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Tell me of TV shows
Reznik
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have a habit of picking up shows after they've already finished, and then devouring all the seasons in about a month. There are only four currently airing shows that I watch now, two of which won't be back 'till September. So I need something to fill time.
Here are the shows that I like, in no particular order:
House
Dexter
Sons of Anarchy
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Supernatural
Firefly
ReBoot
Batman: The Animated Series
Wolverine and the X-Men
The Wire
Band of Brothers
Generation Kill
Despite being a Whedon fan, I'm not an Eliza Dushku fan so Dollhouse is out. I know The Pacific is starting in March so I'll definitely be watching that. I've been contemplating checking out Bones but it's a procedural, right? I'm not sure if I could handle another one of those (even House is starting to grate a bit, despite Hugh Laurie being consistently awesome).
I could go for something dark, and preferably something arc-driven rather than episodic. I'm kind of on a supernatural kick (no pun intended) since I jumped in to Supernatural shortly after I finished Buffy and Angel, but I'd rather like to avoid those vampire shows. Buffyverse vamps are really the only ones I can stand.
Anyway, enough about my picky tastes. Let's hear what you've got!
Here are the shows that I like, in no particular order:
House
Dexter
Sons of Anarchy
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Supernatural
Firefly
ReBoot
Batman: The Animated Series
Wolverine and the X-Men
The Wire
Band of Brothers
Generation Kill
Despite being a Whedon fan, I'm not an Eliza Dushku fan so Dollhouse is out. I know The Pacific is starting in March so I'll definitely be watching that. I've been contemplating checking out Bones but it's a procedural, right? I'm not sure if I could handle another one of those (even House is starting to grate a bit, despite Hugh Laurie being consistently awesome).
I could go for something dark, and preferably something arc-driven rather than episodic. I'm kind of on a supernatural kick (no pun intended) since I jumped in to Supernatural shortly after I finished Buffy and Angel, but I'd rather like to avoid those vampire shows. Buffyverse vamps are really the only ones I can stand.
Anyway, enough about my picky tastes. Let's hear what you've got!
Do... Re.... Mi... Ti... La...
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Reznik on
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Posts
Chuck - It's pretty good. Has two seasons complete.
Dollhouse - Watch it anyway.
Castle - It's decent enough to pass the time and has some great one-liners.
Also Battlestar Galactica is pretty good, though it peters out toward the end.
Perhaps Sanctuary? It's sort of a Supernatural-meets-Torchwood thing.
Oh, and Torchwood. I hear the quality is uneven but they did some movie-length things that are supposed to be good.
Farscape.
The first three seasons are on Netflix Watch Instantly if you've got that. Otherwise...
The Battlestar Galactica reboot is another good dark, arc-driven science fiction show, but be aware that the ending sucks.
The first season is great, the second season has ups and down, and the third season is shorter and kind of all over the place.
Flight of the Conchords is also great deadpan comedy. The first season has better songs, the second season has better stories.
Freaks and Geeks is pretty nice as well, but is more episodic than the other suggestions. There's definite growth and character development between each episode, but they're also stand alone.
Curb Your Enthusiasm, if you liked Seinfeld (not on your list, but whatever). Kind of like that but with a sociopath George-like character as the protagonist. Each episode leads almost directly into the next, which is odd for a sitcom. But it's still a sitcom, so some things never change. You just have to accept that.
If you're willing to get a little more esoteric then you could try Red Dwarf. Another sitcom (in space) that's based around plot progression and character growth.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Arrested Development was my favourite comedy, I also liked Flight of the Conchords.
Castle is the best of the "cop sidekick" shows going at the moment, plus it has Nathan Fillion who is awesome in everything he does.
I will so second the Arrested Development recommendation.
Veronica Mars is surprisingly solid throughout. I was also really captured by the overarching storylines.
Bones is okay, although it is more hit and miss than most of the recommendations here. I view it as comfort watching - it is pretty formulaic and you know exactly what you are going to get. So I wouldn't recommend it for you.
I'd like to also recommend Psych which is a remarkably consistent show with one of my favourite on-screen partnerships (even better than Dean and Sam). It's not that dark and it is episodic but I like it enough to recommend it anyway.
Veronica Mars - Kristen Bell is awesome. As is the writing. And did I mention Kristen Bell is awesome? She is. Pulls off dark without being camp, funny, drama, actual camp, a realistic father-daughter relationship, and sings! And obviously, super cute. Though has dubious taste in movie scripts.
Chuck - The most important thing here is: learn to ignore plot holes. Do NOT take the show seriously, and you will be highly entertained, especially if you make it to the second season, when the show goes from enjoyable comedy/action show with an absurd premise to the absolute most fun thing on TV. Zach Levi is almost as versatile as Bell (we don't know if he can sing and he's slightly funnier though not as good an actor), Yvonne Strahovski grounds the whole thing and I think she's learning comedic timing from Levi and Adam Baldwin who is great as their badass partner. Lastly, the show has a character called Captain Awesome who is actually completely awesome.
That said, yeah, definitely the first of the three seasons is pretty great and should come highly recommended to a Buffy fan. Kristen Bell is awesome throughout the whole show, and the dialogue is sharp as well. I just think the storytelling gradually jumped the shark.
Life on Mars (the original, not the shitty US version)
Six Feet Under
It peaked early. The first season is probably one of the top ten any show put together the last decade. The second season is good, but Veronica was out of character for some of it and things didn't quite work right.
The final season starts in like 2 weeks!
I'd also check out Dr. Who.
Sopranos
Deadwood
Arrested Development
Breaking Bad
Mad Men
NintendoID: Nailbunny 3DS: 3909-8796-4685
Addendum: And I'm a crotchety, old coot who gets really annoyed by weed culture. It's really well done and classy, not just stupid stoner humor.
Lost
/xkcdjoketheft
Maybe a spoiler?
but it's amazing. i watched 2 seasons in 1 week...
Also, and i know thishas nothing to do with your given preferences at all,
but damn, Mad Men was a surprise. I'd never consider myself one to be a drama fan, and nothing big ever happens on the show (no huge masterplots or disasters), but alli can say is that it is very, very, very well made tv. Constant high quality writing and acting AND pretty ladies in it too.
Weeds is pretty hilarious, with a lot of the humor being pretty dark, and it did an ok job of being surprising.
Bones is procedural, but it has decent chunks of storyline that have an actual driving plot, it's not all just mystery of the week.
Also NCIS. The earlier seasons tended to contain some pretty awesome story arcs, along with a mystery of the week, and the acting/writing is pretty awesome. I may or may not have a man-crush on mark harmon. Latest episodes are leaving me a little meh though, YMMV. Overall I like it, definitely worth a shot.
And I'm going to mention The West Wing, because it was an amazing show and everyone should sit down and watch at least the first 5 seasons.
None of these are very supernatural, but all of them are very good.
These recommendations are only about 50% driven by my maybe unhealthy fascination with Mary-Louise Parker and the Deschanel sisters.
I am also over 50.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_School_%28film%29
This is where it all began.
1. Fringe (some people hate the main actress, but the Walter character easily makes up for it)
2. Sanctuary (goes through minor arcs with some one-ofs, tends to be rather mild. There are occasional vampires in it).
As far as other shows, I could suggest Primeval. It's a show that was imported on BBC America with story arcs and a monster of the week format. A TL;DR of the plot is that a group of scientists (and eventually soldiers) are put together by the British government to contain what comes out of randomly appearing portals that go to different time periods (some future, most past), and in some cases the effect of making changes in the past.
The show ran for 2 seasons and was cancelled (primarily due to the CGI budget), though I've heard rumors that since it did rather well for BBC America that there's talks of a Season 3. The first two seasons are out on DVD in the US though.
You haven't watched Carnivàle & Millenium. What is wrong with you?
Limed for the goddamned truth.
I personally, was unable to stand Weeds after about halfway through the second season.
EDIT:
Do it. If Torchwood is also available (Doctor Who spinoff), then definitely check that out as well.
It ran in the 90s. It's arc driven within an episodic frame. Would have done better a bit later when sprawling plotlines started becoming more acceptable.
ow man, i used to LOVE the pretender.. I never got to see the end of it though (cancelled here). I don't think that show would stand out nowadays though. Jarod got kinda cheesy sometimes. But the overall plotline... Nice. Kinda what prison break tried to do with their villain company, but better..