What I Watch Today

It might surprise you to know I don’t spend my days rewatching the teen dramas. So, what do I watch? That may surprise you too.

In the SOAPnet era, I watched hours of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “The O.C.,” and “One Tree Hill” each day — and I was in heaven. Following the channel’s demise, I relied on ABC Family / Freeform and then Pop TV for my teen drama syndication needs. With Pop, however, now only showing “Beverly Hills, 90210” in the overnight hours or not at all, you probably think I’m relying on my DVDs to get my fix.

Nope. All of my DVDs are at my parents’ house in New York and I’ve never been big on watching them to begin with. There is a satisfaction I get in watching “live TV,” even the same episodes again and again, that I just don’t feel with the DVDs.

So, apart from getting sucked down YouTube rabbit holes, my screen time these days is pretty teen drama-free. But, boy, is my television still getting a workout! Since early March, when I began working from home due to the pandemic, it’s been turned on to CNN for hours on end. But there are a handful of shows that are must-see viewing for me… even if I DVR them and watch the next day.

Scripted Shows I Watch

• “This Is Us”

• “A Million Little Things”

• “Manifest”

• “Snowpiercer”

Unscripted Shows I Watch

• “Survivor”

• “The Bachelor” / “The Bachelorette”

• “MasterChef”

Sometimes also in the mix are “Dancing with the Stars” and various Food Network shows. I also watched the last season of “The Sinner” and the first season of “Love, Victor.” But I read about far more series than I actually watch, from “Blue Bloods” and “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Real Housewives” and “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

Of course, some of the shows I’ve loved in the last two decades have come and gone: “Everwood,” “Life Unexpected,” “Revenge,” “Nashville,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Prison Break,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Blindspot,” “Veronica Mars,” “New Girl,” “Friends,” “Sex and the City.” You already know my love for “Normal People.”

Some I was very late to the party on: I watched the “Lost” pilot on the night of the series finale. I binged all of “Mad About You” in 2019. “Clique” was a fast binge that same year.

And then there are the shows that are on my “I still really need to watch this” list: “Friday Night Lights,” “Glee,” “The West Wing,” “Being Mary Jane,” “The Man in the High Castle,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Orphan Black,” “Younger”… and “Fuller House.”

Now it’s your turn: I’d love to know what you watch today and what your favorite shows of the last 20 years are!

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