VIVA LeTV! What I’m Watching free-style and DVR.

Oh how DVR has changed my life.

The 90′s Seinfeld came to define “appointment TV” in entertainment. Thursdays were sacred for most of TV-watching America for NBC’s “Must-See TV.” Now, appointment TV is now is see what I want, when I want, all due to the glorious invention of the Digital Video Recorder (D.V.R.)

Praise the entertainment Gods!

So this is what I watch and why:

Burn Notice (USA): Michael Weston, Fiona, Sam and Mom (Sharon Gless, who just happens to be my mom’s second cousin, no joke). Quick quips, great locale and some hysterical characters (plus, I love the captions under new characters, e.g. “Evil bad guy with bad hair.”) It’s a fun show though it is seeing growing pains. The question now is- can they keep it fresh? A new character was introduced and we’re still not exactly sure.

Royal Pains (USA): Oh sure, it was just too easy. Watch the next show after Burn Notice and get hooked. So sue me. Having spent some time during the high summer holidays in the Hamptons I had to check it out– call me also nostalgic. But it’s entertaining. And I love the mysterious billionaire Baron. He’s too droll.

Real Housewives (Bravo): I DVR the New Jersey chapter-call it the trashy of the trash TV. And oh how it is. Table turning, Jersey-accented fabulousness sashaying in Ed Hardy, spandex and Chanel encrusted EVERYTHING, who else has an energy consultant on-call  that deals less of with OHMs and more with chi and spiritual enlightenment. Oh and they freakin’ swear like sailors. These chicks are fun.

Rescue Me (FX): NYC Firefighters led by a magical Puck-like Dennis Leary, they all put the “fun” in dysfunctional. This is a not-miss show for me. Ludicrous plot lines (my husband likes to point this out) but fantastic dialogue delivered by an outstanding cast mostly filled by hard-core comedians, each episode proves that the best comedy comes from the dark side of living.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS): One word… Barney. Neil Patrick Harris proves every episode why he’s THE MAN. Great cast, great writing and you have just about the best 30 mins of TV every week.

Modern Family (ABC): Cameron, Manny, Jay, Gloria, Mitchell, Claire and Phil are the new best thing to have happened to my DVR this year. Their new take on family gives the OK to laugh at my own. Over and over and over again.  Someone once tweeted that Modern Family was like a present every week to yourself.  Totally true.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians (E!)  Oh those zany Kardashians! You have to respect them, they’ve made an industry out being themselves: self-absorbed, bitchy clothes horses. They first rose from the ashes of sister Kim’s sex tape, pushed/cajoled and packaged by mom Kris (who blessed all her daughters with names beginning with “K,” oh how George Foreman of her) into clothing stores (Dash), photo spread in Playboy (Kim again,) perfume, and on this little TV Show they have. For god sakes, they even showed brother Rob’s 6 hour erection crisis after he drank a cup of coffee that Mom Kris had secretly crushed some “herbal Viagra” in for step-father Bruce Jenner (who does a bang-up job playing the straight-man and looking like an old lesbian.) Now that’s some great TV. No DVR – this is purely free-style TV watching. DVR’ing this would make it too legit in my book.

9 By Design (Bravo): Bob and Cortney Novogratz , their Sixx Design do some wildly wicked-cool designs. Oh and they have 7 kids. In NYC. Their messily elegant designs blend modern with shocks of antique into truly eclectically cool domains. You see the design process up close from breakdown to drywall, hunting for antiques and the terrifying high-stakes game of spec-building in the Big Apple. Their last house is up for sale for $25 million, and hasn’t sold quite yet. Just when Bob gets a little twitchy about the debt, Cortney goes ahead and redoes an antique settee in OMG ballsy black lacquer and ostrich leather. And ahhhh, everything is better. I would love to work one project as their asst. and I’d do it for free. FREE. Just to breathe in the vibe that is so totally french cool by way of Georgia. Check out their site, even the music is oh la la fab.

I’ve also been known to check in on MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and True Life when I have a few moments to kill.  Both fab expose of  the tough life of young adults making poor (and good) choices.

I’ll be sure to update this as I go.

Viva le TV! Viva le crap TV!