For a day that's supposed to be all about relaxing, Sundays have been getting pretty freaking stressful. Last week, the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad aired right in the middle of the Emmys, and now this Sunday, the series finale will air opposite the third season premiere of Homeland , and overlap with the Masters of Sex series premiere. For hardcore TV fans, this is almost like being forced to choose between your children. Your very R-rated children.
The Breaking Bad series finale, a 75-minute episode starting at 9 p.m., is obviously important because, like, it might be the most important thing to ever happen. Homeland also airs at 9 p.m., hasn't been on in almost a year and last season ended on an enormous cliffhanger. Meanwhile, the highly anticipated Masters of Sex is on at 10 p.m. Oh, and for fans of network drama, Sunday at 9 p.m. also includes the season premieres of The Good Wife and Revenge. It's a lot to take in, and more than the standard DVR or TiVo can handle. But don't worry. We've come up with a way to watch the most important shows on Sunday and stay active on social media, with the lowest possible risk of spoilers.
Prioritize
Take Ron's advice. If you don't watch all of these shows, skip the ones you don't. (Although, why don't you watch all of them?) For everyone else trying to stay on top of all of them, you need to figure out what's most important to you. I'm going to take an educated guess here that for 95 percent of the people reading this, that means Breaking Bad. The other 5 percent either doesn't watch Breaking Bad (what?!) or likes Homeland more (again, what?!). As for those previously mentioned network drama fans, no matter how much you love Revenge or The Good Wife, I recommend placing them at the bottom of the list, with The Good Wife at the very end. Both shows should be on their network's website the next day, while Breaking Bad usually isn't, and until then you can just avoid Twitter. Though, does anyone really talk about Revenge anymore?
Do Your Homework
It's fun homework, I promise. The Masters of Sex premiere is already available on Showtime's website. Since you definitely don't want to miss the last 15 minutes of Breaking Bad ever, you can watch Masters of Sex online anytime and not have to worry about the overlap. If you really want, you can even just watch the first 15 minutes online earlier in the day and finish it up on TV—if Breaking Bad's end doesn't completely, literally blow your mind. One less thing to watch or record.
Record Wisely
DVRs and newer TiVo models can record two shows at once. Don't take this decision lightly. Like I said, Revenge and The Good Wife will be available online, so unless you really don't like watching TV on your computer, they might be the best to choose. Homeland may also be available on Showtime Anytime, the network's On Demand system for subscribers, similar to HBO Go. With all of this in mind, think about what shows you want to see more. If you're dying to watch both Breaking Bad and Homeland, record one, watch the other and then the watch the recorded one right after. Then watch the recorded Masters of Sex after you've caught time to breathe. You can watch two shows on at the same time Sunday night, and anything available online on Monday. Although, you may want to record the Breaking Bad finale. There are bound to be scenes you immediately want to go back and see again.
Take a Pre-TV Nap
If you are lucky enough to have a DVR or TiVo to facilitate this Sunday's epic TV-watching, you're going to want to stay up late. You could have three-plus hours of TV ahead of you. Or, if you don't have a DVR, you might want to watch Homeland at 9 p.m. and Breaking Bad during its second airing, which isn't until 12:15 a.m. Depending on what other shows you like, there'll be even more to watch on Monday night. It's Sunday — no one will judge you for getting some extra sleep. You'll need to be nice and alert for Breaking Bad and Homeland, screaming, crying and other emotional reactions require plenty of energy.
Beware of Social Media
Netflix, the site that probably helped you watch Breaking Bad in the first place, has come up with a great way to safely go on Twitter if you aren't watching the finale as it first airs. It's called Spoiler Foiler, and all you have to do is go to spoilerfoiler.com, login with your Twitter information, and it'll block any tweet that contains Breaking Bad. But, it gives you the option of clicking on the spoiler tweets to reveal them, so you'll need some self control. If Breaking Bad is the show you're watching live and don't want to spoil the others, just search #BreakingBad or whatever other show you're watching that night, so you only see those tweets, and no spoilers.
Facebook should probably be avoided, chances are you have at least one friend watching each show on Sunday night, and someone can't keep their mouth shut. Or, if you have friends that are notorious for posting spoiler-filled statuses, delete them from your newsfeed for the night. You'll still be friends and they'll never know, but you won't have to see their posts.
For Tumblr users, immediately download the Tumblr Savior extension for Chrome or Firefox. It works similarly to Netflix's Spoiler Foiler, except there's a customizable blacklist that lets you enter any tag you don't want to see. My biggest suggestion? In addition to the names of the shows you don't want to see, block the word spoiler. You can always click to reveal a post, and if the show are watching is tagged spoiler, you can just click to see, but while having extra protection from those you're behind on.
Have Food and Friends Ready
It's going to be a stressful, emotional night. Have some snacks ready, whatever is most comforting. Ice cream, candy, popcorn, pizza, all of the above — I'm not here to judge. And everyone knows that you immediately need to talk to someone whenever something intense happens on a show you're highly invested in. Have a friend who's also a fan easily accessible, so you can discuss it and console each other. These are the kinds of trying times that bring people together.
Now you listen to me, I know you can do this.
Let's watch some TV.
Image: AMC
