What I've Finished Watching

Image via Penna Powers

Shocking, I know. I actually finished some television shows. Three in fact...technically four since I have one season left of the last show on the list which is extremely good going for me.

I still have more than twenty shows that I'm mid-way through watching, but at least this is a start.

Image via ABC

Whatever happened to predictability? I don't know, but I want it back. However cheesy this show may have been at points, I'm glad it's impacted me as much as it did. I'm a sap for anything remotely family-orientated or romantic; Full House had both. It dealt with extremely sensitive issues from eating disorders to peer pressure and showed men of the 90s that it was more than okay to be a caring father or father figure; that dads are equally as capable of bringing up their children.

I miss it, I really do. I know I can always go back and watch episodes, but nothing beats watching it the first time around. I would happily sit down and binge the whole show again, just to witness Jesse and Michelle's relationship so I can implode from soppy feels

  

  

Image via Netflix

Fuller House was originally the catalyst for me to watch Full House in the first place. I probably would have watched Full House eventually, but everyone was raving about the 90s nostalgia when Netflix first announced it that I didn't want to be left behind. 

When the first trailer came around, I had mixed opinions. I hadn't seen Full House at this point, so being thrust with the amount of cringe-worthy 90s references and questionable acting (again) was a bit of a turn off. But that's what the original show was all about. That cringe-worthy-ness eventually becomes the central fun of the show, which I hadn't realized until I'd finished Full House. 

The way they went around creating this reimmersion into the Tanner family was pretty innovative, too. It's set in the same old familiar house, instead this time around D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron Bure) suddenly becomes a widow after her husband Tommy is killed from his duties as a firefighter. She is now a single mother to three young boys, moving back into her childhood home so that her father Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), uncle Jesse (John Stamos), aunt Rebecca (Lori Loughlin) and comedian Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) can offer their support and care. They do all this in the house where they raised D.J. and her two younger sisters, Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and Michelle (Marty-Kate and Ashely Olsen) after their mother died in a car accident. 

D.J. eventually tries to face raising her boys on her own, but soon accepts Stephanie and her best friend Kimmy's (Andrea Barber) request to help her raise her three sons, 13-year-old Jackson (Michael Campion), 7-year-old Max (Elias Harger) and baby Tommy Jr. (Dashiell & Fox Messitt). Kimmy's teenage daughter Ramona (Ashely Liao) also moves in to begrudgingly help out. 

Even though the Olsen twins didn't return, it was refreshing to see all the familiar faces mixed with the new, and gave me something to help slowly come down from the original Full House high, especially since there's a second season in the works.

Image via Netflix

I hate to be one of those people, but fuck it. I watched and finished Stranger Things before it was cool to do so. Not that I'm against everyone watching it, but it's one of those niche things that only a handful of people watch because of it's attention to detail and the references it provides to a number of 'nerdy' and 'geeky' subcultures. 

I won't dwell on the show here, that's for another time. To sum it up, I am head over heels in love with it and everything it has to offer; whether its from its nods to Spielberg and King to its overall combined X-Files and Twin Peaks aesthetic, it's a show that I didn't know I was waiting for, and I'm glad it's here. 

I'm all for Stranger Things blowing up the way that it has, because in the long run it means that Netflix will keep invested in the show. The sudden popularity reminds me of an interview with Dave Grohl. He talks about how Nirvana suddenly became popular, specifically about how the atmosphere of gigs changed; Nirvana went from playing clubs to "cool, underground hipster people" to jocks. He goes on to say, "Oh my God, there's jocks here. That's kinda strange. What, they like our music? You used to kick my fucking ass for listening to this music!"

This all probably seems really trivial and stuck up to say, but being an adult that went through years of being made fun of and bullied in her teenage years doesn't bode well for holding grudges. You attach yourself to these shows and bands to help yourself get through it all, then the people that made your life hell attach themselves to it because it's suddenly 'cool' now...it's disheartening. 

But I  l o v e  Stranger Things, no matter what. Let's just make that clear. This show means everything to me right now. 

Also, Jim Hopper is both a fictional version of me and my kinda man. You go, Jim. 

Image via Fox

Ah, House. A show that I feel like I've been watching forever, since I've grown accustom to television shows not having 22-24 episodes in a season, all running for at least 45 minutes. Binge watching eight of these seasons is hard for me, especially if a show can't keep my attention for that long. The one and only show like this that I've been able to watch and not get bored of is X-Files. 

I have a love-hate relationship with House. The only reason I've stuck with it this long is a) I can't not finish something b) I like watching medical related things and c) Hugh Laurie. Thank GOD for Laurie because he really does run this show (as the title would suggest, since, ya know, he's House). 

The rest of the characters really, really get on my nerves. Except Thirteen and Wilson, they're my baes. But Chase, Foreman, Cameron, Taub and (sometimes) Cuddy get so grating and annoying, mainly from the sheer amount of complaining they all fit in to each and every episode. I can see why House is the way he is. Hell, I'd be the pessimistic, sarcastic unlovable asshole that he is if they were my medical team. 

Technically I'm not finished with this show yet, I'm just about to watch the last episode of season seven. But with one season to go in the trial and tribulations of watching this series for so long, I'm finally on the home stretch. 

I've basically watched House for (nearly) eight, long seasons because I love House, Thirteen and Wilson, and I love trying to solve the medical cases. I should get an award. Not only for sticking with this show for so long, but for how I haven't contracted Lupus yet from the sheer number of times that it's mentioned. 

IT'S NEVER LUPUS.