All this talk about series, how network TV Sucks, and how hard it is to find quality shows, and some excellent shows that fly under the radar, I need a comprehensive review of all the series I need to see.
For good entertainment, I would be willing to buy DVD sets. But I've recently picked up HBOGO by kiping it from my parents, and recently got Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Here is a listing of shows that I currently own or have seen all the episodes of. If it isn't on the list, just assume I haven't seen it.
Spoiler!
Great Shows – Must See
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
Longmire
Burn Notice
House
Spartacus
House of Cards
Justified
True Detective
Breaking Bad
The Assets
The Wire
Sherlock (BBC)
The Americans
The Walking Dead
Deadwood
Netflix: Daredevil
Jack Taylor
Luther
Bosch
Good shows
Travelers
Ozark
The Leftovers
Conviction
Medici
The Last Kingdom
Firefly
Dollhouse
The Good Wife
Hell on Wheels
Big Bang Theory
Falling Skies
Suits
White Collar
Agents of SHIELD
Arrow
Boss
Rome
Orange is the New Black
Orphan Black
The Knick
Goliath (Amazon)
Iron Fist
Show Me a Hero
Hell on Wheels
Shooter
Mediocre
Robin Hood (BBC)
Vikings
How I met your Mother
Scrubs
Chuck
That 70's Show
Top Gear
Graceland
Hung (HBO)
Gotham
Conviction
Crap Camelot
Top Shot
Defiance
Legends of Tomorrow
Here is a listing of shows that I'm currently watching
Spoiler!
Great
Good
Boardwalk Empire
Westworld
Mediocre
Crap
Here is a listing of shows on my list to watch (mostly due to this thread)
Spoiler!
The Sopranos
24
Fargo (missed getting it on the DVR :-) )
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
The Comeback
6 Feet Under
John Adams
Battlestar Glactica
Friday Night Lights
I work a fuckton, so it is hard for me catch a series while it is on to get it on the DVR, but I recognize the entertainment value and am willing to go after the Must See shows. Accordingly, I'm not necessarily looking for anything that is still running. I'm up for watching stuff that has run its course.
So what say you, Planet? Which shows should I see?
Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare:
Frontier with Jason Momoa is badass
I posted some thoughts about it earlier.
Momoa is awesome. The production is awesome. The rest of it, meh. I fucking dig shit like this, but I just can't bring my self to give a flying feces about the other characters. I was sorta into that Indian chick following Harp around, but this season they had her doing retarded stuff and it took me out of it.
It's like there isn't any cohesion in the writing from story to story. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
I posted some thoughts about it earlier.
Momoa is awesome. The production is awesome. The rest of it, meh. I fucking dig shit like this, but I just can't bring my self to give a flying feces about the other characters. I was sorta into that Indian chick following Harp around, but this season they had her doing retarded stuff and it took me out of it.
It's like there isn't any cohesion in the writing from story to story.
I just started hunting around Netflix for something 20ish minutes long I could watch in the background while chasing around twins and a puppy.
Man, I've always been a 'Cheers' guy in the Cheers v. Seinfeld debate but I'd really forgotten how truly excellent Cheers was. Netflix and Prime both have the whole series, start to finish, available.
Any of you guys who haven't watched it in awhile need to give it another run and you'll be reminded quickly of how that show stuck around for 11 years and was still killing it when it ended. It's just so damn good, all the way to how they utilize the multi-cam format and the distinction between a studio audience in the background and a laugh track. The characters are warm and likeable and the humor is just a hell of a lot more dry than I remembered at times. And because there's not a laugh track hammering it at you, those little almost throwaway jabs are just amazing.
"Hey, I know you - what's your name?"
"Sam Malone"
"That's it...."
"Yeah, I usually get it right..."
And it's just here and gone; no laugh track and the obnoxious Yankee fan almost steps on the line so it's just this sharp delivery and onto the next beat. The multi-cam across the entire bar gives it an expanse that you don't feel at all on modern sitcoms - the bar feels genuinely huge and some of the scenes that pan across it just make it seem more human when they're raising voices and it's trailing off across the set. You also occasionally see them stifling little laughs and grins here and there and it's just...real feeling. Almost like a play in the way they shot it rather than a traditional sitcom. The chemistry of the key players is spectacular. And the humor is timeless. That's what separates it from Seinfeld to me (that and the fact that all the characters in Seinfeld are just assholes) - Seinfeld's jokes just don't work as well.
It's not surprising that Mike Schur - who writes the best comedies on the air right now - is a Cheers acolyte. And comedy that has been working so well since The Office (also involved Schur) has the DNA from Cheers all over it.
Just an absolutely fantastic show. Seriously - go watch Cheers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Going to call an audible here.
I just started hunting around Netflix for something 20ish minutes long I could watch in the background while chasing around twins and a puppy.
Man, I've always been a 'Cheers' guy in the Cheers v. Seinfeld debate but I'd really forgotten how truly excellent Cheers was. Netflix and Prime both have the whole series, start to finish, available.
Any of you guys who haven't watched it in awhile need to give it another run and you'll be reminded quickly of how that show stuck around for 11 years and was still killing it when it ended. It's just so damn good, all the way to how they utilize the multi-cam format and the distinction between a studio audience in the background and a laugh track. The characters are warm and likeable and the humor is just a hell of a lot more dry than I remembered at times. And because there's not a laugh track hammering it at you, those little almost throwaway jabs are just amazing.
"Hey, I know you - what's your name?"
"Sam Malone"
"That's it...."
"Yeah, I usually get it right..."
And it's just here and gone; no laugh track and the obnoxious Yankee fan almost steps on the line so it's just this sharp delivery and onto the next beat. The multi-cam across the entire bar gives it an expanse that you don't feel at all on modern sitcoms - the bar feels genuinely huge and some of the scenes that pan across it just make it seem more human when they're raising voices and it's trailing off across the set. You also occasionally see them stifling little laughs and grins here and there and it's just...real feeling. Almost like a play in the way they shot it rather than a traditional sitcom. The chemistry of the key players is spectacular. And the humor is timeless. That's what separates it from Seinfeld to me (that and the fact that all the characters in Seinfeld are just assholes) - Seinfeld's jokes just don't work as well.
It's not surprising that Mike Schur - who writes the best comedies on the air right now - is a Cheers acolyte. And comedy that has been working so well since The Office (also involved Schur) has the DNA from Cheers all over it.
Just an absolutely fantastic show. Seriously - go watch Cheers.
Cheers was a great show. The story behind the theme song is fun too. [Reply]
On that note, I watched A Young Doctors Notebook and Other Stories
I’m a pretty big Mad Men and by extension John Hamm fan so I gave it a look.
It started off pretty goddamned funny. It ends up Dark as FUCK.
I finished it a week or so ago and still don’t know where I’m at on it. It’s 8 episodes so it’s an easy watch and I’m glad I did. But at the end of it all it hangs with a guy.
I’d encourage you guys to watch it and share your thoughts, just understand it’s not light and funny like it starts out as.
Specifics in the spoiler
Spoiler!
It is really a hardcore coming of age story following a dark ass path. The tone of the episodes follow a naive kid that develops an addiction and ends up heavy as hell. Really made me think. There isn’t a lot that can affect me much anymore - maybe I’m old and jaded like the doctor - but it really got me thinking.
But the massive change in tone and the short episode structures can turn a guy off. And as heavy as it gets I can see how people hate it.
Originally Posted by Buehler445:
Hey BL, have you caught the Young Doctors Notebook? Seems it might be in your wheelhouse and I'd be interested in what you thought of it.
Kodi providers aren't finding streams of it right now. I've got it on lookout. [Reply]
Just caught the first season of Barry on HBO (which I haven't had since season 7 of GoT ended...). Bill Hader is a depressed hit man from Cleveland who goes to LA for a job and ends up in an acting class run by a crazed Henry Winkler. Great stuff. [Reply]