TV shows - Stress test results - Part 1

I havn't had a TV for most of this year and for entertainment I watch TV shows on my laptop. I watched the entire episodes of season 2  & 3 of Lost in 3 days. I consider that an achievement, but unfortunately I cannot put things like that in my resume. So I am going to brag about it in my blog. Watching episodes back to back is in my opinion a kind of abusive stress test. That is when recurrent ideas in these shows become apparent and the jokes just aren't funny anymore. It really tests the script writer's variety.

Just remember that I am being magnanimous by sharing the results of my stress tests here. Who knows this might really turn someones life around. So here goes.

Lost
Pretty good series and probably the one with the highest ratings. Excellent production values and cast. Season 1 was very good. Each episode was like a block buster hollywood movie with many thrills and fresh ideas. But then seasons 2 just dragged on with nothing worth mentioning. In season 1, the viewers were clueless as to whether it was science fiction or fantasy. But protracting that theme made it boring. May be the writers themselves were clueless. The recurrent themes such as the impending strife between Jack and Locke, new characters appearing out of nowhere and disappearing at the same pace they came and the invincibility of the 'others' started annoying me. But towards the end of season 3 with many more plot revelations things got interesting. The ongoing season 4 sees a lot of new experiments, new characters and plot twists. Also they introduced the new format of putting something like subtitles to explain the plot intricacies (but sometimes they overdo it). They seem to have successfully catered to several audiences at once. Its got romance, violence, science fiction and spirituality. It even had a few court room scenes (US viewers love that).

All said I feel the initial excitement and intrigue is starting to wear down and I might not watch the forthcoming episodes. Nah.....who am I kidding?



Scrubs
Everyone likes to watch a show about losers. Scrubs is yet another of those shows. Although all the lead characters are doctors or medical interns, they have enough quirkiness to make people forget that fact. This show fared very poorly in the stress test. In fact I think they repeated a season 3 episode in season 5. The first season was entertaining but it got too repetitive and predictable after that.

I don't recommend it even for regular watching. Watching an episode once in a while is fine. And the acting isn't great either. I guess they ran out of ideas and resorted to gimmicks (like making poor Dr. Elliot get a boob job).



How I met your mother
Belongs to the same category as scrubs. Its about a bunch of friends who meet regularly at a bar (as opposed to a coffee shop). Few of the episodes are funny and there are a lot of crazy ideas by Barney, but the episodes all seem too familiar. I mean apart from a few highlights there is not much else to watch out for. And sometimes the idiosyncrasies of the characters are really annoying. It must be an attempt to make them more realistic but that is not the end effect. I used to like Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie howser) before I watched this show.



The Big Bang Theory
I would give this one five stars. Hmm...... I didn't give any stars to the others, did I? . But anyway this new series is very promising. I don't think theres any other series like it. It has geeks as heroes. Not as a tease like in revenge of the nerds, but really the lead characters are all geeks. A beautiful (but slightly dumb in a blond kind of way) Kaley Cuoco moves in next door to two Caltech physicists and they and their two friends begin to have new experiences. I guess I really like this one cause I identify with these characters very well. When I am not leonard or Sheldon I am Koothrappali.

The Indian geek Koothrappali is a very believable portrayal of a desi student in the US. Kudos to the writers for that. They deserve applause for not succumbing to employing the stereotype. A very entertaining show indeed. That said there have been only eight episodes of it so far and it might be presumptuous of me to give it such a high rating. But I enjoyed those eight very much.