Completist Destiny, as defined by Wikipedia, is the belief that a television addict such as myself is destined—nay, divinely ordained—to watch a series completely and completely chronologically. Fine, I admit: that might just be a dogma of my own creation. But I stick to it. (This is where you, in solidarity, shout, “Leave no episode behind!”)
Of course, I have to compromise sometimes, like when networks boneheadedly air episodes out of order, or when I’m watching TV with someone who’s not as obsessive-compulsive devoted to the intended chronology as I am.
Anyway, I was thinking today about the series I’ve watched in their entireties—i.e. series for which I’ve seen every episode made available. Here they all are, from the most prolific to the shortest-lived… and even the ones I’m not so proud I watched!
- The X-Files (205 episodes)
- Dawson’s Creek (128 episodes)
- Alias (105 episodes)
- Battlestar Galactica (78 episodes)
- Veronica Mars (64 episodes)
- Roswell (61 episodes)
- Samantha Who? (35 episodes)
- Eli Stone (26 episodes)
- Summerland (26 episodes)
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (22 episodes)
- Aliens in America (18 episodes)
- Worst Week (16 episodes)
- The Office (U.K. version, 14 episodes)
- Kings (13 episodes)
- Miss/Guided (7 episodes)
Any show that I’ve watched that is not included on this list is a show that I’m still in the middle of, a show that I’ve given up on, or one of the (few) shows that I only watch occasionally.
The sad truth is that very few of these shows ended of the producers’ own accord; far too many were axed. And some of them aren’t even available on DVD for future enjoyment.
I’ll update this list periodically as I polish off more shows, starting with my dearly-beloved Pushing Daisies, for which I only have one more episode. (And parting is hardly ever such sweet sorrow.)
Edits:
- Pushing Daisies (22 episodes, finished 9/12/09)
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (31 episodes, finished 9/16/09)
- Dollhouse (26 episodes, finished 1/29/10)
- Nip/Tuck (100 episodes, finished 3/30/10)
- Ugly Betty (85 episodes, finished 4/15/10)
- Lost (121 episodes, finished 5/23/10)
- 24 (193 episodes, finished 5/24/10)
- FlashForward (22 episodes, finished 6/12/10)
- Big Love (53 episodes, finished 7/4/12)
- The L Word (70 episodes, finished 9/13/12)
- Damages (59 episodes, finished 9/14/12)
- Gossip Girl (121 episodes, finished 12/18/12)
- 30 Rock (138 episodes, finished 1/31/13)
- The United States of Tara (36 episodes, finished 3/10/13)
- The Big C (40 episodes, finished 5/21/13)
- Dexter (96 episodes, finished 9/22/13)
- Breaking Bad (62 episodes, finished 9/29/13)
- GCB (10 episodes, finished 11/13/13)
- Private Practice (111 episodes, finished 6/4/14)
- The Office (201 episodes, finished 6/23/14)
- Californication (84 episodes, finished 7/2/14)