Top 5 TV shows

JonJacob wrote:

metalface13 wrote:

5. Lost: Haters are going to hate, but Lost is awesome.

Not many people seem to realize it (and I've never seen Lost but my brother loves it) but it is a re-working of my favorite novel. The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien. My brother says that knowing that going in made the show much easier to figure out and he guessed the ending (mostly) in the first season as a result.

I highly reccomend reading The Third Policeman if your interested in Lost. It's a much faster read then you'd expect.

I haven't heard of it, I'll have to check it out.

I actually just started reading Stephen King's The Stand. The writers of Lost have stated that it was pretty much the most influential novel for them. Evidently, the writer's room always had a copy lying around.

Deadwood - I could discount the entire third season and this show would still be here.

Buffy TVS - This one I'm not counting past the third season as I feel the best of the show was the high school years.

Farscape - Lost on the far side of the galaxy on a living ship with a bunch of escaped prisoners. The first four-ish episodes are weak, but after that the series only gets better as it goes.

ST: Deep Space Nine - I believe people who like DS9 but not the rest of Star Trek are called Niners. That would be me. Star Trek with series long story arcs, characters that grow, and intergalactic warfare.

Still deciding on the fifth. Might be LOST.

Yeah the Lost creators are big fans of Stephen King, the Dark Tower series, too.

Farscape - Lost on the far side of the galaxy on a living ship with a bunch of escaped prisoners. The first four-ish episodes are weak, but after that the series only gets better as it goes.

Thanks for the heads up. I've tried watching Farscape, but only maybe the first 3-4 episodes and encountered nothing but a standard scifi show. Not bad, but not outstanding. I'll have to give it some more viewing.

Farscape is some awesome fun. It's the second best sci-fi show made during the last ten or so years (Firefly number 1). I personally find that the first half of the first season is a bit weaker. It takes awhile to click but once it does you hooked for good. It (like Firefly) actually has a sense of humour... so important in a Sci-Fi show to me.

No BSG on here so far. I'm surprised. I thought that show was supposed to be the big Geek paradise. I guess the pretentious, stuffiness of it's "re-imagining" didn't end too well and people are leaving it by the wayside?

Good for you.

If BSG had ended right after the New Caprica arc, I would have called it the best ever. Given most of the third season, it knocked it down to number 6 for me.

I only watched a half dozen episodes, but I found Farscape to be hopelessly goofy. It was like watching a bunch of mentally ill furries shouting at each other.

Battlestar Galactica (the modern one) started great and gradually went bad. I found the third season to be not very good, and the two-part season finale just ruined the show for me. Friends warned me away from the final season, and I heeded their advice.

1. The Simpsons
2. The Sopranos
3. Arrested Development
4. Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
5. The Wire

In that order (that's right, I put Buffy above the Wire, though I haven't seen the final two seasons of The Wire yet (nor the final two seasons of Buffy, actually), so that might change). There's some things that bug me about The Wire that seem to be gradually dissipating.

That said, I don't watch all that much TV. The other big shows I've seen all/most of are Batman: the Animated Series, Larry Sanders Show, The Office UK, Battlestar Galactica, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Twin Peaks, South Park, the Honeymooners, and Entourage.

Gah, All in the Family and Seinfeld...I have such a damn hard time watching anything with a laugh track. Honeymooners is the only show where I could bear the laugh track enough to watch more than a few episodes.

1) The Simpsons
2) The Adventures of Pete & Pete
3) Dragnet
4) Kids In The Hall
5) Breaking Bad

Honorable mentions to The Office, Twin Peaks, The Cosby Show, Soap, Dobie Gillis, Lancelot Link, Thundarr The Barbarian

right now all i am watching is breaking bad. so fucking amazing. just about to start on series 3.

This is difficult.

1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - it's just plain awesome. Great dialogue, interesting characters, and lots of stupid jokes. And the very special thing about is that rather ordinary problems with school, love, jobs etc. become extremely relevant because they always happen on a background of doom. I especially like season 5 - superb ending - but maybe that's also because I started watching the show around where Spike gets "chipped".

2. Green Wing - British hospital sitcom that beats Scrubs (which I also like) to the ground. The humour is downright absurd, the filming and cutting is unlike anything else I've seen, and to top it all the core of the series is a quirky love triangle that makes the show be something more than just funny.

3. Frasier. This is the best written sitcom ever. It's tight, well-played, and the best episodes combine tight jokes with slapstick and a superb sensse of dramaturgy. And David Hyde-Pierce is just brillant. But it's only number three because the series take a dip after Niles and Daphne (the main motor of the show, really) hook up, and it takes a long time for it to get back to standards.

4. Twin Peaks - I hate the James-storyline, and I think there's a lot of stuff after finding the murderer that's plain stupid. But the ending is wicked, and the mix of horror, crime, sitcom, and soap opera feels extremely fresh even though I didn't watch it until a few years back.

5. The Office (BBC) - I'ts so very hard to watch - especially the first episode of the second series - but it's also extremely funny and a bit tragic. It makes the list because of the christmas specials that add extra layers to the Brent character and thus makes him a more real person.

Almost made it:
Battlestar Galactica - the first season is very good. So tense. There's lots of good stuff afterwards (and I rather liked the ending), but when push comes to shove there's just not enough memorable episodes and too many that's wasted on nothing.

Lost - I like it a lot and can heartily recommend it. But I think it's too long, and it too lacks episodes that's worth to watch on their own. Haven't seen the last season, though, and if it's good it could get listed.

Extras - It has some brillant, brillant moments such as David Bowie singing "chubby little looser" about Gervais' character. But it just doesn't make the cut.

Firefly - I love Firefly and watch it every now and then - it's a great mix of western and sci-fi with interesting characters and an overall interesting ensemble with good chemistry. But since it never ends (and Serenity doesn't count as part of the series) and not even gets to reveal any of its secrets, it will never be among the best.

Arrested Development - I'm wathing season 2 at the moment, and it's funny, funny, funny. So many jokes, and so many in no way loveable characters. I'm afraid, however, that it's lacking a basic conflict (such as the Daphne/Niles thing in Frasier), and that's why it's not listed. But goddamn it's funny.

Crikey - only five ! I'd have trouble picking five for a year ... and then there's trying to remember over the last decade or two what I've seen - nothing easy around this place.

Good shows that pop in to my head from memory, what's been listed already, or other internet lists:

BSG (new)
Lost
Deadwood
Sopranos
Wiseguy (first series with Sonny - I loved that program)
Stargate
Buffy (the later years as I prefered the long story arcs)
The Singing Detective (original)
Twin Peaks
Band of Brothers

The X-Files miss out because of the absolute major fuck-up of teh last few seasons and ends final weak end.

I've only put down dramas (well, drama-ish). Too hard to compare them against comedies like Seinfield and Married...with Children. There's also some really good British drama short series that probably didn't get international airing so I'll leave those out.

Considering the column inches it gets here I'm surprised that Dr Who hasn't come up.

NOTE: Forgot to add that I still have The Wire dvds and have only watched a few episodes, from what I've seen so far it will jump into the list easy but since I haven't even seen a season yet it can't really qualify.

mads b. wrote:

This is difficult.


2. Green Wing - British hospital sitcom that beats Scrubs (which I also like) to the ground. The humour is downright absurd, the filming and cutting is unlike anything else I've seen, and to top it all the core of the series is a quirky love triangle that makes the show be something more than just funny.


5. The Office (BBC) - I'ts so very hard to watch - especially the first episode of the second series - but it's also extremely funny and a bit tragic. It makes the list because of the christmas specials that add extra layers to the Brent character and thus makes him a more real person.

Shit Mads, you and I may be the only people outside of England who's seen this. Sue White was the fucking craziest and yet sexiest characters on tv bar none. In my top 10 though.

1) Dexter (season 4, 100% pure gold-ness)
2) The Office
3) The Sopranos
4) Nurse Jackie
5) Mad Men

Southernman wrote:

Considering the column inches it gets here I'm surprised that Dr Who hasn't come up.

I listed it.

NOTE: Forgot to add that I still have The Wire dvds and have only watched a few episodes, from what I've seen so far it will jump into the list easy but since I haven't even seen a season yet it can't really qualify.

For fucksake Tom , send them to me. By the time you remember getting around to it, dvds will have become obsolete.

Love your friend,
Anthony