By Tia Nichols

Look, you and I both know that you are not going to start that paper anytime soon. So in the meantime, why don’t you check out some decent television?

The Walking Dead
So imagine this – you’re a cop presumably living somewhere in the southern United States. You’ve got a wife, a son, a pretty cool accent — life is great, right? That is, until you get shot while on the job and go into a coma. Oh, and it only gets better from there. When you wake up from said coma, you’ve awoken to find the world is in the midst of a zombie apocalypse! That’s what happened to poor Rick, the main character of The Walking Dead.

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical about watching this show at first. It came highly recommended by my peers, but I was just so sick of the zombie hype that I wasn’t interested. However, a day of boredom and access to a friend’s Netflix account finally led me to the emotional roller coaster ride that is this show.

On that note, if you aren’t a fan of zombies but are a sucker for suspense and melodrama (or if you just like guns and sexy rednecks), then this show might be for you! But if you have a weak stomach, be warned that there is definitely no shortage of blood and gore.

Misfits
Shows like Doctor Who and Sherlock have gotten quite popular within the past few years, but honestly I’ve never really been able to get on the UK-tv bandwagon, with the exception of Misfits. The main characters of Misfits are five 20-somethings on probation working at a community center. One day, a storm hits London and everyone in the city is suddenly gifted with superpowers.

What’s interesting about this show is that all of the characters’ powers vary from things you’ve probably seen before, to some…very out-of-the-box ideas on the writers’ parts. One character reads minds, another can travel back in time (but only when he feels regret), and one character has a power that makes it so that anyone who touches her wants to have sex with her. That being said, this show can get pretty raunchy. So I don’t recommend it for anyone who is easily offended.

The Vampire Diaries
So at the beginning of The Vampire Diaries, Elena and her brother Jeremy are newly orphaned, fresh from the funeral home. They move to Mystic Falls, VA, to live with their aunt, and once they arrive, stuff starts happening. Poor Elena is soon trapped in a love triangle, with two relatively attractive vampire brothers vying for her affection – as she just so happens to look exactly like their old lover. As the show progresses we are introduced to more characters including more vampires trying to bleed Elena dry: a best friend who happens to be a witch, some werewolves, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I will admit, I was super into this show when I was younger and right in the midst of my “all vampire everything” phase. As seasons passed, however, I needed more than just hot supernatural creatures to keep me entertained. Soon all I was able to get out of this show was a bunch of attractive, yet insufferable teenagers sucking face, with the occasional vampire action.

Mind you, I’m not bashing the show. It’s just no longer my thing. If you like shows that take place in a high school setting, or if you just like teen supernatural stuff, then you might like The Vampire Diaries.