Our Favorite TV Shows of 2013: Of Course, "Breaking Bad" is Numero Uno

A good friend of mine had this awesome blog dedicated just to tv and films. That was it! But, he was on top of everything. And, he was amazing. Whenever the Golden Globes aired, as they are tonight here in a half-hour, he would blog about the awards as if he were right there.

As an homage to that blog, we are putting our very first Ten Best TV Shows of the List, which is astonishing because as a movie person who also likes college sports (except football) I always thought watching sitcoms like "Roseanne" and "8 Rules About Dating My Daughter" were a complete waste of time.

But, cable tv offered amazing fare this year! And, we didn't even watch any network like "Scandal" or "Hannibal" or Netflix shows like "Orange is the New Black" or "House of Cards," plus we don't have HBO, so no "Veep" either.

But, we saw 12 good shows, two of which, "Bates Motel" and "Top of the Lake" didn't make the cut, but these ten shows did:

1) Breaking Bad (AMC; pictured top): Paste Magazine, Slant Magazine, Rolling Stone, Penthouse (well, we've never subscribed to them, but....), well, it's possible if "Mother Jones" and "National Review" readers agreed on anything this year, it was that this the best show of the year. Some have even said it's the best show ever made. We'll let tv historians sort through that. The image above is of a certain pink teddy bear which fanatic followers show feel is a symbol of how Walter White lost his soul.

2) Portlandia (IFC): Amazingly this show which has a season premiere again in February, didn't make any of the lists we saw! But, it's absolutely hysterical! In fact, perhaps, IFC should send Fred and Carrie over to Portland, Maine, instead of Portland, Oregon, for an April Fool's show!

3) "Rectify" (Sundance): As good as any independent film one can watch!

4) "The Americans" (F/X): This is the reason why we have an image of the Soviet flag at the bottom; this show should have been awful. Soviet agents with perfect American accents posing as a suburban couple in Arlington, Va (or somewhere around there) who happen to neighbor a FBI/CIA agent?! But, it somehow works quite splendidly.

5) "Homeland" (Showtime): Hmmm....yeah, we can't say much without issuing a Spoiler Alert as Season Three had quite the shocking finale!

6) Mad Men (AMC): This is still an exceptional show at every level.

7) Orphan Black (BBC-America): Like "The Americans" this show seemed way too implausible as it revolves around seven young women who look exactly alike living across America and Europe (plus, one in Canada), but it is quite an adrenaline rush.

8) Masters of Sex (Showtime): Wow! What-a-show!

9) Maron (IFC): A sitcom passed on a podcast?! The results are hysterical.

10) Archer (F/X): Like the comic strip "Zippy the Pinhead," this foul-mouthed Millennials version of "Get Smart" didn't work for me at first, but it gradually won me over; Season Three starts tomorrow night!

http://www.ifc.com


http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad

http://www.sho.com

Image to Fill Space: Le Car

Tomorrow will start the official kick-off for a short blog week: Among the items, we will discuss are ways to contact your Congressional representative on Capitol Hill to prevent a government shutdown, results from college volleyball games across the nation and perhaps some international soccer scores.

For now, we leave with image of Le Car, a French car that was popular around the world some 30-40 years ago.

Greetings to our blog readers in Gabon, Guyana and Sri Lanka: These were the three remote countries that came to mind!

UPDATE: It just came to our minds: That if we mention "Breaking Bad," Bob Odenkirk and 'pink teddy bear' that our hits may increase somewhat.

Today We Mark Our 8th Year of Blogging

It was a very dark and stormy night (apologies to the late Charles Schultz, the creator of "Peanuts"), on that fateful day on Sept. 21, 2005.

Hmmm.....this reminds me.........one of my favorite comic strips is "Sherman's Lagoon" which has underwater creatures, such as sharks, sea turtles and crabs as its main characters; I'm not sure if I've seen an octopus yet (?!)

When we began blogging, there was no Facebook, there was no Twitter, no Miley Cyrus, no Sarah Palin, no "Breaking Bad," no "Mad Men" and no "Parks and Recreation." The oxy-moronic good Samaritan serial killer series "Dexter," which concludes tomorrow night, was on the air but it was a very new show at the time. 

One of our earliest entries on "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," which is our sister (please visit it, we need the hits!) was a mere shopping list!

I'm sure like all shopping lists I've ever written it included bananas.


Here's to the next eight years............

(We used an octopus for our image because it has eight tentacles; one can see live octopuses at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland, or the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta).

http://www.peanuts.com

http://www.aqua.org

georgiaaquarium.org

7 Words in Turkish (7 of 7): The Word for Shrimp

Greetings to our blog visitors from Albania, Bahrain and Chile.

Though we have been busy binge watching "Breaking Bad,"AMC's surreal dark drama which is concluding in a few weeks, via Netflix, we did make time for this entry....(I sense the show has helped New Mexico's tourism industry, even though it is about meth dealers).

So, the Turkish word for shrimp is karides.

Shrimp and grits is a popular dish in Charleston, SC, which is arguably the cuisine capital of the South.

For the word for shrimp in Norwegian, go to our 7 Words in Norwegian series on our sister blog:

http://www.poliitcscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

Highlights from The Bucket List: Going to Seattle Anyone?

Yes, even though I'm only 43 years old, I actually made a bucket list of 100 things to do before I die. Some things are a bit more idealistic; some things are a bit more practical.

With that, I want to send special greetings to our blog-readers in Russia, China and Japan as well as those of you in smaller countries like Malta and El Salvador.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Take a Greyhound bus trip from Burlington, NC, to Seattle.

2. Go to Iceland, and take some photos of the volcanoes while you are there.

3. Watch "Breaking Bad" on dvd in its entirety (I have yet to see a single show of the series which concludes this weekend).

4. Write an article for "Mental Floss."

5. Wake up at 6 a.m. for six days in a row?! (I'm a night person)

6. Take a Varan bus trip (Varan is a Turkish bus line) from Istanbul to Van

7. Date a woman 20 years younger than you

8. Date a woman 20 years older than you

9. Visit the National Zoo in Washington, DC, take lots of photos of the pandas

10. Volunteer at a homeless shelter

http://www.greyhound.com

http://www.visiticeland.com

http://www.turkey.org

http://www.mentalfloss.com

http://www.washington.org

http://www.homelessshetlerdirectory.org