My Guide to Surviving the WGA's Strike

As anyone who watches any amount of TV knows, the writers are on strike, and we're looking at TV Armageddon in January when the holidays are over. I'm in a better position to survive this dark time in our nation's history - I have a ready list of shows that I've missed over the last few years that I can fall back on, plus I haven't watched movies regularly for several years, so I can always fire up a Netflix account and go to town there.

Anyhow, here's my list of shows I'm counting on to see me through the next few months until the strike is over.... hopefully anyone who reads this (like, 3 people) can take some inspiration from this list and make it through the long winter a little easier. This list is rather HBO-heavy for two reasons: HBO makes a ton of quality TV, and I didn't have HBO from the time I moved away to college till I moved back in with my mom and dad in 2003.

• Deadwood: I'm excited to expand my vocabulary of swear words, but I'm rather embarrassed that I haven't watched this show yet. It's a fascinating western show centered on the town of Deadwood.
  
• The Wire: I've heard nothing but wonderful things about this show. It's a police drama set in Baltimore and is constantly praised by critics and everyone who watches it. Unfortunately, not many people watch it. Fortunately, it's on HBO and has very low production costs (Requiescat In Pace, Rome), so despite weak ratings it has gotten a full complement of episodes. The final season debuts in January, so it's possible I'll be caught up by the time it is finished.
• Battlestar Gallactica: I had never seen the original series, and this was the first show made by the Sci-Fi network that was any good, so I missed the beginning... and since it's so serialized I've been putting off catching up on it. With any luck I'll be able to catch up before this show ends its run later this year (unless the season is delayed by the strike? Anyone know?). I've heard the first two seasons were pretty bad but I don't know if I'm going to skip them outright or not.
• Lost: I watch this show almost religiously, but I really want to re-watch at least Season 3 before the next season begins at the end of January. Season 3 ended with a run of awesome episodes and I hope they can carry the momentum into the next season. Last year's season finale was a total game-changer, and I'm excited to see how they proceed from there. I'm not sure how I'll prioritize this... I've already seen these episodes, but I really do want to see them again.
  
• The Sopranos: I got to the Sopranos party late. I've watched about half of the series so far but I lost momentum due to a bit of Sopranos overload, since it was about all I watched, 2-3 episodes for about 3 weeks in a row. I'll finish this up at my leisure, savoring it like a fine wine.
• Carnivale: It's a shame this one died, because everything I've ever heard about it says I would have loved it. Still, I can at least watch the episodes that aired.
  
• Oz: Ahhh... prison life. I've heard a lot of good things about this show, but I think that reflected a bit on the state of TV at the time. I haven't exactly heard people talking about this show in the pantheon of great HBO shows lately. Still, it's on my radar as something to check out.
• Dead Like Me: See also, Oz. Except Dead Like Me is from Showtime. The subject matter (girl dies and becomes a grim reaper) is more interesting to me, though, so I'll probably watch this one before Oz.
• The West Wing: In my opinion, the best drama that TV produced this decade. I've seen almost all of the early episodes thanks to Bravo while I was unemployed, but I'd still like to watch them all back to back. It'll be rough to slog through the seasons when John Wells began strangling the life out of the show. It recovered for a passable final season, but I still resent what he did to my favorite TV show.
• Sports Night: Sports Night is in many ways the spiritual precursor to The West Wing. Aaron Sorkin developed his... unique... dialog style on Sports Night. It was short lived but well liked. I hope I can get this through my usual channels because it is a bit older than the rest of these shows.
• Futurama: Futurama is one of the best animated shows ever. Always funny, insightful, and even occasionally touching. I never watched it as religiously as I should have, so I'd like to go back and watch all the episodes I can get.
• Alias: Sci-fi. Spies. Conspiracy theories. Jennifer Garner. How did I not start watching this as soon as it started? I hear it gets dreadful at the end but I'll watch at least the first few episodes.
• Psych: A lot of people don't give this show the credit it deserves, being that it's on USA, but it's incredibly entertaining. The key is that it doesn't take itself seriously - it's simply fun to watch. The chemistry among the cast is obvious and the show is consistently hilarious.
• The Shield: Another well-respected cop drama that doesn't get the credit it deserves. This one is on F/X. It doesn't get quite as much critical praise as The Wire does, but I think this one is going to be worth watching, especially if the strike continues for months into 2008.
• Damages: A Glenn Close vehicle on F/X that aired this summer... I heard some good things about it from people whose opinion I trust about TV. As a bonus, it's a currently running show, and like USA, F/X runs original series during the summer so I'll pick up another show to watch between Tigers games next year if I like it.
• Arrested Development: This was the funniest show on TV from the first episode to the last. If you don't like this show, chances are I don't really have that much in common with you.
  

That's my list. Here's a list of things I think my friends should watch if they haven't already:

• Band of Brothers: The pinnacle of the WWII genre. It's not possible to overstate how good this series is. I could write an entire post on why I think this series is so great, and may eventually do just that. Just take my word for it right now.
  
• How I Met Your Mother: HIMYM is one of the best traditional sitcoms on television today. The "Slap Bet" saga should be the "Soup Nazi" of our generation. It's also one of the first sitcoms aimed squarely at people my age, which makes me feel old but I can't help but love it. Barney is the best comedic character on TV today.
  
• The Office: The Office is a must watch. This is the funniest show on TV. Cringe comedy at its best.
• 30 Rock: This is the other best traditional sitcom right now. The first episode or two weren't that good but it improved dramatically and it's now almost as good as The Office. Alec Baldwin steals every scene he's in.
• Firefly: The best sci-fi TV show in a decade, and it got canceled after less than a season. Die in a fire, FOX.
  
• Scrubs: This show was great until 2-3 years ago. It's obvious now that they're just playing out the string, and I resent how bad it has been recently.

While writing this post, I watched an episode of Moonlight, the CBS show about vampires that debuted this year. Can I have that hour of my life back? Ugh. Dreadful. I love vampire mythos, why can't anyone make a decent TV show about it? The Vampire: The Masquerade show was actually decent, but everything else has been awful.

Yes, I'm including Buffy and spinoffs in that. I know I'm risking alienating my only two readers by saying this, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an awful TV show.