Ten Of The Best... Still-Airing TV Shows

Regardless of the last blog nearly getting completely ignored, I'm going to write another one and hope that this one actually gets some feedback, which would be nice.
And because there's so many TV shows out there, I'm going to choose my favourites from the many that are still airing. They're not necessarily chosen because they are creatively or artistically the best, but they're the best in their own way. Again, they are the best from my point of view, and it would be interesting if you guys either wrote your own favourites in the comments or in a separate blog, because yes, I do find your choices interesting. And again, there's no particular order, although there are some out of the ten that I prefer over the others.

So here's my list of Ten Of The Best... Still-Airing TV Shows

Psych

Ok, let's start with Psych. The story is basically this: Shawn Spencer's dad was a detective, and trained Shawn to be a good one too from a young age. But Shawn's not into all that, and has had at least 50 jobs until the police suspect him of being involved in criminal activities due to him always giving good tips from things he sees on the tv. To avoid being arrested Shawn pretends he's psychic and starts up a psychic detective agency named Psych (named because it's short for psychic and because he's making it up). Basically Shawn and best friend Gus then help the police solve crimes using Shawn's eidetic memory and heightened senses. But it's waay better than I make it sound. Psych is everything a good comedy/drama should be. It's incredibly hilarious, yet can easily bring seriousness to any situation which needs it. The cast are insanely talented, both in their comic timings and abilities, and their acting abilities too. I genuinely adore Psych, and have never actually met someone who has seen it and didn't like it. Even the HMV guy was like "Have you seen this, it's awesome!" when I bought season 2 the other day. And I agree with him: it's just truly awesome. Okay I agree that it can sometimes be a wee bit *too* silly, but it's an American tv show and their humour is sometimes more over the top than ours. But it rarely happens, and it's just so damn great all the rest of the time. Seriously, if you've never watched Psych: do it now! I've even got series 1 and 2 if you ask nicely. And if you're watching online Season 7 is currently airing in America.
To sum up it's awesomeness I'll leave you with this quote:

(Green is Shawn (left), and Red is Detective Lassiter (right))

The Almighty Johnsons

I don't really know how to describe this show without making it sound awful. I'll have a go though: Axl Johnson is told on his 21st birthday that his family are descended from the Norse Gods, and when they turn 21 the Gods are kind of reincarnated in their bodies; almost like the Gods are possessing them. Turns out Axl is Odin: the Zeus of the Norse Gods and he has to find Frigg, his Godly wife almost, in order for all the Gods to regain their full powers. Again, this show is funny, quirky, and damn good. Although fair warning: there is a lot of swearing, and some sex. But hey; welcome to New Zealand television. The actors are good, the storylines are good, all the characters are really well developed; the show is just all round great. The show is different to anything else on tv, and fully deserves more recognition than it gets. This is another one which I would definitely suggest watching; season 3 has just finished filming and should be on later this year, woo. 

Supernatural 

 Ah Supernatural. Funny story about how I got into this by the way: 23rd February 2009, I'm reading an issue of Shout (I know, I know) which was guest edited by Taylor Swift and on the first few pages there was a feature about the filming of a fifth season of a tv show: Supernatural. The feature was pretty basic; one page long, a couple of pictures and a few quotes from the actors, mainly about Jared Padalecki's farting in the car. I just thought 'farting, a cool car? Count me in', started episode 1 that day and by the end of the week I had bought the first 3 seasons (all that were on dvd) and a poster. I was in love. And that love has stayed with me. I still do a marathon on every anniversary since I started watching it, and if my mum moans at me I just blame it on Taylor Swift.
Supernatural follows two brothers Dean and Sam, who were raised as 'hunters' by their dad after their mum was killed by a demon. Basically they go on a massive road trip killing evil things. And it's awesome. Seriously awesome. So awesome that the CW has renewed it for a 9th season. Each individual episode is entertaining and exciting, while the season-long, and season 1-5 long arc storyline is extremely clever (ignore the Leviathans in season 7; Sera Gamble sucked as showrunner and they were stupid). The characters are great, and the relationships between them are believable. There's comedy, drama, emotion, tension, and some damn creepy episodes too. One so creepy I ended up with a stitch in my forehead after getting a fright and hitting a dvd remote into my face. Not one of my proudest moments by the way. But ah well, Supernatural! Also the first thing I do when I get a car is getting a bumper sticker with a quote from the pilot: "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole".
And I'll leave you with the best quote-picture I could find:

Arrow

Okay, before you judge me have you watched it? Didn't think so. Really I'm just a sucker for the superhero thing, but this show was surprisingly good. Like really surprisingly good. It's smart, witty, well executed, it's got good fighting scenes, good characters, and most importantly in a show about superheros it's actually believable. The story follows Oliver Queen who was stranded on Lian Yu (meaning purgatory), an island near China for 5 years after the family yacht sunk. He returns a changed man, sporting an arrow and trying to 'save his city', eventually creating the persona of the 'Hood', a vigilante who the viewers know will become Green Arrow. It sounds awful, as most tv shows do when I describe them, but due to good casting, good storylines and generally believability it's just a great show. Even Sarah, who generally hates superheros and only watched the pilot because "the guy n the poster is hot" now watches it because she likes it. Most of this does rest on Stephen Amell's shoulders, aka the guy in the poster. He not only has to play present day Oliver, he has to play Oliver as the Hood, Oliver as he pretends to be to his family, Island Oliver (who started a douche but is getting better) and plain old pre-Island Douchey Oliver. Which is quite impressive. And that counts for the rest of the show too.

Grimm

 I just love supernatural shows, and cop shows, so why not a supernatural/cop show?! I will admit that Grimm started season 1 as a bit of a hit or a miss, but it's gotten so much better. Like so much better. It's hard to explain in a summary, but it follows Nick, a Portland detective who finds out he's a 'Grimm'; a descendant of the story writers who can see Wesen, creatures all the fairy tales are based on. Grimms are like the cops/ evil beheaders of the Wesen society, so Nick basically gets his cop on and stops them. Which is an extremely simplified version. The mythology is so complex that I won't even begin to go into it here, just trust me in it's greatness. Although Juliette (Nick's girlfriend) is incredibly whiny and irritating, she seems to be getting closer to being tolerable so that's always a plus!
The character relationships are all great, the characters themselves are great, the twists are unexpected and exciting, the mythology is intriguing and the show is generally awesome.
I wanted to put a video of this exchange but couldn't find one, so I'm going to write this to show Monroe's awesomeness:
(In the previous episode Nick killed 4 Wesen sent to kill him; he gets a phone call telling him there's been a murder and he has to go)
Monroe: "What is it?"
Nick: "Quadruple homicide"
Monroe: "See, your life's not so bad"
Nick: "In the parking lot near the Deluxe Hotel"
Monroe: "Oh.. that quadruple homicide... at least you know who did it!"

New Girl

I don't really have much to say about New Girl except if you haven't seen it, what's wrong with you?!

It follows Jess, a quirky girl (basically every character Zooey Deschanel has ever played) who moves into an apartment with three guys and hilarity commences. Like seriously, this is one of the best comedies on tv right now. But it's also one of those rare comedies where every character is as well developed as the rest, every character gets their own storylines. The cast are excellent, both together and on their own. Things that shouldn't be funny and wouldn't be funny on any other show just are here. I can't choose any particular quote or anything, I can only say get your butt on to letmewatchthis.ch and look up New Girl.

Falling Skies

Steven Spielberg helped make it: you know it's gonna be good. Basically it starts after aliens have arrived and bombed everything and taken over, and the show follows the 2nd Massachusetts, one of the many group of survivors. It's just so great. The characters are good, the storylines are good, the aliens are completely different to anything seen before and are rather well done. Although set after an alien invasion the show is believable and realistic. There's not really much I can say about this, it's just great. I'm a sucker for alien shows, but so many of them fail. Falling Skies doesn't; even the aliens aren't really the aliens we think they are, they've been enslaved by a third alien race who use the enslaved aliens to do their dirty work. It's unexpected, it's exciting and it's damn good.

  The Vampire Diaries

Ignoring all the posters like the one on the right which is all 'look how sexy we are! Woo sexy good looking twenty/thirty-something actors pretending to be hot teenagers!', this is actually a good show. By looking at the posters the show seems to all be about the fact that the two vampire brothers are both in love with the human girl, but the actual plot is so much deeper than that. I mean, yes, there is a lot of soap-y relationship stuff but ignoring that the characters (even the supporting ones) are all amazingly well developed (excluding Bonnie: ugh Bonnie the eternal plot device), the plot moves a mile a minute and the episodes are dark and intriguing. From first glance this looks crappy, but like the other two CW shows on this list, it's so much more than what it seems.

Teen Wolf

I know I know, I'm embarrassed that this is here too. But as easy as this show is to slag off (and boy is it easy), it's actually rather good too. The bromances, the action scenes, the storylines, the mythology are all good. The exception in the action scenes being that odd scene in the first episode of season 2 where Scott runs on all fours and it's just awful...

But yes, I love this show, I know where I'll be on the morning of June 4th (FYI, I'll be on my laptop watching season 3).

I can't really describe why I love this show, I just do. Whether it's the awfully thick hair extensions (HI Alison)

That hair is sooo natural...

 

Whether it's Scott's constantly confused state:

I don't know, it's just great. And if you don't believe me, here's an article by Price Peterson on TV.com with the 18 best things from season 2: http://www.tv.com/news/the-18-best-things-about-teen-wolf-season-2-29446/
It's well worth a read. (and the above should be a link, if not just copy and paste.

After getting this far, I've realised that I can't actually decide on my tenth favourite. So here's a small list. Every show listed is because it's got good characters, it's witty, it's clever, the plotlines are good and you don't see the twists coming, and you should watch them all, as they're my joint tenth favourite shows:
Castle,
White Collar,
Suits,
Big Bang Theory


Also, Russell Howard's Good News isn't on this list because it's not exactly a serialised tv show, and doesn't feature plots or characters. Plus everyone knows how awesome it is.

Again, comment so I actually know this is getting read, and write what you either think of my choices, or what your own choices are.
Also, in case anyone uses 1channel.ch, DON'T. It was hijacked, so use letmewatchthis.ch which is basically the same site on a different domain name.
Caitlin out, beam me up Scotty!