Best TV show of All Time

[Camembert]

Something between Amstell and Bailey? I never noticed... But I really can't imagine Bill Bailey disliking someone on screen... Amstell was good but I didn't really like the weird gimmicky things (can't think of an example right now) that he did sometimes, but it might have been the show rather than the presenter. But I certainly didn't think Amstell was any more cruel than Lamarr was.. I used to love his rants where he goes "I enjoyed blah blah... by enjoy I mean I would rather fork in eye something horrible etc etc..." Hmm.. maybe Amstell might have been nastier to his guests up front, whereas Lamarr just did more cruel jokes.

The reason I thought Bailey might dislike him was that, almost as soon a Amstell joined the show, he buggered off and was replaced by Noel Fielding. Amstell made mocking jokes about him once or twice.

I think Lamarr was more irate and ranty, whereas Amstell was a little cruel in the way he tried constantly to make the guests feel about a millimetre tall.

I never really found him annoying but this might be because some of the cynical stuff he says I quite agree with. Newswipe is some of his best stuff in my opinion, you should definitely check it out. Never actually watched all of Trapped in a Closet, I'll check out the rest soon, but the bit he showed on his show was hilarious, "not only is there a man in the cabinet, but the man is a midget!" lol. Did you watch the big fat quiz of the year 2009? Charlie Brooker was one of the guests and he was sometimes a bit overshadowed by the other guests, but still damn funny.

Nathan Barley I don't know about... but I'll check it out.

Yes, I agree with the 'cynical stuff' he says for the most part, since I'm pretty cynical myself... it's just that I dislike his delivery sometimes - it can be too sullen in a not-very-funny way.

Now you have recommended Newswipe as 'some of his best stuff', I think I will actually give it a go. I've seen it knocking about on iPlayer, but never bothered giving it a chance. I watched his Gameswipe episode (was it a series? I'm not sure whether it was a gaming special, or whether he did a few episodes) but he didn't talk enough about RPGs (my favoured genre), which made me sad.

I didn't watch Big Fat Quiz... is that presented by Jimmy Carr? I think I've avoided it because I like quizzes... and they don't seem to get much quizzing done on that show. Either that or it's all current affairs questions, and although I watch HIGNFY I somehow manage to remain oblivious to most of the things that happen in the news and on television.

You should check out Nathan Barley. It's had mixed reviews but a lot of people love it, and I expect you'll find it to your liking. It co-stars Julian Barratt, and Noel Fielding is in it a little bit. There are a few other faces you might recognise as well, such as Richard Ayoade (love the guy) from Garth Marenghi, the IT Crowd, occasionally The Mighty Boosh (I hate that programme, sadly); and that arse-face who plays Gavin in Gavin and Stacey can be seen briefly in one episode also.

Edit: Also, it was co-written with Chris Morris, who did Brass Eye.

 

[Junkle]

As a massive nerd, I'm going with Stargate SG-1, Mythbusters, House, and maybe Psych. Oh, and Firefly. Most certainly Firefly

 

[cuzant]

Top Gear, its just hillarious and often informative and is definitely not a boring car show like most are.

And this:

I nominate Have I Got News For You, solely for being consistently hilarious and still running.

Paul Merton is a comic genius.

 

[Totenkopf]

Spongebob Squarepants or Avatar: The last Airbender

Spongebob is probably one of the most funniest things ever shown on tv.

Avatar has a really nice setting, interesting characters, nice fights and good comedy too.

 

[Camembert]

Top Gear, its just hillarious and often informative and is definitely not a boring car show like most are.

I watched it last night (nothing else on, and I had popcorn) and what I hated about it was that everything was so staged. Everything funny they did, I couldn't help thinking 'Yeah, but it was staged'.

It just ruins it for me. Do you think most people don't realise it's staged? Or do you think, like in wrestling, they know it's staged but they love it anyway? Because I just cannot get past the 'stagedness' of it.

 

[cuzant]

Top Gear, its just hillarious and often informative and is definitely not a boring car show like most are.

I watched it last night (nothing else on, and I had popcorn) and what I hated about it was that everything was so staged. Everything funny they did, I couldn't help thinking 'Yeah, but it was staged'.

It just ruins it for me. Do you think most people don't realise it's staged? Or do you think, like in wrestling, they know it's staged but they love it anyway? Because I just cannot get past the 'stagedness' of it.

It's clearly staged to a point- when your racing in a supercar you will need to slow down for a man with a camera, and the studio lines are rehearsed but i don't really care, comedians shows are staged but they're still funny.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Live Action - The Twilight Zone (the original B&W one with Rod Serling)

Animated - Cowboy Bebop

 

[Camembert]

It's clearly staged to a point- when your racing in a superca you will need to slow down for a man with a camera, and the studio lines are rehershed but i don't really care, comedians shows are staged but they're still funny.

I don't mean that stuff, though. For example, when they went to Vietnam together... all the funny scrapes they got into and all the silly little 'spontaneous' jokes they made... I couldn't help thinking all that was staged. Like when they had to take the driving theory in Vietnamese. Jeremy could strangely talk Vietnamese and got the answer right, and the other two were going, 'Wow, man, how'd you do that?' and I was thinking, they know how he did it, it was all scripted. I even thought Jeremy falling off his bike might be staged.

If I can't get past that, it's my problem, I know. I was just interested to hear things from a fan's perspective.

 

[cuzant]

It's clearly staged to a point- when your racing in a supercar you will need to slow down for a man with a camera, and the studio lines are rehearsed but i don't really care, comedians shows are staged but they're still funny.

I don't mean that stuff, though. For example, when they went to Vietnam together... all the funny scrapes they got into and all the silly little 'spontaneous' jokes they made... I couldn't help thinking all that was staged. Like when they had to take the driving theory in Vietnamese. Jeremy could strangely talk Vietnamese and got the answer right, and the other two were going, 'Wow, man, how'd you do that?' and I was thinking, they know how he did it, it was all scripted. I even thought Jeremy falling off his bike might be staged.

If I can't get past that, it's my problem, I know. I was just interested to hear things from a fan's perspective.

Yeah it is scirpted, but also quite funny. And i dunno about that i don't have Jeremy Clarkson down as the type to volunteer for pain. . And that episode is a good example of some of the great bits: a funny sort of travel documentary, the way the three play off each other, the springstein bike and the fun of buying a machine for £20 and seeing what happens, i dont't think they purposely destroyed their bikes so they wouldn't run well.

 

[unreal713]

The reason I thought Bailey might dislike him was that, almost as soon a Amstell joined the show, he buggered off and was replaced by Noel Fielding. Amstell made mocking jokes about him once or twice.

I think Lamarr was more irate and ranty, whereas Amstell was a little cruel in the way he tried constantly to make the guests feel about a millimetre tall.

I think around the time Bailey left he was going on tour with his stand up thing or something. Just did a quick google check but can't seem to find anything about a proper reason for leaving just 'other commitments'.

Yes, I agree with the 'cynical stuff' he says for the most part, since I'm pretty cynical myself... it's just that I dislike his delivery sometimes - it can be too sullen in a not-very-funny way.

Now you have recommended Newswipe as 'some of his best stuff', I think I will actually give it a go. I've seen it knocking about on iPlayer, but never bothered giving it a chance. I watched his Gameswipe episode (was it a series? I'm not sure whether it was a gaming special, or whether he did a few episodes) but he didn't talk enough about RPGs (my favoured genre), which made me sad.

I didn't watch Big Fat Quiz... is that presented by Jimmy Carr? I think I've avoided it because I like quizzes... and they don't seem to get much quizzing done on that show. Either that or it's all current affairs questions, and although I watch HIGNFY I somehow manage to remain oblivious to most of the things that happen in the news and on television.

You should check out Nathan Barley. It's had mixed reviews but a lot of people love it, and I expect you'll find it to your liking. It co-stars Julian Barratt, and Noel Fielding is in it a little bit. There are a few other faces you might recognise as well, such as Richard Ayoade (love the guy) from Garth Marenghi, the IT Crowd, occasionally The Mighty Boosh (I hate that programme, sadly); and that arse-face who plays Gavin in Gavin and Stacey can be seen briefly in one episode also.

Edit: Also, it was co-written with Chris Morris, who did Brass Eye.

Heh.. I happen to like his sullen delivery but I guess that could just be me. Gameswipe was a one off thing, and wasn't that good in my opinion, it was catered towards casual or non-gamers which made it a bit shallow for me, yeah and not having much rpgs was a bit of a let down, but to talk about gaming as a whole in what.. 45~60 mins was going to be a long shot anyway.

Newswipe has a mix of current affairs and more older stuff, so I don't know how much you'd like it but still, give it a try.

Fat Quiz is hosted by Carr, and I guess it's not really about quizzing but it's just once a year so I can take time off to watch it. I was pretty excited when I found out Brooker was going to be a guest.

Just watched a bit of Nathan Barley on youtube, looks pretty good. I'll watch it when I get the chance.

Black Books (for being the best comedy-series to date)

Black Books one of my favorite sitcoms, Moran, Bailey and Greig is an absolute winning combination. Maybe a bit off topic but, I love Dylan Moran stand up... "Now if I walk past a group of youths I find myself holding my keys in my pocket, then I find myself putting each key in between my clenched fist, so if I have to hit him I'll fucking kill him." Hehe, makes me smile.

 

[AkJay]

Breaking Bad
Doctor Who
Futurama
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Arrested Development

There they are. I would be surprised to find someone who does not like at least one of those shows.

 

[Senrab]

I nominate Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Honorable mention goes to Firefly.

 

[Klarinette]

The Simpsons (stayed fresh for 18 years before the inevitable rotting after Season 19)

Er... I'm almost willing to say it started rotting before that. One of the turning points that sticks out most in my head was their trip to Canada. Not because I'm Canadian, but it was just so lame. A Hockey player, a Mountie and... probably Celine Dion or a Lumber Jack got off the bus... can't remember what the third one was. Whatever. Oh, and then there was the incident where Marge got breast implants. It was then that I knew that they were completely out of ideas that were worthy of an entire episode.

OT: I can't pick one show I love. I'll just say the entire Discovery Channel.

 

[rachel_who]

I love Red Dwarf!! So that definitely gets my vote

Black Books (for being the best comedy-series to date)

I must agree with this wonderful man here lol although it does come in second to the Dwarf

 

[Toaster Hunter]

A tossup between Battlestar Galactica (Remake), and Rome.

Band of Brothers is certainly #1 if Miniseries count.

 

[Thaius]

So the only person so far to mention Avatar: The Last Airbender also mentioned Spongebob Squarepants? FAIL.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an epic, funny, emotional fantasy show that also manages to be kid-friendly. Great characters, concepts, story, and writing make it easily the best show I have ever seen: the only flaw is that the first season can be a bit kiddy, but after that it drops it for a more mature, but still kid-friendly, tone. Truly an amazing show.

Also, Spongebob is the scourge of intelligent television, and the only thing more mindless is reality TV. Ugh, I detest that show.