I try not to judge a show (or book, movie, etc.) before I've seen it. Before I get into the shows I like in general, I want to address MONK and THE UNITED STATES OF TARA.

Neither show really makes fun of their character's disorders. I've watched both since the beginning.

First, MONK: This show has humorous elements, but it isn't specifically a comedy. It is very well done. Monk's misery with his disorder (as well as his past and the loss of his wife, Trudy, who truly loved and accepted him) is shown and he is shown as a sympathetic, intelligent and skilled character. OCD is played for humor, I think, to get people who normally would avoid a show about a mentally ill character to watch.

Unfortunately, MONK's last season is this summer.

Now, THE UNITED STATES OF TARA: I don't have DID, so I'm not speaking for those suffering from it. I watch these kinds of shows (and other shows), keeping in mind they may not reflect the reality of disorders, diseases, problems, addictions, etc. they depict. Not everyone does that, I know. But while Tara's "alters" can be amusing, they're not always, and they cause a great deal of stress for her and her family. Her sister doesn't quite understand, and until a recent event, she thought Tara was fully conscious of when she became these alters and chose to act that way, rather than essentially becoming another person. Her husband is very supportive, but he has trouble dealing with it sometimes. She has a homosexual son and a rebellious daughter who, as teenagers, have difficulty with how it affects their lives, but they are also very loving of their mother. Again, I think the humor aspect (which isn't offensive, to me) is to get people to watch who might normally avoid such a subject.

Other shows I love: Law & Order: SVU, Lie to Me, Food Network Challenge (when they feature cakes, desserts or sweet things only), House Hunters, House Hunters International, Medium, and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (which isn't on right now, but I know there's a new season coming).

Other shows I like: 24, Real Time with Bill Maher, The View (I mostly get annoyed with the women, but I like some of the topics), The Tyra Banks Show (again, I like her sometimes, but she also annoys me, and I watch when there's an interesting topic), The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Phil (I hate him, but again, if the topic's interesting...), and Reaper.

Sometimes I like other shows on Food Network (Ace of Cakes, Paula Deen, etc.) and HGTV (the Unsellables, Property Virgins, My First Place, etc.), but I don't watch every episode...I don't watch every episode of House Hunters and HH International, but those are faves. Sometimes I watch 20/20, Dateline and other news shows if the topics are interesting. I also sometimes catch Parking Wars, World's Dumbest... and I just discovered Operation Repo.

My boyfriend and I also watched Battlestar Galactica, but that just went off, except for the special thing this summer, where we see the events from the Cylons' point of view.

I watch a lot of documentaries on various topics, including sexuality, some GLBTQ issues, discrimination, free speech, freethought, tattooing/body modification, animals and animal rights/welfare, mental illness, history, etc.

As for formulaic shows, that pretty much covers all shows, including so-called "Reality" shows. Most of those, if not all, are at least partially scripted, and things happen on a schedule. Take Wife Swap and Supernanny, for instance. I don't watch these shows as much anymore, or I'll watch until everybody's happy (then it gets boring), and I haven't clocked them, but you can probably put it down to the minute when this or that's going to happen. There are exceptions, such as a family that had been on WS before that was put on the show again with another repeat family. Normally, the wife and/or husband will see the value of the "New Mommy" near the last 20-15 minutes of the show, but the husband of one of those families that were brought back never changed (and his wife wasn't much better)...although he did learn something in the show where he came back. (He was still a jerk, though.) But these shows have conflict, then there's a point where someone is told (by the producers, even though that's not shown) to go talk to another person and to try to sway them to another point of view, and then people keep fighting but eventually everything gets happy-happy. At the end of WS, when they sit at the table, they generally go back to fighting, then recap what they've learned. It gets predictable and boring, which is why I don't watch so much anymore.