Top Ten TV Series to Watch While Sick. (Or Healthy)

Having chronic health issues is stressful but it is also boring. I was never much of a TV watcher, but I learned to be. When I was a kid growing up in the 70's, Friday night was the place to be with Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family. That was the extent of my TV watching. From the ages of eighteen to the ages of twenty-five I didn't even own a TV. Then I got my first job and an apartment and my first TV. I lived in a very rural area and so I had cable. When I first started dating my husband (now separated) he came over to my house and asked me where the remote was and I said I had no idea. He dug it out of one of my chairs and when he turned the television on, we learned the cable was not working. I called the cable company and apparently there had not been a signal for over two years. Who knew?

I have always been a voracious reader but due to life stressors and the pain of recovering from spine injuries, I found it difficult to concentrate on books. Enter the television. I watched DVD's of some of the best series. My darling children watched a lot of these with me, keeping me company during a very fragile time in my life.

One of my dear friends is having surgery next week and it got me to thinking about all the shows that I watched. Luckily, she will not have as long as recovery as I did but it is also not a quick fix either so I sent her a message as we were playing Words With Friends (she did not give it up for Lent) and recommended some shows. It bothers the hell out of me that she is having surgery. I have PTSD after all I went through and it is very, very hard for me to hear about other people's medical issues without becoming pretty agitated. First of all it reminds me of my own hospitalizations and secondly I would never want anyone to go through the hell that I did. The surgery and the recovery itself was hellish but it was getting off the medications from them that damn near killed me.

Drumroll, please. Here are my top ten television series to watch while you are homebound:

Everwood: Seasons 1-4
Parenthood: Season 1 through 4
ER: The Complete Seasons 1-15
Mad Men: Season One through 5
Sex and the City: The Complete Series (Collector's Gift Set)
Lost: The Complete Collection
Masterpiece: Downton Abbey Complete Seasons 1, 2, & 3 DVD Set (Original U.K. Edition)
How I Met Your Mother: Seasons 1-6 DVD
Friends: The Complete Series
24: The Complete Series


I loved all of these for different reasons but I loved them all for the same reason: It made some of the most challenging days of my life more enjoyable.

Of course these are all great series to watch even if you are not homebound. What favorite shows would you add to the list? Please list them in the comments.

And to my friend, I wish you a very safe surgery and a speedy recovery.

Godspeed.