KJ

I've been in watching/gaming/reading mode lately (as opposed to writing mode, sadly for all the projects I want to get done). Some of the television I have binge-watched in the last month:

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes -- I watched the first season of this awhile back. The second and final season finally came out on Netflix instant, but when I started S2 Ep1, I realized that I'd forgotten almost everything that happened in the first season, so I rewatched a little over half the first season as well (starting with Captain America's first episode in the modern timeline). I liked the second season better than the first -- I thought the arcs were paced better, Ms. Marvel (voiced by Jennifer Hale!) became a regular, and there is all sorts of tasty Steve Rogers angst, especially in the later episodes (the first season did not have enough Cap for my taste).

Fringe -- I've been hearing about this show for years, and I've now seen the first half of the first season. It gets off to a good start, though I've received mixed reports as to whether it's worth watching the whole thing. But so far I find all the main characters interesting, especially Olivia and Walter, and it seems to have a strong arc threading together the monster-of-the-week type plots. And the arc moves -- already, even halfway through the first season, they are answering some of the larger questions instead of just continually piling new stuff on until the arc collapses under its own weight (as happened with X-Files and, to a lesser extent, Lost). We'll see if they continue to pull that off. One thing I'm not crazy about: there is a LOT of gore and body horror, in almost every episode. I wince at the screen a lot.

Elementary -- Another one I've heard quite a bit of buzz about. T and I are watching this one together, and so far we've seen the first four episodes. I actually like this more than I expected to, given some of the reactions I saw to the early episodes. Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu have great friendship chemistry -- and only friendship; to be honest, I find the utter lack of UST quite refreshing -- that's building up, for me, at just the right pace. Miller brings the right blend of brilliance and social ineptitude to the role, and I'm enjoying Liu's take on Watson, too. So far, the mysteries are compelling without being too ridiculous or too obvious. I hope we're able to catch up before the second season premiere at the end of the month.

Between all this, the last few episodes of Breaking Bad, and the upcoming Agents of SHIELD -- and I cannot tell you the last time I was this excited for a new TV show, omg -- I'd say that's plenty to watch.