recommend tv shows to a dvdboy
 

i live in the land of the dvd.
i do not watch television---but not so much because i am opposed in principle to it--rather it is more a matter of:

(a) not wanting to once again find myself awake at 4:30 am watching some stupid infomercial and pretending it is a kind of anthropological research
and
(b) not wanting to be ambushed by the voice of george w. bush.

but there's a problem with this.
there are tv shows that i kinda like.
and there's another problem with this.
i have seen most of them that i know about.

i like alot of hbo programs but dont know any others apart from curb your enthusiasm, six feet under, big love and ali g...

trash is ok---i am a huge ridiculous fan of footballers' wives---the l-word is, mysteriously, a guilty pleasure...but i wasn't at all into desperate housewives...

i really like stuff like strangers with candy and trailer park boys...but i didnt like weeds (trailer park boys is way better)

and i am a ricky gervais fan.


but that's it.
i am on the edge of the cube that is tv-world.
so i would like recommendations for other tv things please....

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but the new Battlestar Galactica series really is something special. The original series stank of Buckaroo Banzai or Buck Rodgers, very tacky and lacking in substance, but the remake is absolutely groundbreaking. It gets back to the spirit of science fiction in that it is an exploration of what we are and what we could become in a very real way. It just happens to take place in space. It manages to tackle social, political, and even spiritual issues in a way that I've never seen on television or in a movie. I'd recommend watching it from the beginning, as it is for all intents and purposes one long story.

I'm sure you'll be interested to know that latin superstar and political activist Edward James Olmos heads up the cast as Commander Adama.

Take a peek into the BSG thread in Entertainment if you're curious.

The Office is the funniest show on TV by far and keeps getting better each season. Seasons 1 and 2 are out on DVD and I highly recommend them. This is coming from someone who hates TV and rarely watches it.

Unfortunately most of the shows I recommend are on break right now, but heres a list:

The Shield
Rescue Me
Dexter
The Dresden Files (little early to tell if its a winner)
reruns of Firefly
Bones
Scrubs
Law & Order and Law & Order SVU

Put another one down for The Shield. Amazing show.

Agreed with everything willravel said.

Another show to check out is Dexter, I believe it airs on Showtime. The first season wrapped up a few months ago and the second hasn't aired yet, so it'd super easy to "catch up." The basic premise follows a forensic blood work guy, Dexter, who also happens to be a serial killer. Adding an interesting twist, he lives by a strict moral code, and only kills other serial killers. It's by and far one of the best written and acted shows out there right now.

House is another great show, mostly due to the greatness of Hugh Laurie. It's got smart, sharp writing, andinteresting stories that keep you involved to the end of each episode. And as mentioned, Hugh Laurie, as the coolest asshole you'd ever meet. :p

Some other shows I watch that I think are worth a look: Boston Legal, Nip / Tuck, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Firefly (off the air :( ) and everything else by Joss Whedon :p, and all the old Star Treks. You already mentioned The L Word, which I enjoy for many reasons :p, and Weeds - how could you not like it!

Other than Doctor Who, there are some really great British shows out there - Mile High which is great campy fun, Bodies - a medical drama, Spooks - their version of CSI, Hex - occult thriller, I liked the first series much better than the second, and Life on Mars - suspense/sci fi/ cop drama, hard to describe but really innovative and neat.

And finally there's Rome and Carnival, which are both suppoed to be great, which I'm waiting to check out myself.

That's all I can think of for now, hope it helps a little. :)

LOST. I mean it. LOST. Seriously. People are always accusing it of jumping the shark (and, I admit, I have my qualms about Season 3, which we're in right now), but Seasons 1 and 2, both of which are out on DVD, are EFFING BRILLIANT.

I second ono's suggestion of Carnival. Absolutely amazing, epic, scary, funny, and a short-run to a satisfying question-mark of a conclusion. The same sort of ending Twin Peaks had. Some "conclusion-oriented" viewers had a real problem with it, but for an individual who is as comfortable with ambiguity as you are, you'll absolutely love the way it ends. I certainly did.

Speaking of which, the second season of Twin Peaks is due out on DVD in April, and the first season is out already. Worth a re-watch.

See The Office. It's Ricky Gervais translated for the American palate, and shockingly enough, it's only improved by the translation. In my opinion, Steve Carell is the finest comic actor of our time.

Heroes isn't out on DVD yet, as we're still in the first season, but if you've got a BitTorrent client nearby, you can get your mitts on every episode to date. If you've ever even glanced at a comic book, you'll love Heroes.

roachboy, I cannot stress this enough; watch the new Battlestar Galactica. As willravel said, it truly is something special, an anomaly in tv-land. If the world was about to end, and all you had time to watch was one television series, I would still explicitly recommend Battlestar.


It's that good.

Edit: I would also recommend watching the series on dvd since you most likely detest commercial interruption as much as I. Bear in mind that the series is best approched as if it were a book.

The Wire. If you didn't watch it from the beginning, it was very hard to pick up midstream, but it's some of the best written and acted television there's ever been. I heard it described as moving at the pace of a novel instead of a TV show, and I think that's fairly accurate. And it's told from the point of view of the good guys and bad guys simulatiously.

How I Met Your Mother constantly entertains me, albeit in a mindless way.

And my secret guilty pleasures are "Deadliest Catch" on TLC about Alaskan King Crab fishermen, "Flip This House" on A&E about residential real estate developers (actually useful for my job, if you can believe it) and "Holmes on Homes" on TLC where a repair contractor basically comes in to fix all the mistakes made by other contractors and shows little patience for incompetence. As a rule I hate reality TV, but these are the exceptions.

I like The Deadliest Catch, too.

I don't watch any tv regularly, though. Occasionally, on a weekend, I'll get roped into watching a day-long marathon of Bravo reality shows. Like Project Runway or one of those "I'm an obnoxious female who lives in California" shows (can't remember any of the names). But I always feel a little uneasy about it...like I should go to confession or something.

Battlestar Galactica definitely. Roach, have you seen Gervais' "Extras?" I am also a huge Gervais fan and Extras is his latest series. It's amazing. I think they're showing it on HBO.

Arrested Development
Invader Zim - Moderately subversive for something that originally aired on nickelodeon
Nova - don't know if there are dvd's available, but you could probably make your own
How It's Made - This show is basically just narrated footage of the manufacturing processess of various everday things. The engineer in me finds it pretty interesting, not sure if you would because you might not be a dork like that.
Lost - is seconded

It's a shame that the movie prequel was kinda mediocre.

Do you like Hugh Laurie? He's the reason that House, M.D. is pretty great instead of mediocre. The show's tons of fun. Typical House line:

I'd also recommend Scrubs, which is a much goofier and much more comedy-oriented hospital show. J.D.'s unconsciously self-deprecating effeminate straight guy shtick and his bizarre imagination sequences are the centerpiece of the show. And then there's Dr. Cox, who is Scrubs' version of Dr. House (though technically, Cox came first by a few years), and is notable for smoothly-delivered lines like this:

Also, I get this odd feeling that you'd appreciate the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, ever watch either? The former is a general satirization of the news with a definite left-wing bent, the latter is a satire of the O'Reilly Factor with Colbert taking the spot of "Papa Bear" O'Reilly.

If you're interested in quirky detective shows, USA has two great ones: obsessive-compulsive germ-phobic detective Monk (Tony Shalhoub) and the quick-witted detective-pretending-to-be-a-psychic lead character on Psych.

Oh, duh. Seconded.

Finally, Filth admits he's a dork!

I will add my voice to the chorus for Battlestar Galactica.

I would also recommend Heroes, Extras and Dexter (I am only a couple of eps into Dexter and Heroes as they just launched here but they're good so far).

Lost season one and two were great but I haven't seen any of season three yet (I am told they will come soon).

Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and The F Word (on BBC America) great programs featuring Gordon Ramsay. As they were made in the UK his not as mean and nasty as he is in Hell's Kitchen.

nice folks---thanks so far.

the last few times i went to my favorite dvd place, i stood in front of a bookshelf of tv shows saying "wtf" over and over to myself--i picked out something at random--the joanna lumley series "class act"--which sucked so thoroughly that i figured this picking things at random thing was no longer viable. and as the lovely amira is enduring art school at the moment, and so finds herself in the space of Total Information Overload, having a tv show around to see can serve important therapeutic functions in slowing the information flow.

random reactions to stuff that i happen to have seen that was mentioned above:

the office (us)--i dunno. i liked the acting but didn't like the decision made going into season 2 to morph the show into a sitcom and move away from the fake-documentary framework--it seems to have lost an edge then---so i prefer the uk version. particularly the ending of it, which made me cringe (in a good way...the way bruno or borat can...btw because the borat character was able to [1] impose 10 minutes of silence on the oklahoma city council in memory of an imaginary massacre and [2] was able to create that appalling sequence around "throw the jew down the well" i have reached the conclusion that the good mr. sbc is a genius.)

i have seen a season of extras and find it really funny. ricky gervais is the shit, in the parlance of our times.

i dont know who hugh laurie is, but it sounds like i should find out. which is good. field work.

and i had forgotten about battlestar galactica.

arrested development: i love jeffrey tambour--hank (from larry sanders) was one of the great characters ever (up there with john candy's william b.)--so i watched alot of arrested development, well past the point where it seemed to jump the shark.
=============

there is supposed to be an hbo series that was described to me as a "shakepearean western" which i took to mean written like "my private idaho" without the dutch girl sequence (which was my favorite part of the film)--but i forgot the title--any idea?

i will write down titles in my notebook, which i carry around to fill in the holes in my memory...more recommendations?

The Shakespearian western would be Deadwood.

Okay I'll say it. Screw Battlestar Galactica, watch Firefly. Then watch Serenity. Then be like me and be bitter at Fox. IMO it's the best show to come out in the last 10 years, of course it didnt build an audience right away so Fox cancelled it. Stupid Fox.

I thought it was obvious. The thing that nodody'd ever expect about me is that i am from the future. I was sent back in time to assassinate james brown and now that i've accomplished my goal i've got nothing better to do than go to school and start a family.

A dork with a plan... nothing more dangerous.

I would also like to recommend Little Britain.

ok so the first stop is lost.
i'll check back about this (and other things)...

Roach,

Try CSI, the Las Vegas one is best in my opinion. NY and Miami are good too. Sort of rock n roll forensic science with good character development.

The new Heroes serial is interesting - play on evolution and good vs evil ambiguity.

Hmmm... well, the History Channel and Discovery are always good too. And PBS has good shows and segments, go to their web page for the schedule and description.

For humor, you might enjoy the Daily Show, it is "intelligent" humor and is up to date. Might even provide you fodder for our politics board.

Enjoy!

thanks jorgelito...

so we are halfway through the first season of lost.
it has an interesting premise: a planeload of models crashes on a strange jurrasic-park-like island. the models array themselves as social types, kinda like a mideval "everyman" play. there is something big and malevolent that runs around and does scary things. apparently, it was decided that the big malevolent thing is scariest if it is either (a) not shown at all of (b) shown as the camera. i kinda like the second one tho: my preferred scenario is that the show is about the show, and that the actors are being chased aroundby the camera.
anyway, the way the show seems rigged up so far, character development is driving stuff, it happens via flashback, and it seems that these character development segments are gradually ratcheting up in terms of lunacy. as that happens, i am finding the show more interesting.

it's fun. thanks folks.

Yay.

Before long the big mysterious thing will give way to other big mysterious things, and the show will appear to teeter upon the edge of imploding on itself under the weight of big mysterious things. And then it'll find a certain balance there, right on the edge of the event horizon of too many big mysterious things.

That and: Evangeline Lilly could use a sandwich, but otherwise is painfully hot.

Caruso ruins Miami for me. At least Keanu Reeves has both 'befuddled' and 'angry', Caruso seems to have only "infuriatingly cheesy and apparently unaware of it". He's terrible enough to keep me from giving Las Vegas or NY a fair shot.

The Shield - if you're such a DVD person, rent or buy the first five seasons - best show on television!

RB - you remind me a bit of the main character on Bones. It's a good popcorn show. I love popcorn shows, for that matter. Definitely check out House, he's amusing and droll and again, popcorn.

For the best absurdity on air, I vote for Boston Legal. They cross so many standard lines, and gleefully. And where else is there a higher concentration of men who fantasize about Candace Bergen? (It's a longish story.) Goofy and smart and snarky. My favorite things all together!

Also goofy fun: Scrubs. Quick doses of amusement, 20 minutes and you're out. Chickitycheck it out.

Did we mention Battlestr Galactica yet? Oh yes, we did. Sorry.



...Battlestar Galactica.

It's already been said, but it can't be said often enough.....or loud enough........

(the new) <blink>Battlestar Galactica</blink>

Be sure to start from the *very beginning* of the new Battlestar Galactica, with the miniseries (the season 1 DVDs come with it if I'm not mistaken). Like someone else said, it's best to approach it like a book. It's one big story.

After that, there are a few others that are good as well. Onodrim mentioned a lot of great shows, but it can be hard to tell what the "good" vs "great" ones in her list are. So, here are my recommendations (for AFTER the new Battlestar Galactica ;))....

I'm going to start out with a British show, since you've already displayed an interest in British television with Footballers' Wives and The Office (UK): check out Life on Mars. Honestly, I'd be surprised if you can find it on DVD in the states, but keep an eye out. The second (and last) season is about to start and the first season was only 8 episodes, so there's not much dedication involved in watching it. That said, it's a great show. The basic premise is that a police officer from 2006 is hit by a car (while he listens to the song "Life on Mars" by David Bowie, hence the name of the show), and wakes up to find himself in the 1970s. He's still a police officer in this time period, but his rank is a bit lower, and he's obviously not sure what the hell happened. Neither are you. Was he thrust back in time? Is he in a coma? Is he dead? Is this a new twist on Quantum Leap? The show could be just another police drama set in the 1970's, except Sam (I shit you not, his name is Sam, I'm not making a joke about Quantum Leap here ;)) is initially thrust right into a case that's directly related - 30 years earlier - to the case he was working on in 2006. Is he really in the past? Is he making this case up in his head? The latter question seems quite possible, because Sam also occasionally hears strange sounds that no one else around him hears. Sounds like the beeping of hospital machines, doctors talking about him, etc. One of my favorite early scenes involves him sitting in his apartment at night with the TV on, and the math instructor on the TV suddenly starts talking about "the patient"...only to revert back to math shortly afterwards. It's done REALLY WELL. Anyway, if you can't tell, I think it's a great show. One of the better concepts and shows I've seen in recent times in fact. If you see it around, check it out.

Keeping with the more "serious" shows, you may want to check out both Rome and Carnivàle. Both are very well-regarded shows, although I must admit I haven't seen too much of them. They are high up there on my "too see" list.

Taking a turn for the less serious, Dexter is also great. Creative and fun, what's not to like about a socially inept serial killer who works for the police?! :lol:

Following Dexter, I'd suggest Nip/Tuck which is mostly absurd, with some serious occasionally thrown in. For a show which intentionally pushes the envelope, it has racked up a formidable list of controversial issues addressed, including organ harvesting, pedophilia, incest, necrophilia, zoophilia, sadism, swinging, orgies, bisexuality, teen threesomes, transsexualism and transvestitism, christian science, scientology....well, you get the idea. The list goes on. Needless to say, the show is a lot of fun :thumbsup:

Moving more towards the "popcorn" shows, as JustJess called them, we've got House, M.D. and Boston Legal. House is a decent medical show made great by Hugh Laurie. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the parts without him are bad, it's just that he and his character are what make the show stand out. This issue has been covered well enough for this thread. Boston Legal is, again, a show which aims to be absurd a lot of the time, and it's great at accomplishing it with the William Shatner/James Spader duo.

Those are my main recommendations. A lot of the other shows mentioned are great shows, but I know how much it can suck when you ask for recommendations and you get a list which is 30 items long :lol: If you're looking for some more British television, Bodies is an excellent show, but I can see how it might not be for everyone (it has a pretty negative view of British medicine and, in particular, the Ob/Gyn wing, which is only made more interesting by the fact it's based on a book written by a former British doctor). Spooks is supposed to be good too, but I haven't seen it yet.

The Brit version. Brilliant.

I have to second Carnivale. Astounding series, and then follow-up with Deadwood.

i am attempting Rome (S1) now, but it is a bit lame.

My son bought Firefly (S1), and I have actually been enjoying it. Light humoured space western. I saw Serenity earlier on, and now it makes more sense.

I must concur The Shield and Deadwood
(but then again I'm a fan of 'strong' language ;) )

You might also want to check out The Unit, about a special forces unit in a 2-storyline of their missions and their families... I personally don't care too much for the family side, but the missions are good :D

I think I'll check out House myself as it has been recommended to me before. Useful thread!

The Office, The Shield. Also the 10 part Band of Brothers is very good. They should do for any mood or occasion.

Futurama, - great animated series! better than the simpsons.

season 1,2,3 of Family guy, - these were great and then it went downhill.

Band Of Brothers, - It's like a war movie that lasts 10hrs. amazing.

The Office (US version), - I saw the brit version but the us is so much better! make sure you watch more than 2 episode.

Firefly, - takes a while to get into it but once you do, you wonder why it was canceled!

Les Invincibles - if you understand french(quebec), check out this show! season 1 on dvd right now.

24 - if you like action non stop, check it out. it's so much better on DVD!

Without duplicating previous suggestions, I think these are good:

Dead Like Me focuses on a group of Grim Reapers, following most closely a newly deceased Ellen Muth, a young woman of about 20 whose attitude towards her new job, collecting the souls of those who are about to die a violent death to prevent them the trauma to their souls. It, like all good drama, is really about how people live and deal with their lives, as seen through the lens of an extraordinary situation. It had a short run, but is worth it for the time you get to see it.

If you don't mind something a little older . . .

The Avengers is cool personified. It's stylized, and sometimes a bit silly, and varies from standard cold war stuff to sci-fi to some seriously surrealistic weirdness, but it's never dull. It's episodic, so you don't need to see it from the beginning. You can safely skip the Cathy Gale episodes and start with the Emma Peel ones. There were two seasons, and they're both good, the first a bit better than the second. The idiots running the show didn't want to pay Diana Rigg enough to keep her after that and lost her.

I don't watch TV either. I have a 60" Sony DLP, a PS3, an XBOX 360 but no TV subscription service. I buy DVD series boxed sets when they're good. It's worth avoiding television so I don't have to see Al "I-invented-the-internet" Gore's pseudoscientific political posturing.

The Office (UK) - The nice thing is that you can see the show to it's conclusion.

Firefly - BS Galactica is a great show but Firefly will make you laugh ... will make you cry. Don't expect some SPFX extravaganza - it's charm is in the story and characters.

Father Ted - 3 Irish priests on an island where one is drunk, one is a dimwit and the other is Father Ted. Not everyone's cup of tea - but I think it's hilarious.

Family Guy - the funniest (modern) show on TV - period!

Futurama - good show. Second to Family Guy.

Looney Tunes: Golden Collection - Bugs and Daffy from the 40s and 50s are actually the funniest animations ever made (in my book)

Star Trek: Animated Series - these were written and directed like the live action show.

Jackass - speaks for itself. Watching guys do stupid stuff to themselves never gets old.

Bullshit - with Pen and Teller. Good show.

The Shield - already mentioned.

Band of Brothers - this is the best miniseries I've ever seen.

The Singing Detective - this is also an excellent miniseries based on Dennis Potter's play. A very close second to Band of Brothers.