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Favorite TV series?

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Posts

  • Panic ButtonPanic Button Robo-cannibal Registered User regular
    I remember liking the first few seasons of Family Guy, but I also remember being 13. At this point, watching it fills me with ill will.

    People have mentioned Cowboy Bebop, but I'd like to say that I really enjoyed Samurai Champloo. It's much lighter and more whimsical, but very well animated, and I find the characters endearing. Also, the dub, like Bebop's, is absolutely top-notch.

    I love everything about Archer. There's nothing that entertains me more than its mix of the highbrow and lowbrow, and the distinction it draws between Archer being a complete moron and his being an asshole. He's not the classic dumb protagonist, since he can actually do his job very well. It's that he's such a dick about it, and in such a cavalier way, that makes the show fun. It feels to me like a study on how James Bond's coworkers might react to him, since he has such assholish tendencies. Netflix only has the first two seasons, though.

    I've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, and it's excellent so far. Just finished Season 2, I believe, and thus I say, damn it, Zuko. Iroh is a boss, though.

    I've watched the first four or five episodes of Supernatural, and I like it. Seems like it changes a lot in the coming seasons, though.

    I really enjoyed Firefly.

    Every time I watch Adventure Time or Regular Show, I think they're great. I have no TV at school, though, so I'll have to seek out DVDs.

    Batman: The Animated Series and Arrested Development round out my favorites.

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  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Comedy Central has been doing some good work recently. Obviously The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are classics, but Tosh.0 and Key & Peele are doing some good work, as well.

    Key & Peele is like Chappelle Show for hipsters.

  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    Friday Night Lights. Seasons not the second. The second best show I've seen. Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton give great performances (better than Cranston, I think, but I've only seen the first season of Breaking Bad so far) as Coach and Mrs. Coach (who was robbed of Emmys, at least he got one). The first and third seasons are particularly recommended. The second is largely skippable, but there are a couple great scenes. Important episodes: the pilot, "Mud Bowl," and "State." Though also the 12th and 13th in season 3.

    Yeah, Friday Night Lights seems like a highly underrated show to me, at least among the general audience. Because among critics and people who've actually watched it, it's pretty highly rated. And yeah, Chandler and Britton both give amazing performances (I'm only on season 3 though).

  • Kipling217Kipling217 Registered User regular
    Hacksaw wrote: »
    VeritasVR wrote: »
    Ah, so much The Critic. It was Family Guy before Family Guy was Family Guy.

    Yeah, except it was good.

    In a semi-tangent on that thought: I read (on the internet) that one of the reasons the early series of the Simpsons hold up so well, is because the audience saw it as kids. When you saw it as a kid, thought the jokes aimed at the kids where funny, but misses the jokes aimed for the adults. Then when you saw it as an adult, you get the jokes aimed for the adults and thought it was still funny.

    Does anybody want to verify that?

    I saw the King of the Hill as a kid and thought it was boring as shit, but I saw Family Guy as an adult and thought the same about that. I do love me some American Dad however.

    Community is the best, before the real world drama started intruding on the series. Like why is Pierce such a dick, is it because they thought it would be funny or because they hate Chevy? The paintball episodes are some of the best comedy episodes ever put on television.

    I hatewatch Big Bang Theory, but I will say its gotten better with age.... because they ditch the guys and focus on Mayim Bialik and Kaylee Cuocco instead. I would watch a female only BBT show.

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  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    GOOD SHOWS GETTING BAD IN THEIR LATER SEASONS IS NOT A FUCKING "TROPE" HNNNNNNNNGH

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  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Jacobkosh wrote: »
    GOOD SHOWS GETTING BAD IN THEIR LATER SEASONS IS NOT A FUCKING "TROPE" HNNNNNNNNGH

    I think there's enough examples of it happening to at least consider it a "phenomenon." Or maybe a "concern."

  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    Joshmvii wrote: »
    CBS does prime time comedy that the masses love(Two and a half men, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother), they have 48 hours, 60 minutes, Amazing Race, CSI shows, Survivor, Letterman, daytime shows that people who are at home during the daytime want to watch, etc.

    CBS also continues to air The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, which single-handedly redeems their entire existence as a network.

    CBS cares.

    I also enjoy a well-written, self-contained single-episode plot arc as much as a long, drawn-out, multi-season plot arc, so my tolerance for procedural shows like CSI, Vegas, and Law & Order might be higher than most. I'm also a fan when shows are able to do both, with The Shield being probably the best example of this.

    I have to admit I've never watched more than a few episodes of The Wire. I remember watching it when it first started airing on HBO, and stopped watching since it was, to borrow a phrase from some TV critic at the time, "glacially paced", and since then I've been too daunted by the hype and the standard "Oh, just grind through those first few seasons, then it gets awesome" disclaimers.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Naw, man, the first season of The Wire is pretty great. It's the second and fifth seasons that sag a little.

    Honestly, you can probably skip the entire second season if you really wanted.

  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    In a semi-tangent on that thought: I read (on the internet) that one of the reasons the early series of the Simpsons hold up so well, is because the audience saw it as kids. When you saw it as a kid, thought the jokes aimed at the kids where funny, but misses the jokes aimed for the adults. Then when you saw it as an adult, you get the jokes aimed for the adults and thought it was still funny.

    Does anybody want to verify that?

    As someone who has been a legal adult for the entire television run of The Simpsons, the reason the early seasons (well, after the first season, at least) hold up so well is because the writing is much better and, for the most part, less focused on lazy pop culture references than recent seasons.

  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    The second season of the Wire is in tough competition for the best season with season four. Might as well not watch the show if you gonna skip it.

  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    I haven't watched The Wire yet.

    I am so confused.

  • RedTideRedTide Registered User regular
    Naw, man, the first season of The Wire is pretty great. It's the second and fifth seasons that sag a little.

    Honestly, you can probably skip the entire second season if you really wanted.

    In a lot of ways the antics of S2 feel kinda pointless and its generally jarring to be watching the same show you were before, but there is now enough new characters to have an entirely new show. In later seasons they manage to make the new components feel much more organic and do a better job of making it feel like a part of the greater whole.

    But to me season to is an answer to basically two questions. What happened to the middle class in Baltimore and in a lot of ways and what happened to all of the white people? And the other larger question of why the city is dying and so enthralled by the drug trade.

    Frank's final monologue of the season kinda redeems a lot of the season and kinda puts it all into perspective for me at least.


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  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    In a semi-tangent on that thought: I read (on the internet) that one of the reasons the early series of the Simpsons hold up so well, is because the audience saw it as kids. When you saw it as a kid, thought the jokes aimed at the kids where funny, but misses the jokes aimed for the adults. Then when you saw it as an adult, you get the jokes aimed for the adults and thought it was still funny.

    Does anybody want to verify that?

    As someone who has been a legal adult for the entire television run of The Simpsons, the reason the early seasons (well, after the first season, at least) hold up so well is because the writing is much better and, for the most part, less focused on lazy pop culture references than recent seasons.

    I wonder how endemic that is of any animated show, though.

    South Park didn't make its bones by being a classic lampoon of pop culture and current events, but that's definitely been its trade in stock for the last decade or so.


    Every January I make a video pilgrimage to watch the entire run of The Simpsons starting with the first episode, and this year is no different. I'm currently halfway through season 2, and there's a huge jump in quality and consistency (in both art and writing) between season 1 and season 2. Season 2 is where the writing really takes off, but it's also where many of the episodes are predicated on impending disasters within familial relationships. It seems like half the episodes have the stakes of Homer not being a good enough dad or husband, or Bart not being a responsible child, or Lisa not being appreciated enough, or Marge being let down by her family or embarrassed. There's a lot of forward dialogue and earnest conflict that extends to about Season 5 before it all goes very meta and satirical, and the by Season 9 it just runs out of steam and begins rehashing old stories and scanning the daily headlines for story ideas.

  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    Jacobkosh wrote: »
    GOOD SHOWS GETTING BAD IN THEIR LATER SEASONS IS NOT A FUCKING "TROPE" HNNNNNNNNGH

    It's more a symptom of a lot of things. Most prominently, good shows have their writers either pirated by other shows or they now have enough clout to go become showrunners instead of mere writers. Then new writers come in and they usually cannot write the characters as well as the group who came in and created the characters.

    Or the original writers have a series of ridiculously stupid ideas all at once, then go on strike, and then decide their stupid ideas never happened (AKA season 2 of FNL), except a one night stand pregnancy.

    enlightenedbum on
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  • DeadfallDeadfall I don't think you realize just how rich he is. In fact, I should put on a monocle.Registered User regular
    I think King of the Hill is one of the few shows that got consistently better as it aged.

    I seem to be in the minority here, though, as I don't know many folks who really watched it.

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  • davidsdurionsdavidsdurions Your Trusty Meatshield Panhandle NebraskaRegistered User regular
    I loved Monk.

    Probably my favorite Sherlock Holmes-esque show ever. Thought it could have ended better though, or not at all dangit.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Kipling217 wrote: »
    In a semi-tangent on that thought: I read (on the internet) that one of the reasons the early series of the Simpsons hold up so well, is because the audience saw it as kids. When you saw it as a kid, thought the jokes aimed at the kids where funny, but misses the jokes aimed for the adults. Then when you saw it as an adult, you get the jokes aimed for the adults and thought it was still funny.

    Does anybody want to verify that?

    As someone who has been a legal adult for the entire television run of The Simpsons, the reason the early seasons (well, after the first season, at least) hold up so well is because the writing is much better and, for the most part, less focused on lazy pop culture references than recent seasons.

    I remember reading something on those seasons and apparently they worked the writers like dogs and rewrote scripts over and over again to layer in more and more jokes. I think that's a big reason it was so good.*

    On that note, I think that's the big problem with South Park these days. So many episodes feel like great ideas that needed a few more passes in the script phase. Flesh out the ideas, add more jokes, all that shit. Too many feel like 1 or 2 good jokes stretched over an entire episode.


    *I mean, even without the jokes, it tells good stories and unlike newer episodes, doesn't feel scattershot. It starts with one story and then organically transitions into what the episode it about, which carries through till the end. Newer episodes feel like a ton of half-baked premises thrown at a wall. It's shifting gears every 5 minutes, just to tell a few jokes and then on to the next premise.

    I remember liking the first few seasons of Family Guy, but I also remember being 13. At this point, watching it fills me with ill will.

    I think alot of the first season was pretty good. The first episode especially is incredible imo. It's so different and scattershot from something like The Simpsons and it feels like a breath of fresh air because of that. It's got like 1 joke every 4 seconds and just flies along in it's ridiculousness and stupidity.

    It feels like it's lost any sense of freshness now though. The randomness just feels random instead of spontaneous or something. And it's got a zillion memes and catchphrases now they just rehash over and over again.

    The other thing I've always thought is that it can't sustain itself that long because ultimately, we don't care about the characters. They are hateful and stupid and change at the drop of a hat.

    As Ross points out, the Simpsons for all it's stupid characters, has a ton of heart. You care about these people and their problems. It generates some fucking pathos because of it.

    In some ways, I attribute the decline in the Simpsons to Homer becoming less Homer and more Peter Griffin over the years.

    shryke on
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Jacobkosh wrote: »
    GOOD SHOWS GETTING BAD IN THEIR LATER SEASONS IS NOT A FUCKING "TROPE" HNNNNNNNNGH

    It's more a symptom of a lot of things. Most prominently, good shows have their writers either pirated by other shows or they now have enough clout to go become showrunners instead of mere writers. Then new writers come in and they usually cannot write the characters as well as the group who came in and created the characters.

    Or the original writers have a series of ridiculously stupid ideas all at once, then go on strike, and then decide their stupid ideas never happened (AKA season 2 of FNL), except a one night stand pregnancy.

    It's more then that. Concepts just get exhausted. The North American model is based on running a show into the ground for the most part.

    Shows should end before you run out of strong ideas, not after.

  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    reVerse wrote: »
    The second season of the Wire is in tough competition for the best season with season four. Might as well not watch the show if you gonna skip it.
    Couldn't agree more with this.

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  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Naw, man, the first season of The Wire is pretty great. It's the second and fifth seasons that sag a little.

    Honestly, you can probably skip the entire second season if you really wanted.

    The 1st season is the best imo. It's so focused and sharp. Later seasons are great, but feel a bit more meandering.

    RedTide wrote: »
    In a lot of ways the antics of S2 feel kinda pointless and its generally jarring to be watching the same show you were before, but there is now enough new characters to have an entirely new show. In later seasons they manage to make the new components feel much more organic and do a better job of making it feel like a part of the greater whole.

    But to me season to is an answer to basically two questions. What happened to the middle class in Baltimore and in a lot of ways and what happened to all of the white people? And the other larger question of why the city is dying and so enthralled by the drug trade.

    Frank's final monologue of the season kinda redeems a lot of the season and kinda puts it all into perspective for me at least.

    The problem imo is it's so disconnected. S2 worked until S3 started imo. Cause S2 you think "Oh, each season is gonna be about a slightly different part of the city" or something and then S3 (and 4 and 5) are right back into the mix with the stuff from S1. Still good, but not the top of the show imo.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    Yeah, Season 2 of The Wire is excellent TV, but it's a jarring shift from the conflicts of the first season, and in so much makes the whole thing feel a little more procedural than it ever did previously.

    Like, if Season 2 was a whole new show called The Docks it would be amazing. As it stands, it's an aberrant season taken off from the greater Barksdale/Marlo/Public Service conflict that permeates the other 4 seasons.

    Atomika on
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    Jacobkosh wrote: »
    GOOD SHOWS GETTING BAD IN THEIR LATER SEASONS IS NOT A FUCKING "TROPE" HNNNNNNNNGH

    It's more a symptom of a lot of things. Most prominently, good shows have their writers either pirated by other shows or they now have enough clout to go become showrunners instead of mere writers. Then new writers come in and they usually cannot write the characters as well as the group who came in and created the characters.

    Or the original writers have a series of ridiculously stupid ideas all at once, then go on strike, and then decide their stupid ideas never happened (AKA season 2 of FNL), except a one night stand pregnancy.

    It's more then that. Concepts just get exhausted. The North American model is based on running a show into the ground for the most part.

    Shows should end before you run out of strong ideas, not after.

    Also true.

    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    The North American model is based on running a show into the ground for the most part.

    Hopefully this is changing, but I agree that this is largely why so many shows limp into senescence. The old TV model was to just have a concept, make 30 episodes a year, and run it until the ratings dropped. It's why shows like Bonanza and M*A*S*H ran for years and years despite little change or growth in the characters. This started to change in the late 1970s and early 80s when serialized drama moved from daytime TV to primetime drama.

    But this ignorant model of "keep doing it until it dies" is how we end up with The X-Files shitting the bed like it did.

  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    RedTide wrote: »
    Naw, man, the first season of The Wire is pretty great. It's the second and fifth seasons that sag a little.

    Honestly, you can probably skip the entire second season if you really wanted.

    In a lot of ways the antics of S2 feel kinda pointless and its generally jarring to be watching the same show you were before, but there is now enough new characters to have an entirely new show. In later seasons they manage to make the new components feel much more organic and do a better job of making it feel like a part of the greater whole.

    But to me season to is an answer to basically two questions. What happened to the middle class in Baltimore and in a lot of ways and what happened to all of the white people? And the other larger question of why the city is dying and so enthralled by the drug trade.

    Frank's final monologue of the season kinda redeems a lot of the season and kinda puts it all into perspective for me at least.


    The first few episodes of season 2 feel unconnected at first, like it's just a rehash of the first in a different location. But it quickly gets tied into the themes of the show and gives you a better understanding of the city and why stuff happens. I think it's an important part of the show and of the same quality as the others.

    I have watched Season 2 through 5 in one go though (in like, a week or two?), which makes a difference in how I see it. It felt like a far shorter break than it probably seemed if you were watching it on tv.

  • Panic ButtonPanic Button Robo-cannibal Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    shryke wrote: »
    I remember liking the first few seasons of Family Guy, but I also remember being 13. At this point, watching it fills me with ill will.

    I think alot of the first season was pretty good. The first episode especially is incredible imo. It's so different and scattershot from something like The Simpsons and it feels like a breath of fresh air because of that. It's got like 1 joke every 4 seconds and just flies along in it's ridiculousness and stupidity.

    It feels like it's lost any sense of freshness now though. The randomness just feels random instead of spontaneous or something. And it's got a zillion memes and catchphrases now they just rehash over and over again.

    The other thing I've always thought is that it can't sustain itself that long because ultimately, we don't care about the characters. They are hateful and stupid and change at the drop of a hat.

    As Ross points out, the Simpsons for all it's stupid characters, has a ton of heart. You care about these people and their problems. It generates some fucking pathos because of it.

    In some ways, I attribute the decline in the Simpsons to Homer becoming less Homer and more Peter Griffin over the years.

    The bolded is my main problem with Family Guy. The characters are too unstable, and act very differently from scene to scene. There are episodes where Peter cares a lot about his family, but also episodes where half the jokes are made by the family at Meg's expense. It's like they have a bunch of different Griffin families and I have to guess which one will be starring in this week's episode. The references to other episodes are also very tired at this point. I feel like the writers want to make a sketch comedy show, but saw how sketch comedy drove Dave Chappelle insane, and are thus afraid to take the risk. Robot Chicken feels like a distilled Family Guy.

    I'd also like to take a moment to say that Chappelle's Show is some of the best comedy I've ever watched, sketch or no. I would also vouch for Monty Python's Flying Circus, since I love absurd comedy. The "It's the Mind" deja vu sketch is priceless.

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  • frandelgearslipfrandelgearslip 457670Registered User regular
    Anybody interested in television should just look at what television shows have threads on these boards. When I was looking for shows to watch I looked at the threads here and let them guide me. I was led astray on one show (which I won't name), but that is a pretty good rate stacked up against Community, Fringe, Chuck, Supernatural, Justified, Strike Back, How I Met Your Mother and Parks and Recreation all of which I might not have seen without these threads. In the first 5 pages of this board there are 25 threads for television shows. Of those 25 I love 7, like 9, dislike 3 and have not seen the last 6, those are pretty good odds all things considered.

    The Wire is the best television show of all time by a wide margin. The first four seasons of the show would all individually be on the list of 10 greatest television seasons of all time. As far as I am concerned there are 3 types of people in the world--The Enlightened, those who have seen the show and agree it is the best show ever, The Ignorant who have never seen it, and the Terrible those who have seen it and don't believe it is the greatest show ever.

    Also keep in mind that favorite != Best. Too often people make the arguement that the best show is the one they personally like the best. Chuck is my favorite show of all time, but if somebody were to tell me that it is one of the 20 best shows of all time I would punch them in the balls for saying something so stupid.
    shryke wrote: »
    The North American model is based on running a show into the ground for the most part.

    Hopefully this is changing, but I agree that this is largely why so many shows limp into senescence. The old TV model was to just have a concept, make 30 episodes a year, and run it until the ratings dropped. It's why shows like Bonanza and M*A*S*H ran for years and years despite little change or growth in the characters. This started to change in the late 1970s and early 80s when serialized drama moved from daytime TV to primetime drama.

    But this ignorant model of "keep doing it until it dies" is how we end up with The X-Files shitting the bed like it did.

    Which leads to the question of whether the British system of having at 2 good-great seasons better then the American system of 3 good-great seasons, 2 okay seasons, and 2+ terrible seasons. Personally I would rather take the tradeoff of more good-great seasons in exchange for terrible seasons I can avoid watching. The only thing that annoys me is television shows that are so concerned about making it to season 6 or 7 that they pointlessly drag things out such that they are canceled in season 1 or 2.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    Which leads to the question of whether the British system of having at 2 good-great seasons better then the American system of 3 good-great seasons, 2 okay seasons, and 2+ terrible seasons. Personally I would rather take the tradeoff of more good-great seasons in exchange for terrible seasons I can avoid watching. The only thing that annoys me is television shows that are so concerned about making it to season 6 or 7 that they pointlessly drag things out such that they are canceled in season 1 or 2.

    The UK doesn't seem to care about syndication like the US does, and that's a huge part of the difference. When your series hits the magic number of 100 episodes (which is usually somewhere between the 4th and 6th season, depending), it basically guarantees the parties involved huge sums of money for years to come without doing any work at all. The cast and creative crew of Friends is getting huge royalty checks every year because they have deals with a half-dozen networks to air reruns for the next half-century.

    I don't know if I'd say the British tradition of 2-3 short seasons is the way to go (because we definitely could have tolerated a lot more Black Books and Spaced), but I think the UK has to do what it can with what it has, which to tell the truth isn't very much. There's only a small handful of legitimately high-gloss productions coming out of Britain, and some of their best shows don't have half the production value found in an 11:30pm airing of a failed Comedy Central pilot.

    There are always exceptions to this, but I think there's enough evidence out there to argue that shows that feature serialized narratives are best served when there's a finite end in mind and it doesn't exceed the organic length its premise suggests. For every Firefly and Sarah Conner Chronicles there's a Smallville or an X-Files that long overstayed its welcome.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    I'd rather meet somewhere in the middle. But it's not really about the number of seasons, it's about the culture behind the scenes. It's the idea of making a work of fiction and then walking away when it's done. About being able to say "Yeah, this is a natural conclusion to the series and we're out of good ideas"

    There's plenty of good shows with 5 seasons worth of solid ideas in them. And plenty without.

  • JuliusJulius Captain of Serenity on my shipRegistered User regular
    Anybody interested in television should just look at what television shows have threads on these boards. When I was looking for shows to watch I looked at the threads here and let them guide me. I was led astray on one show (which I won't name), but that is a pretty good rate stacked up against Community, Fringe, Chuck, Supernatural, Justified, Strike Back, How I Met Your Mother and Parks and Recreation all of which I might not have seen without these threads. In the first 5 pages of this board there are 25 threads for television shows. Of those 25 I love 7, like 9, dislike 3 and have not seen the last 6, those are pretty good odds all things considered.
    This is true. Though there are no threads for shows that ended and/or are obscure.

    List of shows that are awesome/not mentioned/don't have a thread:

    Absolute Power (British, has Fry)
    A bit of Fry and Laurie (also British, has Fry)
    Jeeves and Wooster (British, has Fry)
    Black Books (British, no Fry)
    Luther (British, no Fry but instead Idris Elba)
    Being Human
    Episodes
    Misfits
    Spaced
    Sherlock
    The Trip
    (all those also British)

    god I have like 60+ shows on my drive, I think I might start sorting everything by genre...

    American Comedy:
    Arrested Development
    Better of Ted
    Chuck
    Community
    Cougar Town
    Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23
    Episodes (technically also American so it gets mentioned twice, it has Matt Leblanc!)
    Happy Endings
    It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
    Modern Family
    New Girl
    Parks & Recreation
    Party Down
    Running Wilde (got cancelled pretty quick, what you get is pretty funny though.)
    The New Normal
    Suburgatory


    not comedy:
    The Ultimate Whedon Collection! (Angel, Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse)
    Arrow
    Alphas
    Burn Notice
    Castle
    Game of Thrones
    Grimm
    Person of Interest
    Suits
    The Newsroom
    The Wire
    True Blood
    Veronica Mars
    White Collar

    Animated:
    Archer
    Futurama
    Simpsons
    Brickleberry

    There's a couple shows that aren't on the list because I simply think they either aren't good enough (a lot of times because they got cancelled before becoming better than "promising") or haven't watched entirely yet.

  • phillerphiller Registered User regular
    edited January 2013
    I don't know if I'd say the British tradition of 2-3 short seasons is the way to go (because we definitely could have tolerated a lot more Black Books and Spaced), but I think the UK has to do what it can with what it has, which to tell the truth isn't very much. There's only a small handful of legitimately high-gloss productions coming out of Britain, and some of their best shows don't have half the production value found in an 11:30pm airing of a failed Comedy Central pilot.

    Hell, some British series can barely make it past 3 episodes at times. I'm not even talking about Sherlock, which has the bonus of being 90 minute TV movies essentially. There was a series in 2011 called Black Mirror created by Charlie Brooker of Newswipe fame, which was basically The Twilight Zone in the Information Age. They've recently renewed it for another 3 episodes, which would give it a total episode count of 6 so far.

    All of which is to say that I still strongly prefer 13-episode seasons, as a balance between British and American programming. Play it through a full weather season, replace it with a different show. It's long enough to be able to play with the qualities of television, but also not long enough to be strained to meet a full season order. I'd imagine the costs would be higher to run two shows where one would be sufficient, but that also means a possibly better chance of getting two great shows with a larger audience.

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  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    At least as much as the question how many seasons a show should have, I'd say that by and large there are few series that can support 22-24 episodes per season, at least those that put an emphasis on an overarching plotline. Practically all those series end up having way too many episodes that feel like filler or that render the season bloated. Give me 8-12 episodes per season any time.

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  • McFodderMcFodder Registered User regular
    Nothing really new to add from what has already been said. Game of Thrones is the show I'm most looking forward to starting up again, The Wire is the show I got on to when people here said 'Game of Thrones is possibly the best show since The Wire' - currently getting towards the end of season 3, would be further through but my SO isn't that into it so I generally only watch it when she's otherwise occupied.

    I can rewatch Buffy pretty much endlessly, Angel was more up and down, bringing with it the hard slog of season 4, those that stuck through it rewarded by the awesome rush of season 5. Firefly was also fantastic, and I'd have loved another season or 2 of that much more than the movie we got.

    I enjoy Castle, losing interest in Once Upon A Time.

    Breaking Bad is one I obviously need to watch.

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  • Johnny ChopsockyJohnny Chopsocky Scootaloo! We have to cook! Grillin' HaysenburgersRegistered User regular
    Thanks for reminding me of Better Off Ted, Preacher. Such an overlooked show. And its on Netflix Instant, so there's little excuse for not watching it now.

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  • EupfhoriaEupfhoria Registered User regular
    Deadwood actually ties with The Wire for me, because of the setting. And Al Swearengen.

    if I had to actually choose which is the better show, though, The Wire wins without a doubt

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  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    That's the thing. My favourite series is Six Feet Under, not least because it resonates with me in ways that no other series does. However, I'd pick The Wire as the better series any time.

    Deadwood, while I love it, is hampered IMO by not being finished. Actually, the season 3 arc does pretty well, but there are other elements in that season that very much feel like setup for something that never comes. Brian Cox, I'm looking at you.

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  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Anyone remember Brimstone? Was an entertaining show, but got shut down something like halfway through the first season.
    John Glover as the Devil made that show.

  • EupfhoriaEupfhoria Registered User regular
    Thirith wrote: »
    That's the thing. My favourite series is Six Feet Under, not least because it resonates with me in ways that no other series does. However, I'd pick The Wire as the better series any time.

    Deadwood, while I love it, is hampered IMO by not being finished. Actually, the season 3 arc does pretty well, but there are other elements in that season that very much feel like setup for something that never comes. Brian Cox, I'm looking at you.

    oh yeah, lack of resolution was Deadwood's biggest problem for sure.

    Some pacing issues in both seasons 2 and 3 maybe, but when you consider that the creators probably thought they were going to have at least one or two more seasons to tell the story they wanted to, those things are pretty forgivable (watching the DVD extras where they talk about how the series ended was a little depressing...)

    I am definitely going to have to check out Six Feet Under someday too. I've heard good things

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  • Salvation122Salvation122 Registered User regular
    How has Pushing Daisies not been mentioned

    You people disgust me

  • Mmmm... Cocks...Mmmm... Cocks... Registered User regular
    Someone said Party Down? Marry me, that show doesn't get the love it should.

  • AtomikaAtomika Live fast and get fucked or whatever Registered User regular
    I think Party Down lasted exactly as long as it needed to.

    Everyone outside of Lizzy Kaplan, Adam Scott, and Lizzy Kaplan were kind of one-note and/or annoying.



    Yes, I know Kaplan's on there twice. She's double awesome.

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