Way, Way, Way Too Much to Watch

Ah, June. The regular television season is over, I'm down to the last couple of obscure foreign movies from 2012 to track down on home media, and there aren't many movies in theaters right now that I'm particularly interested in. I've decided I can wait to see "Man of Steel," for instance, and I have no interest whatsoever in this "Monsters Inc" prequel. You'd think that would mean I'm taking things easy, right? Well, in years past that might have been the case, but in the age of year-round programming slates and web-based media, I've found that I've fallen very, very far behind in serial media.

Dear readers, you are about to get buried in a flood of TV and web series posts, as I'm looking at a mountain of shows that I need to catch up on and work through. I'm just about done with "Veronica Mars," which I've really been enjoying, but it's eaten up a lot of time. I've also finally had a chance to finish off the first season of HBO's "Carnivale," which I've been watching on DVD off and on over the last few months. Meanwhile, the season finales of two shows I've been keeping up with weekly, "Hannibal" and "Mad Men," are both happening in the next couple of days, you can expect write-ups to follow. Yes, I am also going to get to the third season of "Game of Thrones," once I get through the last batch of episodes I'm supposed to be waiting to watch with somebody. I haven't seen "The Rains of Castamere" episode yet, and believe me, I'm really getting sick of the dodging spoilers.

Beyond that, access issues and bad timing have been a factor. My living situation has been in limbo for the past couple of weeks, forcing me to put off resubscribing to Netflix Instant back in May like I had planned. My list of Netflix shows to watch has now grown to ridiculous proportions. In addition to the obvious titles like "House of Cards" and "Arrested Development," I'm also anticipating being able to sink my teeth into the Sundance Channel's "Top of the Lake" with Elizabeth Moss and BBC's "The Fall" with Gillian Anderson. Season 3 of "Louie" should show up in a couple of weeks too, though these things have been harder to keep tabs on since the Netflix API went down. I've also finally started "Downton Abbey," and I fully intend to keep watching, but I'm putting it off until I can really devote some time to it. For anyone who's interested in the show, you'll have to go to Amazon for streaming episodes starting in July, because they're getting the exclusive rights to the series, though the most recent episodes should still be on PBS.org.

And then we have the currently airing series. "Venture Brothers" is back on Adult Swim after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. I've only seen the hour-long premiere episode so far, but it was brilliant. I'm so happy to have these guys back. Also, the last season (until they figure out some way to cheat cancellation again) of "Futurama" is premiering on Comedy Central tonight. The previous season was one of the weaker ones, but I still love the show, and I'm sticking it out until the end. Speaking of Comedy Central, John Oliver has been killing it as the substitute host of "The Daily Show" these past two weeks, though he needs to build up some experience on those interviews. And over on USA, it's the last season of "Burn Notice" too - I can wait for that one to hit streaming, fortunately. However, I don't want to wait to watch the new Stephen King miniseries, "Under the Dome," which starts on Monday night on CBS. Good grief, how long has it been since we've had a decent-looking Stephen King project? Oh, and I'm a couple of weeks behind on SyFy's "Defiance," which continues to be every bit as cheesy and retro as I had hoped

I thought that the last season of "Breaking Bad" was going to start in July, but I was wrong. The premiere date is actually August 4th. Maybe that'll give me time to go catch up on the shows I've been putting off like "Girls," "Veep," and "Dexter," which is also about to go into its final season over on Showtime. I still need to finish the previous season, which just hit DVD. And of course there are all the other shows I've been meaning to start for ages like "Boardwalk Empire," "Once Upon a Time," "The Americans," and "Modern Family." At least I've finally decided to drop "Homeland" from the list. And I know I say this every time, but how long has it been since I've seen "South Park"? That show's still on, right?

Oh hey, that new BBC series "Orphan Black" sounds really cool. Let me pen it in for next October.
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