The Best Shows on TV (that you’re probably not watching)

5.  Sons of Guns

Basic rundown:  A custom gun shop that tackles projects and builds that most people think can’t (and shouldn't) be done.

Cast:  Will Hayden and his daughter Stephanie run the business, but a great crew made up of hilarious characters have a real-life chemistry that was obviously in place long before the show came along. 

Why you should watch:  In their first season, Will and the folks of Red Jacket Firearms have silenced a shotgun and an AK-47, built a .50 caliber machine gun from scratch (subsequently setting the woods ablaze with tracer rounds during the test firing), restored a WWII flamethrower for a Medal of Honor winner, converted a MAC-11 to a blank-shooting prop for a Jeffrey Dean Morgan movie, turned a replica Tommy Gun into a modern SWAT weapon, and created a robotic machine gun operated by an ordinary Playstation controller.  Oh and Will let one of his guys shoot him with a bazooka they made.  Fact.

4.  No Ordinary Family

Basic Rundown:  An “Ordinary Family” (duh) that has its ordinary family problems is suddenly endowed with extraordinary abilities.

Cast:  Biggest name is Michael Chiklis from The Shield and Fantastic Four movies where he played this guy.  His ability?  Super strength, duh.  Julie Benz (Dexter) plays the wife, a.k.a. Flash’s soul mate, Kay Panabaker the teenage daughter you can’t lie to, and Jimmy Bennett plays the dumbest smart kid I know.  (PLEASE somebody tell me you got Varsity Blues from that last line)

Why you should watch:  Everyone who watched Saturday morning super hero shows should enjoy this.  It’s hard to follow a lot of TV shows nowadays, because if you miss one week, you’re LOST.  No Ordinary Family walks the line between “weekly build-up” shows and “no reason to catch every episode” shows.  It cans up a self-contained adventure in every episode for the “every once in awhile” viewer, while continuing to march these adventures towards a big picture conclusion for the “I plan my week around this show” viewer. 

3.  Top Shot

Basic Rundown:  A Shooting competition like no other.  Take some of the best shooters from different disciplines (i.e. handgun, shotgun, rifle), and throw them all into a mosh pit of challenges with an extremely wide variety of weapons that test both physical and mental toughness.  Oh yeah, and their ability to shoot, um, good. 

Cast:  An Air Force Spec Ops and Bronze Star recipient, oil company contractor, independent security contractor, realtor, professional pistol shooter, sheriff’s lieutenant, landfill supervisor, USAF Sniper, US Navy rescue swimmer, golf instructor, federal agent, restaurant owner, construction worker, waiter, 3-gun champion, and an environmental business project manager.  Variety enough for you?  Also, a former Survivor actually does a great job as host.

Why you should watch:  Top Shot may be the first reality competition show that requires actual talent.  Okay, okay, I hear you, Food Network watchers: “What about cake competition shows, cooking competition shows, and bartending competition shows?”  I stand corrected.  Top Shot is the first reality competition show that has GUNS.  (In case you were wondering, that makes it MUCH cooler)

2.  Tosh.0

Basic Rundown:  Internet video clips with an insult comic providing color commentary.  Think Talk Soup meets YouTube. 

Cast:  Daniel Tosh as the aforementioned comic, and every idiot you’ve ever seen on the web has a possible cameo.

Why you should watch:  You shouldn’t.  But it’s hilarious.  See?  Told you not to watch. 

1.  Big Bang Theory

Basic Rundown:  Two geniuses (Theoretical physicists, actually.  They’re so smart, they literally make fun of rocket scientists) that live together become friends with a hot girl that moves in across the hall.  And, of course, hilarity ensues.

Cast:  Jim Parsons steals the show as Sheldon, a lovable genius’ genius with OCD (think Einstein meets Monk).  Johnny Galecki (Roseanne and Christmas Vacation) plays Leonard, the center of the genius group, who is aware of his geekiness and, therefore, the closest to being “normal”.  Simon Hedburg and Kunal Nayyar play Howard and Raj, respectively.  They serve as a best-buddy pair within the group’s larger “friendscape”.  Penny, an attractive out of work actress who has forever changed these super-genius geeks’ lives for the better is played by Kaley Cuoco (8 Simple Rules). 

Why you should watch:  The best sitcom on TV right now has possibly the most intelligent dialogue in TV history, while still providing the highest level of comedy in prime time.  Jim Parsons won an Emmy as Sheldon.  Chuck Lorre, creator of Two and a Half Men, is the producer.  All the stars have aligned for the geeks in this show, and you’re definitely missing out if you haven’t caught it.  

My 25 Year Perspective on Sports

In the past 25 years I have seen many things in the world of sports.  The following is based on my opinion and interpretation of history as it pertains to my world.  To borrow a line from Mythbuster Adam Savage: “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”  Add that perspective to a well-known Bob Knight quote, and you get this email. 

Baseball 

My first love as a kid has treated me like that girl you didn’t want to bring home to Mom.  As bad as she was for you, you just couldn’t help but hang around with her.  I am of the generation who’s childhood Poster-Heroes were revealed to be cheating.  I now can look back at the guys I used to look up to, and all I feel is disappointment.  I feel like steroids not only robbed the baseball world of an entire generation of Hall of Famers, it has somehow left a chip in the boyhood bliss of my earliest fanhood.  Unfortunately, I feel the Jeff Bagwell effect as well.  Not only do we know about McGwire and Sosa, I can’t help but be cynical of my Atlanta guys like Ryan Klesko and Javier Lopez.  To add to it, and I almost feel bad for even thinking this, I’m even skeptical of one of my favorite guys to watch in a Braves uniform, Cancer comeback Andres Galaraaga.  I hope beyond all hope he was completely legitimate.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the sport I loved first, though.  Seeing the influx of young talent into the game has renewed my hope for the future.  Stephen Strasburg, Aroldis Chapman, Jason Heyward, and Bryce Harper look to be America’s Pastime’s future.  A new generation of athletes, physical freaks, seem to be invading all sports, not just baseball.  The future is much brighter than the past, I just selfishly wish it wasn’t MY past.

Football

I’ve seen a generation of great quarterbacks get replaced, then enshrined.  Now guys not much older than me are setting records and lighting up Sportscenter.  Now I’m older than the kids running the college teams, but still find myself in child-like awe sometimes.  I’ve seen the Michael Jordan of college football come and go, and his backup reveal himself as the sport’s Lebron James.  I’ve watched Brett Favre come and go, and…come…and…go…and…come…and…go.  I’ve watched my three favorite players as a kid go from winning championships together to broadcasting, broadcasting, and…dancing?  I’ve witnessed some amazing and jaw dropping plays, and witnessed the “wussification of America” reveal itself not once, but twice in the NFL this year.  Now I’m just waiting on them to trade the pads for flags…

Basketball

Basketball has become a bigger part of my life than I ever thought it would be, and has done so for all the right reasons.  Okay, MOSTLY the right reasons.  I had the privilege of helping coach my alma mater for 4 years, and, thanks in large part to the head coach, now am the proud owner of two State Championship rings.  The coaching staff and the players have become a family unto itself, and I was lucky to have been a part of a family that has established a program and a tradition that has and will continue to better the school.

Outside of my own personal world, I’ve watched the rise of the Chosen One (barf), and his fall from grace (The Decision? Really? Good idea, guys).  I’ve met one the best coaches in history, and cheered on his protégé.  I’ve consistently (and currently) pulled for one the best shooters in history, and watched him begin to work his way off the bench.  To cap it off, I might be right smack in the middle of a back-to-back run for my favorite college team.  If baseball was the girl I wouldn’t bring home to Mom, then basketball is the girl I’m gonna marry.