TV Show Recommendations

[Bara_no_Hime]

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?

Since you mentioned Rome (which I also enjoyed)...

Spartacus: Blood and Sand
- From the creator of Xena, Warrior Princess (and staring Lucy Lawless in seasons 1 and 2), the story of Spartacus... with a visual aesthetic reminiscent of the movie 300.

And, speaking of Firefly...

Castle
- Nathan Fillian (Mal) is a mystery novelist who ends up working with the NYPD to solve New York City's most macabre and bizarre murders while seeking "inspiration" for his newest novel series. Makes a number of amusing references to Firefly, including the Halloween episode where Castle dressed up as a "Space Cowboy" - in his Mal Reynolds costume from Firefly.

 

[viranimus]

Hrm.. some shows that are finished

Jericho was pretty alright, it was interesting to see where some of these actors ended up after the show dissapated.

In that same vein, I liked last summers Falling Skies, and it will be gearing up to start airing its second season in a few months, so backtracking through last season might be a good idea now.

Spartacus is pretty enjoyable if you liked the old Herecules & Xena series, but be forewarned its practically softcore gay porn at times, if that sort of thing offends you. Also if your going to watch it, watch it in the season order, Blood & sand > Gods of the Arena > Vengence (though hypothetically you COULD switch Blood & sand and Gods of the arena around as GoA is technically a prequel to blood and sand. But it was aired B&S>GoA.Vengance.

Archer if you like comedy and animation
Shin Chan if you like comedic anime

Babylon 5 if you want non star trek/wars esque scifi and looking for a LONG series.

Battlestar Galactica if your looking for a much shorter series.

Rome is... Ok, got sort of tired and tedious though.

A few more, but ill let others make suggestions.

 

[octafish]

The Wire, Generation Kill, Homicide: Life on the Streets, and Treme. Yeah I'm a fanboy.

Deadwood, Ian McShane is the god of expressive profanity.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The only two I can think of that no one and mention yet is The Mighty Boosh and Father Ted.

 

[viranimus]

Ok first off HBO shows are where to get good modern drama's nowadays
.

This is pretty true. Also If your not able or willing to pay for HBO, FX networks is like a mini HBO in the drama department with an abundance of very solid series like Sons of Anarchy, The riches (while it lasted) The Shield, Rescue Me and a few others.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

The first five seasons of Supernatural are absolutely terrific. I can't recommend the show enough. Season six was kind of "meh" for me at the beginning, though it started getting better. Season seven I thought started good, but began to decline. But like I said, can't go wrong with the first five (as the show was SUPPOSED TO BE!).

Blue Gender

OH GOD! SOMEBODY ELSE THAT REMEMBERS BLUE GENDER!!! HAPPY DAY!

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Hrm.. some shows that are finished

Jericho was pretty alright, it was interesting to see where some of these actors ended up after the show dissapated.

In that same vein, I liked last summers Falling Skies, and it will be gearing up to start airing its second season in a few months, so backtracking through last season might be a good idea now.

Spartacus is pretty enjoyable if you liked the old Herecules & Xena series, but be forewarned its practically softcore gay porn at times, if that sort of thing offends you. Also if your going to watch it, watch it in the season order, Blood & sand > Gods of the Arena > Vengence (though hypothetically you COULD switch Blood & sand and Gods of the arena around as GoA is technically a prequel to blood and sand. But it was aired B&S>GoA.Vengance.

Archer if you like comedy and animation
Shin Chan if you like comedic anime

Babylon 5 if you want non star trek/wars esque scifi and looking for a LONG series.

Battlestar Galactica if your looking for a much shorter series.

Rome is... Ok, got sort of tired and tedious though.

A few more, but ill let others make suggestions.

Did Rome start getting that way in the second season? Because I kind of thought the same thing too, but I really wanted to see how the story would end up

 

[War Penguin]

Are you in to the movie or entertainment business? Try The Critic. It's a great show about just that. It only lasted two seasons, but you can find all of the episodes on YouTube.

However, I have noticed one problem with the show: It's for people who really know enough about the industry. Most of the jokes might go over people's heads due to the number of references of movies and actors. Maybe that's why it lasted for as long as it did. Still, give it a shot. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Kapol]

If you like british sketch comedies like Monty Python's Flying Circus, then a good one to check out is A Bit of Fry & Laurie. Or of course Flying Circus itself. At Last the 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set are both similar to that show.

Scrubs is a show I really enjoyed. Eureka is another series I enjoy, sort of like Scrubs with mad scientists instead of doctors.

There's Firefly of course which I loved. I enjoy the new Doctor Who series. I enjoy the Warehouse 13 series, or at least the first season of it. Haven't seen the second yet.

Mad Men is pretty interesting... though it's kind of iffy at times in quality. House is more of a serious or dark comedy show that manages to entertain quite a bit.

The Mentalist and Psych are both similar detective shows, with Mentalist being more serious in nature with Psych as more of a comedy. Psych seems like it could almost be a prequel to Mentalist.

For Anime, there's GunXSword and Trigun. Both are smiliar and good series in my opinion. FLCL is a fun, shorter series. Full Metal Panic! and it's spin offs are funny with a decent amount of action. It isn't the best series but it's far from bad. Excel Saga is a good random comedy as well.

 

[viranimus]

Did Rome start getting that way in the second season? Because I kind of thought the same thing too, but I really wanted to see how the story would end up

Others may have liked it more, but to me personally I started loosing interest in about the second half of the first season. It wasnt bad. It was very well made like other HBO shows, but it sort of grew kind of wearisome to me. I think for me, it was the constant barrage of roman sounding names of note you needed a checklist to keep track of who was fucking over who as the names just became a big blur of names ending in Us.

The Critic

I agree. I loved the Critic. However it presents some problems for someone who didnt watch it during its run. The show was HEAVILY dated. Even more so than say Family guy is today. So a lot of the humor is going to be lost today on someone who was not immersed in american pop culture circa 1990 with references like "Whoomp, there it is" a TON of Bill Clinton Jokes and just about anything in that window from 1995 - 2000.

Another, dated comedy, but no where near as bad is Married w/ children. Some of the best late 80s early 90s comedy, period.

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Are you in to the movie or entertainment business? Try The Critic. It's a great show about just that. It only lasted two seasons, but you can find all of the episodes on YouTube.

However, I have noticed one problem with the show: It's for people who really know enough about the industry. Most of the jokes might go over people's heads due to the number of references of movies and actors. Maybe that's why it lasted for as long as it did. Still, give it a shot. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Actually, I hope on becoming a film director myself one day. Thanks for the recommendations, all who posted (and those who might later.)

 

[loc978]

Most of what I would suggest has been mentioned... but I'll second 'em anyway
-Babylon 5 for a long, well-made space epic.
-The IT Crowd - if you want something geek-centric but can't stand Big Bang Theory.
-Generation Kill - hard to find a more honest look at modern war. Only thing that comes to mind is Restrepo... but that's more disturbing than entertaining, according to my roommate.
-Archer - irreverent comedy, douchebag tropes and spy tropes. If these things appeal to you, try it out

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

-Black Lagoon [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rxVQe8vtOI]. The anime that I always show to people who don't like anime.

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Go watch Psych. It's funny I promise. It's like Medium except that the main character only pretends he's psychic.

 

[Boggelz]

Breaking Bad! One of the best shows on TV for my opinion. You have to not mind the gritty stuff though.

Other shows:
Venture Bros - A funny show that makes fun of itself as much as it does other shows.

Entourage - A show about movie business which im sure has little to do but its a very entertaining show nonetheless

House - An entertaining show with an interesting lead actor

Viva la Bam - Really dumb but mind numbingly funny. As long as you like Jackass humor

 

[VladG]

Game of Thrones is awesome, I'm sure you'll love it especially since you liked Rome.

House MD - one of my personal favorites, medical drama (though you will likely laugh a lot too), first 3-4 seasons are very good, the others not so much, but still much better than most shows out there.

Dexter - another personal favorite, again, first 2-3 seasons are the best.

Bored to death - short, quirky, extremely funny, worth a watch.

 

[SonicKoala]

I would highly recommend The Sopranos - throughout its 6 seasons, never once was there a noticeable dip in overall quality. The writing is fantastic - the various story lines which emerged over the course of the series were consistently entertaining, and personally, I've never come across a series where each and every character is so well-developed. So, if you're a fan of that whole crime genre, you're almost guaranteed to like the Sopranos.

I'd also recommend the U.S. version of "The Office" - Season 2 and 3 are the high points of the series, but everything up to and including season 7 (that's as far as I've watched - I just can't bring myself to watch the show post Steve Carell, considering how integral he was to overall mood and feel of the series) is worth a look.

 

[DANEgerous]

If you are a total nerd Frozen planet and Unchained Reaction, if not Awake and Game of Thrones.

 

[twistedmic]

The HBO show OZ is pretty good, if brutal and graphic. It is set in a men's maximum security prison and has quite a bit of violence, drug use, foul language, male (and some female) nudity as well as a bit of rape.
And for another sitcom, Malcolm in the Middle. All seven seasons (minus one episode on season two) are available streaming from Netflix (only season one is available on disc).