So I’m sure you all know that I watch a shit ton of television. I guess you can say I’ve loved television all my life. And even though I watch a ton of shows, there are a select few that can be considered appointment television. These are shows that you make sure your ass is parked in front of the television to make sure you don’t miss a second. Even today with DVRs, I still have shows I considered to be appointment television where I make sure I watch right away. The only difference is now I allow it to get ahead 20 minutes so I can fast forward through the commercials. Here’s a list of my appointment television shows through the years:
Transformers: My very first appointment television show. My Mom tells me that I first fell in love with Transformers when I was at a friend of the family’s house. They had a few of the toys and I was obsessed with one of them and kept turning it into a car, then back into a robot, then back into a car, over and over and over again. So obsessed was I, that they let me keep the toy and I brought it home. I mostly remember watching the show after school when I was in kindergarten and the first grade. At the time, cartoons ran from 3:00 to 5:00. But whenever a new show came out, they’d put it in the 4:30 slot and pushed everything earlier. I think by the time I discovered Transformers, it was already in the 3:00 slot so when the next new show came out, Transformers went bye bye.
DuckTales: Thankfully when Transformers left the afternoon airwaves, I fell in love with DuckTales. But the same thing happened when new (and totally inferior) shows like TailSpin and Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers came out, and pushed DuckTales out of their timeslot.
Darkwing Duck: But eventually Darkwing Duck came along and saved the day. I frakking loved this show. It combined my love of DuckTales with my dreams of becoming a non-superpowered crime fighter like Batman.
Unsolved Mysteries: This is a completely random one, but growing up, me and my family always gathered around the television on Wednesday nights to watch Unsolved Mysteries. We would watch Robert Stack tell us about all this crazy shit, and then try and come up with our own theories about what really happened during the commercial breaks.
Batman: The Animated Series: I’ve always loved Batman. From the Adam West show, to the Tim Burton movies. But Batman: The Animated Series presented the character of Batman to me in a whole new light. I loved the Tim Burton movies, but this was the first time I had seen the dark detective side of Batman. It was fun and dark and serious all wrapped up into glorious 30 minute nuggets. I remember being furious when I raced home to watch the latest episode and it was preempted by news of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Priorities people! They’re totally different when you’re a kid.
Mightly Morphin Power Rangers: Crappy dubbing and cheesy special effects be damned! To me this show was a live action Voltron, and what could be better than that? I was completely addicted and didn’t miss an episodes for years.
TGIF: Remember when they made sitcoms that families with kids could watch that wasn’t on the Disney Channel? Well TGIF was the ultimate source for such shows. Full House, Family Matters, Step By Step. The TGIF was solid awesome for several years with these core shows. I really think when these shows ended, so did the family friendly sitcom.
Seinfeld: This was the beginning of Must See TV and the golden age of NBC. So many great episodes and moments. “Is anyone here a marine biologist?!”
Friends: I’ll never forget the conversation at the lunch table after this show started. “Have you guys seen Friends? It’s so funny!” ‘What is it about?” “Uh…friends.” This was absolutely appointment television even when I went away to college, me and my friends would watch this on Thursday nights. Up until Chandler and Monica got married, I never missed a single episode. After that it started falling flat and my viewing habits became hit or miss.
ER: For some reason everyone in college loved going out on Thursdays (apparently they did not realize we still had class the next day), but I couldn’t be bothered because ER was on. I started watching it in high school but continued watching it religiously all through college. Sadly it overstayed it’s welcome (and Grey’s Anatomy came along) and I gave up just before the last season. I saved the series finale on my DVR for the longest time but couldn’t be bothered to watch it and I eventually just erased it.
Survivor: I didn’t start watching Survivor until about the fifth or sixth season, but once I started, I’ve been hooked ever since. I kinda feel like a loser whenever I mention watching Survivor to new friends or acquaintances but only because they fail to realize how awesome it continues to be.
Lost: I know there was a lot of buzz about this show before it came out, but for some reason I missed all of it, and was only told by a friend to watch it the day it aired. It was incredible and unlike anything else on television at the time. And if the first episodes didn’t confirm its status as appointment television, the fourth episode Walkabout certainly did. All through the ups and downs of this show over the years, I never missed a single episode.
Battlestar Galactica: Even though Battlestar Galactica technically came before Lost, I didn’t start watching religiously until the second season. As I’m sure you already know, I consider this to be the best show of all time. And even though this show ran on Friday nights, it didn’t stop me from making it appointment television. I love how SyFy and no qualms about running it’s biggest show on Fridays. What do nerds have to do on Fridays anyway?
Glee: As much fun as it is to make fun of Glee and complain about how awful it is (it isn’t really awful, but we Glee fans can be terribly dramatic) I’ve been completely addicted since it premiered its pilot episode in May and I spent the entire summer listening to Don’t Stop Believing until it came back. This show actually has two appointments. Appointment #1 is when I wake up Tuesday morning and download all the new music tracks, and Appointment #2 is when I actually watch the episode that night.
Vampire Diaries: Friends recommended I watch this show, but I couldn’t because it conflicted with other shows I watched on Thursdays and I couldn’t record it. It wasn’t until they had a marathon of the first ten episodes over their winter break that I started watching and I was completely addicted. The Office even got the boot from my Thursday recording schedule so I could watch this show live. Out of all the Thursday shows, this is the one that I have to watch that night.
What were your appointment television shows through the years?
So the season finale of No Ordinary Family was on last night. Technically it’s not cancelled yet, but with the actors already signing up for new shows for next Fall, a renewal of the freshman show No Ordinary Family isn’t looking too good. Here’s an 