TV Show Recommendations

[PsychicTaco115]

Escapists, my dad and I have watched older TV shows for a while now, and no we're trying to find something else to watch. Some we recently watched were Firefly (liked it) and Rome (REALLY liked it). Normally, we don't really watch anything currently on TV (except Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Colbert Report, etc.)

What are some older/current TV shows that you would recommend others too watch?

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Doc Martin is a great medium length British comedy-drama. Basically an immensely successful and respected but socially awkward London surgeon develops a fear of blood and retrains as a GP. He moves to a small town and constantly butts heads with the locals. A really brilliant show, Martin Clunes (Dr. Martin) really carries the show with the persona he created.

Just give the pilot a go.

Thanks for the recommendation, I always enjoyed British humor.

 

[Tanis]

Doctor Who Classic and 2005 are great.

 

[silent-treatment]

Well there is Awake that is going on right now. It is an interesting twist on the "cop drama" genre. Its on Hulu.

 

[twistedmic]

You should give the good Star Treks a shot (Original, The Next Generation and Voyager) as well as Stargate SG-1 Atlantis if you liked Firefly.
As for sitcoms, I suggest Friends, Still Standing and Grounded for Life.

I don't know how you two feel about anime, but I'LL suggest a few of those as well. Neon Genesis Evangelion is pretty good (though a bit of a mind fuck), as is Blue Gender and Cowboy Bebop.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

You should give the good Star Treks a shot (Original, The Next Generation and Voyager) as well as Stargate SG-1 Atlantis if you liked Firefly.
As for sitcoms, I suggest Friends, Still Standing and Grounded for Life.

I don't know how you two feel about anime, but I'LL suggest a few of those as well. Neon Genesis Evangelion is pretty good (though a bit of a mind fuck), as is Blue Gender and Cowboy Bebop.

Both of us have seen a few episodes of Next Generation, good show. Funny enough, he did suggest about Stargate as a possibility.

Do those sitcoms you mentioned have laugh tracks? Nothing annoys me (or him) more than excessive laugh tracks.

I've seen a bit of anime (Death Note, Soul Eater, etc.) Him, I don't think he'd like anime too much.

 

[twistedmic]

Do those sitcoms you mentioned have laugh tracks? Nothing annoys me (or him) more than excessive laugh tracks.

I've seen a bit of anime (Death Note, Soul Eater, etc.) Him, I don't think he'd like anime too much.

I'm pretty sure that none of the shows I mentioned had laugh tracks and I know they weren't filmed in front of a live audience (they can be just as bad as heavily-used laugh tracks) but I can't be completely positive about that.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Do those sitcoms you mentioned have laugh tracks? Nothing annoys me (or him) more than excessive laugh tracks.

I've seen a bit of anime (Death Note, Soul Eater, etc.) Him, I don't think he'd like anime too much.

I'm pretty sure that none of the shows I mentioned had laugh tracks and I know they weren't filmed in front of a live audience (they can be just as bad as heavily-used laugh tracks) but I can't be completely positive about that.

Thanks mate.

Personally, I just don't like laugh tracks/studio audiences. I want to laugh when I FEEL like it, sometimes it just seems forced.

Using a laugh track wrong, just for an example, is The Big Bang Theory. It annoys me greatly :/

 

[Smiley Face]

Well, if you liked Rome (I've been watching it myself recently, I'm a few episodes into season 2), I can recommend some good historical dramas. If you want more of Rome, you can go for I Claudius - it's fine with age, and is littered with good actors from WAY back when - BRIAN BLESSED, John Hurt is a fantastic Caligula, and it has Patrick Stewart WITH HAIR. More recent historical pieces would include the Borgias (second season coming up, Jeremy Irons is great as Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia)).

Along the sci-fi line, Star Trek's been mentioned and it's definitely good - best place to start is probably TNG. If you want something more recent, or darker and story arc driven, you could try the new Battlestar Galactica. And of course, there's always Doctor Who - like any show, it can be hit and miss at times, but when it hits, it HITS, and if you want to see an example of that, find 'The Waters of Mars', damn that's good.

As for British humour, I'm only going to make one suggestion so as to drive it home well: BLACKADDER. Watch it. Season 1 is different than the others, so try starting on Season 4 or 3 first, but it is good. Rowan Atkinson being CLEVER and funny, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, top of their game.

Other good stuff? Game of Thrones is excellent, a thoroughly medieval tone in a fantasy world where the fantasy isn't stealing the stage, but the intrigue, setting, and characters are. If you want a more modern political drama, try the West Wing - great ensemble, stellar writing, and still relevant to today's politics in almost every single way (More low tech. That's pretty much it) despite it ending almost a decade ago. You want something that's all about characters and character development? Watch Season 1 of LOST, then keep going if you want to follow the plot further. The list goes on, but that should be enough to get you started, I think.

 

[Gaiseric]

Justified - Cop show in the South

Grimm - cop show with fairy-tale monsters

Castle - cop show with Nathan Fillion

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. - Western with Bruce Campbell

Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles(I don't know if it holds up, but it was sick back when it originally aired)

Eureka

Robot Chicken

Alphas

 

[Sexy Devil]

Archer, Game of Thrones, Suits, Modern Family, Community, The Wire, Supernatural, Chuck (this one's objectively not very good but I still like it so just try the first episode), Arrested Development, Scrubs.

 

[EvilMaggot]

Breaking In - its hilarious and almost just started Season 2 ^^

 

[CoL0sS]

I'd recommend Red Dwarf and Blackadder. From newer ones: Breaking Bad, IT Crowd, Sons of Anarchy, Life on Mars, Game of Thrones. That's all I can remember right now.

 

[m1garand23]

IF you like sci-fi like Doctor Who then i recomend the Torchwood seires, make no mistakes in thinking that it is as light hearted as the Doctor Who seires though, it is much darker.

Also if you like your crime programs then i would also recomend criminal minds.

 

[JCD2k4]

If you liked Rome, you might like Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Note that the series constantly improved throughout the season. Also note that season two -- subtitled "Vengeance" -- suffers greatly from the loss of Andy Whitfield and bad CGI.

You might take a look at Farscape too. This one's not for everybody though: some of the show's main characters are animatronic and prosthetic aliens which is a thing a lot of people don't like. Personally, this is my all-time favorite.

Game of Thrones is awesome too. If you like it, don't forget to read the books which are better still. It's way better than the Sword of Truth series they tried to adapt for the small screen: Legend of the Seeker. No wonder they cancelled this show after the second season.

As some have mentioned, Castle is a good show too. I also enjoyed Hung and I'm still watching Fringe. I also liked Battlestar Galactica, the original as well as the 2004 reimagined series. You might also enjoy Flash Forward, a show I found enormously entertaining.

The first season of Dexter is also very good. The latter seasons are some kind of roller coaster ride -- a lot of ups and downs. Overall, Dexter still is better than a lot of other shows.

 

[Shaunofthebread]

Misfits- Its this British tv show about some kids who while serving community service get caught in a freak storm which gives them super powers, like mind reading, time travel, invisibility etc. Its really good, and the way the plot flows and how they use there powers are really interesting and it's also funny, due to one of the characters called Nathan

The I.T Crowd, Peep Show, Outnumbered and The Inbetweeners are good british comedys.

I also really recomend the new doctor who series, some episodes are really interesting.

 

[Vuavu]

Check out Batman: the Animated Series. And Spartacus. Those are excellent