Issue #14: I was busy thinking about boys
Fictional, but who cares?
Hi,
Welcome back to Continue Watching! Thank you so much for your overwhelming response to our last issue. We read every single message you sent us, and while we were sad that it made you cry, sharing our grief with you was therapeutic for us.
When we were thinking about what to write this time, we discussed and discarded many themes before deciding that we want to do something fun and silly. And what’s more fun than crushing on imaginary men who will never exist in real life? So, in this issue, we’re both listing down 15 of our top TV boyfriends of all time. There is only one rule—we have to pick the character, not the actor. Other than that, nobody is off limits, and neither one of us is allowed to judge the other’s choices (at least openly!).
This is the most fun we’ve had in a while but we have to admit, coming up with 15 men who are worthy of us was much more difficult than we could imagine. We watch so much TV, we thought, this would be a cakewalk. Reader, it was NOT. But three men make it to BOTH of our lists, which is quite an achievement. For one of them, we’ve even written the same thing, word for word. We feel like that explains so much of why we’re friends.
Anyway, the lists are ready and we cannot wait to hear what you think of them! You are absolutely allowed to judge us on our choices, and something tells us we’re all about to have a huge debate around what makes a character dateable.
But before we do that, have you seen the Gossip Girl teaser? The show is premiering on July 8!
There are only three things we have to say about this teaser: 1) We’re excited. 2) We’re concerned this looks like the American version of Elite. 3) Shahana gifted this selfie ring light to Kashika on her birthday earlier this year.
Selena Gomez is in a new show and we’re here for it!
Have you guys read The Time Traveler’s Wife? One of us (*cough* Kashika *cough*) sobbed for hours after finishing it and, even though she loves it, has not been able to read it again because of how sad it made her. The movie is also sad but doesn’t hold a candle to the book. They’re now adapting it for a TV show with Rose Leslie.
Did you watch Friends: The Reunion? What did you think of it? It made us very aware of the passage of time while wrapping us into the kind of sentimental nostalgia that makes everything feel warm and fuzzy. Overall it felt like a win.
We know you’re itching to read our Boyfriend Lists but we can never, ever skip our fave section for that.
CURRENTLY WATCHING:
Kashika
Search Party: Four millennials land themselves in a shitstorm after becoming obsessed with the disappearance of one of their acquaintances from college. I cannot say more without spoiling anything for you, but please go into it willing to dislike every single main character while being thoroughly entertained by them. The first season is laugh-out-loud funny and incisive and while the rest of the seasons cannot keep up, it’s still one of the most surprising and addictive things I’ve watched recently. If you’ve ever felt like you were self-absorbed, Dory, Drew, Portia, and Elliot will make you feel so much better about your life. PLEASE WATCH IT SO WE CAN DISCUSS IT, but you’ll have to get creative to find it.
Murder Meri Jaan: Everyone knows that I’m always on the lookout for a good Hindi show to watch, and I’ve finally found something new. Murder Meri Jaan is a short-format show (each episode is barely 12-15 minutes long) about a cop who ends up marrying Looteri Dulhan, a woman who is a wanted con artist and has married (and looted) 18 men before this guy. He cannot tell anyone because his image will be tainted forever but he also cannot let go and con other people. While he figures out what to do with her, they live together, act married and are now OBVIOUSLY falling for each other. The murder cases are hilariously stupid but the chemistry of the lead pair is fun and fresh. It works. Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
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Shahana
Ziwe: Ziwe the show is an extension of what comedian Ziwe Fumudoh used to do on her Instagram, which is interviewing primarily white and controversial people, like Alison Roman and fave scammer Caroline Calloway. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, then you should know—her interviews aren’t about helping the guest fix a broken image; Ziwe asks the difficult questions and relishes in the awkwardness created by it. Love to see it. Streaming on Voot Select.
Doom At Your Service: It’s a good time to not be my friend, because if you are, I’ve probably been begging you to watch Vincenzo so we can talk about it together. However, to get over it, I started watching Doom At Your Service (someone on Tumblr said it’s similar), a Korean show about how Myul Mang, a supernatural entity who is sick of being the literal personification of doom and fate, meets and enters a contract with Tak Dong-kyung, an editor who is dying and wishes for the world to end. Episodes can be found on KissAsian.
We hope you have a lovely Sunday, made lovelier with all the GIFs of hot men you’re about to see. Please write to us and let us know whose list you like better, we have so much riding on this! And, as always, stay safe.
Continue Watching (and reading!),
Kashika and Shahana
Kashika’s Top 15 TV Boyfriends Of All Time
Before we begin, here are five rather surprising observations I made while making this list over the last one week:
There are VERY FEW men in the hundreds of TV shows that I’ve watched in my life who would make for decent boyfriends. Every time I thought of a male character I was/am obsessed with, I had to kick him off the list for being either too abusive (Arnav from IPKKND), too much of a manchild (Nick from New Girl) or a straight-up psychopath (Klaus from The Vampire Diaries).
When I decided to keep supernatural beings out of this list (with one exception), I made the pool even smaller.
I kept wanting to date the female leads of every show and realized that so many of them deserved better.
My willingness to include dads in this list was a shock even to me. Being in your 30s is wild.
Every single friend with whom I discussed this had a wildly different list from me and we openly mocked each other’s choices.
Anyway, here are my OBJECTIVELY WONDERFUL TV boyfriends.
Jack Pearson, This Is Us (Disney+ Hotstar)
A mythically perfect man who gives great speeches every time he looks at you? Sign me up!
Jess Mariano, Gilmore Girls (Netflix)
The only bad boy allowed to be on this list. Teenage Kashika would have definitely gotten into that car accident with him.
Dr Derek Shepherd, Grey’s Anatomy (Disney+ Hotstar)
Only here for the hair and the face, not the fuckery that comes with being the most successful neurosurgeon in America.
Ahn Min-hyuk, Strong Woman Do Bong-soon (Netflix)
Dating him would be like dating your biggest fan. Also, this is how I expect my boyfriend to react every time I text him ‘good night’.
Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars (You’ll have to get creative to find it)
“I thought our story was epic, you know. You and me. Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined and blood shed. Epic.” This is how I want every boyfriend of mine to feel about me.
Ben Wyatt, Parks and Recreation (Amazon Prime Video)
If your boyfriend’s go-to move to cheer you up is to take you to Paris, never let him go. Also, Ben is good with money while I am...not.
Joel, Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix)
A man who continues to be in love with you even after you practically die and start craving human flesh is a keeper.
Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights (You’ll have to get creative to find it)
In one episode of FNL, a colleague kisses Coach Taylor’s wife, a shocked Tammy Taylor, before she turns him down. I thought, ‘well now they’re going to fight about it’. When he finds out even before she could tell him, they joke about how he’s now kissed that colleague by proxy. No argument, no suspicion. I am obsessed with that scene.
Noh Ji‑wook, Suspicious Partner (Netflix)
No one can flirt like this man. No one can look at his love interest like this man.
Grim Reaper, Goblin (Netflix)
I should be worried about myself for putting the literal Korean Yamraj on this list but Grim Reaper is the sweetest, softest boyfriend and I am here for it.
Han Seo-jun, True Beauty (KissAsian)
Who doesn’t love a bad boy with a heart of gold? Lim Joo‑kyung was an idiot for choosing the other guy, but I’m not.
Yoo Shi‑jin, Descendants of the Sun (Netflix)
"I really missed you. No matter what I did, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I tried tiring myself out. I tried very hard to forget. I drank and did everything I could. But I still missed you a lot." I FEEL FAINT.
Maan Singh Khurana, Geet (Disney+ Hotstar)
The original Angry Hot Male Lead from Indian TV, who was grumpy and cold but never a psychopath. As you can see, my standards are through the roof.
Captain Rajveer Singh Shekhawat, Left Right Left (YouTube)
Every time I wear a red saree I want my boyfriend to almost have a heart attack. That’s all I’m asking for.
Aahil Raza Ibrahim, Qubool Hai (Zee5)
I couldn’t stop myself from putting one supremely damaged tellywood hero on this list. I love Aahil too much, I’m sorry.
Shahana’s Top 15 TV Boyfriends Of All Time
This was VERY difficult for me to do because most men (on TV and in life) suck.
Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (You’ll have to get creative to find it)
My love for TV stems from my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and my love for mysterious, broody men stems from Angel.
Steve Hale, Full House (You’ll have to get creative to find it)
I was so upset when DJ and he broke up. Steve was just so sweet and normal. And then he came back to take DJ to the prom!
Seth Cohen, The OC (Netflix)
Seth Cohen single-handedly made me believe for years that nerds make the best boyfriends, till Mark Zuckerberg and The Social Network reminded me that life is not the OC, bitch. If someone named their boat after me and created a comic book character inspired by me, I’d love them forever too.
Nathan Scott, One Tree Hill (Amazon Prime Video)
While Lucas is off cheating on his girlfriends left and right, here’s Nathan showing up to kiss Haley in the rain.
Ben Wyatt, Parks and Recreation (Amazon Prime Video)
He invented his own board game and is very openly passionate about things he loves, and that includes his girlfriend. Yes, I would like my boyfriend to be my biggest fan, this is not a big ask.
Seeley Booth, Bones (Disney+ Hotstar)
Do I like him because he’s played by David Boreanaz, who played my first ever TV boyfriend crush or do I like Seeley Booth? Who knows? He threatened a gangster because he put a hit out on Brennan and took a bullet for her; ergo I love him.
Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars (You’ll have to get creative to find it)
For a majority of the show, Logan isn’t the ideal boyfriend. An abusive childhood leads to major issues, most of which he takes out on Veronica. But he grows up, and like a functional adult, gets therapy to take care of it. How incredibly sexy of him. Also he said, “You, me. Spanning years and continents. Lives ruined, bloodshed. Epic.” My god.
Ri Jeong-hyeok, Crash Landing On You (Netflix)
Everything about Ri Jeong-hyeok and his broad shoulders scream “capable.” Sometimes I don’t want to be a Mature Adult Woman, and would like it if someone buys me coffee beans and scented candles from an illegal market because I threw a tantrum. Ri Jeong-hyeok would do it.
James MacKenzie Fraser, Outlander (Netflix)
James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser is a unicorn. He’s an 18th century man with modern-day feminist values, a very giving lover, tall and brawny and ridiculously good-looking, and says things like “Does it ever stop? The wanting you? Even when I’ve just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.” SOLD.
Nick Miller, New Girl (Disney+ Hotstar)
Yeah I know, he’s such a manchild I would break up with him within two weeks. But he’s the only one who gets how hard writing is and kisses like that, so it would be a glorious two weeks.
Matthew Clairmont, A Discovery of Witches (Sony Liv)
In the second episode, he picks up Diana’s jacket and smells it, and you can see his pupils dilate because of how much he simultaneously craves and desires her. Be still my beating heart.
Vincenzo, Vincenzo (Netflix)
Should I be looking into why he gets more attractive the more he does bad things? Nah, this isn’t therapy. The man dumped pig’s blood on someone because the woman he liked said she wanted to see it. He also looks at her the way this version of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams feels. Get yourself a man who can do both. It’s called having layers.
Yoo Shi-Jin, Descendants of the Sun (Netflix)
“I really missed you. No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I tried tiring myself out. I tried very hard to forget. I drank and did everything I could. But I still missed you.” I’m going to go lie down.
Arthur Pendragon, Merlin (Netflix)
He’s the once and future king of Albion. And he was really adorable and easy to love.
Jake Peralta, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Netflix)
His childishness can get really annoying sometimes, but he’s funny and earnest and actually good at his job. He’d be fine, I guess.
Recommendations
We get so many requests for TV show recommendations from friends, so we’ll get to them here in every issue.
Just finished Shadow and Bone, need a good fantasy show to watch. Please help.
Based on The Magicians series by Lev Grossman, the show follows Quentin Coldwater, who discovers he has magic in his blood and enrolls at Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy. There, he discovers that the magical world from his favourite childhood book, Fillory, is real and a darkness within it threatens humanity and magic itself. Yup, it’s like Harry Potter, but for an adult audience. The Magicians features a really diverse group of people with characters going through actual problems, both big and small. While the show starts out telling its story through Quentin, the show develops the other characters, letting them grow, evolve, and tell their own stories, and really drives home that these are all kids in school who sometimes make dumb decisions that have consequences.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
We hope you enjoyed reading this issue as much as we loved writing it. Please write to us if you have any feedback. We look forward to your emails, comments, tweets, and DMs with requests, criticism, recommendations, and anything else that you want to tell us. You can also follow us on Instagram here. And if you haven’t already, do subscribe!
i loved your lists!!! going go think about my fav fictional boys/men now