Like White Castle burgers and cheap beer, these television shows are best enjoyed in bulk. Thankfully, they’ve all graduated to DVD. They’ve all breached Amazon.com‘s list of the 100 most purchased TV series, too. There’s no excuse not to be watching – for hours on end.
“BATTLESTAR GALACTICA”
The sci-fi series, a reboot of a campy 1970s show, begins with the near-total destruction of humanity, leaving a rag-tag band of survivors traveling through space in search of a new home: the mythical Earth, which exists in legends and religious texts. The 50,000 survivors are pursued by the Cylons, robots who want little more than to wipe out the rest of the human race. The show is jam-packed with political issues, with plots alluding to everything from abortion to the war in Iraq.
“24”
If you cleared your schedule, you could watch a full season of 24 – which covers a day in the life of government agent/terrorist butt-kicker Jack Bauer – in fewer than 24 hours. The show, which has been off the air for almost two years since the writers’ strike forced Fox to suspend production, mixes action and politics for pulse-pounding drama. You never know who’s on what side.
“30 ROCK”
The show that’s instructed its audience to “live every week like it’s Shark Week” takes a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional sketch comedy show on NBC. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin star as love-hate colleagues. Add Tracy Morgan’s volatile, compulsive comic ticks and Fey’s award-winning writing – the show is practically a mirror-reflection of her own work on SNL – and you’ll have no trouble catching up; you’re only three seasons behind.
“IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA”
The owners of the fictional Paddy’s Pub aren’t good people, and they don’t try to hide the fact. The first season sees the characters hitting on pro-choice and pro-life women at a rally outside an abortion clinic, serving high school students beer and lying about being sexually abused by a former teacher. Things slide even further downhill in the second season, when Danny DeVito joins the cast. The first three seasons are available on DVD, and episodes from all four seasons can be streamed at Hulu.com.
“LOST”
What exactly is the smoke monster? Where did the Island go? And what’s going on with may-be-a-zombie Claire? You won’t get answers to these questions in the first four seasons, but rewatching might get you ready for the fifth, which begins Wednesday, Jan. 21, on ABC.
