Top Five TV Shows April 2010

A friend of mine asked me what my favorite shows on Melbourne TV are at the moment. Here they are.

5. Criminal Minds

A show about the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI, which, as the name suggests, deals with the psychology of killers. The shows gives good insight into the behavior of killers, but on the downside some of the behaviors exhibit seem unrealistic to me.

4. Top Gear

A very popular show about cars. I started watching this many years ago when I was shopping for cars and wanted to research potential cars. My research led me to Youtube where I watched some Jeremy Clarkson clips. Top Gear was appealing because it was different, but episodes nowadays seem to follow the same formula, and the friendly bander among the three hosts now seems fake.

3. Mythbusters

A very informative and entertaining show. It teaches very interesting facts. The downside of this show is that the younger ones on the show seem overly enthusiastic about explosions and blood. You'd think that over time they would tire of seeing the same thing over and over again, but they keep on carrying on whenever there is a large explosion or a dummy gets decapitated. It just looks like they are trying to play a character rather than be themselves. Top Gear suffers from the same problem.

2. Man vs Wild

I never tire of seeing Bear Grylls eat animals raw and sometimes still alive. It is so disgusting, but watching such a freak in action with the family tends to bond the family because we share the disgust as a group. Bear seems very knowledgeable about what is edible and what is not. His advice is potentially useful and the show is very entertaining. I also think the show teaches good values about self-reliance, simple living, and perseverance.

1. Survivor Heroes vs Villains

No surprise here. I talk about no other show more than Survivor. I absolutely love Survivor. I have watched every single season so far except maybe four. Survivor I believe clearly demonstrates the advantage that reality show have over scripted shows. The fact that there is no acting but pure and raw emotion allows you to better understand human behavior. Survivor is a small-scale representation of how society works. It demonstrates concepts in politics. It constantly reminds you to always be skeptical because it's so easy to the victim of a lie.