When The West Wing was about to premiere in 1999, there were many commercials promoting it. I became a bit interested by all the praise it got and always meant to watch a few episodes. However, I was just starting college then and had moved out to enjoy a social life, so I didn't get the opportunity to really watch the show until 2003, when I became hooked.

That pretty much sums up the thread. I wanted to watch because I thought I would enjoy it, but I didn't for a semi-legitimate reason.

For a current example, I would like to watch Lost, but not because of anything I've read about it. After more than ten years, Jeremy Davies still owns me for his performance in Saving Private Ryan. I'm interested in seeing him in other roles, and now he's conveniently on TV. Unfortunately, I already watch too much TV; I'd rather not get involved with another show, much less a serial. Additionally, I have an inkling of some weird stuff going on now in the show, and I'd probably get lost (no pun intended) jumping right in.

I am a huge sci-fi geek. Always have been, don't see that changing anytime. I even like some cheesy stuff, just because it's sci-fi.

But I have only seen the miniseries of BSG. When the show was first on, I was more interested in making the effort to see Doctor Who - and it did require effort, because I didn't and don't have cable (and it was definitely worth it for DW!). Since then, I keep hearing about how amazing BSG is, but the more I hear that, the more I'm like, "Yeah, well, not watching it right now", because I'm sort of perverse like that.

I'm sure I'll watch it someday, probably someday soon. But not now.

I started BSG, with the mini-series, and found it so dark that I stopped quickly, in spite of my admiration for how well it was done, even admiration for the darkness, because that's not easy to pull off with skill and sincerity. I guess I was just not in a place where I could handle that, emotionally.

Then a friend/former boss kept talking about how much it rocked and since he'd gotten me into "Heroes", I borrowed his Season 1 BSG DVDs and got totally hooked. So thanks, Paul!

I should be watching 24. I missed the premiere, but read a lot and always figured I'd catch it when it re-ran, then forgot. Then I figured I'd catch up on DVD, but it has always been pushed back to do something else. At this point, it's not something I want to try to pick up from the middle, so it will probably end up like the Sopranos. A show I never saw the entire time it aired, but started with ep. 1 the year after it was canceled.

I was interested in "The Unusuals" - love Amber Tamblyn and Harold Perrineau - and DVR'd the pilot. Well, school became really demanding and I never watched the pilot and forgot to DVR the next episodes, so... today I deleted the pilot. Sorry, "Unusuals". It wasn't meant to be.

Same here. I like Kiefer Sutherland. And 24 apparently is more or less Kiefer Sutherland kicking major ass, which is even better. Also, a bunch of actors that like make appearances (James Cromwell, Alexander Siddig, Sean Astin, etc.) And I've know it is considered to be a good show (although I heard one season is really not good.) The problem was that it didn't take off until after a few seasons, so I missed the first few, and 24 strikes me as a show that is better to start from the beginning. And I simpy don't have the time right now, so I'll proably wait till it ends, and I'm sure they'll have the entire show on a DVD set to rent/buy.

A similar show for me is The Shield. It was defintely intriging, Michael Chiklis is awesome, and it has guest spots from actors I like (Glenn Close and Forest Whitaker), but I was too young when it first came out, and I never jumped on, because I figured I should just wait and watch it in order, when it is out on DVD. Come to think of it, there are a lot of FX shows I probably should be watching. I think Dennis Leary his hilarious, so I probably would find Rescue Me interesting, and with a cast consisting of Glenn Close, William Hurt, Ted Danson, and Timonthy Olyphant, I should be all over Damages. But for what other reasons, I missed the first seasons, I never bothered to play catch-up.

I should be watching Friday Night Lights. I'm all about quality TV, I love football and always have, and I adore Kyle Chandler. I have heard nothing but good things about this show, but haven't seen an episode. I'm just at this weird point in my life where I watch very little current TV, and very few dramas.

Someday, I swear, I will Netflix this series.

I'm a fan of both science fiction and epic serialized dramas, but I've never seen a full episode of the new Battlestar Galactica. I caught a few minutes here and there, and it never really caught on for me.

I caught most of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but kinda lost interest in it not long after. I really didn't get hooked on it 'til about halfway through the third season. (I've now got the first three seasons on DVD, though, so I'm caught up.)

I heard a lot about Alias when it debuted, but I only started watching during the third season (after it jumped ahead three years). I hear all the time that the first two seasons were the best, but I still haven't seen any of those episodes.

I still haven't seen more than the scattered episode of The Big Bang Theory. I didn't tune in at first because it debuted not long after I stopped being entertained by Two and a Half Men, and it was produced by the same writer. I caught a few reruns over the holidays this year, and was surprised how funny I found it. I was actually panning to tune in after the new year, but E! Canada scheduled The Soup across from it, and really, that's no contest. Maybe next year....

I should be watching "Life" mainly because I told my whole family to start watching it. Last season I loved this show! This season, it gets wiped from my Tivo long before I even consider watching it. I feel bad, but something about the show kinda lost its charm I guess.

I feel like I should be watching.. Prison Break, Rescue Me, In Plain Sight and The Closer
with Prison Break I missed the first few episodes and thought I would be lost so I never tuned in.
I have not once seen Rescue Me and I like Dennis Leary so... ?? I guess it has to do with not having
cable for a while. There is also Greek which I made my sister watch when the pilot played and she never misses now
and I have not watched again lol.

If you have E! Montreal in your cable TV, you can actually watch the Soup Saturday at 7.30pm.

Not that that would make me watch Big Bang Theory. Everybody claims how funny it is, but I won't ever give it a chance because I hate the ugly male hot female concept, and I think both Two and a Half Men and Dharma and Greg are lowest denominator crap sitcoms.

There are so many shows that I should have watched or should be watching. I'll try to compile a short list from memory.

The West Wing
Sports Night
American Dreams
Joan of Arcadia
The Amazing Race
Dollhouse

Now that Bryan Fuller's back writing Heroes, I really should give it a second chance. But the memories of the disaster volume 3 became are still too fresh in my mind for me to catch up now.

Maybe when volume 5 rolls around...

I agree with every single word you've written. I loved Season 1, didn't love Season 2 as much but chalked it up to "The Strike", and stopped watching 5 or 6 episodes into Season 3 because it was taking me 4 hours to watch an episode because I could only stand viewing 2 or so minutes at a time.

I "should" watch it again, in fact I should be watching it right now because of Bryan Fuller, but I can't quite force myself to do it.

I missed Firefly on its first go-round because I was so pissed at the decline in quality Buffy had taken due to Joss's sudden interest in his new project. I bought the DVDs sight unseen the spring before Serenity was released, and it was a big "Well, shit" moment for me. All this time, I had been stubbornly ignoring a show I really enjoyed out of spite!

And, well, I wanted to watch The Unusuals, but I've never seen an ad for it and have no idea when it's on, or what channel! And I know I'll never remember to look it up and actually watch it. (I don't have TiVo, or I guess all of this would be simpler!)

The Wire is a show I've always felt that I should watch. It's been recommended to me by tons of friends and family, but by that time it was already the 4th season and I kept holding off watching it until I could catch up but that has never happened. Now I just haven't had the time and energy to invest in 5 seasons. Hopefully one day I will, but it won't be this year.

I finally got around to The Wire last fall and it was definitely worth it. It took me maybe 6 weeks to get through the whole series via Netflix 3-at-a-time. I tried watching an episode back when it reran before The Sopranos, but I had no idea what was going on.

I watched maybe the first half of season 1 of Six Feet Under and I just couldn't stick with it, though everyone praises it.

Lost is another show I would probably like, but I need to get around to.

I watched a few season 1 episodes of Buffy and liked it o.k. but was turned off by the low quality vampire prosthetics and make-up. I mean really? I'd seen better special effects on Power Rangers.

At least the vampires didn't sparkle in the sunlight.

I never got around to watching Supernatural. Part of it is because I'm too busy getting my kids to bad and the other is that I can't stand watching any ads for Smallville.

My kids get to bad all by themselves. (Sorry to pick on your typo, but it made me smile!)
For me it's just about anything on HBO. I watched Sex and the City , and Dream On and Larry Sanders, but everything I watched after that just disappointed. I heard The Wire was awesome from several reliable sources, and hope to have time to watch that, but The Sopranos and Deadwood were not for me. They just didn't appeal. (Though I did give HBO's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency a chance, luckily, and it is wonderful.

Yup, Deadwood is another show I tried but just couldn't stick with. I figured since I was subscribing to HBO at the time, I might as well make it worth my while and watch all of their original series, but no.
Of course the two-season wonders Rome and Carnivale, and the one-season The Comeback I absolutely loved.

I agree with everything (except the loving football part ;) ). I've been meaning to actually watch a full episode since the first season. I liked the movie a lot, but I haven't seen more than ten combined minutes of the series. I love that it's a rare show that despite bad ratings keeps getting picked up simply because everyone who watches it loves it so much. And yet, for some reason, I just can't get myself interested enough to ever tune in. And when I do, and I don't even know why, no attempt to watch it has gotten me past about two minutes of the show before I'm distracted by something else.

I watched the first season of The Wire and liked it a lot. I watched a few episodes of the second season, missed a couple, watched another and had literally no idea what was going on. It's just one of those shows, and I should've just caught up, but I never did, and I never really watched the show again aside from the odd episode every now and then (which, as previously mentioned, isn't a good idea with this show.) Pretty much the same thing happened with Deadwood. I may someday try to get caught up with both.

I hear Desperate Housewives is pretty good this year, and I hear it was very good during the first season, but I refused to watch back then due to an admittedly irrational annoyance that it was taking attention away from Lost during their first seasons. Since then the show itself seemed kind of annoying to me, but I do like it when I watch, so I'm not quite sure why I don't watch it more often.

So I'm the only one staying away from LOST? A big chunk of my friends are dedicated in that "I'm busy on Wednesdays"way. I have watched two episodes during the first season and I was impressed with the diversity of the characters. But I just feel like the show asks for too much from me and I don't have the energy or the time for that.

I feel that way about most shows these days - when I was a kid you didn't have to watch every episode of a show just so you'd know what was going on and who everyone was. Yes, Beverly Hillbillies/Petticoat Junction/Green Acres had some cross-over episodes, but the nature of those shows meant that it didn't take a lot to figure out what was going on. I blame Dallas for starting this - night-time soaps became popular and it has now evolved to the point where even half-hour sit-coms reference back to prior episodes that you need to have watched to catch the jokes that are going on. Sorry TV exec's, your shows aren't appointment TV and I'll watch sports, History/Discovery, movie channels (or read a book) just to avoid watching shows that have a story line that last more than 2 episodes.

I didn't quit watching Lost because it was hard to keep track of (although the show's mytharc has gotten to ridiculous states), I quit because I started hating almost all the characters that hadn't been killed off. I realized I couldn't watch the show without filling with rage, and then remembered that I watch TV for entertainment, so I stopped and have never regretted it for more than an instant.

I should be watching The Mentalist. I fell in love with Simon Baker on The Guardian a few years ago and was really looking forward to seeing him in another series. Plus, I don't watch anything else on Tuesday at 9!

But the 2 or 3 times I tried to watch it -- I fell asleep way before the end.

Plus, while SB has a lovely smile -- he seems way tooooooo smiley on the new show! Really, Simon -- try another expression once in a while.

I should be watching Friday Night Lights, because I caught an episode a while back and liked it without knowing anything about anyone. But I just never bothered to watch again. It's one of those things I feel bad about, because I hear such good stuff.

People tell me Smallville is getting better this season, but I don't care. I feel it's too late to forgive Clark for being so lame.

Don't believe 'em. Trust me. Not only are they completely butchering Chloe's character, but they gave Lana superpowers.

I'm actually checking out this thread just to get ideas for something to Netflix this summer the way I did BSG last summer. I'm not sure if there are any current shows that have the critical acclaim, the fan fervor, and is early enough for me to want to catch up and watch going forward. (For example, I already watch Chuck, which fits all three of those things, whereas I don't watch 24, but it's so far into the series that it's no different from me picking a dead series I might want to see.)

I'm thinking I might check out the first couple seasons of Buffy; I might go for Arrested Development; and I might even just skip TV completely this summer and actually watch movies(!) in a highly unusual move for me.

Each season of 24 is fairly well self-contained. There may be occasional references to past seasons, but they're usually explained, if it's needed. However, you probably do want to watch all 24 eppisodes of a season.

The show I'd like to watch is Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I'm a huge fan of the books, of Jill Scott and Anoki Nani Rose. I saw a little bit, and felt they got the books Just Right. But it's on HBO, so I'll have to wait for NetFlix.

Speaking of HBO, JTMacc99, I would suggest True Blood and Fringe. TB is in the vampire/fantasy genre but I think it has enough good drama to be watcheable to even someone who is not into that. The first season DVDS were recently released and the second season starts June 14. Fringe is in its first season and could be described as x-files (conspiracy theories, weird unexplained phenomena) meets Alias (female lead, action, conspiracy theories).

As far as 24, it's pretty addicting, especially the first few seasons. I've heard of people have 3-day DVD binges because they had to see the next episode.

I guess I don't have to do this any more.

Mad Men. By the time I listened to the hype about this show it was 3(?) seasons in, so I thought I'd try and watch it. But the DVDs were way too expensive (esp. considering I didn't know if I'd even like it), and the waiting list at the library had like 68 people on it, so I just never bothered. Then they started airing it here in Australia on Thursday nights, but even though I liked it, I never had the time to watch it after the first episode. I suppose if I end up seeing it it'll be after the series ends.

I saw the first 4 or so episodes of Friday Night Lights and LOVED it, but couldn't get a hold of episode 5. Since I didn't want to skip ahead to 6...I just never watched it again. Probably the lamest reason ever, but there you go.

But I did just start watching The Wire, and it is awesome.

rowan_sjet, I too was going to return to watching Heroes, but now that BF's not actually coming back, it's out. That ship has sunk.

I want to like Burn Notice but every time I've tried, the overly smug voiceovers have annoyed me so much that I can't enjoy the rest of the show.

Lost. I stopped watching after the first season when I realized the flashbacks weren't just a first season thing. I thought it was gonna be a show about a group who would have to learn how to survive. The show's probably awesome, but I really wanted the premise I built up in my head, unfortunately.

check it. I had the same problem, but for me it was the wonky editing... how they would randomly freeze frame during action sequences. Solution? Booze. (Trust me) If you don't drink, then yeah...just, dont' even worry about it. You will be fine without it in your life.

I started watching it for Tricia Helfer because she's in Season two, so I turn on the Season Two premier, not knowing anything but a little more than his intro "I used to be a spy.." and about, say, five minutes in I just paused it and grabbed a beer. I only kept watching because of the partial reinforcement schedule of "when will I see Tricia Next" So between those two things, I'm dead serious when I tell you it's my favorite show. Well not my MOST favorite show, but it's for sure up there...top five. Easy.

But yeah. the VO's are just cardboard. But that went from "mand, this show is off and generally weird" to "oh Michael Westen you AWKWARD ADORABLE MAN YOU!"

I watched the first episode but that was it. Everyone was walking, walking, walking and talking, talking, talking. My dad and stepmother watched it and they don't watch (much) TV. Not sure when it was even one, but I may have been going to school (master's) at the time and just couldn't spare the time.

Lost - watched a few episodes, couldn't get into it.
24 - never watched an episode
ER - nope
The Wire....
It seems like I watch a lot of TV, but not a lot of "regular" TV.

For me, this category is "everything" I should be watching...whether for educational value, excellence in execution or whatever.
I tend to be a blatant escapism sort of viewer. I never watched BSG, for example, because all I ever heard about it was dark and miserable. That's my day job. When I come home and have a few hours to relax, I don't want it to be something that leaves me an emotional smoking crater.

Mad Men- Everyone I know loves it
True Blood- One of my best friends swears by it
Always Sunny in Philly- Loved it when it first aired just never got around to watching more episodes
The Wire- Might be a lost cause

In the age of DVD there's hardly ever such thing as a lost cause. All seasons of "The Wire" are available and although it's not 'easy' or traditionally entertaining, it's brilliantly done and not without its laughs. The acting is uniformly amazing - many of the actors have gone on to other series and films - and there's real attention paid to the ethnicities of Baltimore. And Jimmy McNulty's 'What the fuck did I do?' has become a semi-standard quote in some of my circles.

I also recommend The Wire, regardless of how long it has been since it ended.

One show that I would like to watch is Better Off Ted, but I have sworn off ABC since The Path to 9/11.

While I respect that, I do want to say that "Better Than Ted" is awesome and Portia di Rossi is partly responsble (along with the writers) for one of the most watchable sitcom characters in years.

I will probably try to find a way to watch it at some point. However, my methods may not do anything to prevent it from getting canceled.

I forgot to mention Deathnote. Everyone loves this shit and I even had it queued up online ready to play...maybe tomorrow.

Deathnote is awesome but I admit I've only seen 3 episodes, starting with the pilot, and they were all out of order. That is not the way to watch Deathnote because it's like watching 24 out of order. You are completely lost. I keep telling myself I'm going to sit down and watch it all the way through from beginning to end but I haven't yet. And I refuse to watch the live action movie until I've done this.

I second the cheers for Better Off Ted. It's hysterical, fast, funny.

I admit I should be watching Royal Pains. I hear it's funny and fun. The premise is hard for me to accept, but I'd be willing to get over it if not for the fact that the hero is an ER doctor. If he was anything else, I'd be fine. But the idea that an ER doctor has to resort to being a hotel doctor simply because he didn't treat a rich hospital donor first is so dumb I just can't accept it.

I tried watching a piece of an episode tonight, and he said the right things, just like an ER doctor would. But it made me want to find him, smack him in the face and say, "do you know how many jobs you could get elsewhere in this country? Do you realize NO ONE WOULD CARE about that stupid hospital benefactor in places where they are begging -- literally begging -- for residency-trained ER doctors? There are parts of this country that are starved for doctors and you're going to go screw around with rich hotel people. And mope about it, even?

That guy could get a job in so many damn places it's not funny. Even if he had committed malpractice, he could still get jobs.

I just can't get around it. I tried. Because I feel bad, I'm going to try Psych and probably Burn Notice, or maybe that White Collar show with the guy who looks like Bryce from Chuck. But I just can't watch this one, sorry.

Two things: Psych and Burn Notice are awesome and you should totally check them out, and the guy in White Collar actually is Matt Bomer, aka Bryce Larkin.

I should be watching Leverage. On paper, it's perfect for me, even despite my ambivalence toward Timothy Hutton. I love heist movies, it seems to have a really cool Burn Notice-esque episode formula, I like emsembles with good comedic chemsitry, but for some reason, I just have never made the time to check it out.

I agree with Leverage. I tried watching the first episode, and I liked everyone but the smug, self-righteous Timothy Hutton character. I figured that character would never get called on his crap though, and continue to aggravate me, so I decided the show was not worth my frustration.

Also, Mad Men. I think I would just spend the entire hour being offended and frustrated, and the Don Draper character just sounds appalling. Though I covet Joan's wardrobe.

I totally agree with this statement, minus the wardrobe. And yes, I mean that in every way possible.

Even though it's funny, quirky, and pretty much exactly in my wheelhouse, I didn't start watching Psych 'til this past summer, and now I'm pretty much hooked. The same with Mad Men, really, except I started watching this past winter, and it's not what I'd call "funny".

That's nothing new, really. I didn't start watching The Amazing Race 'til the fourth season, after it won the Emmy two years running.I third it. :)