Tag: Sliders

TV Junkie: A History

Thought Storm, TV Season Diary

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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MacGyver

DVD / Blu-ray

I was getting in the mood and have started watching MacGyver again, starting with the first season from 1985/86. And I love to see so…

Angel: Season 1

Angel Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon

Deutsche Version | Angel Marathon | Season 2

Disc 1

City of

Synopsis: Angel left Buffy and Sunnydale because he can’t be with her. After he moved into his basement apartment in L.A. he encounters Doyle, a half-demon. Doyle gets visions from “The Powers That Be” that show him which lives Angel must touch to find true salvation. It isn’t enough to save lives, he must save the souls as well. During the attempt to help a waitress who is terrorized by a former friend of hers he meets a powerful vampire…

My Opinion: This “The Powers That Be”-arc comes a bit surprisingly because we’ve already known Angel for three years. But they had to find a way for being Angel not just a Buffy-replacement.

Lonely Hearts

Synopsis: A serial killer haunts the single bars of L.A.. It’s a demon who needs a new body on a regular basis until he finds the right one. Angel decides to stop him.

My Opinion: I like this new female cop. It remains to be seen when she will find out who/what Angel really is. But that depends on whether she is a recurring character. I’d like that.

In the Dark

Synopsis: After Buffy took the “Gem of Amara” (a ring that makes a vampire invincible) from Spike she sends it to Angel. But Spike doesn’t give up that easily and he follows the ring to L.A.

My Opinion: Love to see Spike bad-ass-phase again, before he became “Hostile 17”, before the chip. I alos liked the decission to willingly destroy the ring instead of simply getting it lost somehow.

I Fall to Pieces

Synopsis: Angel helps a young woman who is stalked by her ex-boyfriend (strictly speaking they never were a pair). But this man is a surgeon with a very unique amputation technique.

My Opinion: Freak of the Week. Nothing exceptional.
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The Pilot Marathon Part 2

DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon, Pilot Marathon

Deutsche Version | Part 1 | Part 3

Heroes

What’s the show about?
People all over the world discover that they have special abilities. And somehow their destinies are connected and that they have a task to do: How to stop an exploding man?

“Genesis”
Tokyo, Japan. A man belives that he can stop time. Odessa, Texas, USA. A girl jumps 70 feet from a building and heals practically instantaniously. New York, USA. A man can paint future events. They all don’t know what is happening but they know that something’s changed…

My Opinion
Loved the first season. Haven’t gotten around to watch the second.
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Babylon 5: Season 3

B5 Marathon, DVD / Blu-ray, DVD Marathon

Season 2 | Season 4

Point of No Return

Disc 1

Matters of Honor

Synopsis: A Ranger training post is sealed of with mines and one ranger who could escape asks Babylon 5 for help. Meanwhile Londo tries to cut his connections to Mr. Morden and his associates. Also a representative of Earth comes to Babylon 5 to investigate about the Shadow vessel that destroyed Lt. Keffer’s Starfury.

My opinion: I always liked Marcus and I sure love the White Star. But Sheridan has to be a bit mad to try a stunt like the one in this episode. Cheesy Good introduction to the next step of the story.

Convictions

Synopsis: A series of bombings shake Babylon 5. Bombs planted by a person who has no political agenda but to spread fear. And when Lennier tries to save Londo he gets badly hurt.

My opinion: While I never really understood the motives of the bomber I really liked the tube scene between Londo and G’Kar. I also liked the arrival of the monks around brother Theo who will stay for a while on the station.

A Day in the Strife

Synopsis: A probe approaches Babylon 5 and transmits a message: When Babylon 5 can answer a series of highly complicated questions, they will receive important knowledge in return. If not, the probe will explode and take B5 with it.

My opinion: Another average episode, there’s not really much to say about it.

Passing Through Gethsemane

Synopsis: Again we see the monks. But one of them is troubled because he gets flashes of memories but he can’t remember the events. Meanwhile Lyta Alexander return to the station on a Vorlon(!) transprt ship. She has been to the Vorlon homeworld but is forbidden to tell about it. She now works for the Vorlons and must hide from the Psi Corps.

My opninion: Great episode about crime and punishment. To see the life of a mind-wiped person and how the victims of a crime can’t let go. I really liked the acting of Brad Dourif (Dune, Deadwood) and the actions of brother Theo at the end of the episode.
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