Welcome to “TV Thursdays”! From this week onwards, I will be sharing with you many TV shows, and hopefully you all can learn godly life lessons from the shows that I have loved throughout my life!
So, you’ve stumbled upon this first instalment, and you want to hear more about why people watch TV. Or maybe you are wondering which TV shows that I would recommend to families and their young children. Maybe you have binged on a TV show, and you want input and advice as to which TV series to binge on now, one that is family friendly and full of inspiring and uplifting themes and messages. Or perhaps you would like to know how TV has anything to do with this site; maybe you’re curious in that sense.
Well this is the right place to be. In this blog over the next several weeks, I’ll be talking about my favourite shows, and how godly values are seen through the shows, and later on in early September I will holistically take a look at upcoming fall TV shows that we can’t wait for. Hopefully we will delve into TV that stirs the soul.
Now some people may think that children and teenagers, young adults also, would be better served learning life skills and godly, beneficial characteristics and traits from reading a book or worshipping Jesus at church. I would agree with them. Wholeheartedly. But hang on, wouldn’t that contradict the entire point of this blog, about TV, if I think that spending time away from the screen, talking to parents and hanging out with friends is equally as or sometimes more important? Not necessarily.
These days with technology on the rise and almost everything at our fingertips on the internet (explained in more detail on Futuristic Fridays), it’s a fact of life that TV has become more informative, at an exponential rate, with some shows appropriate for all ages, and others advocating ungodly morals and values. While some of us may not like the idea of TV shows ‘invading’ the lives of many, and potentially diminishing our communication skills with people; the fact of the matter is that you can learn a lot from a TV show, with its message possibly stronger than a sermon or inspirational talk. Because of this fact, there are a lot of conflicting viewpoints on TV, on the news, reality and scripted shows, and not all of these views are true.
In TV shows, we are meant to feel empathy to the lead protagonists, and also dislike the antagonist, which we often do, yet personally I think that TV in general has now more than ever before become a medium for people to share their beliefs with the world. The reach and hold of TV is now global. It is because of this simple reason that people are so invested in a storyline that they know is fiction; because of the underlying themes and hence belief systems, that many shows present. Like movies, shows give us character growth, with themes of good defeating evil, friendship, strength, determination, camaraderie, loyalty, unconditional love and sacrifice all interwoven in many shows. We can learn a lot about ourselves in the characters’ complicated lives, and that is predominately why many TV shows succeed.
So which show should we watch, so that God can speak to us? Should we be resigned to relegating the role of the TV to be the baby sitter for our children while we are working busy jobs and maintaining stressful lifestyles? Sure, God can speak through any show we watch, yet should we really succumb ourselves to worldly desires in shows with questionable content all because ‘God could show up’?
Below is a list of my favourite TV shows, and over the coming weeks I’ll be unpacking a few shows per week to let you all know what God has been speaking to me lately. Hopefully you all will gain an understanding of the importance of TV in general, and maybe I can introduce some shows to you that will help you grow in your faith with Jesus Christ!
Top 20 TV Shows:
- One Tree Hill
- Monk
- Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes
- Psych
- Packed To The Rafters
- Chuck
- Once Upon a Time
- Parenthood
- Castle
- Being Erica
- White Collar
- Royal Pains
- Suits
- Arrow
- Eureka
- The Mentalist
- Switched at Birth
- Person of Interest
- Continuum
- Orphan Black