Not particularly. Just a consistent work schedule, an internet connection, and (between my wife and I) half decent time management skills.
That, and we're lucky enough that most of the time in any given week only half of the shows that we keep current with will actually air a new episode for whatever reason. Combine that with our priorities list and the SeriesGuide app for Android, and we're usually able to stay more or less up to date. There are exceptions, of course -- for example, we recently fell behind on Sleepy Hollow due to both of us working late Wednesday nights. Between taking the dog out and a late dinner, we only ever have time for one show that night and Bones is a higher priority. But then last week many of our shows aired their winter finales, so we spent this week catching up.
And sometimes, when the stars align just right, one or more of our friends will fall behind on a mutual show and we'll have them over on a Friday or Saturday night and make a night of catching up. We generally only do this for half-hour comedies like Whose Line or The Simpsons, though. Stuff that you don't really have to watch to "watch", y'know?
I'm a fan of <strong>SeriesGuide</strong> for TV/movie tracking. You can sync SeriesGuide with <strong>trakt.tv</strong>, which has its own pretty good looking website, and trakt can provide recommendations. SeriesGuide does too (the SeriesGuide recommendations are "powered by trakt" even if you don't sign up with trakt), but I pretty much use it 99% for TV/movies tracking and rating.
I paid for the SeriesGuide X Pass after using the app for free for a while. The app is 100% free, but you unlock some extra features if you pay. Trakt.tv is also free to sign up for and you can pay for it if you want. I do not pay for trakt.tv as it's a little more than I can afford for a subscription right now. As an alternative, you can just go to trakt.tv on Chrome (or your favorite Android browser) and use it on the web without an app. The mobile web version of the trakt.tv site is very manageable.
There are so many... Mh.
Nova Launcher Prime
GoneMAD Music Player (even though I mostly use Google Play Music now)
Reddit is fun
Series Guide (IMHO a must for TV show addicts like me). App itself is free but there is a yearly subscription fee or a one-time purchase. (more info here http://seriesgui.de/whypay). I have the one-time purchase since I got the paid version of Series Guide back when it there was a free and a paid version.
Sleep as an Android
Widgetlocker (not using it atm though, I like the basic lockscreen on my OnePlus One)
Day by day (Callender/organizer)
That's the lot I can think of right now.
Edit: better clarification for series guide
There's an app for Android called <strong>SeriesGuide</strong> that I like to use to help me keep track of shows. They show the original air date of everything--even extras like Blood Rush.
I'm sure there's an app equivalent on iOS if that's what you use but I don't know firsthand.
The app tells me first air date for Blood Rush was Nov 6, 2013 and each part aired once a week until Dec 11, 2013.
I use this: http://seriesgui.de/
You can choose which shows you want to track and when you have watched the newest episode you can mark it as such and it will tell you when the next episode is running.
I wrote this before:
if you have an android phone I would recommend this app: http://seriesgui.de it has a lot of features and works very well. The app gets its data from trakt.tv
I have no connection to the developer, I just love the app. I have a widget that shows me the most recent episodes, I can mark the episodes I've seen, I get recommendation for shows...
For new shows I read /r/televison :-)
If you use Chrome, there is an extension called DuckieTV that will tell you when new shows are on. You can also connect it to your trackt.tv account. There is also a subreddit for the extension /r/duckietv, If you have an Android, then I highly recommend the app SeriesGuide. The extension and the app are from the same developer.
SeriesGuide. I don't know how I would get along without this one. You add your shows, it lets you check off the episodes you have watched, tells you whats new by day upcoming and what recently past. Also it has a tie in to tract.tv as well as other things. Really love this app.
If it makes you feel better, Shameless isn't on a Netflix or Hulu anyway. :/
When I started the series a month or so ago, I had to download them all, too.
If you have an android device, there's an app called Series Guide that I use to track my tv shows. It tells you when the next new one is.