Recommend me some TV shows please?

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renegade7

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Cry Wolf said:
Ninja'd.

If you haven't seen Avatar: The Last Airbender/ Legend of Korra I highly recommend both of those. It is made with a young audience in mind (but not necessarily as the main target) and that does become very obvious in a few scenes, but if you can look past that they're both stellar shows.
 

Moderated

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Here are some quick suggestions of things with action, comedy, and drama.
Highschool of the Dead(Anime)
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood(Anime)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel(Live Action)
Elfen Lied(Anime)
Reaper(Live Action)
Kekkaishi(Anime)
 

mrhappy1489

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BloatedGuppy said:
mrhappy1489 said:
So I just finished off the second season of the walking dead and have run out of shows to watch. I've been doing some reading, mostly A Clash of Kings, but I need some tv to fill the void. So Escapists, can you recommend me some tv shows? My favourite genres are Drama, Comedy and Fantasy and I also have a fondness for animation as well so feel free to throw that in. Thanks in advance and I look forward to your contributions.
[HEADING=2]ESSENTIAL DRAMA[/HEADING]

THE WIRE

Indisputably the best television show in the history of the medium. Not a single weak episode or a single poor character in the entire five year run. Will ruin other "police" shows for you forever.

THE SOPRANOS

Godfather of HBO's "Golden Age of Television" and probably one of the most important televised dramas ever made. Set the standard. Absolutely towering performances by Edie Falco and James Gandolfini as the titular characters.

MAD MEN

Best show currently on the air, aging beautifully. Not the most action packed or salacious, but does a slow burn like few others. Like Tony Soprano, Hamm's Don Draper is the role of a life time.

BREAKING BAD

I'm putting this here on reputation alone. I have not seen it yet, but I am given to understand it is truly fantastic.

[HEADING=2]OPTIONAL DRAMA[/HEADING]

SIX FEET UNDER

Maudlin but profound. Emotionally devastating finale.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

Pop cultural touchstone is both comedy and drama, but veered heavily into melodrama in later seasons. Best enjoyed as a 3 to 5 season show, with a tiny handful of essential episodes sampled from the woeful 6th and 7th seasons.

FIREFLY

Cancelled too soon, yadda yadda.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Tremendous 1st and 2nd season, middling 3rd season, alternatively interesting and catastrophic final season. Went seriously off the rails in the end, but the first two seasons are brilliant.

DEADWOOD

Sublimely acted and curiously scripted Western. Could be essential if not for the fact it was abruptly cancelled and never really concludes in any meaningful way. Even Firefly got Serenity.

GAME OF THRONES

Sloppy translation of source material is alternatively maddening/confusing and pulpy entertainment. Too much book for too little screen time creates serious pacing issues, but good fun can be had.

[HEADING=2]ESSENTIAL COMEDY[/HEADING]

THE OFFICE - UK

Unlike the American version, which is much more broad and now on its 775th episode, the UK version stays for a short but sweet 12 episodes and one hour special. Never outlives its welcome, hilarious and surprisingly heartwarming at times. Arguably the best comedy series ever made.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Another "cancelled too soon", although AD was starting to show signs of diminishing returns when the plug was pulled. Hilarious, snarky, mean spirited comedy with some of the best running gags around. 3rd season is a little hit and miss.

EXTRAS

Ricky Gervais does HBO. Similarly cringe-inducing humor to The Office, with a different lead character, and the added bonus of more Stephen Merchant. Some of the celebrity cameos are truly brilliant and must be seen. Like The Office, it's a short run without any weak spots or decline.

COMMUNITY

Uneven show...when it's bad, it's really bad...flat and uninspired and deeply unfunny. But when it's good, it's possibly the quirkiest and most innovative comedy in television history. On the strength of its good episodes alone this is essential television.

[HEADING=2]OPTIONAL COMEDY[/HEADING]

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

If you liked Seinfeld, the tone is carried over here into Larry David's faux biopic. A little more ribald and R rated than Seinfeld due to network.

BLACK ADDER

British television serial alternates between hilarious seasons and iffy seasons. Almost worth listing as essential for the contributions of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie alone.

RED DWARF

Some really bad seasons in the mix, but at its peak a very clever comedy.

[HEADING=2]ANIME[/HEADING]

COWBOY BEBOP

I don't watch a ton of anime, but this was pretty goddam good.

DEATH NOTE

Up to around episode 25 or so. Trust me. That's as far as you'll want to go.

[HEADING=2]BONUS[/HEADING]

Obligatory "The Simpsons" and "Futurama" before they sucked mention.
My friend I thank you for all the effort you put into creating this list, and those of which I haven't seen I will definitely view. Personally I like the take of the television version of Game of Thrones. Having read the first and second, starting the third soon, there really is a hell of a lot that they have to choose from and each of the POV characters goes really in depth. My only complaint, would be that Robb gets way to much screen time, take some of that away and give it to the rest and it would probably increase. My main petty complaint is changing Asha to Yara, really that was unnecessary, if they had just included the reed siblings they wouldn't have needed Osha for all there dialogue.
 

mrhappy1489

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SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Breaking Bad is one of the best, if not the absolute best TV show of the last 3 or so years. You should watch it.
It's been recommended enough times, I think I may just have to view it.
 

BloatedGuppy

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mrhappy1489 said:
My friend I thank you for all the effort you put into creating this list, and those of which I haven't seen I will definitely view. Personally I like the take of the television version of Game of Thrones. Having read the first and second, starting the third soon, there really is a hell of a lot that they have to choose from and each of the POV characters goes really in depth. My only complaint, would be that Robb gets way to much screen time, take some of that away and give it to the rest and it would probably increase. My main petty complaint is changing Asha to Yara, really that was unnecessary, if they had just included the reed siblings they wouldn't have needed Osha for all there dialogue.
I like it too, which is why I put it in the list. As a fan of the books, though, I recognize that it's much less than it could/should be. I think they've done a bravura job with what is functionally an unfilmable series, but much of the depth and breadth of the books has been lost in translation. Martin is a superlative world builder, and a lot of the richness of Westeros has been cut in an attempt to keep the cast and running time manageable. Characters are dropped or combined, scenes and back story are cut, and...perhaps most egregiously...some key plot elements and relationships have been altered. I made a post a while back going over the changes through the mid point of the 2nd season, and they were not few in number. Many are understandable. Many others are not.

The pacing is the big thing though. Even with a condensed story and truncated cast, they still barely have time to get the material into the hour available. When you watch a show like Mad Men or The Wire or Sopranos, you'll see that the scenes have time to breathe. There are long reaction shots, rambling conversations, little character building and defining moments. GoT has no time for any of that. It's 20 seconds with Tyrion, 30 seconds with Robb, 20 seconds with Jon, go, go, go, go, go all the time, as they try to cram 1500 pages into 7-8 hours. It leads to a very rushed feeling show with godawful pacing. When they do have time to slow it down, like the siege on Kings Landing, or some of the better episodes of Season 1, the show really shines.

As for the Reeds...they are apparently coming in for season 3, along with Ramsay Bolton, Edmure and Brynden Tully, Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion, Vargo Hoat and the Brave Companions, and many of the other missing characters from season 2. We'll see how that works out. If they cut season 3 in half as originally suggested, it should be alright.

PS - If you only watch one show of all the ones recommended, make it The Wire.
 

dfphetteplace

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For animation, Adventure Time and Regular Show, both are funny and pretty great all around. As for just regular TV, maybe some Fringe? Good Sci-Fi show.
 

renegade7

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Because everything else has already been mentioned, Avatar TLA. It's a little overly kid-friendly at times, but the amazing story, dialogue, and animation is almost always enough to hide it.
 

Savo

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Lost- Assuming you don't watch it expecting answers to everything, it's a fantastic show with some of the best character development you will find on television. Your mileage may vary with the ending though.

Prison Break- First season is almost unbeatable, the rest are good but can't match the first season.

Boston Legal- If you can stomach legal shows, this one is by far the most hilarious one you will ever see.

Twin Peaks- Probably the weirdest TV show you will ever see. It doesn't have an ending, but it's got some insanely unique moments (white horses magically appearing in people's living rooms, etc)