Hi, I'm Paula Sanderson

I have watched a lot of TV this year. When people say that they’ve ‘finished Netflix’… I get it. I often joke that watching TV for me is “professional development” or “research”. In many ways it is – I try really hard to keep up with trends in my industry and watch as many shows as I can.

You’ll notice some trends in what I watch and that comes down to a few things.

Firstly, I work in factual/reality TV and so that is the genre I watch the most of. Getting a Hayu account was well worth it.

Secondly, I do love watching scripted shows – but the stories I’m drawn to are generally more fun. I love a rom-com and a lot of the shows I watch would fit into that category – most often contemporary stories that deal with relationships. I also love a YA drama. I have a harder time with “prestige television” (or frankly HBO in general) because I tend to watch TV to escape and relax and often those ‘prestige’ shows are downright depressing. If I’m going to spend hours with these people I want to like them. I want to ‘root’ for the characters you know?

To make it on this list – I’ve seen at least a full season THIS year. Yes I know it’s a bit crazy. BUT again – this is what I do for work…

I’m sure I’m missing some shows. I don’t have specials on here – think all those Covid ‘we’re all in this together’ sing alongs or Oscar broadcasts etc. I also don’t have the weeks I spent watch news channels (shoutout to CBC/CNN etc) amongst all the chaos that was 2020. Lastly I don’t have all my talk shows listed. Those are harder to say I watched a ‘season’ of. But know that I spend a lot of time with all the James/Jimmys/Stephens/Noahs/Seths etc.

For a guide here – the number after the show is the seasons that I’ve watched. Aka 1 = season 1. 1-8 = I watched all of seasons 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8. You’ll get it.

I’ve also linked to the shows that I’ve talked about on the blog if you want to go back and read what I thought of them in full.

Finally this is not a what was *good* list. This is just what I watched. Next year I’ll try to keep this list going and order shows in order of preference like I did with my books.

Without further ado:

Reality: 

1. Below Deck – 1-8
2. Below Deck Med – 1-5
3. Below Deck Sailing Yacht – 1
4. Real Housewives OC-1, 
5. Real Housewives NY-1-3, 
6. Real Housewives BH1-3, 
7. Real Housewives NJ -1-2, 
8. Real Housewives Atlanta-1, 
9. Real Housewives Salt Lake City – 1
10. Vanderpump Rules – 1-2
11. Summer House – 1
12. Indian Matchmaking – 1
13. The Big Flower Fight – 1
14. Glow up – 2
15. Too Hot to Handle – 1
16. Big Brother Canada – 8
17. Big Brother US – 22
18. Love Island US – 2
19. Love Island Aus – 1
20. Camp Getaway -1
21. The Home Edit – 1
22. Deaf U – 1
23. Dream Home Makeover – 1
24. Queer Eye – 5
25. Love is Blind – 1
26. Terrace House – 4
27. The Circle  – US -1 
28. The Circle – Brazil -1
29. The Bachelor – 24 (aka Peter)
30. The Bachelor – Great Seasons Ever
31. The Bachelor – Listen to your heart – 1
32. The Bachelorette – 16 (aka Tayshia/Clare)
33. Still Standing – 6
34. Landscape Painter of the Year: Canada – 1  
35. All Round Champion – 1+2
36. Great British Bakeoff – 11
37. Stylish with Jenna Lyons – 1

Doc Series (It’s different than Reality!)

1. The Last Dance – 1
2. We Are the Champions – 1
3. Cheer – 1
4. Tiger King – 1

Pannel Shows:

1. Because News – 1

Scripted: 

1. The Umbrella Academy – 2
2. Sweet Magnolias – 1
3. The Good Fight 1-3
4. Money Heist – 3
5. The Crown – 4
6. This is Us – 4
7. Industry – 1 
8. Bridgerton – 1
9. Outer Banks – 1
10. Never Have I Ever – 1
11. Babysitters Club  – 1
12. Dash and Lily – 1
13. Julie and the Phantoms -1 
14. Sex Education – 2
15. Emily in Paris  – 1

RE-WATCHING: 

I did a whole post about the magic of the rewatch – you can read it here.

1. Grey’s – 1-6
2. Gilmore Girls – 1-7
3. Friday Night Lights  1, 3—5
4. Borgen – 1-2
5. Four Weddings and a Funeral  – 1
6. The West Wing 1-2
7. The Hookup Plan 1+ the Special
8. Derry Girls – 1+2
9. Made in Chelsea – 1, 8, 9
10. The Hills – 1