My Top Four Tele-Fantastics

Looking forward to bonding with your couch over the weekend? Hook up with any of these knock-offs. I'm sure you'd find something that'll keep you glued to your seat. Better have the bags of chips ready!

1. How I Met Your Mother

In a Nutshell: HIMYM is a comedy series about Ted, a hopeless romantic, and the story of how he met his children's mother. As he unfolds that story though, he manages to narrate the hilarious adventures that he and his four best friends (Marshall, Lily, Robin and Barney) experiences as he searches for THE ONE. 

What Got Me Hooked: Barney, one of Ted's best friends, is legend... wait for it! -dary! He's hilarious! He is my favorite character in the series. He has this thing called the Bro Code which has all the laws that a true Bro should follow. There was this one time when he made Ted swear to an oath and he called it the Broath, in which Ted should wear a robe, which was called the Brobe. They also had a Slapsgiving occasion wherein Marshall can slap Barney (because the latter lost in a Slap bet) during Thanksgiving. I just love the catch-phrases and the puns! I applaud the writers. They're geniuses! Another thing I love is that all the stories are very relatable. Each episode is packed with issues that one encounters in real life: from as silly as how noticing one's flaw magnifies it, to as complicated as falling in love with your best friend.

2. Switched at Birth

In a Nutshell: SAB is a drama series revolving around the switch that happened between Bay and Daphne when they were born and how their families cope up when they found out about it. 

What Got Me Hooked: What's very interesting about this series is that Daphne, one of the main characters, is actually deaf. Yes, she is deaf in the story and in real life. This series is just an eye-opener for me. One, Daphne can talk. I was under the impression that deaf people are also mute. How can you talk when you can't even hear the sound that you're making? Two, the deaf characters (Yes, there are a ton more deaf characters aside from Daphne) can understand hearing people even if they don't sign because they learn how to read lips. Three, Emmett, also deaf, plays drums. How cool is that? There's just a lot of information that you can get about deaf people because of this series. Very awesome. I am actually learning how to sign in the process. It's just great how this series is able to give opportunity to "handicapped" people and position it in a way that is not condescending or pitiful at all. They are presented in a very positive manner. 

Another great thing is the splash of art in the series. Each of the titles of the series is a painting's title. Bay is a street artist. The series boosts up street art's reputation, that they are not just graffiti on the wall but are actually a valid art form  On the other hand, Toby, the brother, is a musician so there are also a lot of music references. 

SAB for me is a real series for the whole family. Parents'll be hooked with the parenting tips, children'll relate to the issues that teens are encountering. 

3. United States of Tara

In a Nutshell: UST is a comedy-drama about Tara, a housewife who has dissociative identity disorder, and her struggles in raising up two teens and managing the different identities that she has.

What Got Me Hooked: The story line in itself is an attention-grabber. How do you deal with multiple personality? Much less be a mom. Tara is Alice, a 50's prim and proper housewife; T, a rebel teen; and Buck, a male, drunkard army veteran. As the story progresses, different personalities are revealed as well. How does it feel to have a mother or a wife with multiple personalities? It's a chaos! Not to mention that the other characters are as crazy too! 

4. The Voice

In a Nutshell:  What sets this singing competition apart from others is that what they're looking for is THE VOICE. They don't care about how you look, or how old you are, for as long as you have the talent, you get a shot.

What Got Me Hooked: If Adam Levine is not enough reason for you to watch this show, I don't know how else I could convince you. Other topnotch judges include Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, and Ceelo Green. Great singers are everywhere. It's already a given scenario when you have a competition like this. The show is great because at the preliminaries, the power is actually given to the singers. The chosen ones get to choose who they want to mentor them while the latter fight over them. And it can get very nasty. These superstars can go as desperate as bragging about their achievements and smacking their co-mentors in the face. It's hilarious! Then the singers get to battle each other. The concept is really different. It's a well thought-of competition, not just a rip off of other singing shows.