Addicted to a series?

How often does that happen to you? You watch one episode of a series that someone recommended...and then handed you the entire season of that series on DVD...and you end up watching all the episodes back to back?

The first time it ever happened to me was with The Office. Not the American version. The British version. The original. The one with Ricky Gervaise in it. I was recommended the series by one of my buddies from the Singapore office when I used to work there. He even got the DVD sets for the two seasons the series ran for. At that time, I waited for everyone to sleep before I started watching, mainly cause I had been told that the Office needed a different kind of humour appreciation to enjoy it. So I stuck the first DVD in, fired the first episode and watched in horror as the first episode hurtled past. Really didn't understand what the hell was going on. So almost gave up on it. But then I thought "might want to watch another episode and see what happens". By the time the second episode came to an end, I was starting to get what the series was all about. By the end of the third episode, I was laughing freely. And before the DVD came to an end, I had to bite down on my finger to not laugh out loud! So I had to go into the special features section to see the outtakes and see Ricky Gervaise just keep hammering at some really funny stuff that would have been great in the series. Needless to say, I was done with both seasons in 2 days (well, two nights) and would have loved to watch more.

The next time that happened was with The West Wing. I had heard of the series for a while, but never really managed to catch an episode, so didn't really know much about the series except for the part that it was about the White House and the President of the US. So when my buddy from the office volunteered to give me the DVDs for the first two seasons, naturally I jumped at it. And guess what? I'm addicted!

I watch episodes back to back. I love the characters and the twisted scenarios that come up every episode. And I have come to appreciate the role that Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and yes, even George W. played while in that office. I also realized how difficult it is to enact legislation in a country which is a bit more mature than my own country. So I can only imagine the horse trading that must be going on for getting a single piece of law passed.

Now you know that both the above series have a bit of continuity in them. As in, the events of the previous episodes have some bearing on the current and future ones. But there are the remarkable sit-coms which I am addicted to as well. First there was M*A*S*H which was, in my opinion, one of the finest shows I watched growing up. Then of course is Seinfeld, which is still the funniest series I have ever seen in my life. And then came Coupling, the british series which is currently my second ranked funniest series. All of these make me want to watch the next episode as soon as one ends...and then the next...and then the next...and then the next.

And then of course, there's the Big Bang Theory. My third ranked all time favorite comedy series. Once again hilarious, smart, intelligent and sometimes just plain crazy. The only thing that makes BBT stay alive with me more is that the series is still ongoing and is currently in it's 4th season. It is also the only series to which I do not have access to DVDs of, so I am stuck to watching these episodes on free streaming site which have a time limit on how much one can watch in one shot without having to pay for it.

Now the question I have for you folks is: Do you have a series that made you watch one episode after another?

PS: If your answer is "24", then please spare me!