See, I have been glazing in the living room, on our tiny dining room coffee table. It’s not that it’s TEENSY tiny, but there isn’t room to have this much work spread out and eat dinner on it at the same time. And while Tim always says it’s fine whenever I have a few pieces sitting overnight, it’s not fine with me. I work at home. I am surrounded by my work. I have a tendency to be a workaholic (partly because I love what I do and partly because I am consumed with a sense of hyper-responsibility). So if pieces are sitting on the coffee table after dinner, they are looking at me. I’m trying to slack off, watch TV, relax after working all day, and … I can’t get away from the work. It’s staring at me. Making me feel pressured that it’s not finished.

That’s not really good for me, you know?! So one of the reasons for the big office rearrange was to clean off one half of the desk and let it be devoted to a painting/glazing workspace. And yes, I do have a table in the ceramics studio, but it’s covered with drying and in-process greenware, and greenware dust is *everywhere* in that room. I can’t glaze and clean greenware in the same room, as dust can settle on the not-quite-dry glaze, and disturb the piece.

I like to have things to listen to when I’m working. TV is good for that, as are audio books and podcasts. I’ll get bored, though, if I listen to the same thing day in and day out, so I like to have a mix of the three different things — that way whatever I’m in the mood for, there’s something to match that. And as there’s no TV in my office, I decided to see what all the fuss about Hulu is. Not the paid version, I don’t need it all over the house, or on my phone. Just the free version, so I can play some old episodes of TV shows I never caught when they were out, or rewatch the X-Files, or whatever. I started off with Hill Street Blues, and I’m almost done with Season One. How fun is this show? I’m loving all the late 70s, early 80s fashion, slang, and moral/social issues and dilemmas. There’s only three seasons of it on Hulu Free, though, so I’m already thinking about what’s next. I see they have a season of St. Elsewhere, and Chicago Hope, and a bunch of other things I’ve never seen (or seen just a few episodes of). Dragnet. Adam-12. Emergency. Remington Steele. Uh… what was that Hawaii show with Tom Selleck? I thought I saw that one on there, too.

Anyway. Are any of you on Hulu? Give me recommendations! I like crime and hospital shows (not so much on legal dramas, even with Law & Order I tend to wander out of the room when the courtroom scenes start) and of course science fiction. Mystery, horror, documentaries. I’m not so much into sitcoms or things with a laugh track. No Glee, no Big Bang Theory, no Two & a Half Men.

The Walking Dead – I love, love, love the heck out of this show. I haven’t read all the graphic novels; just a couple of them and that was a few years ago… so I don’t really remember too much of what happened. Like “28 Days Later”, the main theme (other than escaping zombies) seems to be man’s inhumanity to man! I spent the first episode thinking “I like that guy and feel sorry for him, beyond the zombies. What else has he been in?” – turns out he was the guy with unrequited love in “Love, Actually.” I hear it’s been upped for a second season – rock!

Luther - This show is so dark, I love it! Any police drama that starts off with the detective allowing the perp to plunge to his death has got me right there. But when it just gets worse from there? I do love me a complicated, dark, unhappy and realistic crime drama. It’s only a six-episode miniseries, and I really do hope there’s going to be more after that. It may be close to ranking up to, or even edging out, some of my most favroite and the most dark episodes of “Homicide: Life on the Street,” and long-time readers know how much I loved that show.

Sons of Anarchy – I am getting a little tired of the Jax baby storyline, but I grok that they had to do that to get them to Ireland for the season; and I’m really liking the rest of the Ireland storyline! In sort of a continuing theme with what I like, you sort of never know who’s going to live and who’s going to die in this show. It really keeps you on your toes.  There have been a couple of good surprises this season (who’d ever  have thought that Tara’s boss would turn out to be like that?! And I like Chibs more this season than last.). I’m starting to worry, though (and this might be the tiredness that I have for the Jax baby story); but I’m worried that they’re running out of good stories and another two season might see them jumping the shark. I hope not, though.

Boardwalk Empire – Similar to a lot of what I liked about “The Sopranos” in that I enjoy a complicated character who is not necessarily flat and evil, but is maybe a good person at heart who has made bad choices, or a bad person who still does good things as a means to an end. I’ve always liked Steve Buscemi in everything I’ve seen him in, but have primarily seen him in things where he’s not the lead – so I’m loving seeing him carry the show. He can do more with a raised eyebrow than a lot of actors can do with a Shakespearian soliloquy.

Terriers - Every time I watch this, I think “these guys lives could not possibly get any more fucked u— oh, wow. That’s fucked up!”. If the best way to enchant someone with a character is to make him or her likable, and then strand him in a tree and throw rocks at him, these two guys are the most enchanting characters ever.

There are a few other TV shows that we’re watching (although Tim watches neither “The Walking Dead” – I KNOW! – or “Sons of Anarchy”) but they’re mostly silly shows. CSI and CSI:NY. Criminal Minds. House. Hawaii 5-O. Bones. Fringe (and I so, so very much want the Fauxlivia storyline to be a horrible horrible dream). But the above five are definitely my favorites right now.

Being Human – I love this show with big girly fangirl hearty hearts. It’s well-written, the actors are perfect and even the bit players chew through every scene. It’s a drama, but at times makes us laugh so hard (“we’re like, gay ninjas!”) that we have to rewind.

James May’s Toy Stories – I can’t thank Laura enough for recommending this show; it’s absolutely fabulous. If you’ve never heard of it (and I’m betting you haven’t), it’s about taking ingenuity, spunkiness, brains, and toys, and building something that you would have never thought possible. It’s the happiest, drama-free show I think I’ve ever seen. It’s also very, very British; so if you don’t understand the culture or are one of those weird people who needs subtitles for accents, you’re not going to get as much out of it.

Covert Affairs – I’m liking this a lot more than I thought I would. The thing I like most is that one of the main characters is blind, and he is believably blind. Which I never thought I’d say for that particular actor because I’d only seen him in one other thing and it was hooooooooorible.

Rescue Me – The hardest show I love to watch. The writing is dark as hell, but also funny; my emotions are all over the map when I watch an episode. They do not pull any punches on this show.

True Blood – This show just keeps getting better and better, especially when they devote less time to Sookie and Bill whining around each other and pay more attention to Lafayette, Tara, and Sam. This is one show where I admit that I like pretty much every side character other than the two main ones, but my non-interest in the Sookie/Bill storyline doesn’t detract from me watching the show at all. It just keeps getting better and better!

And Futurama makes six!

In other news…

Warehouse 13 is finally growing on me, and I find Eureka much less annoying than I did last season. Haven is … well, I wish it were spookier, but what can you do?!

I’m very much looking forward to Sons of Anarchy, Criminal Minds (or I was, until I heard they cut two of the three women), CSI: NY, Fringe, Ace of Cakes, Mythbusters, and Dirty Jobs. And  hopefully there won’t be some year-long hiatus with Dr. Who that will once again cause me to forget everything that’s been happening.

Anyone seen or read about anything really good coming up this fall that’s new?