principle characters (Michael, Dwight, Jim, and Pam), with only a few subordinate characters (Jan, Angela, and Andy). The whole episode seemed to be a showcase of Jan’s lunacy, but no amount of Jan can replace the brilliance of Creed’s disturbing stories, Kevin’s giggle, or Stanley’s utter disinterest.

Despite the problems I see with this season of The Office, I am still really excited to tune into the new episodes. There is still nothing quite like The Office on TV. And there is no character as self-deluded as Michael. How could he have told Jan that he and Pam dated? How could Jan have believed that? It is like Jan has been brainwashed because she knows from personal experience that Michael exaggerates everything. Could it be that she is using her candle business to hide another habit? It was kind of sweet that she tried to fix the Dundie she broke, but considering that the cops tried to take Michael into protective custody, the end looks to be near for Jan and Michael. I can only hope that arrives before any bundle of joy. But after three operations Michael’s, um, potential may be too severely diminished for any little Michaels.

And one last question: was Jim really going to leave Pam at that dinner party by herself?

The TV Girl