What I'm Watching in the 2018/2019 TV Season (with a LOT of asterisks)

It took me forever to make this season's list. While I believe we're in a golden age of TV, it horribly difficult to plan how I'm going to watch these shows. I don't have cable, so I don't have a DVR that I can just set and and watch. I've got to keep up with everything I want to watch by adding them to their various network app watchlists, hope they don't mysteriously disappear (I'm looking at you, Hulu), and keep track with what episodes I have or haven't seen because sometimes I can't watch them right away.

So this is going to be a weird list. I'll start it off with the standard season list, go into the weird releases, then hit the random streaming stuff I want to get to. Because of the aforementioned breakdown of the conventional TV season, some of these programs have already started, or have just ended. Some won't start until sometime in 2019. Whatever. Enjoy!

Standard 2018-2019 TV Season (Thank you Wikipedia)

ABC
The Kids Are Alright
Splitting Up Together (review from the first season = meh)
The Rookie (I loves me some Nathan Fillion, so I'm really looking forward to this one)
Modern Family
Single Parents (Best quote from the trailer: "We're single parents. We don't volunteer. We just try and survive until a time in the day when it's appropriate to open wine." Amen, sister friend.
A Million Little Things (I am totally watching this because of James Roday)
Whiskey Cavalier
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The CW
Legends of Tomorrow
Arrow
Flash
Black Lightning
Supernatural
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Sueprgirl
iZombie

Fox
9-1-1
The Gifted
Bob's Burgers
Family Guy
The Passage
The Orville
Gotham
Cosmos

NBC
Manifest
This is Us
Superstore
The Good Place
I Feel Bad
Midnight, Texas
Abby's
The Blacklist
Good Girls
A.P. Bio
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Timeless

Cable Networks

AMC
Walking Dead
Fear the Walking Dead
Preacher
NOS4A2

Disney XD
Star vs. the Forces of Evil

IFC
Brockmire

TBS
Detour
Guest Book

TNT
Alienist

USA
The Sinner

Syfy
Nightflyers
Happy!
Krypton
Wynonna Earp

FX
What We Do in the Shadows
Legion
Mayans MC
American Horror Story
Atlanta
Better Things
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
You're the Worst
Archer

Freeform
Cloak and Dagger
Alone Together

Cartoon Network
Rick and Morty

AT&T Audience
Mr. Mercedes

Premium Cable Networks

Showtime
Billions
Homeland
I'm Dying Up Here
Shameless
SMILF
Kidding
City on a Hill
Black Monday

HBO
The Deuce
Ballers
Last Week Tonight
Barry
Crashing
Camping
Watchmen
Divorce
True Detective
Silicon Valley
New Pope
Game of Thrones
Big LIttle Lies
Veep

Starz
American Gods
Counterpart

Cinemax
C.B. Strike (yeah, this isn't new, but I just learned it's an adaption of J.K. Rowling's Corman Strike novels)
Outcast

Streaming

Hulu
Castle Rock
Future Man
Runaways
I Love You America
Into the Dark

Netflix
Atypical
Iron Fist
Punisher
Jessica Jones
The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmit
Easy
Santa Clarita Diet
Glow
Friends from College
Lucifer
Designated Survivor
Stranger Things
The OA
Ozark
Haunting of Hill House
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Narcos: Mexico
Daredevil
Bojack Horseman
Castlevania
Big Mouth
Umbrella Academy
Black Mirror
Arrested Development

DC Universe
Doom Patrol
Swamp Thing
Stargirl

Amazon Prime
Jack Ryan
Man in the High Castle
Sneaky Pete
Homecoming
Marvelous Mrs. Mazel
Good Omens
Too Old to Die Young
Carnival Row

So, if you were brave enough to make it through this list, you'll notice that there are shows listed that have already come and gone. I included late summer/early fall shows. This whole thing was pretty nerve wracking for me. I had to take a nap after finishing it. Not really, naps make me cranky. 

What You Should Have Watched #8

Late to the Party

Thanks to the wonder of Netflix, I’ve started watching the current Doctor Who series. After a bit of a slow first season (it happens, a show has to find its footing, right?), I’ve really grown to enjoy it. While I liked Christopher Eccleston (liked him better in Heroes), David Tennant just feels more natural. The sarcasm, the humor, the bits of anger…they all seem to flow a bit easier from Tennant than they did Eccleston. I also grew to like Billie Piper’s Rose more. She ended up seeming like a player in this game rather than somebody who was just along for a ride.

But this post isn’t about Doctor Who. It’s about shows that I got into late in the game. The most memorable ones for me are Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Those weren’t even shows somebody recommended to me.

While I was in college in Cookeville, TN, the rest of my family lived in southern Indiana. Their cable provider decided to stop carrying The WB, thus preventing my sister from watching Buffy and Angel. Being the generous and giving brother that I am, I told her I’d record the show and mail her the tapes when they were full. This was 12 or 13 years ago, before torrents or complete seasons of shows being quickly released on DVD.

One night after work, I came back to my apartment, ready to relax in my room, but I had nothing to relax with. So I rewound the tape I had just recorded, and I was introduced to the Joss Whedon and the Buffy-verse via the season four Halloween episode entitled “Fear Itself.” Action, humor, hot girls, tiny demons…yeah, I quickly fell in love with the show. Angel was next, and I became a Whedon convert.

My problem with this show, though, was that there was no way to catch up on the three seasons I had missed. FX ended up rerunning the show from the beginning a couple years later and I was able to quickly catch up, but it’s not as easy as it is today.

Recently, on the advice of a few good friends, I’ve started picking up new shows. I started White Collar and Burn Notice with the most recent season, catching up thanks to OnDemand. Within the past few months I’ve started watching Parks and Recreation, Raising Hope and Doctor Who. I’ve used Netflix and Hulu Plus to catch up on everything I’ve missed (I’m just finishing up with season two of Doctor Who, and I’m hoping to fully catch up before the current season ends).

I’ve been a TV addict for WAY too many years. The choices that viewers have now are incredible. I very rare, if ever, watch a show live anymore. My DVR is almost constantly 70% or more full. My DVR allows me to record only two shows at a time. If I want to watch a third show, I’ve got Hulu, OnDemand or the show’s network’s website on which to watch it. This is TV heaven for me.

It’s because of opportunities like these that I’m okay with waiting until the end of a season to catch up on shows like Mad Men or The Killing, or waiting even longer for premium shows like Weeds or Dexter. And soon enough, more likely when Hulu Plus has more options available for the Xbox, I’ll be getting rid of cable all together and rely solely on the Internet and Xbox, watching stuff when and where I want.

And as a quick note, here are some shows I got into after they started and ended up really enjoying:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Angel
• Alias
• The Office
• Parks and Recreation
• Burn Notice
• Doctor Who
• White Collar
• Weeds
• Seinfeld
• Arrested Development
• Babylon 5
• Deadwood
• The Wire