While you may believe I am a television addict and I would not disagree by any stretch of the imagination. The fact remains however that I am very selective on the television shows I do watch and generally tend not to watch the most popular shows. Such as the revelation that, I have never seen a full episode of Friends. Even with Channel 4 showing re-runs on an almost daily basis and even Comedy Central screening the show from the start, I have somehow managed to never catch more than a mere few minutes. Difficult even more so, when my youngest sister, Julie is such a big fan of the show. She would watch episodes back to back most evenings when I was back living at home. I recall house-mate Paul in my final year at University (2004) offering me the last ever episode and wondering why I was not keen to get my hands on the avi (pre HD file format times) he had downloaded. He was rather shocked when I responded that I did not watch the show and had no interest in the ending because I had never seen the beginning. While working with my friend Chris, a die hard fan who had the full DVD boxset at home and was eager to let me borrow and was rather miffed when I politely declined the offer.

Think of some of the most popular shows from the last five to eight years. I can probably guarantee that I have not seen them and at the very least perhaps indulged in one episode only to not be taken by the hype and dropped them like a hot potato. For example – we thought about giving Downton Abbey a chance. Michelle and I watched the first episode and at points it was difficult to understand was this supposed to be a serious drama or comedy. We lasted one episode and never to return. However Mr. Selfridge by the same team, we watched for one entire series, but do not watch any further because we got tired of the same structure to pretty much every episode.

Breaking Bad – probably the most popular television show of recent times (prior to the fantasy action set piece of Game of Thrones) and I have to confess to having not watch a single minute of either show. My friend Pav has tried multiple times to get me to watch BB. While I understand the plot might be compelling, it just has never appealed to me. Plus it appears a show which require more than one hundred percent concentration. I know many people whom have binged watched the show (which seems to be a recent trend in TV watching – even being used as the basis for a recent advert for BT). Watching a show in the modern world is difficult as you have the problem of spoilers being posted all over social media, sometimes unwittingly by your closest friends. This not only destroys your enjoyment of the show but also ruins any potential future viewing pleasure, should you wish to fly through the boxset over a wet Bank Holiday in England. While there is less of a delay between US and UK broadcasts, made easier with access to the internet, it is still difficult to avoid spoilers without perhaps going completely cold turkey but that would include not listening to the radio and avoiding certain colleagues in the office whom may inadvertently mention something during lunch.

There are plenty of shows on my long long list to be watch. Plenty downloaded, waiting to be seen but having only limited time each evening and at weekends, I tend to find myself weeks behind (sometimes even further). There is something special about watching a show as it is aired, as you get to enjoy the shared viewer experience, with complete strangers on Twitter. While this perhaps works best for “event” television, such as reality television finals, it is just as fun to watch a show and then look up the relevant hashtag on Twitter.

So this is my long list of shows I need to get around to watching, most have gone on beyond their first season. Almost Human (watched first episode, unfortunately cancelled after first season), Brooklyn 99 (award winning show into series two), Scorpion, Elementary (watched all of season one, never had the chance to watch further, into season three now and I believe better than BBC Sherlock.) Then we have the recent DC shows – The Flash, Arrow, Gotham. I have only seen the first episode of Gotham. From Marvel I have seen two episodes of DareDevil and according to my friends it is worth watching as it just gets better and better. That is just the tip of the US import iceberg. Other local television shows I have yet to see are Indian Summers from Channel 4 and Arthur & George from ITV. Feeling rather let down that I soldiered through series two of Broadchurch on ITV. Felt rather let down in the end and will not be investing a single second in series three.

Right, time to switch off the laptop and catch up on some television.