And like Peder, I primarily watch TV when I want some escapist fun, and that comes in many different forms that are hard to even really compare. I mean, one day I might be in the mood for a fantastical show; another day I might want to watch sci-fi; and at another time, I might want to watch a few episodes of a drama. I enjoy all those (extremely different) things about equally; it just depends on what sort of mood I’m in.

All that is to say that the rankings in this list are somewhat arbitrary, and might change depending on the day you ask me. Regardless, these are the five TV series that rise to the top of my list:

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To finish things off, I have to include some honorable mentions that were *this* close to making it on the list: Pushing Daisies (an absolute delight that ended way too soon), Firefly (the best space cowboy show ever), Outlander (three words: ALL THE FEELS), Community (just stupid-hilarious), Silicon Valley (the most fun I’ve ever had being stressed out and having secondhand embarrassment), Bob’s Burgers (way better than it has any right to be), and Sherlock (smart, sexy, and absolutely legendary).

Do any of your favorites overlap with mine? What TV shows would make it into your top 5?

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“@TheScando @NerdologistCast @BeskarTom Sushi Go at Sushi. Or spicy hot foods with Flashpoint: Fire Rescue.” – Alex L

“@TheScando @NerdologistCast @BeskarTom Catan. Wood-fired lamb in a brick oven with Stone brewing co beer. And, uh golden beets.” – Richard KL

“@TheScando @NerdologistCast better yet skip the meal and play Diplomacy and drink scotch and smoke cigars” – Tom Cantwell

But this one, thanks to Tom Cantwell (@BeskarTom), was the one that really stuck out to me:

“@TheScando Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective with bangers and mash or some other classic British dish is the first thing I think of”

I’m not just going to stick with the board games, but also if you are watching the Benedict Cumberbatch show, the Robert Downey Jr. movies, or are reading the book aloud as part of a book club, or playing Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective or 221B Baker Street. If it is Sherlock Holmes themed, here’s an idea of what you can do to get into the mood and mindset for the greatest detective of all time.

I had a few different thoughts. What Tom suggests in his tweet, bangers and mash or something like a meat pie would create a classic English feel that you could build off of, but that’s not the direction that I wanted to go. I also thought of molecular gastronomy, but that seemed less accessible than the idea that I landed on, food that isn’t as it seems, food that is the mystery.

Drinks:

Beer and Pop/Soda

So this seems like it would be really normal. You can have beer or pop any night and it doesn’t seem to be Sherlock Holmes themed, but I do have a reason for both of these. For the beer, get a sampler pack and then remove the labels from every single beer. Most beer comes in a darker colored bottle now, so it stays fresher longer,so you’ll have no idea what beer you are picking out of the case. Or will you? Can you through process of elimination, studying the bottle, and anything short of opening the bottle and sniffing, figure out which beer you are getting so you’ll get the one that you want? Same thing for the pop. Get two liter bottles of Coke, Diet Coke, Root Beer, and Dr. Pepper, take off the label, take off the caps and the little ring that goes with the cap, can you determine which soda is which without tasting or smelling it?

Appetizer:

Wontons

Why wontons, they don’t seem too English? They really aren’t, but what sort of fillings will you conceal within your wonton wrappers? Some ideas might be – cream cheese, cream cheese and cranberries, cream cheese and chocolate chips, cream cheese and onion/balsamic jam, pork, and you can really go crazy with this. Make it so that you have a number of different varieties and fry them up so that you as the host, you don’t even know what is what. And again, use your sleuthing skills to try and figure out which one is which. Here’s a real mean trick to play, you can get capsaicin in a bottle, it doesn’t have a ton of color, and could be an interesting surprise for someone. Now, if you control how much you put in there (and test it out yourself mixed in with cream cheese), and people like spice, it would be a fun thing to use.

Main Course:

Mashed Cauliflower

Chicken Fried Steak

Gravy

This is less about tricking people. It’s more about creating stuff that will look differently than you’d expect. Mashed Cauliflower can make a nice change of pace from mashed potatoes that people would expect. Chicken Fried Steak would take a food preparation that people are expecting for one sort of protein, but preparing it in another way, and if you break it up well enough, people still might be surprised when it’s beef and not chicken. Finally, you’d want to make a nice dark colored gravy. We’re not talking about a creamy gravy. Go with something that is dark and work on building it up so that it kind of matches a darker BBQ sauce color. Things won’t be exactly what people are expecting, but it’ll be a good meal still.

Desert:

Brownies

When I say brownies, I really mean brownies, with a little bit of a twist. When you go to make your brownies, add in a bit of habanero (with seeds) in a couple of the brownies. You probably know what size you normally cut brownies, so make it so it’s stuck in the middle of a brownie and then turn it into a game. People grab a brownie and let’s see who gets the pepper. And if you do get the pepper, maybe see if you can hide it form everyone so they don’t know you’ve gotten it. That way the rest of the brownies, people will be taking a bit of them in dread. Note that keeping the seeds in there is important, I’ve had one with habanero (pretty sure it was that an not jalapeno) and it didn’t have the seeds and it didn’t really taste hot.

What would your idea for theming a Sherlock Holmes meal be? Would you go with something more traditional? If so, what sort of English meal would you create?

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Does thinking of what I can’t get in the midst of all I can get make me a selfish, gluttonous TV-watcher? Definitely. However, I have a feeling I’m not alone in this sentiment. For every show we love that faithfully turns out fresh episodes every season, there’s one that takes two or three years to release anything new (I’m looking at you, BBC…).

So what’s a fan to do during these new-episode droughts? Well, as someone who’s experienced that pain many times over at the hands of shows like Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Outlander, I have a few ideas up my sleeve. Such as…

Rewatch favorite episodes

This one is obvious, but a tried-and-true choice. When your craving for that one great show just can’t be satisfied by anything else, find a way to get a hold of some previous episodes (via on-demand, reruns [if they even do those anymore??], your DVD collection, library copies, etc.) and set up a little “greatest hits” marathon for yourself. Though there may be nothing new to take in, you’ll always enjoy revisiting your favorites, and might even catch something new the second (or third…or fourth…or…who’s counting??) time around. You want to be a bit careful with this one, as it can be a bit of a slippery slope, but it’s a good method to use in moderation.

Try new shows similar to the one you’re waiting for

Unlike my first suggestion, this one allows you to both enjoy the kind of feels you get from the show you can’t watch while getting to branch out and take in something new by watching the ones you can. There are lots of ways to do this — you can use sites like this one that suggest new shows based on ones you’ve seen, you can ask friends who also like the stalled show if they know of any other good ones like it, or you can take the super easy (and somewhat risky) route of watching what Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime/etc. suggests based on your previously watched shows. You’ll likely find this method to be a bit hit-and-miss, but you never know — you just might find a new favorite along the way.

Visit fan forums and sites

With any show hiatus comes a legion of fans who are at turns excited for the new episodes to arrive and outraged that time isn’t passing more quickly until that day comes. And thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to find those legions and have a good venting/reminiscing/speculating session with them. Search for forums and fan pages for the show in question, jump in, and get talking! Besides being a great way to let off some steam, this is also a chance to make friends (even though they’re usually long-distance ones) with people who share your interests. I’ll spare you the obligatory “be careful giving out your info on the internet” speech, as it feels much too 2002-suburban-mom for my taste, but just use a little common sense and go to it!

Write some fan fiction (or do some fan art)!

I can practically see you guys rolling your eyes at me, but hear me out. While this solution may seem to be one for the truly desperate, it’s a really fun and — unlike most other methods — productive way to revisit your favorite show while you’re waiting for new stuff. If you’re artistically or linguistically inclined, try your hand at a little AU fan fiction, draw your interpretation of your favorite scene, or write a story based on what you think is going to happen next in the show (or, better yet, what you wish would happen but know will never actually take place). If the idea of putting pen to paper makes you cringe, search DeviantArt.com or any number of the endless fan fiction sites out there for the great stuff (or not-so-great stuff…hey, we don’t judge) that others are creating. These things may not fill the Game of Thrones-shaped hole in your heart, but they’ll be entertaining at the very least, and could even lead you to generate some great new ideas of your own.

These are a few ideas for things to do while waiting for new seasons of your favorite shows to come out, but I’m sure there are lots of others! What’s your favorite way to combat the show hiatus blues? Tell us about it in the comments!

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Mostly, I’m just admiring them, but the more I browse, the more I’m feeling the desire to nerdify our overall decorating scheme a bit. Thankfully, there are tons of possibilities!

There’s the ever-popular DIY:

The awesome fandom stuff:

And the downright silly:

As you can see, the options for creating A Very Nerdy Christmas are many and wondrous. So go forth and spread the nerdy holiday cheer!

And remember, if anyone tells you to tone it down, just take a page from our good friend Wilf’s book:

And now, please excuse me while I go make myself some Game of Thrones paper snowflakes and hang them haphazardly around the house. Huzzah!

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Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @Kefka73
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