I totally remember the first TV show marathon I ever watched.
It was “The Real World.” Season 1. Eric and Julie flirted a lot. The whole cast was pretty much cute as a button, and with the exception of a few lively arguments, everybody behaved.
I quit watching “The Real World” somewhere around the second New York season (oh, it got REAL real about that time), but I never lost my love for the TV marathon. Give me back-to-back episodes of a TV show in which I am even remotely interested, and I will fire up the DVR lickety-split. Maybe it’s because I tend to err on the side of impatient, but I adore the option of watching episodes of a show one right after the other. IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.
When D and I were first married, I was always on the look-out for a Law & Order marathon. Or a Road Rules marathon (remember Road Rules? I LOVED IT). There was even one time when the Biography Channel or A&E or somebody had a Columbo marathon, and I was ALL OVER IT. Nothing like a detective show from the 1970s to make a weekend extra special, you know?
After we bought our first house, I loved the home improvement shows on BBC America, and a marathon of Changing Rooms and/or Ground Force was always a treat. Then I discovered the joy of a House Hunters marathon – back in the days when they didn’t show the prices and the people looking for a house always picked the third one.
(That reminds me: I miss Suzanne Whang.)
(I also miss Michael Payne, the man who used to host Designing for the Sexes. I mean, do y’all remember how INCREDIBLY THRILLED he would be about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING? He was a delight.)
Our TV marathon habits haven’t changed much over the last few years. We’ve plowed through all the seasons of Friday Night Lights thanks to Netflix, and when we discovered the first season of Veronica Mars a few years ago, we would watch three or four episodes a night on DVD.
And listen. If I happen to catch a marathon of a cooking show? Like Top Chef or Chopped or The Next Food Network Star? Oh my word. THIS WORLD CANNOT CONTAIN MY JOY.
So all that to say: we love us a good TV show marathon in this house. And when I got home from Louisville and saw that I had fourteen (FOURTEEN!) episodes of Say Yes To The Dress on the DVR, I wanted to dance a little jig in a fitting room at Kleinfeld’s. Now granted, D isn’t the least bit interested in a TV show about wedding dresses, so I’m running this particular marathon alone. I’m not even halfway through all the episodes, but I’ve had the best time trying to pinpoint what kind of dress each bride is going to pick and being shocked by how much they’re willing to spend and seeing the expressions on their faces when they finally find “the one.”
It’s no Friday Night Lights, mind you, but it’ll do in a pinch.
So what about you? Any shows you’d recommend for a good marathon? Any shows you wouldn’t? Anything you’re hoping to catch sometime soon?
I’m all ears. Or eyes. Or ears and eyes. Or whatever is necessary in order to solidify some TV-watching goals.
I have no idea why, but I recently borrowed all the “Twin Peaks” episodes from the library and watched a joyful marathon featuring cherry pie and the Log Lady. I never watched that show in college and found it to be delightfully quirky.
I’m a sucker for anything on USA… I especially love White Collar (because it’s creative) and In Plain Sight (because she’s sarcastic and I love it). I’m still a sucker for Law & Order marathons, even though I’ve seen every single episode multiple times. Oh, and Glee. Because who doesn’t subconsciously start singing along to all of the great tunes on there? I’m a new Glee fan. In fact, I watched all of Season 1 & Season 2 in less than 3 days to get caught up for the finale of the second season…because I wasn’t busy doing 2 Maymesters or anything… Obviously I have my priorities in exactly the right order. :)
I watched 24, Alias, and Lost by the whole season on DVD. It was so awesome! I had a hard time stopping any of them to go to bed. Oh, the sleep that was lost.
Have you tried Prison Break? All the seasons are available on Netflix Instant View, but Season 1 is the best to be sure. It’s a great one to watch with the hubby as well :)
If you ever get into a drama-y mood, ’24’ is amazing. You won’t want to put the remote down. You won’t want to get out of your jammies. You won’t want to leave the comfort of your couch. You will forget that you need to pee. You will not have any sort of signal that says you are hungry. You will, however, get annoyed when you have to get up to change the disk. Load. Faster. You wake up thinking about Jack Bauer and wondering what in the world could possibly happen next. It is the best show I have ever seen. Quite marathon-worthy if I do say so myself!
Right now I’m in the middle of Season 6 . . . yes, I said Season 6 of the BBC series MI-5. All available on instant play on Netflix. It’s like a dream come true!!!!
I got hooked on Top Chef thanks to a marathon. I had never watched it before, and I was sick when my daughter was a baby. She was old enough to sit but not old enough to crawl, so she just played happily on the floor while I lay on the couch handing her toys and interacting as much as I could and then picking her up to nurse and letting her snooze on me…all while watching a Top Chef marathon that made me go “Dear God! What have I been missing?!” Love that show:)
“Little Men” is the sweetest show. It’s on Netflix instant watch. One of my favorites of all time. It’s a lot like “Little House,” “Dr. Quinn,” and “Avonlea.” I just about died when I found it on instant watch. It is just so sweet and good and makes me feel all warm inside. If they would put the whole series on DVD for me to buy, I’d be the happiest person in Texas.
“Firefly” is also on Netflix instant watch, and it is another one of my all time favorites.
BBC’s “Robin Hood” is fun and clean if you like the legend. The first season is kind of lame at times in acting and fight sequences, but it improves.
I’m marathoning through “Alias” for the third time. Just started season 5. Love. It. Forever.
I love the USA shows, too. If you haven’t before, you MUST watch Psych. The first seasons are on watch-it-now and it’s still on the air. They solve crimes but it is also hilarious. Don’t get thrown off by the title, he’s just super-observant.
I’ve also been watching old sit-coms I’ve seen before but have forgotten the details of. I just ran through all of NewsRadio on Netflix w-i-n. I think that is perfect that watch it now becomes WIN. I have so many things in my queue… I love British…well, almost anything. You have to be careful because they allow a lot more naughty words than we do, but their detective series can’t be beat. I watched all of Wire in the Blood. Awesome. For a more tame experience, I think they still have All Creatures Great and Small on ‘WIN’ but I’m not certain.
I do NOT like it when they take things off of WIN before I get around to watching them! And yes, I watch a LOT of tv. I work from home and can multi-task. :-)
Glad to see this and I’ll be checking back for recommendations. I’m about to have a little surgery and will be spending THREE WHOLE DAYS on the sofa!!!
I think my youngest has a bed time too late in the evening. When he goes to bed and I start to watch something interesting I ALWAYS fall asleep. How do you do it? Maybe the fact that I don’t have a DVR might add to it, too. So not many marathons unless it’s something my 9yo can watch. By the way, he hates SYTTD and I do watch that one during the daylight hours. ;)
I was at my parents’ house on Sunday and they don’t have any kind of cable, etc. They do have something called MeTV which I had never seen before. I spent hours rocking a sleeping grandbaby and watching old TV shows. I hadn’t seen Family Affair in ages and there it was with its bejeweled opening and snazzy music and Brian Keith. I love Brian Keith. Only this one was one of the first and didn’t have Sebastian Cabot as Mr. French. I never knew…
Oh, and I highly recommend Andy Griffith Show marathons. I do.
Gilmore Girls I I’m flying solo and NCIS with the Hubs!
Yay, I see someone suggested Andy Griffith and Firefly. Those are two of my faves. I recently did the marathon of Friday Night Lights on Netflix too. Loved it. Try Drop Dead Diva. I have seen the first season and it is really cute. The second season is in my dvd queue right now.
I am in Carianne and Wendy’s boat. My husband and I watched a whole season of 24 in three nights. We would begin watching at 5pm and stay up to 1 am and we are NOT night owls. However, one day he looked at me and asked why didn’t we begin watching 24 when it first came out? Our children were not old enough for the mature theme of the show. 24 is quite addictive and Keith Sutherland isn’t hard on the eyes either.
As far as other shows that my 17 year old daughter and I can sit for hours and hours with the DVR are the Waltons and Sue Thomas, FBI. We love the Waltons so much and wish we could be neighbors with them. How can anyone not want to sit at the long kitchen table and ask Oliva for advice on any subject? In Sue Thomas, we anxiously await to see if Sue and Jack will ever begin dating. Mind you, we have seen the entire season several times and we still get enthralled by their relationship.
On a side note, my family went to see Super 8 a few night ago. The only reason why I wanted to see it was to see Coach Taylor on the big screen. Great movie, very intense, filled with amazing visual effects, but filled with lots of language.
The first (and, sadly, only) season of “Firefly.” It’s a space-western, and that premise works. Also the cast is awesome, including Nathan Fillion (now Castle), Adam Baldwin (Casey on “Chuck”), Summer Glau (“Sarah Connor Chronicles”) and some others. Well-acted, and just a fun play on the old western. And, when you finish the series, look for the movie they made afterward, “Serenity,” which solves the Reevers question… Too much for a young boy, I would think, but good for the parentals…
One more show…Monk. I may never forget Monk changing the diaper of a baby and calling 911 because it was a number 2 diaper. As far as he was concerned, that was an emergency.
I will cast another vote for White Collar! It’s only available via DVDs on Netflix, but you won’t be disappointed. It makes a great marathon and is an easy sell for my man so maybe your hubby will go for it too!
My senior year of college I sat next to one of the people from Real World Cancun in sociology. Bronne. I had never watched one episode of Real World because we don’t have cable at my house, but you better believe I went right home from that first sociology class and fired up mtv.com to watch every last episode of RWC. It was fascinating. And Bronne was just as funny in person. It was my brush with fame.
I’ll be reading these comments for my next marathon. I blame you and BigMama for my last one…Friday Night Lights. I watched all 5 seasons between Memorial Day and this past Saturday night (June 11). Yes, count em’ – that’s 15 days. (I work full-time and the in-between weekend I was out of town for a wedding!!). Last Saturday, I stayed up till 3am determined to finish season 5…but still was up for 8:30 early church. Sometimes this obsessive personality can become a hindrance to sleep :)
Oh – and I loved Real World in the beginning and Road Rules, too. I jumped on the reality television bandwagon early…and have never jumped off.
Still love to drag all my West Wing dvds out from time to time. And the husband has turned me on to Matlock – The Hallmark Channel will occassionally have a marathon of these on Sundays that we get into.
There’s something that’s relatively innocent about Say Yes to the Dress that’s refreshing. No drama, bad language or sexual innuendos. Just happy people looking for pretty wedding dresses. (Although some are prettier than others!)
We marathoned Veronica Mars, too! But after a couple of episodes of the second season, we stopped. It definitely jumped the shark, but the first season was awesome.
We watched about 4 seasons of Psych in a few months time frame. Currently, we watch a few episodes of Scrubs a night, too. It is hand down the best comedy on TV right now to us. Oh and I really like Kitchen Nightmares.
Oh Road Rules and to be in my 20’s again. . . loved that show!
West Wing marathon is good, The Office, Senfeild or honestly can I show my major shallowness and say any of the Housewives? Never Real but for some reason I can’t get enough of them. . .
That was supposed to be Psych that is the best, Scrubs is no longer running.
I too have you and Big Mama to thank for my love of Friday Night Lights. Sadly, I only have 3 more episodes of the final season left. I want to see them quickly and yet I want to drag them out… Having said that, my college age daughter is trying to get me sucked into Bones. I think all seasons are on netflix except for the last one and this current season. You have to be into the forensic anthropologist/FBI agent relationship/ who done it.
Prison Break!! It’s like 24 but with much, much better eye candy! My husband and I just started watching and are slowly making our way through season1. I love that it’s something we can do together.
Gilmore Girls is the best flying solo marathon a girl can have, I think. I have 3 young sons, but often think how fun it would be to introduce a daughter to that show and watch together in marathon mode.
I have an insane love of a TV show marathon! About a year ago there was a marathon of I Love Lucy…all of the European trip episodes. Ahhhh…..my girls and I spent hours that week watching them! I’m currently on the Gilmore Girls season 5, and Family Ties on Netflix. Love Netflix for the full seasons of shows!
Nothing better than a TV marathon…with no commercials!
I love, love, loved Kit from Road Rules. Watched Real World in a ‘marathon’, too at the beach one time with friends and felt guilty for missing the sun, but was in college and needed a vegged out rest. “Do you want to see Puck at a 10?” Haven’t seen one since, but loved that group.
The best thing I have watched lately is Shania Twain’s ‘Why Not?’ on OWN. I am not a big Oprah fan, nor do I like country music. However, she is so real and honest and mesmerizing I just can not look away. Where did I start the journey to watch the episodes? At the beach as a 38 year old Mom who needed to veg after slathering sunscreen and collecting shells all day with my peeps. It was a great way to unwind. Interested to hear what you think about the show?
I am caught up in Mob Wives and Real Housewives of New Jersey this year. They are like train wrecks that I can’t look away from!
I’m currently in the middle of season 3 of the Cosby Show via Netflix instant play. So good! Next up is Family Ties and then Wings. How did we live without Netflix?!
Angie and Amy in PA – SHOUT OUT for The West Wing. I once had the entire Season 7 set FROM THE LIBRARY for over a year. Can you believe the late charge was the low price of $18?
And has no one mentioned Grey’s Anatomy? Seasons 1 & 2 are especially great for the marathon watching experience.
I get sucked in to America’s Next Top Model marathons. It has gotten me through several ironing 10K’s. If you never watched Alias, I would recommend that. I got into it after watching the Season 1 marathon before they began airing season 2. Then I never wanted to miss an episode. You’ll love Sydney (Jennifer Garner).
I love, love, love the show Parenthood!
I have watched all 14 seasons of ER on DVD at home. I’m waiting for season 15 to come out this summer so I can say I’ve seen every single episode!
We’ve also found Mad About You at the library. We’ve finished seasons 1 and 2. We don’t do the fancy netflix thing, so we’re reliant on the library for our old tv shows. :)
Well, don’t hate me, but I just got my netflix , and I am about to watch the first season of “Rhoda” – I cannot wait ! I love her !
Hands down: I Love Lucy! Even though I own every single episode on DVD, I still have to watch 1 or 2 or 7 if there’s a marathon on TV!
My boyfriend and I just finished watching all of the avialable seasons of Chuck! It was great. Last summer I ran a Friday Night Lights marathon by myself and I loved it. Now I just wait eagerly for the newest episode on Friday nights. I’ll be sad when it is all over.
We are plowing through Dallas DVDs by the season right now. That makeup, that hair, there was just nothing better. It has been so long (I was a CHILD when I watched it) that I had even forgotten just who it was that had shot JR.
And if I ever run across a Three’s Company marathon on TV, I do not move from the sofa. Has there ever been anyone funnier than Jack Tripper? I think not.
I enjoyed watching Third Watch. It was a show about firemen. I also miss Wings. My husband and I would watch it together each week before we got married and the first two years of our marriage. The cab driver was hilarious!
Hubs and I are going through How I Met Your Mother on DVD right now. Oh, Neil Patrick Harris!!!!! This is a great series that is fun to share with the hubby.
Freaks and Geeks is an ADORABLE series that only survived for one season before it was cancelled. Definitely check it out.
And I think we’re about to start Friday Night Lights, inspired by you, of course.
Right now I am totally into The Unit. I am so bummed because I missed recording it to my DVR yesterday – 6 whole episodes! I am sure I will be able to catch it again. Most of the time it is ok for my kids. Since my husband is in the Army, they enjoy it and love asking “can that really happen?”
And what is the deal with those 26.2 stickers? I see them alot but not on a car of someone I know.
Oh, how I loved Real World and Road Rules way back when. Yours truely was a canidate for Real World 3 in San Fran! I still have my rejection letter!!
My suggestion? Army Wives. I’ve been watching it since the beginning. A little predictable, but still worth a watch.
Please tell me you watch Psych. It’s lighthearted and the dialogue is so witty. I think you’d love it. It’s the perfect show to watch marathon-style.
I love a good marathon as well. We have limited cable so me and some Netflix pull some great marathons! My most recent craze was Army Wives. I watched the first 3 episodes and I was hooked!! I’ve also been hooked on Deadliest Catch, Cake Boss, The Duggars and Man vs. Food. We have the first few seasons Moonlighting on DVD, so when I want to “kick it old school” I blow through a few of those (I love me some David and Maddie). And I can never resist a Golden Girls or Everybody Loves Raymond marathon. After reading this, I believe I watch too much TV. I need to find a hobby!
Friends, of course! Mostly because I say all the dialogue along with them. With the kids, we’ll do Cake Boss or Duggars. Recently got hooked on a House marathon too–very quirky. I keep hearing good stuff about Firefly, and that’s on my Netflix cue.
I love me some BBC Doc Martin. Dry British humor at it’s best!
I loved Road Rules. LOVED IT. Probably the reason I would jump in an RV and ride across the country rightthissecond if given the chance. My favorite season was the one where they were in Mexico and found the Chihuahua and named him Menudo.
Wonder if HGTV would consider a Road Rules-esque show, featuring a bunch of late 30 something moms, who could travel across the country in an RV while discussing casseroles, shoes, children, interior decorating on a flea market budget, and hair products? Sounds like an AWARD WINNER to me….
NCIS is my favorite. I call them my alphabet shows. Love all the SUV’s, Ci’s and also Criminal Minds.
Alias for sure!! My husband and I got hooked on it and would stay up late many of nights to watch “just one more episode”. Another one I loved was Felicity. I got it from my local library. Takes me back to my college days!
I LOVE Netflix instant view! I add my recommendations for Psych and Drop Dead Diva. DDD Season 1 is on Netflix and Ps2 is all on lifetime.com for now. I watched all 5 seasons of Army Wives on instant view, too. I am about due for a Gilmore Girls marathon, but I have all 7 seasons on DVD. Hmm…mayhaps I need a new hobby…
When I lost my husband two years ago I did not seem to have the brain power to remember what day/time regular shows came on TV. One of my friends suggested watching Netflix seasons of shows: continuity was my friend. I watched all the seasons of Ally McBeal, Gilmore Girls and Friday Night Lights. (Come back, Tim Riggins!) This summer I’m trying Parenthood and The Big Bang Theory. (A real time Top Chef marathon carried my family through an entire Thanksgiving weekend a few years ago. So many things you can do with octopi!)
Definitely Dexter! I started watching it earlier this year and I don’t think I left my house for a whole weekend. I also did a mini Law and Order run last weekend, which was quite nice.
I think you should get that 26.2 sticker now.
24 24 24 24! Lots of great comments about it already, just going to second, third, fourth, whatever. Best marathon show ever!
I either find TLC, Bravo, or USA for a good marathon. You can always rely on them on a Saturday/Sunday for TV watching. I love to watch the “Real Housewives” shows.
Gilmore Girls, definitely Gilmore Girls. Makes my heart happy. Arrested Development is hilarious, and Lost is definitely marathon-worthy.
Gilmore Girls! Monk! House! I heart Netflix. And also my Wii, without which Netflix instant play would be impossible (for me)!
I believe this might match the delight I felt when I awoke this morning to ELEVEN (!!) episodes of L&O SVU on my DVR.
Army Wives!!!! I work in an elementary school and am currently on summer break and needed something to watch after my kids went to bed…along came Army Wives on Netflix. I tend to watch 3-4 episodes a night and am also dreading the day when I get to the last episode!!
I loved the BBC What not to wear with Trinny and Susannah and you are what you eat with Gillian McKeith though I don’t think those are on anymore. I used to love Real Worl d and Road Rules, it’s to much now. And in that same breath I have to say I love the Real Housewives of Orange County. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But I love the Duggars and anything HGTV those might be better for you to watch.
Northern Exposure. hands down my favorite show ever. and I live in Alaska now too!
Ok, I read all the comments and I’m weird. I’ve gotten hooked on Auction Hunters, Storage Wars, American Pickers, anything like that. Andy Griffith of course, I love Lucy, Frasier. Swamp People is a new one to me, so we dvr’d and watched them like a marathon. Even thought I would freak out in a swamp. Too hot, too many bugs, and way too many gators! Oh and snakes, but I love watching other people do that apparently!
I absolutely love “Say Yes to the Dress”. Have you tried Mad Men? I got hooked by watching the first season marathon a couple of years ago and absolutely love it. Maybe because I was a child during that era and so remember the way things were! Seeing people mention West Wing makes me want to see it again. Was one of my faves.
Burn Notice on USA. FAN-tastic. Humor, action, love…a little bit of everything.
We recently got hooked on Parking Wars. It’s also one of those you can’t look away from… people show their worst sides when it involves their car! And usually they are totally in the wrong. Also, love the NCIS shows.
A few weeks ago, I had a sinus infection that would not quit, and to my delight, there was a Law & Order marathon on USA. I totally earned a 26.2 sticker for my couch that weekend.
Been watching 30 Rock on Netflix back to back on my Ipad. I am SO Liz Lemon.
This seems like a safe place to admit that I watched season 1 of 24… in just over 24 hours! My husband (then new boyfriend) was really into 24, so I borrowed season 1 from a friend. I started on Friday night, paused for a few hours of sleep, and stayed in my PJs the entire next day until Jack Bauer had sufficiently saved the world!! Alias and Gilmore Girls are two other favorites =)
Dexter is great, but creepy. Parks and Recreation is HILARIOUS! Community is also pretty great, although it’s not on Netflix yet.
P.S. My husband Curtis and I are officially homeowners! We closed on our (super fun!) Cotton District house on Friday. I can not wait to make Starkville home!
Alias. I cannot recommend it enough! J and I had no interest in watching it; however, his sister made us. And we were hooked. We started S1 Ep1 around 9pm at night, and we had to make ourselves stop watching it at 3am because we both had to wake up for work! Please promise me you will give it a chance. You. Will. NOT. Regret. It!
Army Wives. Netflix has them all. Loved it.
We have all the seasons of Alias on DVD and spent many an enjoyable evening with Sydney Bristow. We also watched all of 24 via DVD from Blockbuster. (Although I thought the last season was really depressing. No reason for all the sadness!)
Last week we watched the last Bones episode on Netflix. I hope they put this year’s season up soon!
As a family, we’re enjoying Little House on the Prairie, the Cosby Show, and I Love Lucy. We have also discovered that The Waltons comes on TV most nights.
And when my husband’s away, I put in a Netflix DVD of Gilmore Girls. Really fun chick show!
I always stop my life to watch Friends…why don’t they ever do a good Friends marathon?? And why oh why do they not do a re union episode…or a movie like Sex and The City??
Hahaha!! I LOVED Road Rules and Real World, too! What was that guy with the bleached blonde hair that was a skater who was in a relationship with a girl with long black hair (Rachel, I think), but he treated her terribly? Puck, maybe.. good grief, that was seriously a zillion years ago. I’m fixin to Google it..
Holy Gold Mine!! http://www.mtv.com/shows/realworld-season3/series.jhtml
FULL EPISODES, baby!! Don’t ever say I don’t love ya! ;)
I’m so glad someone else said Doc Martin. I couldn’t stop watching it! It;s on Netflix — four seasons. and now they are filming the 5th season. I can’t wait! Now I’m watching William and Mary — another BBC series with Martin Clunes.
Drop Dead Diva
So sad FNL is over!
Weeds is wrong…but the first season is fascinating!
I adore this post. I love a good tv marathon – I’ve been known to get hooked on America’s Next Top Model, Eureka, and Design Star marathons :)
Ok… I am not good with secrets nor am I a teenager, but I am currently “running” a marathon of Secret Life of the American Teenager. My fiance figured out why he finds it obnoxious… it’s a combination of 90210 and 7th Heaven. :)
We all love “The Wonder Years”!!!
I used to watch Road Rules/Real World challenges in marathons. And do you know what would make me crazy happy? Either a Friends or 90210 marathon.
Ha!! So true about Michael Payne!! He effused giddiness.
I’m casting another vote for The West Wing. I drove alone in our minivan for 10 hours listening to an entire season on the DVD player! The dialogue is so amazing and funny and those actors!! My Man and I are also huge NCIS, White Collar, and MONK fans. Love love love this topic!!
Real World? Yes, I watched that show all the time .. until you know the harsh words became a regular part of the show. :)
Now that I have aged? Law & Order. Love some TNT and look forward to it every holiday .. you just know it is coming on.
So this might be the longest comment ever, and there has already been a lot of comments so you might not even get to it, but here goes:
When Nate & I had been married for a few years he switched from the Army Nat’l Guard to the Air Nat’l Guard. He went to training in Biloxi while I finished my last semester of undergrad. For spring break, I went to visit him at school. He really wasn’t supposed to have visitors and he had basically no freetime, but when you haven’t seen your husband and you live alone you take what you can get. So, basically he left every morning around 6 AM to do PT, came back after breakfast for a short break and woke me up, and then went to class from about 8 am to 6 or 7 pm. Oh, and I had no car. So I was stuck in a hotel room on base all day by myself. And you know what? It was amazing. It was amazing because I watched the entire series (TEN seasons!) of Friends from start to finish. It was just the week of complete laziness I needed to motivate me through the rest of my semester.
This was a great idea! I am taking notes for my very own personal use ;)
I’m working my way through SYTTD myself on Netflix right now, and I’ve determined it is a physical impossibility to watch just one.
I agree with many of the suggestions already given, but I just remembered my very first Netflix-y addiction. There’s a little Brittish comedy called “Keeping up Appearances” and I laughed – a lot – through the whole series. I had seen it a couple of times years ago on PBS, but I had a blast plowing through the whole thing. There was also another obscure little comedy from the mid 70s called “Good Neighbors” (also Brittish) that I found HIlarious. Both a little on the silly side but oh-so-worth the time. They were just so wonderfully different from our norm. Keep us posted on your marathon-y endeavors, wouldya?
First choice for me is The West Wing, especially the first couple of seasons. Such great writing and acting. I think it, along with Friday Night Lights, is at the top of my all time best TV dramas list.
Another good show that is fun for marathon watching is Sports Nite.
I’ve got to go with the first season of Prison Break. It will suck you in and you will not be able to stop. The second season and everything that follows? Eh, not so much. But the first season is totally worth it.
The other shows I marathon sort of often are Northern Exposure and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. It’s what my mom watched in the early- to mid-nineties and I’ve stuck with it.
If you enjoy the office – try the I.T. Crowd on Netflix. Hilarious!!
We were just introduced to the show Top Gear and became immediate fans. We tend to fast forward through the talk show parts a little but truly I have never laughed so hard at anything on television in my life. Watching him drive the three wheeled car around England was just priceless. And the one where they each had semi’s and one caught on fire, or their homemade travel trailers — OMG it’s a must if you are short on your laugh quotient.
did anyone else have to google 26.2??? I was clueless—also marathon-less.
“Flipping Out” on Bravo. It’s the perfect storm of reality television–a very handsome gay man with OCD who is a real estate and design mastermind and micromanager. Whew. I almost passed out from excitement just typing that. The new season starts in July. Every time he stresses over picking out the perfect shade of white…. Oh!!(dabs away tear and faints)
He doesn’t know (obviously), but he’s my secret boyfriend.
“Flipping Out.” It’s reality show perfection. Very handsome gay man with OCD and micromanagement issues who is a design and real estate mastermind. Whew. I got so excited typing that, I almost passed out. Every time he starts to have a mental breakdown over picking out the exact perfect shade of white or making sure corners are square…. OH! (dabs away tear and faints)
He has no idea he’s my secret boyfriend. ;)
Gilmore Girls is at the top of my list, but for a different kind of show, Mad Men is great too. It’s a show that both my husband and I loved in marathon mode, though there’s supposed to be another season at some point. West Wing also makes for a great marathon show.
My husband and I love the marathons too. We’ve done three different Star Trek series, Friday Night Lights, West Wing, Mad Men and various seasons of shows as they’ve ended.
Two words…
The Closer…best show on television. TNT…set the DVR.
My husband and I have been watching Murder, She Wrote every night before bed. Considering that there were about 15 seasons, we may be as old as Jessica when we’re finished with this marathon!
Even though I watched Alias when it was on tv (lo, before the DVR… when I had to actually have the kids in bed asleep before it came on at 9pm if I wanted to watch it uninterrupted), we watched the whole series on dvd last summer. It was so good! I had forgotten so much that happened. And without the commercial breaks? Oh my heavens. So good! Let us know what you decide on… lots of great suggestions in your comments here.
I love this…all my hubs and I do is TV marathons, and now, NOW I have a new list to throw at him. We have several to choose from at any time. Do you want oldies, mysteries, laughs???
Here are our faves, and yes, I had to do “Say Yes to the Dress” solo too.
Worst Week…short marathon, but side-splitting funny!
Foyle’s War…WWII, historical, and you get sucked in with the people’s lives.
Newhart…oldy, for sure. But I come from VT, and some of it is true.
The Closer…our current marathon. White COllar is next! We love USA-a-thons.
Our other next is the Killing…not on Netflix yet, but soon.
PS…I always look to see if the people with 26.2 on their cars actually look like they could last. Half the time, I find it questionable….