Shows I wish I'd never seen so I could enjoy the pleasure of discovering them all over again (in no particular order).
1. Freaks & Geeks — Okay, this one's just starting to re-air on IFC. There is so much goodness in this show (the lame guidance counselor, "Come Sail Away," bitchy Busy Phillips, solar plexus-punching), but my favorite element was the delicious awkwardness of Jason Segel's mating ritual.
2. Buffy The Vampire Slayer — I actually don't need to have my memory wiped of this one. I can watch it whenever and wherever (provided my kid is nowhere near the TV). In college, this was the only show I actually even watched (too busy having a life for all the others). Enter pregnancy: My life slowed down A LOT and I rented and watched the series in its entirety. Now, if I could permanently delete Dawn, Drusilla and Tara...
3. The Wire (give or take Season 3) — Omar, Omar, Omar. Violent TV is not really my thing, but I made an exception for Snoop, The Barksdales, et al. Not for nothing, this reel waters the series down, but it's good for a little re-cap.
4. Arrested Development — It was too good to last (okay, if you skip the whole Charlize Theron storyline). I went around quoting that show so frequently — "Her?", "I blue myself!", "Marry me," "No touching!" — that I was nearly unintelligible to non-viewers. Linuses. HA!
5. Extras — I needed, like, prescription-strength deodorant and a box of tissue to watch this show. It made me so intoxicatingly uncomfortable.
6. Mr. Show with Bob and David — It's probably best if this one stays in my past, if I'm honest. It requires a lifestyle that's not exactly befitting a housewife and mother...
7. Chappelle's Show — Prince pancakes, Darkness! and The 5 o' clock Free Crack Giveaway. Laughing until you fart was always acceptable when this show was on.
8. Flight of the Conchords — Once upon a time, I came across Bret shuffling around a tiny L.A. neighborhood library. I made some weak-ass quip to him about wishing I had a camera-phone in my bag. Sigh. Good times.
I guess it's good that I've watched the show's two seasons multiple times; it makes my sing-alongs so much, um, "cooler"...yeah, that's the word I'll use.
9. Eastbound & Down — New episodes air in September. When I first came across this show, I couldn't believe it ever got made. Glad it did. Kenny Powers is so wrong, people.
Honorable Mention:
Degrassi Junior High — The original is what I'm talking about here, the one I used to fight my sister for the privilege of watching (we only had one TV to share and the Canadian series came on PBS at the same time as 21 Jumpstreet). These were accurately imperfect pre-teens with acne, split ends, jacked-up teeth and wardrobe repeats. None of the glossy wannabes you'll see on the show's modern-day incarnation. Thanks to Degrassi, I got my first televised inkling of the angst that I would later come to know and customize.
