teevee

Investing time to read can provide an endless source of entertainment that can be quite intoxicating. Especially during the summer months at a cottage (if you're lucky). It's a relaxing break from the constant barrage of super hero adaptations and vampire obsession that has taken a suffocating hold in the media and hollywood.

On the plate? Dante's Club. Not sure if it'll be good.. but after the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ... I'm lovin' crime stories.

If you do need to see visuals and reading is not your thing, why not try something new? I'm a big fan of television lately, many of the best writers have slowly migrated to the small screen as of late. I even watched a number of Australian, Korean and Japanese shows. Some of it is absolute crap, but like trying a new kind of food you've never had, it requires a certain amount of bravery and a developed palette.

The Guardian's top 50 television dramas of all time

The list is rather haphazard, since they mix it all in which doesn't make it easy for people who a picky about genres. After all, I know a number of people who just hate old television or film. Is it the pacing? Who knows.

Here's a list of random stuff depending on genre...

Family drama

Twin Peaks (one of the best!) Mad men, Queer as Folk, Six Feet Under...

Period/Romance

Pride and Prejudice, Brideshead Revisited, Upstairs Downstairs, Forsyte Saga, Horatio Hornblower

Lost in Austen

For all those Jane Austen fans who wish they were in Lizzie's shoes. Mr. Darcy wet? Check. Naughty Mr. Wickham? Check? Pain in the ass heroine? Check. Highly original? Double Check.

Mystery/Crime/War

Foyle's War, Bodies, Cracker, Prime Suspect, The Good Wife, Sopranos, Inspector Morse, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mentalist, Band of Brothers

Life

What happened to this show? What a great premise, with Damien Lewis (Band of Brothers) starring as a brilliant LAPD detective Charlie Crews is exonerated after serving twelve years in jail for a crime he never committed.

Scfi/Fantasy

X-Files (first few seasons), Twilight Zone, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek Next Generation (after season 2), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood

Firefly

Joss Whedon's fantastic voyage filled with humour and action. It's a crime that it didn't last longer than one season. What was everyone thinking?? Why, why, WHY did they end this show? Although there was a movie (Serenity), it was only a sad reminder of what could've been if the show continued.

Next? Korean & Japanese cinema... bad English subtitles can kill you though.