Our DVR: Part II

As a continuation to my post from Tuesday.  I'm fortunate because while my husband and I may not have the same taste in TV shows - there are quite a few that we do agree on and watch together.  Some are more for him, and some are more for me, but he tolerates them (American Idol) and we wait until we are able to be together to watch these shows.  So - here we go - this is what is on OUR DVR:

American Idol

Each season premieres with the audition round, taking place in different cities. The audition episodes typically feature a mix of potential finalists, interesting characters and woefully inadequate contestants. Each successful contestant receives a golden ticket to proceed on to the next round in Hollywood. Based on their performances during the Hollywood round (Las Vegas round for seasons 10 onwards), 24 to 36 contestants are selected by the judges to participate in the semifinals. From the semifinal onwards the contestants perform their songs live, with the judges making their critiques after each performance. The contestants are voted for by the viewing public, and the outcome of the public votes is then revealed in the results show typically on the following night. The results shows feature group performances by the contestants as well as guest performers. The Top-three results show also features the homecoming events for the Top 3 finalists. The season reaches its climax in a two-hour results finale show where the winner of the season is revealed.

With the exception of seasons one and two, the contestants in the semifinals onwards perform in front of a studio audience. They perform with a full band in the finals. From season four to season nine, the American Idol band was led by Rickey Minor; from season ten onwards, Ray Chew. Assistance may also be given by vocal coaches and song arrangers, such as Michael Orland and Debra Byrd to contestants behind the scene. Starting with season seven, contestants may perform with a musical instrument from the Hollywood rounds onwards. In the first nine seasons, performances were usually aired live on Tuesday nights, followed by the results shows on Wednesdays in the United States and Canada, but moved to Wednesdays and Thursdays in season ten.

Duck Dynasty

Duck Dynasty is a reality television series on A&E. It shows the lives of the Robertson family, which went from poverty to being wealthy due to the sales of their duck calls, primarily the Duck Commander. The Robertson men (brothers Phil and Si, and Phil's sons Jase, Willie, and Jep) are known for their long-flowing beards.

(We don't currently record this, but we should.  I've grown quite attached to this show...and Pawn Stars.)

Revolution

Revolution takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future. Fifteen years earlier, an unknown phenomenon disabled electricity on the planet and effectively all devices powered by it, ranging from computers and electronics to car and jet engines. People were forced to adapt to a world without electricity. Due to the collapse of government and public order, many areas are ruled by warlordsand militias. The series focuses on the Matheson family, who possess a special device (a mysterious pendant) that is the key to not only finding out what happened fifteen years ago, but also a possible way to reverse its effects. However, they must elude Sebastian Monroe, the General of the Monroe Militia and President of the Monroe Republic who wants to possess that power for himself for conquest of the former United States of America.

Dexter

Orphaned at the age of three due to the murder of his mother, Dexter Morgan is adopted by Miami police officer Harry Morgan and his wife Doris. After discovering that young Dexter has been killing neighborhood pets for several years, Harry tells Dexter that he believes the need to kill "got into" him at too early an age, and that he believes Dexter's need to kill will only grow. To keep Dexter from killing innocent people, Harry begins teaching The Code to Dexter: Dexter's victims must be killers themselves who have killed someone without justifiable cause and are likely to do so again. Dexter must also always be sure that his target is guilty, and thus, frequently goes to extreme lengths to get undeniable proof of his victim's guilt. Most importantly, Dexter must never get caught. Flashbacks throughout the series show Harry (who died several years previously) instructing Dexter on how to masquerade with typical human behavior, how to cover his tracks after a kill, and even how to stranglehold a target to knock them out and capture them.

Dexter has followed The Code religiously to satisfy his "Dark Passenger" (the name he has assigned to his urge to kill). However, in Season 4, he hastily kills a photographer who then proves to be innocent. Like many serial killers, Dexter keeps a trophy for each kill. Before dispatching a wrongdoer, Dexter makes an incision on his victim's cheek with a scalpel and collects a blood sample, which he preserves on a blood slide. He stores his collection in a box concealed inside his air conditioner.

In the beginning of the series, Dexter believes that he has no emotions, and he has to work non-stop to appear normal and blend in with the other people around him. Initially, Dexter is (with varying success) able to fake 'normal' emotions and maintain his appearance as an unremarkable friend and neighbor. He does maintain a few personal relationships early on, stating that he is "fond" of his adoptive sister Debra. She is unaware of Harry's training but harbors lingering jealousy of the perceived preferential treatment Harry gave Dexter. As part of his "disguise" in Season 1, Dexter dates a woman named Rita who is too traumatized from years of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, Paul Bennett, to be intimate with Dexter. This suits Dexter, who believes getting intimate will reveal his darker side to Rita. He is fond of (and good with) children in general, particularly Rita's two children, Astor and Cody. However, his attachment to Debra, Rita, Astor and Cody (and later his biological son, Harrison) complicate his double life and cause him to question his "need" to kill.

Fringe

Fringe follows the casework of the Fringe Division, a Joint Federal Task Force supported primarily by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which includes Agent Olivia Dunham; Dr. Walter Bishop, the archetypal mad scientist; and Peter Bishop, Walter's estranged son and jack-of-all-trades. They are supported by Phillip Broyles, the force's director, and Agent Astrid Farnsworth, who assists Walter in laboratory research. The Fringe Division investigates cases relating to fringe science, ranging from transhumanistexperiments gone wrong to the prospect of a destructive technological singularity to a possible collision of two parallel universes. The Fringe Division's work often intersects with advanced biotechnology developed by a company called Massive Dynamic, founded by Walter's former partner, Dr. William Bell, and run by their common friend, Nina Sharp. The team is also watched silently by a group of bald, pale men who are called "Observers".

Season 1 introduces the Fringe Division as they investigate cases that form "the Pattern", many of which orchestrated by an international network of rogue scientists known as ZFT (Zerstörung durch Fortschritte der Technologie, or in English, Destruction through Advancement of Technology), led by David Robert Jones, who are preparing for a doomsday event. The ZFT threat appears to end when Peter kills Jones as he attempts travel to a parallel universe.^[2] Olivia comes to learn she was a child test subject for Walter years ago for a nootropic drug, Cortexiphan, giving her weak psionic abilities.^[3] Walter also struggles with adjusting to normal life in Peter's care after living seventeen years in a mental institution while hiding the fact that Peter is from the parallel universe, "his" Peter having died as a child.^[2]

In Season 2, the occurrences are found to be in conjunction with activities of a parallel universe, which is plagued by singularities occurring at weakened points of the fabric between worlds; over there, scientists have developed an amber-like substance that isolates these singularities as well as any innocent people caught in the area on its release. The Fringe team deals with more cases that are leading to a "great storm" as the parallel universe appears to be at war with the prime one, engineered by human-machine hybrid shapeshiftersfrom the parallel universe.^[4] Walter is forced to tell Peter that he is from the parallel universe, a replacement for his own Peter that died from a genetic disease. Walter had crossed over on the frozen ice of Reiden Lake in 1985 to administer the cure for the alternate version of Peter, but, after destroying a dose of the cure upon transport, he instead brought the boy across; on return, they fell through the ice but were saved by the Observer September, who reminded Walter of the importance of Peter.^[5] Walter's crossing is what caused the singularities in the parallel universe, with Reiden Lake at their epicenter.^[6]

Season 3 presents episodes that alternate between the two universes. "Walternate", Walter's doppelgänger in the parallel universe, is the U.S. Secretary of Defense and has set events in motion to assemble a doomsday device that reacts only to Peter's biology.^[7] He also sent his Olivia, "Fauxlivia", to the prime universe, in Olivia's place, to engage the Fringe Division and assemble the prime universe's version of the device, while he studies Olivia's Cortexiphan-induced powers.^[8] By happenstance, Fauxlivia becomes pregnant with Peter's child, Henry, before being outed and extracted to the parallel universe.^[9] Walternate orchestrated acceleration of the pregnancy to gain a sample of the baby's blood, which he uses to activate the machine.^[10] Peter, with Olivia's help, enters the prime version of the machine, and experiences a vision of the future where the parallel universe has been destroyed and the same fate threatens the prime one. Recovering in the present, Peter alters his plan and uses the machine to merge the two rooms, creating a bridge where inhabitants of both universes can solve their dilemma, before disappearing and being forgotten by both Walters and Olivias.^[11]

Season 4 begins in an alternate timeline, one in which September had failed to save the alternate version of Peter in 1985, according to the Observers.^[12] This creates a butterfly effect influencing the main characters' pasts but otherwise stabilizing both universes due to the creation of the bridge. Peter is pulled into this new timeline due to the actions of the alternate timeline's Fringe team, which includes Lincoln Lee. Peter initially works to return to his own timeline, fueled by fears that his memories are altering Cortexiphan-dosed Olivia's of this timeline, but after encountering a wounded September, Peter comes to learn that this timeline is truly his home, and both he and Olivia come to accept the change, rekindling their affair.^[13] September also reveals to Peter that the Observers needed to erase Peter's son, Henry, to assure their future will be created, though noting that Peter's future child with Olivia will be important.^[14] Meanwhile, in the present, William Bell has instructed David Robert Jones, alive in this timeline, to work with the parallel universe's version of Nina Sharp to synchronize the two universes together, aiming to collapse them both and pave the way for a third universe under Bell's control, using Olivia's Cortexiphan powers to enable the collapse. The Fringe division is forced to close the dimensional bridge, but this fails to stop Bell's plan. Walter is left with one choice, to shoot and kill Olivia, her death disrupting the process and saving the world. September appears to Walter and warns that "they are coming",^[15] alluding to a dystopian future of 2036 depicted in the episode "Letters of Transit", where Observers from the far future, having ruined Earth for themselves, time-traveled to 2015 and instituted "The Purge", wiped out much of humanity, subjected the survivors to their control, and began modifying the planet's environment to be more suitable for themselves.^[16]

The fifth and final season continues from the 2036 of "Letters of Transit"; the Fringe team was able to seal themselves in amber to avoid capture shortly after the Purge, but are re-united in the future due to actions of Peter and Olivia's now-adult daughter, Henrietta (Etta). Walter, after the restoration of pieces of brain he had purposely removed years before, reveals that he and September had developed a plan to defeat the Observers before he was trapped in amber, but after briefly being taken and tortured by the lead Observer, Captain Windmark, that plan has been lost in his mind.^[17] The Fringe team recounts that Walter documented everything, and they find a series of tapes, ambered within Walter's old lab, that instructs the viewer to collect components to complete the plan, including a young Observer child, "Michael". Etta is killed by the Observers during an ambush, creating a martyr figure for the resistance while leading Peter to lethally remove a device implanted in an Observer's spine and insert it in himself as to become like the Observers himself. Peter uses the precognitive abilities of the implant to plot against Captain Windmark, while Olivia fears that she may be losing Peter again, and convinces him to remove it. Walter realizes that with his brain restored he is becoming the more sinister version of himself, and seeks a way to prevent this persona from emerging. Michael is able to communicate with Walter, and reveals that Donald is the Observer September.

Arrow

The series follows Oliver Queen, billionaire playboy of Starling City, who spends five years stranded on an island following a shipwreck that claims the life of everyone else on board, including his father, Robert Queen, and Sara Lance, the sister of Oliver's girlfriend Laurel. Upon his return to Starling City, he is reunited with his mother, Moira, and her new husband, Walter, the former CFO of his father's company. He is also greeted by his younger sister, Thea, and his best friend, Tommy Merlyn, the son of billionaire Malcolm Merlyn. Oliver also tries to reconnect with ex-girlfriend Laurel, but she blames him for the death of her sister, Sara, as Oliver and Sara were having an affair at the time of the accident.

During the day, Oliver plays the billionaire playboy; at night, he becomes a green-hooded vigilante, following through with his father's dying wishes to right the wrongs of the Queen family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. Oliver's vigilante persona becomes the focus of Detective Quentin Lance, father to Laurel and Sara, who is determined to arrest him and who blames Oliver for his daughter's death and his wife leaving him, though he remains unaware of his real identity. Oliver is also constantly flanked by a bodyguard, John Diggle, who later joins Oliver in his fight for justice. Moira is also hiding some secrets, as she knows that the family yacht was actually sabotaged.

Person of Interest

John Reese (Jim Caviezel), a former Green Beret and CIA field officer, is living as a derelict in New York City after the death of the woman he loves, and is presumed dead. He is approached by Harold Finch (Michael Emerson), a reclusive billionaire computer genius who is living under an assumed identity. Finch explains that after September 11, 2001, he built a computer system for the government which uses information gleaned from omnipresent surveillance to predict future terrorist attacks. However, Finch discovered that the computer was predicting ordinary crimes as well. While the government was not interested in these results, Finch is determined to find a way to stop the predicted crimes. He hires Reese to conduct surveillance and intervene as needed, using his repertoire of skills gained in the military and CIA. Through a back door built into the system, Finch receives a Social Security number for someone who will be involved in an imminent crime, at which point he contacts Reese. Without knowing what the crime will be, when it will occur, or even if the person they were alerted to is a victim or perpetrator, Reese and Finch must try to stop the crime from occurring.

They are helped by NYPD Detectives Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman), a corrupt cop Reese coerces into helping them, and Joss Carter (Taraji P. Henson), who had originally been investigating Reese for his vigilante activities. Although Reese arranged for Carter and Fusco to be partners in the NYPD early in the series, for the entirety of the show's first season, neither was aware that the other was also working with Finch and Reese. Periodically, the team also enlists the aid of Zoe Morgan (Paige Turco), a professional "fixer" who applies her skills to particularly difficult tasks. The series features several subplots, including "HR", an organization of corrupt NYPD officers in league with budding mob boss Carl Elias (Enrico Colantoni) in which Fusco is forced to go undercover, as well as Root (Amy Acker), a murderous female hacker who is determined to gain access to the Machine.

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These are our favorites.  What are yours??

Part III - COMING SOON!

**All plot summary's are excerpts from wikipedia.com