If you don’t know what to watch tonight, you’re doing Thursdays all wrong.

Tonight’s the season finale of “How to Get Away With Murder,” the latest smash hit from ShondaLand, so you’d better have your crash cart handy. While we patiently wait for our night of wine and popcorn to get underway, let’s take a moment to reflect on what makes #TGIT so great—besides the OMG-worthy television shows:

1. The lineup is three hours long. Three hours.

Do you remember the last time you took three minutes to do something that didn’t involve responsibility? TGIT is a night just for you. It’s become one of those guilt-free indulgences you enjoy after a week of crushing it. I never thought I’d see the day when almost-Friday turns out to be way better than actual Friday, did you? (Personally, I think they should just give Shonda ABC.)

2. It’s not just a night of TV—it’s an event.

It’s not one of those situations where you don’t know what to watch, so you flick something random on and kick back—you block the time out for TGIT. You pick up wine on the way home from work. You turn the ringer off. You send hubby off with his friends. You probably have superstitious rituals you perform before turning on the TV, and you know exactly how much food to make to see you through the night. Speaking of which…

3. You basically have to eat popcorn for dinner.

Eating popcorn for dinner because you forgot to go shopping or you don’t feel like cooking isn’t just something you do in college—it’s something you also do as a grown-ass woman, only you don’t tell anybody because well, you’re a grown-ass woman. Thanks to TGIT we can make our beloved popcorn dinner with pride while the rest of the fam fends for themselves (kidding, sort of).

4. You get to hang out with Shonda and the cast.

Shonda and company are super-invested in keeping in touch with their fans, so every Thursday you’ll find cast members from “Grey’s,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” live-tweeting up a storm right along with you. You get to ask them questions, comment on their characters, and all the while they have no idea you’re doing so in a Snuggie.

5. ShondaLand just gets us.

When our favorite shows drop off the planet during the Christmas holidays and summer months, there’s a hole where our fall TV schedule used to be. Most of us get through this tough time by bingeing on reruns, Googling leaks about the upcoming season and IMDBing the shit out of the show’s actors, and we usually go it alone.

During the winter break, cast members from all three shows provided support for TGIT Withdrawal (which should become an actual medical diagnosis) through videos that included remedy ideas to help us survive. The vids also contained a hilarious(ly true) warning message just like a medical commercial: “While re-watching TGIT, call your doctor if you’re prone to outbursts of OMG, have uncontrollable tweeting or persistent symptoms like breathlessness, disbelief, heart palpitations, eyes popping out of your head, hot flashes, cold sweats, dizziness, or a good ol’ fashioned fainting spell.”

The genius TGIT Withdrawal campaign was legitimately helpful… and hopefully they have one in store during the summer when we have to go like, months without Mer, Liv and Annalise. I’m cold sweating already.

What are your favorite things about #TGIT?

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The post What to Watch: 5 Reasons #TGIT Is More Than Great TV appeared first on EcoSalon.

When your favorite TV shows are cancelled, there are 8 emotional stages every fangirl goes through.

When love for our favorite TV shows turns into obsession, there’s nothing worse than finding out one of them has either been cancelled, or the producers have decided to mosey onto new projects. No matter the reason, to you it’s an injustice. I blubbered uncontrollably after the series finale of “Entourage” (what am I supposed to do without Turtle in my life?!), I’ll most def need therapy after “Sons of Anarchy”‘s final ride this December, and as for “The Shield “- there I go again, I’m all verklempt.

We experience the hole in our TV schedule much like we do a real-life breakup: Emotionally and irrationally (or that could just be me). Here are the 8 stages of fangirl grief we feel down to our very soul:

1. Anticipation

Even though you know it’s the last episode (like, ever), you go into watching the series finale like a boss. You decide you’re going to stay strong… even though in just 45 short minutes, your universe will be irreversibly shattered.

2. Joy / Rage

If the series finale ends how you’d always hoped it would, you’ll feel compelled to twirl in a meadow singing “The Hills Are Alive.”

If, however, the series finale leaves a lot to be desired or there are loose ends of any kind, you’ll find yourself turning green as your clothes tear off your body.

3. Devastation

The grieving process sets in, and you find yourself burrowing into a cavernous black hole of doom.

4. On the rebound

You IMDB every actor and actress on the show and check out the other TV shows they’ve been on, in hopes of feeling that spark again. Only…

5. Shame

How could you cheat on your show like that?! This is just like the time your favorite actor left the show and they replaced his character with his not-as-good-looking, much-less-charming cousin, and you swore you’d hate him out of loyalty – and then, you know, you started liking him. You just never learn, do you?

6. Reminiscing

Remember when Pacey and Joey finally got their shit together? And Ben brought Felicity the film canister? And Friday night dinners? Sigh. Those were the days.

7. Acceptance

You’ve decided to do what any self-respecting TV-widow would do: Forge ahead like the little fangirl that could. You start asking yourself all the philosophical questions: How do I fill the void? Where do I go from here? What’s for dessert?

8. Nostalgia

You remind yourself that you’ll always have reruns. I mean, who doesn’t love that jolt of the warm-and-fuzzies when your favorite theme song starts playing?

How do you deal when your favorite TV shows are cancelled?

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Image: Rafiq Sarlie

The post 8 Emotional Stages that Strike When Your Favorite TV Shows are Cancelled appeared first on EcoSalon.