Purchase Diary 2015 – September to December

Butter (2011)


Sep 19th – €3.99 @ Media Markt

Collection no. 1218

Auf Achse: The Complete Series (1980 – 1996)
(Auf Achse: Die komplette Serie)


Sep 19th – €29.99 @ Media Markt

Collection no. 13014 – 13025

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)


Sep 19th – €12.90 @ Media Markt

Collection no. 1219

Two Night Stand (2014)


Sep 19th – €9.99 @ Media Markt

Collection no. 1220

Dumb and Dumber To (2014)


Sep 24th – €9.99 @ Drogerie Müller

Collection no. 1221

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Purchase Diary 2014 – January / February

The Big Bang Theory: Season 6 (2012 – 2013)


Jan 4th – €1.66 ($7.99) @ Amazon.com (paid partially via gift certificate)

Collection no. 12605 – 12607

How I Met Your Mother: Season 8 (2012 – 2013)


Jan 4th – €1.93 ($9.96) @ Amazon.com (paid partially via gift certificate)

Collection no. 12608 – 12610

Justified: Season 3 (2012)


Jan 4th – €1.94 ($9.99) @ Amazon.com (paid partially via gift certificate)

Collection no. 12611 – 12613

Night Court: Season 2 (1984 – 1985)


Jan 7th – €0.00 ($11.99) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

Collection no. 12614 – 12616

Night Court: Season 3 (1985 – 1986)


Jan 7th – €0.00 ($11.49) @ Amazon.com (paid via gift certificate)

Collection no. 12617 – 12619

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TV Junkie: A History

I watched a lot of TV shows over the years. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. And I watched accross the board.

Keep in mind that I’m only 35 years old.

I watched The Guiding Light for two years straight (it’s a soap opera whose German title was the Springfield Story). I watched medical shows like Trapper John M.D. and lawyer shows like L.A. Law. I watched the 80s action shows from MacGuyver to Riptide. I even watched Love Boat every weekday on one of the first private channels in Germany: Sat.1. I got up at 6am on every Saturday morning to watch Rawhide (Tausend Meilen Staub, lit. “A Thousand Miles of Dust”) with a very young and pre-Fistful Clint Eastwood. I knew who Daniel Boone was around the same time I met the Cartwrights as well as the men from the Shiloh Ranch.

And last weekend I binge-watched the first Netflix show House of Cards (Big recommendation! Kevin Spacey is a brilliant Magnificent Bastard!) and I got curious as to how many shows I watched intently over the past two and a half decades.

With the help of the list on the German site Wunschliste.de I created a list of “my” shows.

I only counted live-action fiction shows, no animated shows may they be Saturday morning cartoons like Yogi Bear or Scooby-Doo or evening shows like The Simpsons or South Park. No scripted reality (which I’m avoiding to 99% anyway with the exception of Comic Book Men). In this list are only shows which I followed for more than a year unless the show itself didn’t last that long.

And the answer was: 244 246 247. Two hundred and fourty four six seven different shows I watched with active interest since I’ve started watching television. And the worst thing is: Of most of these shows I watched 90% or more episodes at least once.

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Purchase Diary 2012 – January

(500) Days of Summer (2009)


04 Jan – €3.33 (£1.99) @ Amazon.co.uk

Justified: Season 2 (2011)


04 Jan – €19.07 (£14.86) @ Amazon.co.uk

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)


04 Jan – €4.45 (£2.77) @ Amazon.co.uk

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)


04 Jan – €4.68 (£2.96) @ Amazon.co.uk

American Pie 1 – 7 (1999 – 2009)


16 Jan – €24.47 (£17.84) @ Amazon.co.uk

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 13-22

Deutsche Version | CW 20-21

The Good Wife 1×23 Running
Whoah. This episode just added so many new shades of grey that we have a full 256 colour palette – without any colour in it.
This ending proved what a great year this has been. I knew exactly when the cliff-hanger was coming without even looking at the clock and I enjoyed it. It gives me something to wait for. I usually don’t like cliff-hangers because normally they just interrupt an action sequence on its climax and you know how it’s going to end anyway (maybe not the specifics but in general). But this was different.

This is certainly a show that will find its way onto my shelves.

Let me add something to that last statement: I don’t know if I’m ever going watch this first season again. Not because I didn’t like it (obviously) but I am watching a lot of things and my time is limited. And I buy faster than I can actually watch.
But I have a principle: Since I am not American, I cannot watch all that stuff I am watching totally legal (or I would have to wait a few years and then watch it dubbed on German TV). So when I really like a show, I still want to make a “contribution”, to make sure the producers get something back for giving me more than 16 hours of entertainment. Thus I buy it on DVD even though I know I might not have the time to watch it ever again.

Justified 1×11 / 1×12 Veterans / Fathers and Sons
Some families. Boyd & Bo, Raylan and Arlo. I find it fascinating how the show appears to be black’n’white and absolutely grey at the same time. For now I’m just wondering what Boyd’s true endgame is (excuse me for being a not-yet-believer that he’s truly changed his ways).

Burn Notice 4×01 Friends and Enemies
So, he’s back in the spy game and he’s not. It could be interesting, depending on how they manage to portray his on-duty activities (if they ship him out, he can’t have a civilian case in the same episode and that everything happens in Miami would be not very convincing).
But I’m glad he’s back.

The Vampire Diaries 1×16 / 1×17 / 1×18 / 1×19 / 1×20 / 1×21 / 1×22 There Goes the Neighborhood / Let the Right One In / Under Control / Miss Mystic Falls / Blood Brothers / Isobel / Founder’s Day
It’s not that this isn’t a good show. It has an interesting concept, interesting characters and a good dynamic between them.
It’s just never that high on my priority list. There are those shows that I need to see immediately (like Chuck and The Big Bang Theory) and those that I dropped altogether (like FlashForward and Stargate Universe). This show is somewhere in the middle sector. I watched it ’til the end because I wanted to know how the season ended but if I don’t turn in next season I wouldn’t feel like I missed out on something.

Party Down 2×06 “Not on Your Wife” Opening Night
Another one of these WTF episodes this show is so fond of. Loved it.

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Those that came …

Deutsche Version | Those that came … those that wentthose that did bothand those that did neither nor

Community

A cool sitcom (without laugh track) about a bunch of students in a Community College.
As with most shows, it needs a few episodes to settle in, but I really liked it from the start. The dynamics within the group is so great because they have such heterogeneous backgrounds. If it weren’t for that college, these people probably would have never met. That’s were a lot of the fun comes from.

Cougar Town

A sitcom (again without laugh track) about a divorced mum, her teenage son, her ex-husband, her neighbour friends and her assistant/friend.
The show started out as exactly what it says on the tin but moved quickly away from it. Which was a good idea. They are probably going to rename it next year. All the characters are very quirky with Jules being the queen.

Glee

The Glee Club at a high school.
I’ve watched the first two episodes but it just wasn’t my terrain. It seems to be a big hit in the U.S. but I simply can’t see the appeal.

The Good Wife

Alicia Florrick is the wife of a former D.A. who has been charged with crimes regarding the misuse of the powers of his office. Now Alicia has to work again and she starts as a junior associate at a law firm of an old friend.
I really enjoyed this year, it was a good drama show with a lot of interesting characters. And it’s never clear-cut, not black/white. Just like reality.

Human Target

Christopher Chance (not his real name) works for people who need a bodyguard of the special kind.
This is a popcorn show. You watch it, you enjoy it and you don’t think about it. If you watch it, you’ll enjoy it most of the time. If you don’t watch it, you haven’t missed anything.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 19-20

Deutsche Version | CW 13-19 | CW 20 (LOST Finale)

The Big Bang Theory 3×22 The Staircase Implementation
It was a nice “origin story” that I enjoyed (The hair! The suits! The North-Korean spy-girl!).
But I like Babylon 5!

Chuck 3×17 Chuck vs the Living Dead
Even though Shaw might be back I enjoy this season 3.5 much more than season 3.0. I love how Ellie is getting drawn into the spy game and how his father figured out he still was the Intersect. My favourite scene was when Sarah “intercepted” the knife and Orion was wondering whether she also had an Intersect. 😉

Gossip Girl 3×22 Last Tango, Then Paris
It wasn’t bad but a few things bothered me. For example Dan following Serena headlessly without thinking about Vanessa. And even though Jenny was “deported” I didn’t get the feeling that she was actually punished for what she did this year. And Chuck getting shot in a dark alley was a bit too clichéd for me.
But I loved the idea of Georgina returning (and her condition!). And since Mercy was axed she could play a larger role next season.

LOST 6×16 What They Died For
I loved Desmond as sideways-Mastermind, I really enjoyed these parts of the episode. But I also liked the parts on the island. I just don’t think that Ben has turned again (I think he’s conning Smokey) and I don’t think that Jack will actually become the lighthouse keeper; I think there will be yet another twist to this all.

10 Things I Hate About You 1×18 Changes
I was a bit disappointed of Kat’s behaviour. Patrick’s friendly banter didn’t feel out of place. But her reaction to it did.
I enjoyed the rest of the episode though.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 13-19

Deutsche Version | CW 18 | CW 19-20

Chuck 3×16 Chuck vs the Tooth
I already like this new mini-arc (there are only three episodes left). My guess for the end is something like this: Ellie and Orion get caught by the Ring and Chuck and Sarah have to burst in to save them and thus revealing themselves.
I loved to see Christopher Lloyd in this episode and while I only know him as “elderly person” I was a bit surprised how old he actually looked now (he’s 71 after all…). On TV Tropes there’s a trope called “Running the Asylum”. It has a different meaning but I loved the idea that an inmate of the Cuckoo’s Nest is now the chief psychiatrist for an asylum full of spies. 😉
Spoiler (mark to read):
Since I’ve read that they introduce yet another game-changer into the finale my guess would be that Orion removes the Intersect from Chuck’s head for good. Except for the Karate they didn’t make much use of it this season anyway (or at least I have that feeling). I think Chuck is ready to be a spy in his own right and they don’t actually need the Intersect as plot device anymore.

The Big Bang Theory 3×21 The Plimpton Stimulation
“You are my landlord and you are my movers. And I can’t pay any of you.” Great episode. It was a great fun in itself.
I’m still somewhat troubled over that whole break-up thing. I don’t have the feeling that they’ve actually explained why they’ve broken up. Penny just ran out on him and that was it. No real aftermath or real explanation. For me that makes it a bit unreal.

10 Things I Hate About You 1×16 Too Much Information
The first episode was a bit anvilicious (modelling & eating disorders…) but I liked that Kat tried to help Patrick open up.

10 Things I Hate About You 1×17 Just One Kiss
I liked the second episode better, especially with bringing Blank/William back.

Bones 5×21 The Boy with the Answer
I liked it that they brought the Gravedigger case again. I also liked that the writers and actors made me really hate her for attacking “my people” by questioning their integrity.
I also smell change coming. When characters start to question their own purpose and goals right before the season ends, most of the time they are going to change the concept of the show (at least for a while).

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