According to the New York Times, the president's DVR is stacked with water-cooler shows: Homeland, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. (Hey, the president likes boobs!)
Mr. Obama is … a devotee of Showtime’s “Homeland,” which offers an eerily familiar mirror to the president’s own foreign policy adventures: terrorism, Iranian nuclear negotiations, drone strikes, and an intelligence agency struggling for legitimacy with Congress and the American people.
And the list of heavies continues. Mr. Obama has told people he is a big fan of “Game of Thrones,” a brutal imagining of the wars in medieval Europe. He has raved about “Boardwalk Empire” and the BBC’s “Downton Abbey,” two period dramas that document the angst and difficulties that people faced during those times. And he has worked his way through the DVDs of AMC’s smoldering “Mad Men” series, telling friends that the character of Peggy Olson has given him insight into what it must have been like for his strong-willed grandmother in a world dominated by men.
He's also a House of Cards guy, of which he (I think sarcastically?) said:
“I wish things were that ruthlessly efficient,” Mr. Obama was overheard saying to Reed Hastings, the Netflix C.E.O., who invited the president to do a cameo on the show. Mr. Obama joked of the sleazy, congressman-murderer Mr. Underwood, “This guy’s getting a lot of stuff done.”
As for Breaking Bad, Obama has said that he's binge-watching the show. And he has to tell staffers to not spoil any upcoming plot points.
The show just ended after five seasons, but the president is way behind and frequently reminds those around him not to give anything away.
So if Boehner yells at him, “WALT DIES,” then you know the latest budget talks have clearly fallen apart.
(Semi-relevant: Last year, Homeland's Damien Lewis told this amazing story about visiting the White House and signing for Obama a DVD set that said “From one Muslim to another.” Take a look:)
[H/T: Uproxx]
“