I’m fairly picky about the television that I watch. I love TV (obviously), but I demand quality. Also, I hate procedurals. As a rule, I tend to avoid any show where someone turns up dead in the first five minutes. I am in the vast minority here, I suppose, if those pesky ratings are to be believed. Oh well.
Luckily technology has advanced to the point where I don’t have to be limited to the programs that are actually being broadcast currently. I have become a huge fan of TV on DVD. I just recently finished catching up with Battlestar Galactica, and I can’t wait for it to come back in January now.
The only problem is I have nothing lined up to start watching. There are a bunch of shows that I would like to catch up on, but without having seen them I don’t know which is the best. That’s why I need your help. Let me know which show you think is the best and why.
- Northern Exposure: I’ve been curious about this show for a while. I was a little too young to watch it when it was first broadcast, but I know a lot of people who swear by it.
- The Wire: It seems like every person who followed this program thought it was the best show on TV. The critics were all goo-goo about it, and I definitely want to check it out.
- The Sopranos: So many people love this show, but I’m not sure I would. I’m not a big fan of mob movies. While I liked The Godfather, I hated Goodfellas. Watching bad people do bad things doesn’t really do it for me. Would I like The Sopranos anyway?
- Weeds: I really like Mary-Louise Parker and the show definitely looks funny. I have a friend who is catching up on the show right now and loves it.
- Freaks and Geeks: I missed it the first time around, but some of my family love it. It’s hard to argue with a show that featured such talent. Is it really worth watching though, when it was cut down before it even really got going?
- Extras: I’m a big Ricky Gervais fan, so I will definitely be catching up with this one eventually – can you convince me to bring it to the top of my list?
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: This show skirted past my radar for the first few seasons, but I think I would really dig the irreverent humor.
- Dexter: Another popular show in my family. My sister and mom love it and there is a ton of good buzz about it. The premise is certainly interesting….
- The Tudors: My parents, of all people, love this show. Isn’t it all about sex? Every time I mention this they tell me that they really appreciate all the history in the program. Yeah, right….
Well, there’s the list of what I’ve been thinking about. Now I know none of those are going to capture my imagination like Battlestar did, but that’s ok. Help me out here. Let me know what you recommendation is.
Photo Credit: Showtime
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Clacked by Bob Degon
on Nov 18, 2008 @ 20:37 EST5EDT
I’m fairly picky about the television that I watch. I love TV (obviously), but I demand quality. Also, I hate procedurals. As a rule, I tend to avoid any show where someone turns up dead in the first five minutes. I am in the vast minority here, I suppose, if those pesky ratings are to be believed. Oh well.
I hate to equivocate, but this really depends on how you want to spend your time.
I voted based completely on quality, which means I voted for The Wire. I cannot think of any show that even momentarily reaches the quality The Wire maintained throughout its run. It is a cliche to call this show a televised novel, but that really is the most appropriate description I can think of.
That said, The Wire is not what I would call a fun show. If you are looking for pure entertainment, it might behoove you to chose a different show. While it is still in the midst of its second season, my second vote would be for Dexter. Solid cast, solid writing with a wicked sense of humor, and justifiable homicide. What’s not to like?
And if I may recommend outside the options, I think you would like Burn Notice. I’m not very good at tracking who writes what on the site, but a look at the titles and topics of your posts didn’t turn up a mention of it. Only the first season is on DVD, but it is a fun spy show with a twisted humor to it.
Freaks and Geeks only ran one season so it’s good to watch when you’ve got a couple of weeks of down time, or you could watch it concurrently with another show.
After finishing F&G you could move onto Undeclared, which was Apatow’s next TV project and (if I recall correctly) incorporated his vision of what would have happened to the F&G characters had the show lasted enough seasons to get the kids to college. Some of the actors from F&G appear in Undeclared and you see the formation of the Team Apatow as it appears in his movies.
Weeds and Dexter are my other choices. Weeds’ best season was season 1.
I saw an episode of The Tudors but it didn’t do it for me.
So here’s how I narrowed down my choice, although there are a lot of good choices in your list. First, I wanted to give you something that you could enjoy for what it was, get into it and then enjoy it for what it will be. That left only programs currently on the air.
I LOVED Weeds. It was absolutely must see television. It was repeat viewing. It was raped to the extent that I didn’t watch after episode five of this season. I can no longer recommend it.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was awesome for the first two seasons, when (to me) it was unlike anything else on television. The shock value and what they were willing to touch when others called it taboo was fantastic. I didn’t watch every ep this year, and it’s kind of gone waaaaay out there on the goofiness, my guess is because other shows have gone to where this program lead.
The Tudors is just amazing. It takes history and sex (some incredibly risque and heretofore unseen on TV sex!) and drama and intrigue and writes and acts the hell out of it. But, it’s only been on two relatively short seasons, so it will be easy to catch up. :-)
And, finally, Dexter. If you watched Six Feet Under, it’s worth watching just to try to imagine Michael C. Hall going into his David Fisher role. It is almost impossible. That man can act. That two so incredibly strong and yet different characters come from the same actor amazes me. Dexter takes some of the ugliest sides of your psyche and spins them so you are not even sure what you should think is right any more. It has been top rate from the start, and this season, that I had reservations about because it seemed so different, again has me on the edge of my seat. I actually watch it BEFORE True Blood on Sundays, and I didn’t expect that. I really can’t wait once it is on the air.
DEXTER!!! And, please report back as you go, season by season, and let us know what you think!
Forgot to mention something (as if my post wasn’t long enough already). The Sopranos! I didn’t have HBO for the last season, but watched religiously prior to that. The thing about the Sopranos is that they were not BAD people doing bad things. They did bad things, but held so many things dear in the process; its a weird dynamic, and I think it really gave a clear representation into the remaining real life mafia families. It was hard to dislike the family, and you almost understood where they were coming from.
I am re-reading a fantastic book, The Gold Coast by Nelson DeMille, because he just published a sequel last month. It was one of my all time favorite books, and is about a Mafia Don moving to Long Island. I first read it many years before The Sopranos began, and I wouldn’t be surprised if The Sopranos creator was influenced by this novel. I say that because I get the same feeling of understanding regarding the mob and I don’t look at their criminal acts as “bad” no matter how horrible they are. Strange, but a good reason to watch The Sopranos, too! :-)
Nighty night!
I can’t believe I’m the only one who’s voted for The Sopranos so far! Bob, you’ve gotta watch it, followed by Weeds. I’m half-way through S1 of Dexter and love MCH, but the blood gets to me sometimes. It’s a different kind of blood than The Sopranos. I started Extras, but couldn’t get into it, for some reason. Love Northern Exposure, but watching it back on DVD now, I realize how slow the show moved, especially in the first season. Still a great show, though. Maybe I’m more used to intense action and fast-moving plots now.
Have to go with The Wire on this one. Simply put it’s the most compelling filmed entertainment product ever created. David Simon immerses you in a world that is shockingly realistic, populated by amazingly talented actors playing characters of extraordinary depth.
The only downside to the show is it’s incredible inaccessibility. With it’s huge cast list and heavy slang you will need to watch more than once to really understand the richness and depth of the plot and characters. Oh and turn on subtitles so you can actually grasp what the characters are saying.
But seriously. The Wire.
Bob, the Sopranos was an amazing show, but if you didn’t like Goodfellas, I don’t think you’ll like Sopranos either. But I do think you should give it a shot and rent the first season just to see what you think. Its one of those shows that has a little bit of everything and obviously, lots of surprises.
Weeds started out really great but to me, it became more and more ridiculous as the series progressed. Right now I’m not liking it so much. It started out as a woman trying to make ends meet for her family by selling a little bit of pot and now it’s progressed into something like, What can Nancy do this week to keep her title of World’s Worst Mother?
Extras is another great show, but it in true Ricky Gervais fashion, it’s not just a dark comedy, there are times when you’ll feel completely uncomfortable watching. If you liked the original Office, you’ll love it.
Like Jane said, Dexter can be hard to watch because of the gore but to me it’s totally worth it. The characters are superb and it can be really funny. Dexter would be my pick for you to start on, but that’s just me.
Let us know when you decide!
Having played the catchup game with Dexter myself, I can say that it is some of the best TV I’ve watched marathon style. I watched the first two seasons in long sessions over a period of about 3 days. You’ll really get immersed in the duality that is Dexter. The conflicted emotions the show makes you feel, rooting for a serial killer, is more of an intense experience in one go than it is week-to-week.
Work your way through all of them. I’ve just gone back through The West Wing, have last night finished season 3 of Felicity, I may go back to Northern Exposure at some point, but I’ve been saving up Dexters so have them to watch at some point.
The Wire is one of the best shows ever created, bar none, but you should definitely watch The Sopranos, which is not, as you assumed, just a mob show. It’s a show about family, whatever that means to you.
Even if most of the shows are among the best ever the one you should start with is The Wire. I don’t think I ever heard anybody who has seen at least 4-5 episodes say something negative about it.