Part I: Current Shows 

Carley and I agreed that this week should be TV week as a nice break from the election/political craziness, so I’m following up her favorite current TV shows with my favorite current TV shows. In no particular order:

1. The Good Place (NBC)

First, I just have to agree with Carley about The Good Place. There are a few actors/actresses who I will watch anything they are in; Kristen Bell is one of them. Others include Matt Damon and Jennifer Aniston. The Good Place goes beyond Kristen Bell’s awesomeness; it is a delight to watch and it is very funny.

2. New Girl (Fox)

New Girl never fails to create laughs. The characters are well developed and the actors feed off of each other really well. The show is very well written and the cast has great comedic timing. It’s the kind of show where you wonder if some moments were improvised, because they just seem too perfect to be scripted. Whenever I need a mood pick-me-up New Girl does the trick.

3. Scorpion (CBS)

Scorpion is an action/crime drama about a group of geniuses who, because of their high IQs, are unable to relate to regular people. A lovable former waitress (Katherine McPhee) helps them relate to and talk to non-geniuses. Scorpion has the perfect mix of crime fighting and problem solving with character development and personal stories. It doesn’t feel like just another cop show. The characters are not stock characters. The characters are lovable yet flawed and their storylines are well developed. It’s fun to watch the geniuses work though what seem to be impossible problems, all while fighting, joking, and falling in love.

4. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is a late-night comedy news show which never disappoints. Samantha Bee is one of the only, if not the only, female late-night hosts and she is every bit as funny as her male counterparts. You go girl!  If you are conservative, you will not like Samantha Bee. Although if you are conservative, you probably stopped reading our blog a long time ago. When someone in the news/politics royally screws up, Samantha Bee calls them out on it. While she tries to inform you about the issues as much as possible during the show, she also always posts online extra reading from credible news sources about her topics. For example, when she did a segment about how it’s physically and legally impossible for an extremist to pose as a Syrian refugee, she posted extra reading  on her website about the refugee crisis, the process for becoming a refugee, and how to help refugees.

5. NCIS (CBS)

NCIS is a classic. While I didn’t start watching it when it started, I have since seen every episode. In many ways NCIS is a typical cop-drama, but it tends to go above and beyond in ways that other cop shows don’t. NCIS has unique and lovable characters. They also tend to do feel-good storylines. Yes, someone gets murdered in almost every episode, but a lot of times the NCIS team ends up making somebody’s life better or righting some injustice. For example, in a recent episode the team helped get an innocent man released from Guantanamo Bay, where he had been wrongly held for 12ish years.

~Lianna