American Television : you are awesome !

Till the time I began to understand the finer nuances of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, I also learned that an under graduate has got lots of time to while away unless he is one of those not so adorable geeks/nerds. Yeah, though I don't exactly flunk in my exams, the situation really helps you to deal with even more tougher real life applications (read crisis !)

So initially I began by doing what all people do... Running amok the campus doing weird stuff with even more weird people (read batch mates) who were in fact similar minded confused individuals trying to re-discover their identity in the jungles of VNIT, Nagpur. So cracking all types of jokes, hanging out in strategically located areas, "interacting" with the first year guys, ogling at the fair sex, playing cricket every now and then and other stuff was generally the routine. Other than that, playing games on the computer and the greatest time pass in the world by communicating with friends online via god knows how many messengers and god only knows how many social networking sites completed the day. It was and in fact is, a fun still. But the fragile human soul that we possess, change of the form of entertainment is a must. After all the real pursuit of happiness that we want is something beyond any body's scope I guess. Anyways, watching Hollywood movies on the trot was a refreshing change indeed and the wide scope of genres that it offered out numbered Bollywood both in terms of quantity, quality and most above anything watchability ! After gobbling up tons of movies that were on the platter, a new search began, for alternative sources ...

and then came the American Television to the rescue !!!

Initially, I was a bit apprehensive as to how can people endure watching some silly crap sit com which has mindless humour and non sensible jokes/stuff all crammed in 20/45 min of sheer madness. It was only later that I realized, that one has to sink in to the bottom to experience the, what may I say, the bliss, that these sitcoms offer. The fellows residing inside the campus seemed to have an endless supply of tons of "episodes" and "seasons"... a terminology that I was new to, since they aren't quite related with the 24/7/365 Hindi serials that we were made to watch in that bygone, but terrible era. Well, i had to take the plunge to test what the fuss was all about and here goes a list of some of my favorite pass times which keep me occupied every time I get bored. These serials are, in fact some of the most popular ones and one must watch from the beginning to get the full essence of the characters and the story, if there is one !

1) F.R.I.E.N.D.s : Can be treated as the single most and highest successful sitcom to ever rule the roost on American Television. Started in 1994 it ran for a brilliant 10 season streak till 2004 and people never got tired of the 6 lively charecters around whom the show revolved. It was a story of some really cool guys and gals who re-defined the meaning of friendship through their riotous antics which never failed to bring a bout of laughter, no matter how many times you watch a scene from any episode ! The show has set some really unbelievably impossible bench marks to achieve and all the credit goes to the cast and the writers alike... Whether it is ross making up his usual goof ups or Chandler doing his wise crack acts or Joey blurting out, "How u doin' ?" to every other gal or Monica taking the house down on floor with her cleanliness is even before to godliness or Rachel adding just the zing to the whole madness or last but not the least, the awesome Pheobe completing the mania with her abnormal qualities... this was simply the best that there ever was !!

2) Prison Break : Presented by FOX, its simply the best in its genre (Action/ Thriller) and its a fact that the whole world can vouch for ! This great potboiler of a story is simply put the most creative hair raiser thats ever been made by the human beings. This is what they call perfection and this suspense thriller which has elements like suspense, mystery and pure hit me and I hit you back type of action coupled with some really brainy plot intermingling some god level charecters. This one is just irresistible once you start, and if you wanna know what addiction is, just watch season 1, episode 1. Unless you are incapable to understand the english or are maybe "those" females (who hate pure brawn and brains), I bet you wont feel ashamed to beg for the next episodes ! The show keeps you on the edge of your mind till it finally culminates to a heart stopping and soul-unnerving end with you wanting more and more !

This is a story of the super intelligent Michael Schofield and his super brave, courageous brother Lincoln Burrows who get entangled in a web of deceit, treachery and what not weaved by a sort of "company" that is so powerful that it even holds the US government as its puppet and the President as its hostage. To cut the long story short, the brothers break out of a US prison (of course, they are innocent !!) to get out of a huge conspiracy only to get stuck again in another trouble in Panama ... The series is in its 3rd season and is racing down to another thrilling finale where we expect the truth to prevail but I doubt it will have a happy ending at that ! I just love Prison break... and its popularity can be gaged by the fact that it's "s03e01" (or season 3 opener for common man) had 23035 seeds on the day I downloaded it from a torrent a day after its telecast ! and thats huge...

3) Heroes : This is the classic series which has made it to the top of the charts due to the great act of realizing the childhood dreams of every human to come true to experience the super heroes that they admire albeit in a different manner. I mean everyone loves the "just-dare-to-beat-me" Superman, the awe inspiring Batman and your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, but then after endless comic strips and cartoons it gets repittive. But NBC has brought a new lease of life to the super power bearing individuals having its own modification of X-men, which is surprisingly too good and all thanks to the great story and the vivid imagination of the writers and the director all alike.

It deals with not so ordinary individuals, who are indeed special and gifted with some great powers and think that all have a path, a goal in their life (but alas ! not everyone thinks the same way and we have super power villains too !) Though the super hero powers are heavily borrowed from the Genetic mutation based X-men, the reason why "Heroes" rocks is due to the amazing plot of the story coupled with complicating dynamics of space-time continuum and its effects on simultaneous developments happening in different lives of the people involved. Now in its 2nd season, the show promises lots of exciting stuff in its store and I cant wait to devour it!

Other than these, there are others like "LOST", "How I met your mother", "24" and "Scrubs" etc and lot more which are also a treat to watch and I will post more on them at a later date. In the end I must say, the US citizens are lucky to have such creative things on their TV's (though their is lots of other crap too), but I wont call it an idiot box for sure, had I been staying there !

Do post your comments/views/ramifications on the same, if you too are one of those "couch potatoes" like me... and it will be great to know what things you watch ... Click here to let me know about your TV time pass/habits from abroad and any criticism about them !