Journeys Are My Diary

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TV Favourites with Freeview Play

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I was recently asked by Freeview Play to make a post about my favourite TV shows and while this sounds like a great thing to talk about (and it is!) how do you narrow it down to an actual list of favourites, when you love so many shows?

As most of you who read my blog will know, I started a small sewing business a few months ago and since then I’ve spent more time sat at the dining table, than I have in the lounge. For the first month I got really behind on all my shows, until I decided to use my iPad to catch up and then keep on top of all the shows I love. Not only that but I have been binge watching series’ like Grimm, Switched at Birth, Awkward, Constantine, Orphan Black and many more. I’ve realised that I like so many different types of genre and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a current series or an old one, I’m ready to give it a go!

So here are some of my favourites.

Currently running – At the moment I’m really into the various superhero series that seems to be popping up everywhere. I’m watching The Flash, Arrow and Supergirl (which are all DC) and though they’re not currently airing, I also love Marvel’s Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter and Daredevil. Other shows that I love and are currently airing are Once Upon a Time, Grimm (which as I mentioned I recently binge watched from series 1-4), Modern Family and Switched at Birth (another one I recently binged on 3 series of). There are of course a few other series that are between series and waiting to start, such as Game of Thrones, The 100, NCIS, Gotham and Vikings.

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British TV – while most of the afore mentioned shows are US ones that we either get a day after the US or wait weeks for, there are a few British shows I love. Casualty and Holby City air every week, while X Factor and I’m a Celebrity are only on this time of year. Orphan Black is also a British show that I recently fell in love with and I’m waiting for it to start again. Though most of these shows are my guilty pleasures, I’m not afraid to say I enjoy them. We’re also watching Release the Hounds which is a recent find but an enjoyable light-hearted watch.

Cancelled shows – over the years there have been a lot of cancelled shows that I’ve loved, including Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Doll House (all Joss Whedon!). However I recently watched one series of Constantine and really enjoyed it and I started on Defiance (though I’m not sure if I like it or not) and I found out that had been cancelled too. I also enjoyed both The Following and Revolution, both of which have been cancelled and a recent TimeHop post reminded me of a series called Flash Forward which was so good and such a shame it was cancelled. Finally I’m just now catching up a the last few series of Glee. I was a hardcore fan for the first few but it dropped off and while I still enjoyed it for light-hearted entertainment, I wasn’t bothered either. Now I search for TV to watch and have plenty of series to go at, so I’m just making my way through 4-6 with the hope of ticking it off the list.

There are so many more shows I could give a mention to but I would be here all day. I hope to find and enjoy even more over the weeks to come but I’ll be sure to let you know of what I find!

Week 10 – Monday Round-up

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Well it’s been a busy week, I can tell you! I can’t quite believe it’s gone past already! Anyway, here is my brief run down of the week – as I remember it!

Monday to Friday was school and work for the girls and Chris. I don’t honestly remember what I did most days but I’ll give it a bash when something sticks out! I do remember that I won a competition on Twitter on Monday, with BooHoo.com – getting me an outfit worth £100 that arrived later in the week. Otherwise I think it was probably just a day of housework and blogging. The girls had singing stars after school and so it was late when we all got home and had dinner. The girls and I made a Queen of Hearts bow before Lily had to go to bed and Megan and I worked on her cake. We’d started it on Sunday but knowing we only had a couple of hours each day, meant we had to do a little bit every day.

On Tuesday again the girls were at school and when they got home we had to fit in two Disney tasks as they were busy the following night. We watched The Princess Diaries and read some of the new Never Girls book, all before Lily went to bed. After she did, Megan and I worked on Lily’s cake again. Next day Chris was off work and the girls were going to their dad’s after school. This meant a really leisurely day because I didn’t really need to be anywhere at any particular time. I don’t remember an awful lot of what we did but I do know we were naughty and had takeaway for dinner, just before the kids came home! Again, after Lily was in bed, Megan and I worked on her cake. We got it finished and I was really proud of it!

Megan wrapped Lily’s presents and then headed to bed, while I also wrapped Lily’s presents and wrote her card. For once I felt pretty organised which is a nice change these days! Thursday was Lily’s birthday and she woke us all at 6.30am. We opened presents in bed before getting up and having breakfast, then getting ready for school. The girls were both going dressed up for World Book Day and they were also both going as Harry Potter characters. Megan was Luna Lovegood and had Ravenclaw robes, while Lily was Hermione Granger and had Gryffindor robes. From what I can gather they had a good day! After school I picked them both up and we went for dinner at Pizza Express. The food was delicious but the girls were tired and I wasn’t feeling very well, so there was definitely a disappointing vibe.

After that we went to Sainsbury’s though and the girls had their savings with them and I’d emptied out my weightloss savings box in order to change the money into dollars. We all did ours individually – Megan having the most, Lily next and then me (no surprise!). We then headed home and Nat arrived for a visit just a little while later. I let Lily stay up so she could open her present and then both girls went to bed. Nat stayed for quite a while but not too late as I was feeling a bit rough and was dying to go to sleep!

On Friday neither girl really wanted to go to school but I packed them off, knowing it was only one more day to get through. At midday I took Chris to work, called at Morrisons and then went to see my mum. She had been away in Israel for a week and a half so it was really nice to see her. I picked the girls up from school but we all had dinner with mum before heading home. When we got back there were quite a lot of parcels waiting for us which was pretty exciting. One of them was my BooHoo delivery which was my outfit worth £100. There was a dress, a handbag, some shoes and a shirt. The next day was Saturday and we had a trip to Leeds and X Factor planned, but in the morning we tidied the girls room and sorted out some more packing for Florida. Another parcel arrived from BooHoo which also went with my parcel from the day before, this time a pair of black trousers. Over lunch we watched Sleeping Beauty and then we got ready for going out. We finally left the house around 4pm but we needed to call at Tesco and also get some petrol. We had a fairly uneventful journey to Leeds and got there around 6pm. However traffic was horrendous and it took half an hour just to do 3 miles. We eventually parked, found McDonalds and had something to eat. Afterwards we made our way to First Direct Arena and settled in for the show.

At first I think it was a bit loud for the girls but they soon settled in and began enjoying themselves. Lily spent most of the second half stood up and dancing so that was lovely to see. It was 10pm by the time we left and we rushed back to the car as we’d been warned it could be a long wait afterwards. Unfortunately we didn’t miss the queues and instead sat still in the car for almost an hour, without even moving an inch. Finally at around 11pm we got out of the car park and headed home. I missed a few turnings and sadly put about 10 minutes on our journey and it was 12.20am before we got back. The girls went straight to bed and Chris and I sat for a while before we did too.

On Sunday we managed a bit of a lie-in but I also had to get up and get on as I was spending the day at mum’s. Chris needed to be at work for 12pm and as there are no trains back in time, I arranged to stay at mum’s and wait for him, while the girls went to bed there too. As such we needed everything to occupy us for the afternoon, along with school clothes etc for the next day. It was a pretty hectic morning making sure we had everything and then we needed to leave around 11.30am. Mum wasn’t in when we first got there but eventually she turned up and we had lunch. The afternoon was spent with Megan doing her homework and Megan and Lily making a Lego Rapunzel tower with mum – all while I dozed on the sofa. Later Lily had a bath while mum made dinner and then we all sat down to a roast chicken dinner. Afterwards Megan had a shower and I put Lily to bed. Megan went to bed about an hour later and it wasn’t long after that before I headed out to get Chris. Together we headed home, watched some TV together and then I blogged while he went on his Xbox. We eventually headed to bed at just gone 12am.

It’s been a good week but its gone by so fast. As of today it’s 23 days until we go to Florida and I honestly don’t even know where the time is going! This coming week and the next are going to be busy so I apologise in advance if my blog posts are lacking!

TV… to live for!

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So I don’t really watch an awful lot of TV. I watch more now than I used to, but still not heaps. To be honest in the daytime my TV is either off if the kids are at school, or on kids TV if they’re home. In an evening I either get caught up in surfing, blogging, gaming or something otherwise distracting, instead of turning on my TV.

Over the last few months I have been adding a lot of programs to the Never Miss on my Sky account. Programs I intended to watch from the beginning and never got around to it, or ones I lost track of at a certain series and would like to continue viewing. These included things like Doctor Who, House, Bones, 90210, Gossip Girl, Big Bang Theory etc. etc. However it also seems like all these programs started to be shown and repeated at the same time. My Sky box has filled and filled and I’ve had to get ruthless and delete programs, in order to make space for other ones to record. However two nights ago I just got mean! I deleted absolutely everything that didn’t make me go… “OMG I have to watch that now!” As such, I now have about 80% free on my Sky box, when previously I was struggling between 10-20%.

This lead me to thinking about this post I suppose. What is your MUST WATCH television? This is mine.

Game of Thrones

I was very late to the party with watching Game of Thrones. It was something I always wished I’d seen from the beginning, once people started talking about it, but I didn’t like the idea of picking it up mid second season. Over Christmas, both season one and two were shown on different channels at adjacent times. I set both to record, watching season one as often as I could (once a week usually, when it recorded) and then watching all of season two in the space of a week. Now its only three days until season three begins and I actually feel pretty excited! While I wouldn’t say its the best or even easiest TV show to get into and concentrate on (I totally get confused with everyone’s names) I would say it has a good (if not complicated at times) storyline, great actors and massively loveable (and HATEABLE) characters in it. Some of my favourite characters are definitely; Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, Robb Stark, Bronn and Arya Stark.

These t-shirts are floating around the internet, possibly to be sold at Tee Fury, but two are on sale at Tee Turtle. I have to admit I’d be tempted into all three, despite hating Joffrey.

Once Upon a Time

Again, another show I was late to the party on. Originally I didn’t even hear about it, then when I did – I didn’t pay much attention to what I was being told. However again over Christmas I saw it was on, two episodes a day, over a few weeks. I set it to record and the whole series built up. I finally got around to watching it about two weeks ago and I was addicted! For someone who is massively into Disney, loves fairytales, chick flicks and so on, this is the show for you. I can’t wait to get watching season two. So far there aren’t any characters I hate, even the people you are supposed to hate. My favourites however are; Mr Gold/Rumpelstiltskin – largely because its Robert Carlyle, Grumpy, August/Pinocchio and Sheriff Graham (insert sad face here). None of the female characters grab me massively, but that’s not to say they aren’t all well played and acted. I love its balance of past and present, its continual storyline at the same time as having stand alone episodes. All in all its just a very clever twist, for the people like me who love soppy fairy stories.

The Walking Dead

I have never ever been one for Zombies. Not TV shows, not movies. However again I do remember seeing trailers for this in the middle of season two and thinking it looked pretty good. On getting together with my current partner (who is a massive zombie fan), I agreed to watch The Walking Dead. We watched all of season one (he owned the DVD) in two nights, immediately followed by me insisting he purchased season two that night. We then watched season two over another two or three nights, setting the Sky+ for season three which was about to start. Since then we have watched the new episode every week and its now only got two episodes left till end of season.

I’ll be honest, its incredibly gory, but if you can look past that, its an amazing tv show. I would liken it to Lost really, in that the focus is actually on the survivors of the zombie apocalypse, rather than the zombies itself. There are loveable characters and hateable characters, and even those that start off in one category and work their way into another. I especially love Daryl Dixon. He has been from the start and still remains, my favourite character. I also love Maggie and Glenn, though not especially them as a couple. Rick I liked, but its wearing off (though the fact he’s in Love Actually probably saves him for me a little) and Hershel I wasn’t keen on but now he’s one of my favs. Most of the people who have died so far, I have to say…. Good. Definitely wasn’t a big fan of a few specific people, but I don’t want to add spoilers.

Doctor Who – Series 7, Part 2

Specific? Yes. Prior to Series 7, I hadn’t watched any of the more recent Doctor Who. Not Christopher Eccleston and not David Tenant. I had once caught an episode with David Tenant and just thought it was ridiculous, putting me off ever watching it again. However having a friend come to visit a lot towards the end of last year, and want to watch Doctor Who, I found myself getting into it – largely because of Matt Smith, but also because of Jenna-Louise Coleman. The first episode I watched was S7, E1. Jenna-Louise was amazing and I was totally addicted from day one. Episode 2 and 3 weren’t so great, dinosaurs in space and robot cowboys, but after that it picked up again. By episode 5 I was crying for the loss of characters I was invested in and looking forward to the Christmas special. Once again Jenna-Louise Coleman and Matt Smith sold the Christmas special to me and now I can’t wait for Series 7, Part 2 to begin again on Saturday. While I might have axed all previous series of Doctor Who from my Sky box, in my ruthless cut a few days ago, Doctor Who series 7, part 2 will remain firmly on my box, probably watched within a day or two of recording.

I even bought this t-shirt from the awesome Tee Fury site. I’ll be wearing it tomorrow in anticipation of Doctor Who!

Other “must-watch” TV, that I’m currently up to date with

I’ve added these below, largely owing to the fact that they are my secondary must-watch section. These are all shows that I keep up to date with, but don’t rush to watch. I usually watch them all within the week they record, but occasionally they build up to be more than one episode at a time to catch up on.

  • How I Met Your Mother
  • Glee
  • The Vampire Diaries
  • The Following
  • New Girl

On the whole I watch HIMYM and New Girl fairly quickly after they record, mostly because they are only 20 minute episodes. They are all shows I want to keep up to date with, but they aren’t always a priority.

Habit Shows

Some of you will know what I mean by Habit Shows. Those shows that you have watched for so long now, that you just continue to watch. For some people its soaps like Eastenders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Neighbours, Home & Away etc. For me however its Casualty, Holby City and NCIS. 

– Casualty is my longest watched TV show. Its easy to get in and out of, pick up and put down, but since series link was invented for the Sky box, I have to admit I’ve been recording it ever since. 
– Holby City (as you will know if you are familiar with the show) is a sort of spin-off/link-in of Casualty. I probably put this on to record about a year after I did Casualty, but it is now one of my staple records. 
Both these two shows I usually watch within the week they record, but at the most two weeks. For some reason when I don’t know what to watch, these are my go-tos.
– NCIS was an unexpected addition. I once caught a few episodes at the end of season 2, over a couple of days and really got into it. I then continued to watch it solidly through 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (thanks again series link!). Season 9 was set to start in the not too distant future so recorded that and pretty sure its onto Season 10 now. Since I first started watching NCIS, I managed to backtrack and catch majority of the episodes I’d missed in Season 1 and 2. There are now only about 3 episodes I haven’t seen, in the whole 10 series (other than what’s currently airing).

Other noteable mentions….

A new season of Touch starts this coming week. This is only its second season, but I enjoyed the first and so I have high hopes for the next one.

Revolution is a new show airing tonight for the first time. Its been on in the US for a while now and seems to be a hit, so I’m pretty excited to see how it will be. There are a few familiar faces in the cast, one of which I liked in Lost. The rough storyline sounds good so I suppose we’ll see!

Catfish. I’ve mentioned this before so I won’t go into it in detail, but I’ve really enjoyed this show. I think its possibly at an end now (the next episodes blurb sounds like a finale show) but I’ve loved watching it. I don’t really go in much for reality show but there was just something about this particular one that triggered my interest. I really hope they continue to do more episodes and series in the future.

So that about sums it up. 
What are your must-see shows? What would you catch up with if you had the time? 
What have you heard people rave about or would rave about yourself?