Since drastically curtailing our cable television, Kris and I have been catching shows via Netflix and the iTunes Music Store. We currently watch Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, and The Office. What one show should we add to the mix? I’d prefer a comedy, but Kris would prefer a drama.
Meanwhile, here are a few stories about personal finance:
To begin, two recent guest posts at Money-Saving Mom caught my eye. First, Katey offers advice on living frugally and pleasantly in an apartment. A couple of these (trash out every day?) seem odd, but most are smart ways to make the most of a small space. Second, Michelle has some tips on how to make your own household cleaners.
Next, Paul sent an article from The New York times about how the economic woes of their parents are affecting teenagers. This story makes me feel out of touch. “National surveys put older teenagers’ average monthly allowance at $100 and upward.” Really? Really? I was lucky to ever get five bucks. And the stuff kids want, their knowledge of brands and prices — wow, was I like that when I was in high school?
Finally, via Jeff, The Wall Street Journal has four smart money moves for a down economy. Three of these seem obvious — create a budget, eliminate debt, boost your credit score — but the fourth is more subtle, and is a great idea: convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. When you perform this conversion, you owe income tax on every dollar you roll over. Because of recent market declines, you probably have fewer dollars to roll over, and thus would owe less in taxes. If you qualify, this may be worth considering.
GRS is committed to helping our readers save and achieve your financial goals.Savings interest rates may be low, but that’s all the more reason to shop for the best rate.Find the highest savings interest rate from Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Everbank, and more.
This article is about Spare Change
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Since House is a no-go, I have to echo the comments in favor of Big Bang Theory (possibly the funniest sitcom ever, frequently funny even with multiple viewings), How I Met Your Mother (sitcom leaning towards the dramatic), and Pushing Daisies, which is hard to neatly define, but has both dramatic and comedic elements; the narration and sets sort of remind me of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from a couple years ago.
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Life NBC Its Great on fridays
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I think I got about $5 a week allowance and made $1 an hour babysitting. Movies were almost $4 and albums about $12. I saved most of my money for years and years and it wound up buying me about a semester’s worth of books in college. My parents bought my clothes–at Sears and Penney’s, they didn’t think it made sense to spend much money on clothes for anyone who was still growing–and sometimes I got to borrow the Impala. There were no cell phones and video games mostly involved dropping a few quarters on Space Invaders at the arcade (although one friend had Pong).
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I recieved $50 at the beginning of the month and it had to last until the end. During the summers when I had a job I didn’t get an allowance and had to cover car insurance.
I was taking dance lessons at a place 30 minutes away most nights of the week during high school and that $50 would have to cover food for both lunches and dinners. My mom would provide food so I could choose to pack a lunch/dinner or buy, but I’d have to pace myself to make the money last. My last year of high school when I was driving the $50 had to include gas for my vehicle. (I shared it with my sister)
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Like others, I got about $5/week growing up and sometimes a little bit extra if I brought home a good report card — if I wanted more, I babysat for the neighbors. My parents bought my clothes & school supplies, but things like cds, magazines, the occasional scrunchie — I saved up my allowance.
What are kids spending $50/week on?!
Anyway, Grey’s Anatomy is a favorite of mine.
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TV Show: Chuck on NBC. Absolutely hilarious. Spy comedy with action and a beautiful woman to entice all of the males out there. Oh, and the main character is kind of a dorky guy that doesn’t belong as a spy — makes it all the more hilarious.
By far one of my favorite shows. In fact, one of the only shows I DVR religiously.
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Thanks for the tip on the IRA. Also, you should look into watching “The King of Queens”. It is an older show but still has reruns on tv at night. Also, you can pick up all nine seasons on Amazon.com relatively cheaply. I watch one or two episodes a night because it is a great show.
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Wow, only one vote so far for “30 Rock”?? That’s the best show in years! That and The Office are all I watch (besides Meet the Press and This Week w/ George S.).
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The only show I really enjoy watching is NCIS. Drama and comedy all rolled into one.
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I’d recommend watching the series firefly if you haven’t. It was only on for one season but it was excellent. It has comedy and drama elements. It’s a sci fi show, which noticing you like battlestar and heroes you may enjoy.
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Since my wife and I only watch four shows regularly (if you count Battlestar, which is far from regular in terms of when it actually airs), and three of them are the ones you and Kris watch, I say our match should be complete and you should watch House. A drama I guess, but always something funny.
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How I Met Your Mother is my favorite show on TV right now. Funny, sweet and refreshing. Lost is also good but it’s pretty complex. Freaks and Geeks is a great show that was only one for one season. It’s like a modern day Wonder Years. And one more comedy – Arrested Development. Smart and hilarious.
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Lost is excellent for both funny moments and suspense.
The Amazing Race is a lot of fun to watch how relationships work (or don’t work) and to learn about different cultures, plus you find yourself cheering on your favorites (and wishing that annoying team would get a flat tire or get lost).
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I would suggest Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia for a new comedy.
Also, the King of Queens is hilarious as well!
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I tore through a lot of TV shows last winter with Netflix. I will probably start my subscription back up again soon. My favorites included Arrested Development, Six Feet Under, and Weeds.
But really, Six Feet Under is my all-time favorite television show. I highly recommend it.
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I’m a firm believer in having kids earn lots of money. My seven year old earned about $400.00 from me doing chores, homework, having lemonade sales, etc. over the summer. But the purpose of earning the money was to buy her own school clothes come September, not to squander it.
She can still earn up to $100.00 a month if she so chooses. But there again, she has to pay for any additional clothes she needs, a portion of her horseback riding lessons (and if she doesn’t have the money to pay, she just doesn’t go), and any other ‘fun’ items that come up.
I heard a therapist speak on parenting a few years ago who said that the absolute worst thing you can do for you child’s self-esteem is to give them all that they want. It teaches them that they NEED someone to take care of them and that they are not capable of providing for themselves. The best way to grow a child’s self-esteem (and their financial skills too) is to have them come up with ways to buy their own ‘stuff.’ They learn to believe in themselves rather than rely on others.
At seven, my daughter is learning that she can manage money. She has an EXCELLENT concept of the value of money. She holds tight to her cash for things she really wants rather than spending it frivolously. We’ve already talked about tithing (going back to an earlier conversation here), although we aren’t asking her to pay it. We’ve told her that when she turns ten she will have to start saving for college.
We talk a lot about our ‘adult’ finances too. Why we live in a smaller house than many of friends, why we don’t have an SUV (or cable television or any number of other things that to seem so normal in our community), why we watch the stock market so closely at the moment.
It may seem like a lot for such a young kid, but to me these are all basic life skills that she is not going to learn anywhere else. I want the best for my child, and knowledge and skills are it – not one more pair of designer jeans.
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Pushing Daisies, Chuck, The Middleman, or The Big Bang Theory.
$100 a month is reasonable if you figure in gas money, and since this is for older teenagers, I’m guessing that’s figured in.
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I’ll put my vote in for How I Met Your Mother. I think it’s one of the best written, best acted comedies on TV today. It’s kept my attention into the 4th season, which is one more season than I could stand Friends.
There are a lot of shows I don’t mind watching. There are a lot of shows I’d like to see. This is the only one I make time to watch. For reference, I watch, um, maybe 3 hrs of TV/week when it’s not football season, and even then, the game’s mostly just on, I’m not necessarily watching them all. My point is, it’s worth it. To me. 
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My Name is Earl has to be my favorite….then Grey’s and House are a close second.
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I recommend Kitchen Nightmares. Yes, it’s sort of a cooking show, but it stars the highly charismatic Gordon Ramsay. Each week he audits a failing restaurant and then whips them into shape. Often times, it’s an issue of the owners standing in the way of themselves and sabotaging their own success. I’ve found that a lot of the points he makes to the owners translate very eloquently into my own life, and this show is actually what inspired me to stop screwing myself over financially and take control of my money. In addition, I’m something of a sucker for happy endings and seeing others succeed.
Though this show is unscripted, drama and comedy abound and Ramsay’s salty straight-forward delivery never ceases to amuse. The best part? It’s free on Fox.com.
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Comedy:
Weeds – Very funny for adults
Drama:
Dexter – Devilishly good… Again, for adults.
I am looking forward to gettin my John Adams series through Netflix. I’ve heard it is excellent.
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Mad Men–great drama, great characters, and sneaky social commentary.
30 Rock–I don’t even know what to say…this show just gets better with each episode.
I didn’t realize there was so much love for House out there. I like Hugh Laurie, but I have a low tolerance for medical shows.
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I can’t believe there’s only one mention of The Wire.
This is my favorite television show ever. (Upstairs Downstairs is second.) But I’ve watched both of those multiple times. 
I’ve seen one episode of House, but didn’t get it. Part of the problem is I don’t buy Hugh Laurie with an American accent. I’m used to seeing him in Black Adder and Jeeves and Wooster. That’s a hang-up that maybe I should set aside, I guess.
Thanks for all the recommendations, everyone. I’ll check out How I Met Your Mother (which has a cast I like) and Big Bang Theory. I’ll also take peeks at some of the other shows you’ve suggested.
Kris and I don’t watch a lot of television, as you know — I think that it’s too non-productive — but we do like to watch certain shows together. It’s always fun to find new ones. There are only so many times we can watch Arrested Development.
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You need to try out Pushing Daisies! It is has drama, comedy, romance, death, secrets, and pie! It is one of the 2 shows I am watching online this season…my other is Eureka. As my favorites got canceled, I didn’t replace them, and cut back until hubby and I could cancel our cable 2 years ago.
Granted, I have caught episodes of Big Love, The Tudors, and True Blood, and may pick them up again later if I can find the DVDs or downloads cheap!
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The Wire, without question.
And Generation Kill comes out on DVD soon I think.
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“Kitchen Nightmares” is fantastic for personal budgeting. You’ll never want to go out to eat again!
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We also watch shows solely through Netflix. We tried the networks’ online viewing but it can be a pain to set up and there are still commercials.
We watch
House, MD
That 70s Show
The Office
30 Rock
Scrubs
Lost
Heroes
I’ve also queued up Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother and Arrested Development because of the good things I’ve heard about them.
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JD. I was about to demand you watch the Wire. I am glad you are in tune with it. It is without a doubt my ALLTIME favorite.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is very very funny, its fast and witty, but has depth to the characters. I highly recommend it.
for netflix, you should see about renting When We Left Earth (blu ray if you have it) – awesome 6 part documentary on NASA, GREAT GREAT FOOTAGE.
but really you should just rewatch the Wire and listen to the Commentaries
! It’s a great way to go through the series for an nth time (ive watched it n+1 times)
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Kyle, Kris and I don’t own many shows on DVD, but we do intend to purchase the complete set of The Wire when it comes out in December. We’ll spend the rest of the month re-watching it. For the third or fourth time. Maybe this time we’ll do the commentaries. It’s simply a stunning piece of work.
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“wow, was I like that when I was in high school?”
J.D. – probably not. Today’s youth (which I am included in) is much more material focused and willing to spend 5x as much for a shirt or item because of its brand recognition. It’s really a shame though that things have turned out like this as strongly as they have.
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Big Bang Theory, I think you’d like it given the shows you listed.
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“The Daily Show”. It’s comedy, drama, politics, entertainment. My wife and I watch it religiously. With the election less than a month away, it’s must-watch TV.
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I enjoy a lot of the shows already mentioned, and I’d like to add Eli Stone. It was great. I look forward to it coming back this year.
I don’t watch a lot of TV, but I found that getting into shows that have already been around for a few years is a boon. Friends have been very generous about lending me favourites like Gilmore Girls and previous seasons of NCIS (my current favourite).
Sadly, internet TV hasn’t quite caught on here in Canada and what we do get is quite limited (due to copyright laws I’m sure). If you Americans access to it, Little Mosque on the Prairies is hilarious. (though a Canadian sense of humour may be required)
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My votes for TV shows are:
Eureka (sure a little cheesy, but always fun)
Bones
As for Hulu issues, their show selection is based on what kind of an agreement they can reach with the network and producers. And yes, the commercials are annoying, but I’d rather have a few 10-15 second interruptions than the marathon that has become the American commercial break.
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I don’t normally like police dramas, but I love, love, LOVE The Shield. It’s definitely not child-safe, and it’s way more drama than comedy (although there are some funny moments), but oh, man, the intricacies and shifting alliances and plot twists are AWESOME.
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Just remember: Just because x is the average doesn’t mean anybody gets x. If you have four teenagers from normal families getting $20 per month and one rich family giving their kid $420 per month, that averages out to $100 per month.
Also this suggests they are talking about upper-middle class and the “earn and consume” type of rich people:
“‘It is an unbelievable shock to affluent families that their lifestyles are gone for good,’ Dr. Manning said, ‘and their children are ill prepared for it.’”
I graduated high school just over three years ago, and I didn’t get $100 per month.
I believe “keeping children happy, stimulated and successful, no matter the cost,” IS an unassailable virtue and that these families are just doing it horribly wrong (do these kids sound happy to you?), so I’m annoyed that the article acted like that’s a bad thing.
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I would recommend How I Met Your Mother. Hilarious! Also Weeds is addictive, and has elements of both drama and comedy.
For many of these shows– Lost, the Office, etc. you can watch them for free online. This is how I watch all of my TV these days. Then again my husband watches almost no TV — it doesn’t work if we want to watch it together as I just use my laptop in my office. But still — why pay for something on iTunes that you can get from the Network or Hulu for free??
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I’d recommend Burn Notice, Chuck, or Psych for comedy. Lost, of course, is the best recommendation for drama.
Out of those, I’d probably recommend Burn Notice. It’s only in it’s second season, and the entire first season is available on Hulu, so catching up will be cheap. Plus it’s easily one of the most original shows out there. Chuck and Psych are both fun, but not nearly as witty. Lost is great, but it’s coming up on the fifth season and that is a LOT of catchup to do.
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Ha! Those are the same shows we are watching on netflix right now! Try Dexter or Six Feet Under. Good stuff.
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RT, kudos to you for such a realistic approach to money with your daughter! My parents did similar things with my siblings and me growing up, and we’ve always been grateful. Learning how to save and to set priorities was invaluable. I just want you to know it works
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I don’t take out trash everyday, but I see the point of doing it since I live in 45mq…
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Wow, people are passionate about their TV series!
We’re getting ready to cut the cable, as soon as the promo we are currently on ends. I’ve been ready for a while, and hubby has signed on due to disgust with the election coverage and his favorite sports teams!
I recommend “Burn Notice”. My daughter and I are in the midst of season 6 of “ER” – she’s 17 so she didn’t catch it the first time around. We’ll probably go through season 12 or 13. After that, I don’t know – maybe another “retro” series for us. I didn’t start watching “NYPD Blue” until it was several seasons old, so that might be fun.
Oh, and we’re waiting for season 7 of “King of the Hill” to be released on DVD. . . .
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I only have a handful of shows I watch on a religious basis (one being House); Dexter being one of them —and I also HIGHLY recommend it. The only other regular show I watch is The Soup on E!, the only way to get an overview of pop culture- but that’s not on DVD.
I’ve seen episodes of My Name is Earl and Curb Your Enthusiasm—-they are quite funny as well.
Six Feet Under is a good bet…though it got a touch angst-y towards the conclusion of the series, it is still worth a look.
If you want some “edu-ma-cation” with your entertainment, Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” is hilarious.
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The Amazing Race is the best TV show of all time, period. But only two seasons are available on DVD (so far). I’d also recommend The Wire, Entourage, 30 Rock, and Gilmore Girls.
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SMALLVILLE
The best TV show EVER! We “rented” all the episodes from season 1 until we were caught up to season 6 then now every Thursday at 8pm on CW.
Great acting, drama, comedy, science fiction, action!!!
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I watch so much TV I don’t even know where to start with recommendations! So I’ll limit to two per genre.
Drama: Mad Men, Friday Night Lights
Comedy: Extras, Arrested Development
As for the allowance thing, the most I ever got was $7 per week (as a teen in the late 90′s). But my parents paid for everything for me (clothes, car insurance, etc) so the $7 was just spending money for the movies or buying something fun, not for any essentials. If a teen has to pay more of their own expenses I can understand them getting a higher allowance. However if they’re spending $50 on clothes every week, that allowance is excessive, in my opinion.
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My husband and I also cut the cable. The commercials on Hulu drive me nuts, but we’ve learned to get used to them.
Bones is amazing. My husband and I love it.
Lost is one we enjoy as well, but you really do have to keep up with it.
Pushing Daisies is enjoyable.
Chuck is a really fun one as well.
Life is a good one.
I hope you guys can find something you enjoy!
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TV show recommendation: Pushing Daisies.
It was cut short last year by the writer’s strike, so there are only 9 episodes (3 discs) to order from Netflix. So if you don’t like it, you didn’t waste a lot of time, and you can move on to something else.
But you’ll love it — it’s got both comedy and drama, it’s written by intelligent people and stands up to multiple re-watches. My all-time favorite show (and I enjoy both Heroes and The Office).
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I am a serious fan of Lost, but my favorite new drama this season is The Mentalist on CBS. Only three episodes have aired so far, but it’s already proving to be a smartly written show with great acting by Simon Baker and Robin Tunney. The other supporting actors are also great. For a police show it’s surprisingly funny.
My husband and I are also hooked on The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The magic of this show is the English actress Lena Headey who is not only stunning but also a fantastic actress.
For “cancelled but excellent” shows I highly recommend Veronica Mars. All three seasons are fantastic and available through Netflix.
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Scrubs! It’s a perfect comedy but not slapstick or stupid. But it does have a few dramatic elements as well.
Its my one show indulgence since getting rid of cable.
Also, I’m happy to be the 100th person to comment here, since this is my first time posting, although I’ve been an avid reader for over year now! Good luck with the selection!
-TC
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