Well, I am not sure if anyone is still reading this convo but since I FINALLY found the Introduction Thread (AFTER writing my first post and mentioning that I hadn't been able to find one), I wanted to chime in ... even if it's like a tree falling in the cyberforest.
Was not a big TV watcher for a long time, between demanding job with odd hours and a lot of travel AND a kid who was in junior high school/high school/college during the original CC run.
But when I did catch an episode here and there I always liked it ... For some reason, one Friday, I caught the daytime marathons that ION has been showing and I was hooked. I started recording the episodes ... the ones on ION AND the ones on other channels ... and watching them as they aired in bunches (aka binge-watching, I guess). A few I recognized/remembered, most I hadn't seen.
I find that if you're not already a CC devotee, you can absolutely watch individual episodes as "stand-alone" eps and they're great, but I also realized there were some character storylines I was missing. So I tracked down the entire list of episodes in order, printed them out, and went to work making sure I had ALL of the episodes that I hadn't watched in the preceding few weeks (which had been a small chunk of Season 1, almost all of Season 2, and 3 or 4 much later episodes, including "Soul").
I actually waited until I had ALL of them taped, which meant having to wait for ION to get through Season 7 and come back around to Season 1, LOL ... I had been missing the first four eps and then about 8 more midway through the season.
Now I finally have or had 155 of the 156 episodes recorded (for some reason, none of the channels showed "Chinatown" -- they skipped over it twice -- anyone know why?) ... and am midway through Season 3. So I have about 95 episodes left
Due to the odd timing of some of my viewing, I saw "Badlands" before I saw "Look Again" so finally getting to watch the first episode and immediately recognizing the future crime scene made me realize that yes, it was better to watch them in order! It's also made me take note when they reference a current crime to see if they'll follow up with it later.
And I find that I will cry at least 8 times out of 10 (like I did at "Badlands"). Yesterday, sick with a bad cold, I watched five episodes and cried AT ALL FIVE.
I found this board when I did some searching to see if I could find something like this to go to AFTER each episode, to get more insight and thoughts from the diehard fans. I didn't join for awhile because it seemed pretty dormant, but then I saw occasional activity so figured what the heck.
I also mod an online forum where, coincidentally, several of the associated members have played small roles on CC so it's fun to watch their episodes!
And here I am
And I feel like I know a lot of you already (even if you're not here anymore) and I thank Naj and anyone else who have contributed so much and made my understanding/enjoyment of the show that much better! Just sorry it took me so long to get to the party!
BTW, LOVED LOVED LOVED seeing the awesome Thom Barry on "Grey's" the other night ... he still has the most expressive eyes ever.