The DailyKnight

Now you may find yourself asking “Why should I listen to Nathan?  What makes him an expert?”  As well you should, I applaud you on questioning my qualifications.  Now if you go to Carleton.edu and search for “Nathan white” you will find me.  You will also find a Nathan White that works at Carleton, do not be fooled, I am not him!  Now when you find the Nathan White that is the student, you may notice something odd: I have three majors.  This has never happened at Carleton, I am the first.  If you look closely you will see that I am majoring in Economics, Computer Science and Undecided.  You will then realize that a typo has occurred, and you would be correct!  The typo is clearly that my third major is not spelled U-N-D-E-C-I-D-E-D, but rather spelled P-O-P-SPACE-C-U-L-T-U-R-E-D.  I am actually majoring in Economics, Computer Science and Pop Culture.  Now that you have accepted my rather valid credentials, we can move on to more important matters, like me ranking television.

6 Shows You Should Be Watching:

6/5: The Boondocks / Aqua Teen Hunger Force - I’ve grouped these two show together for a reason, these are shows that recently came back on the air after a long hiatus. Before the hiatus they produced very solid seasons and proved themselves to be well written shows. The Boondocks is the much better recreation Aaron McGruder’s comic strip of the same name. McGruder, never afraid to pull punches produces hilarious episodes with great messages and even better characters. The Season 3 premier just aired and you should have seen it already. Aqua Teen Hunger Force, ATHF to those that simply don’t have the time to say such a long name, is a show you already know. If you don’t close whatever program you are using to read this, you don’t deserve this helpful advice I am giving for free.

Close the browser and wait for TONIGHT

For those still reading this did you know ATHF is producing new episodes?  Yeah man, it’s fucking awesome.

4.  Lost – I’m not going write anything on this, because whoever is going to watch Lost is already watching it!  To those who are: HOLY FUCK DID YOU SEE THE LAST EPISODE??!?!

My number one reason for watching Lost

3.  Treme – This is a relatively new show, but I am trusting it with my faith.  For those of you who have watched The Wire, it’s made by the same people.  That should be enough for you to watch it.  For those of you who aren’t swayed, because either you haven’t seen the Wire or you didn’t like The Wire, in which case GET OUT, I will tell you a little more about it.

Treme is a show about a cast of characters trying to rebuild their lives in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  Producers of this show are well known for their unbiased look and in depth research of situations before publishing.  We have people on all levels of the economic scale, including John Goodman, as an English professor who spends all his free time advocating the rebuilding of New Orleans. 

And yelling at YouTube

Then you have a character like Steve Zahn, who plays a happy-go-lucky SJ, just trying to live his life.  Clarke Peters plays an Indian Chief doing anything he can to keep his culture together.  In addition to these great actors and characters this show features AMAZING music and great cameos by everyone from Elvis Costello to Steve Earl.

2.  Breaking Bad – Bryan Cranston, better known as the dad from Malcolm in the Middle, plays Walter White, an overworked, underappreciated father.  Cue the wacky hijinks, am I right?  AM I RIGHT?

No.  I’m pretty fucking wrong.  White is an overqualified high school chemistry teacher who has a son suffering with cerebral palsy, another child on the way that he can’t really afford and is diagnosed with terminal cancer.  In order to provide for his family, he starts making meth with an old student, played by Aaron Paul, an amazing actor.  This show is well paced, action packed, and will make you love the characters and hate the paths they take. 

Watch this show or I’ll blow your head off

1.  Adventure Time with Fin and Jake – A few years ago this YouTube video hit the internet and a lot of people found it very amusing.  Finally some executives noticed, and decided to make it into a full show.  So now every week I watched Nickelodeon and marvel at this cartoon.  That’s right.  My number one pick on this list, a show that beats Breaking Bad, Treme and Lost, is a cartoon; furthermore, a cartoon on a channel that most of us stopped watching when we turned 12.

Maybe 15.

This cartoon is about Jack the Dog and Finn the Human going on adventures.  Jake is a shape-shifting dog voiced by Bender and Marcus Fenix, while Finn is a kid with an awesome hat and who will slay anything that’s evil.  There are lots of recurring characters who often go from the sideline to staring in their own episodes.

The animation is beautiful, the action is packed, the music is wonderful, the humor is great, and the tone is surprisingly adult.  This show refuses to cater to children, featuring rather brutal violence and not shying away from words such as “die” and “kill.”

This show is amazing.  Start watching.  Or you might find yourself transported back in time… and to Mars.