The Revolt of the TiVo, March 2011 edition

Loyal blog readers, I have to be honest with you: it's been a tough TV quarter for me. I've gotten so snowballed with real work and trying to run a Boston marathon qualifier that my TV watching has fallen painfully by the wayside. As a result of these upsetting personal developments, my TiVo's "Now Playing" list filled to capacity a staggering 3 times in the last month, and deleted some backlogged episodes that I hadn't quite gotten to yet. I've downloaded the ones that were lost in TiVo's act of rebellion, but I haven't watched them yet, and probably won't for a little while. There are some shows that I like to watch in blocks of two or three episodes, but the backlog has meant that some shows are sitting there with four or five unwatched installments.

I tell you this, reader, because I want you to understand why you're about to see lots of blog posts about American Idol, but not so many about startlingly brilliant shows like Fringe.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "How can you sit there and call yourself a TV addict when your TiVo is in rebellion?", and you have every right to think that. But in my defense, "must watch TV" has been greatly limited this year. With the absence of LOST, this usually special winter TV time has felt a little shallow. There are a great crop of worthy shows on right now, but the loss of the one-two LOST + American Idol punch has made this time of year less urgent for me.

Currently, the shows I stay caught up on out of what feels like a compulsive need to watch them are American Idol, Parenthood, Southland, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Grey's Anatomy (don't think I can't see your judgment eyes. Put those away!), and Chuck. There are plenty of others I'll put on in the background while making dinner or something (House, One Tree Hill, Modern Family, Blue Bloods, V), and plenty of others that I think are straight up excellent and worth dedicating a distraction-less hour to (Fringe, Big Love, The Vampire Diaries, Cougar Town), but these are the shows that feel "must see" to me. Interestingly, I wouldn't call them all my "favorite" shows. That honor is reserved for excellent scripted TV like Friday Night Lights and my current obsession Parks and Recreation.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you can expect to read about the "must see" shows here a lot more in future weeks. I hope you can sympathize. I'm also interested to know, reader, what are your "must see" shows? It's okay to be honest. I admitted to watching Grey's Anatomy whenever it's on my TiVo. Post comments below!