What You Should Be Watching Now

These holidays I'm trying really hard to start (and hopefully finish) as many television shows that I have been meaning to watch as possible. So far I've started Mad Men and the second season of The Wire which I have been meaning to do for a long time. As hard as I am trying to get through these, I'm also struggling to keep up with what's on television at the moment.
But here's what I think you should be keeping up with that's currently airing on television:

• ARROW (Season 2): Billionaire Oliver Queen spent five years shipwrecked on an island and has come home to be a masked vigilante by night. It's based on DC comics, and in the latest episode there is a new character named Barry Allen who I hope gets plenty more screen time because he is gorgeous. The show is a little bit cheesy and over dramatic but it's well worth it just for the Oliver/Felicity scenes this season that have been making me swoon and laugh at the same time.
• SLEEPY HOLLOW: Based on the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"written in 1820 by Washington Irving but it's based in the modern day. Basically it's about Lieutenant Abby Mills who solve supernatural cases with the newly resurrected Ichabod Crane from the 1700s. I'm not entirely fussed on the crimes that they solve and how they go about it. The reason I love it is because of the relationship between Mills and Crane, which is really cute and hilarious at the same time. My favourite parts of the show are watching Crane learn about modern day life and his reactions to it. 
• MASTERS OF SEX: A obstetrician and an ex-nightclub singer work together in the 1950s to learn more about human sexuality. Okay, so with this one there are only two episodes left now, but if you haven't bothered with it yet, start now. It's got a great cast, including Michael Sheen (from Diana, Midnight in Paris, Twilight etc) and Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls, New Girl) who are the main two and I could basically just tell you to watch it because these two are amazing, but there is also the fact that it's fresh, interesting and very clever. 
• ELEMENTARY (Season 2): Modern day Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson, set in New York. This show just keeps getting better and better. I love everything that they do and I cannot say enough good things about this show. Everyone needs to watch Elementary, it's just so perfect. Ten extra points for Johnny Lee Millers (Holmes) facial expressions. 

• REIGN: Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland is sent to France because she has been promised to Francis, the Dauphin of France since they were little. I don't think it can even be called historical fiction because they've basically just used the same names and then made the stories completely their own (and the costumes are all stunning but couldn't ever be called accurate). I was recommended to watch it by a friend and I'm so glad they told me too, it's quickly become one of my favourite shows at the moment (probably a second to Elementary). I look forward to it every week now, and Toby Regbo who plays Francis is a very large reason for this. 
• THE CARRIE DIARIES (Season 2): Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City when she was a teenage girl. I'm loving this show more now it's in its second season. I have to admit the last few episodes of the first season really started grating on me because it got so repetitive with Carrie and Sebastian's relationship. I am a massive lover of Sebastian and his character but the whole "Is he good enough for her? Are they from two different worlds?" thing got a little boring after a while. Just decide and move on already, Carrie! Now the young Samantha has been introduced and I am loving her, but I'm a little bias because she was my favourite in SATC too. 

Also, I've also decided to make a page for shows that I'm currently watching and how up to date with them that I am, and shows that I want to watch. I feel like there should be so many more recommendations on this list but I don't watch them so I'm not able to. I want you to know that I don't leave shows like Sons of Anarchy or The Walking Dead (which I know are currently on TV at the moment) off the list because I don't like them, it's just because I haven't got to watching them yet. 

Let me know what shows you're loving at the moment in the comments!  

November Favourites

(Loving) Film: This month was all about two films, both second instalments and both I saw twice in the cinema. Thor: The Dark World and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Needless to say I absolutely adored both of them and you can read my separate reviews here and here.

(Loving) Television: This month was a really good month of TV, with lots on. I hadn't been watching Reign but so many people told me I should be and so I managed to catch up with that in one day because I did really enjoy it. I have been steadily watching Season 1 of Carrie Diaries and have finally made it to Season 2. I felt it got a little repetitive at the end with Carrie and Sebastian's relationship so I got a little tired of it towards the end. Elementary was brilliant as usual I absolutely loved 50th Anniversary Episode for Doctor Who, The Day of the Doctor and you can read my review here.

(Loving) Reading: I haven't been reading much this month. Since Allegiant I haven't really been in the mood for anything particular. I've started a few books: The Vampire Academy and Bringing Up the Bodies (authors) but haven't got past the first few pages of either of them.

Michelle Fairley

(Loving) Random: One Direction's new album Midnight Memories has been on repeat since it came out. Better than Words and Diana are my two favourites. Fun for Louis one of my favourite Youtubers is in Australia at the moment so I've really been loving watching his videos (as always). Seriously, if you haven't watched his videos they are amazing. Louis is such a positive, giving and thoughtful person. He makes daily vlogs and I still can't understand how someone can have that many interesting things happen to them all the time! I went to a Game of Thrones evening at the Sydney Opera House in the middle of the month and I'm still not over how amazing it was. We heard from Lena Headey (Cercei Lannister), Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) and the genius author George R.R. Martin.

The Carrie Diaries

I'm so annoyed! Where was this show when I was sixteen? Why did I have to be born in the early nineties? 
I was far too young for Sex & the City when that was out, and now I feel a little too old for The Carrie Diaries. Why can't I win with Bradshaw? That said, despite the horrible timing of both shows, I have seen every episode of SATC and definitely plan to with TCD after watching the pilot last night. 

So I'm a little late to jump onto this one, as I think there are about eight episodes out at the moment, but knowing me, it won't take me long to catch up. Last night I wasn't in the greatest mood (another Valentine's alone) and I thought a brand new show would cheer me up. One of my older friends at work had commented that I would love TCD, and that even though she was in her early forties, and a die hard SATC fan, she was thoroughly enjoying it. So I gave it a go, and I'm still so glad I did. By the end of the first twenty minutes my mood had changed dramatically. It's one of those uplifting, colourful, lots of fun shows that are good to watch to relax and unwind, totally unlike Homeland which I am currently in two episodes into the first season, and struggling to motivate myself to start the next episode. 

Although I did thoroughly enjoy it, I'm definitely not its target audience, which I would place around the same age as Carrie, who is sixteen and living in the early eighties. It hardly matters though, if you are a little older and go into with the right expectations, I'm sure you will enjoy it just as my work friend and I are. It's got a fantastic, boppy soundtrack (can anyone resist a little Madonna?) and excellent, vibrant, eighties feel costumes that make me want to trawl through the internet looking for exact copies.  

I'm giving the first episode a 7 out of 10 because I feel there is definitely potential for the series to blossom into something truly great, and I'm excited to see where they take it. I'll definitely be writing more on this show, and soon.