What Do Professors Do in Their Down Time?

Somewhere between laundry, classes, and mountains of reading, you still find time to watch "The Newsroom," "How I Met Your Mother," "Teen Mom," and "Game of Thrones." Ever wonder what your professor is doing besides assigning you as much reading as possible? Flyby has the scoop on your professor’s other life.

SLS20: Professor Daniel T. Gilbert

Besides replenishing his stock of Sobe Lifewater/Vitamin Water, Professor Gilbert enjoys "Breaking Bad," "Homeland," "Boardwalk Empire," "Under the Dome," "Low Winter Sun," "Mad Men," "Veep," "House of Cards," and "Orange is the New Black," he told The Crimson in an email. How does one man follow so many TV shows and still maintain such a well-groomed beard? The world may never know. (Side note: Some say Gilbert has a surprising resemblance to Walter White…)

Ec 10: Professor N. Gregory Mankiw

Professor Mankiw cannot consume enough of "Breaking Bad," he wrote in an email. But there’s a limited supply of only five seasons—it’s like the government put a price ceiling on it. Mankiw better value every episode with the season finale coming up on September 29.

LS1a/LS1b: Professor Robert A. Lue

“I am more of a movie person than a TV person,” Professor Lue wrote in an email. After causing hopeful pre-med students to have second thoughts on their life ambitions, Professor Lue recently watched "Moon" and "Europa Report," both films that Lue says “tackle provocative questions of what makes us human and unique in the universe (or not), and what personal sacrifices would we make to answer these questions.”

SW 19: "Western Ascendency": Professor Niall Ferguson

Professor Ferguson never watches TV [gasp] and the last movie he saw was "Skyfall"—on an airplane. This world-renowned historian does catch up on his reading though. The latest book on his nightstand, he wrote in an email, is "A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers" by Xiaolu Guo. No, he is not looking for a rendezvous with a Chinese lover—the novel is about the struggles of an immigrant and her inability to communicate.

ER 22: "Justice": Professor Michael J. Sandel

Besides teaching thousands of people the basic concepts of human morality at Harvard and around the world, Professor Sandel finds time to binge-watch "Prisoners of War" on Hulu with his wife. “The characters are utterly compelling, and the story is full of suspense and political intrigue,” he wrote in an email.