For someone who doesn't watch a lot of TV -- maybe an hour a week -- I certainly have a lot of favorite shows. A lot of them date from when I was small and watched a lot more television, especially Sunday mornings, when my parents were sleeping.
The lineup was mostly TV Ontario shows, and the ones I liked best tended to be the ones original to TVO, like Read All About It and Artscape. But I also liked the recycled British imports like Jamie and the Magic Torch and Chorlton and the Wheelies, even though I sometimes had trouble determining what the characters were saying. I was also fond of Willo the Wisp, especially the cat, Carwash, and Edna the angry television set.
Other favorites from this period included Readalong, Fables from the Green Forest, a Japanese import, Cucumber, with Moose and Beaver (though my sister had nightmares about the episode with the inheritance plot where the old moose shows up in a barrel), Jeremy the Bear (who was an international star under other names, but was Jeremy to the children of southern Ontario where I lived). I still know all the words to the theme. Isn't that scary? This was one of the first shows I remember liking that had a plot arc. I think I was about three. I also really liked The Friendly Giant.
I also watched Math Patrol,, and of course, Seasame Street and the Muppets, who were a major influence later in life. I also avidly watched Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Dressup, Dr. Snuggles, Barbapapa and The Little Prince, which gave me an early taste both for animation and for fantastical/science fictional storylines.
When I got older, I discovered Happy Days which provided me with many happy hours,
both when I was under the age of ten, when I saw it in its original run, and later in high school, when I caught it in re-runs. In that period I was also fond of Family Ties, and The Cosby Show, which ran sequentially on Thursday nights.
That was really my period for sitcoms. I watched Growing Pains, Valerie (which became Valerie's Family, and then The Hogan Family in quick succession when the lead actress left the show.), and Who's the Boss.
Later, my tastes grew a little more interesting, I discovered Northern Exposure in its first
season, as well as reruns galore on YTV of Spatz, a sitcom about a diner, Red Dwarf, which had some of raunchiest humor on TV, without ever being offensive, Monty Python, Four on the Floor, the TV show spin-off of the movie Fame. I also started to catch Night Court in reruns. I also caught a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, babysitting for my sisters.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this I had time for DeGrassi Junior High and the sequel, DeGrassi High, which I followed with the same avidity as my classmates.
I also got into Star Trek: The Next Generation, and eventually Deep Space Nine. My sister was also a big enthusiast for these shows and kept me up to date when I missed an episode.
Around this time, I moved to the states, and my television watching habits fell off in favor of things like going out with boys and having a social life. I still watched Star Trek, and anything put out by Jim Henson, but I went to more movies and watched less TV.
In college I didn't have a lot of time, though after college, I did re-watch much of Northern Exposure, and I watched the entire run of Babylon Five. I began to follow Law and Order, but thankfully didn't become addicted (now there's a time sink).
I did get addicted to Ally McBeal, and I intermittently followed The Practice. Eventually I caught up on Buffy and Angel. Now I primarily watch things over bit torrent. I haven't lived in a household with cable in over six years, and I can't say I really miss it. We watch a lot of things on DVD after the seasons are complete. We're currently watching Battlestar Galactica, Cowboy BeBop, Jim Henson's The Storyteller (which is finally out on DVD) and a few others. We had a brief stint of being addicted to the Japanese live-action Sailor Moon, but after a full season and a TV movie, it ended.
My current favorite show is Veronica Mars, which is on summer hiatus, before coming back for what will hopefully be a successful third season.
