The TV Series discussion thread

Just to say that I never watched Sorbo's Hercules so can't say anything the writing in it, sorry. But I trust you that it was memorable. This list however I cannot trust.
 
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Dunno about that, those are just - mobrespawns. ;)
 
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Band of Brothers actually deserves to be on that list (yes, I know that it is). Must have been incredibly hard work for the writers to turn Ambrose's not-so-gripping 'fact book' source material (which was also opinionated in a way that made it an extremely difficult read for me, to say the least) into such a fine and entertaining series.
 
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Borgen. The Borgias. Breaking Bad. Carnivàle. Downton Abbey. Game of Thrones. Garrow's law. How not to live your life. Lost. Merlin. My family (uk). North and South (uk 2004). The pillars of the Earth. Pushing Daisies. Rome.
Are some of the excellent series I have watched that come to mind.

Today I finished The Forsyte Saga (2002). My, I cried a lot watching that one.
"Chronicles the lives of three generations of the upper-middle-class British family, the Forsytes, from the 1870s to 1920," see Imdb
Those who like Downton Abbey may like the Forsyte Saga too.

Tomorrow I'll start with either Daniel Deronda (based on a novel by George Eliot, 1876, set in Victorian high society) or Sugar Rush (an Emmy Award winning comedy drama about young lesbians).
 
Cool story bro' incoming...
A few years ago I tried to watch doctor who in netflix (dvd). I guess I was expecting at the time a serious show like star trek or something. After watching the first dvd of new season 1 I decided it was not for me.
About 3 years later I saw it in netflix streaming and I was bored, so decided to watch from where I left off. Now I'm totally addicted. not only did I watch all seasons of new dr who, but all seasons of the spinoff Torchlight, and am now watching the original series 20+ seasons. Right now I'm watching season 3 (1966 or so), and loving it! (Even though they are in black & white and many of the first few seasons' episodes were erased by BBC in the 70s to save money and all that remains are the audio and still shots).
 
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and am now watching the original series 20+ seasons. Right now I'm watching season 3 (1966 or so), and loving it! (Even though they are in black & white and many of the first few seasons' episodes were erased by BBC in the 70s to save money and all that remains are the audio and still shots).

It gets better. Just wait till you get to the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) - Imo that was the peak of the old Doctor Who era.
 
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Borgen. The Borgias. Breaking Bad. Carnivàle. Downton Abbey. Game of Thrones. Garrow's law. How not to live your life. Lost. Merlin. My family (uk). North and South (uk 2004). The pillars of the Earth. Pushing Daisies. Rome.
On my to-watch-ASAP list. Not interested plus it's cancelled. Nice stuff. Awsome series without a proper closure. I'll never watch that. Watching. Never heard. Another never heard. Not touching. Cheesy and silly, but very entertaining. What's that? No, doesn't stirr any interest with that title. I'd feel blasphemic if I watched that. Ain't that some soap opera? A masterpeice.

How come you didn't list The Wire?
 
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On my to-watch-ASAP list. Not interested plus it's cancelled. Nice stuff. Awsome series without a proper closure. I'll never watch that. Watching. Never heard. Another never heard. Not touching. Cheesy and silly, but very entertaining. What's that? No, doesn't stirr any interest with that title. I'd feel blasphemic if I watched that. Ain't that some soap opera? A masterpeice.

How come you didn't list The Wire?
To answer your questions:

I did not know The Wire until you mentioned it. :) I looked into it just now and it sure looks promising. Usually I'm not attracted to police series but this one seems to be an exceptional crime drama. Thanks, joxer! I'll put it on my list.

Garrow's law.
Garrow's Law is the true tale of William Garrow, who acted as counsel for the accused, introducing the concept of 'innocent until proved guilty' at London's Old Bailey (Imdb).
And
based on real legal cases from the late 18th century, as recorded in the Old Bailey Proceedings (Wikipedia).
I love British historical dramas.

How not to live your life
British sitcom written by and starring Dan Clark about a neurotic twenty-nine-year-old man who is trying to navigate his way through life (Wikipedia).
And Imdb
See for yourself:
Season 1 episode 1:

There are several episodes to be found but if you're interested more in the humour of Dan Clark you could also try searching YouTube for 'Dan Clark's guide to' .
Great British humour.

My family
British comedy (Wikipedia)
And
about Ben, a dentist, and his family. They don't exactly get along well - Imdb.
Episode Serpent's Tooth:


Pushing Daisies
Touted as a "forensic fairy tale", the series is known for its unique visual style, quirky characters, and fast-paced dialogue, often employing wordplay, metaphor, and double entendre. (Wikipedia)
And
A pie-maker, with the power to bring dead people back to life, solves murder mysteries with his alive-again childhood sweetheart, a cynical private investigator, and a lovesick waitress.(Imdb)
A sweet story, lovely visuals.
 
I'm pissed off.

Just saw a trailer on Fox Crime for series The Bridge.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2406376/

Yes, Fox Crime will be airing a silly remake of this masterpiece:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1733785/

Okay, I understand the need to shoot somethig like that so ppl who can't read (subtitles) can watch the story. But original series have the best portrait of a highly functional person with Asperger syndrome thus I'm talking about a masterpiece. Yet from the trailer of the remake it seems, and I really hope I'm wrong, that the remake ditched that part of the story completely.

The remake on Fox Crime starts 15th of July. I can't but suggest not to watch it but to go if possible for the original show.
 
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Few remakes stand up to the original. Only one I can think of was battlestar galactic, which far exceeded
 
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Watching the first series of Newsroom. Takes a while to get into it but it's quite riveting when you get into the characters. Very impressive that it's directed and written by one guy.

The episode I watched last night had the beautiful Sloan Sabbath speaking Japanese. She had these big nerdy glasses on and her hair tied back. I thought it was the sexiest thing I'd seen in ages. Total geekgasm.
 
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Watched both, have a feeling this show is shtako. ;)
I'll give a chance to a few more episodes though.

It's over, and is not cancelled.
And in the end it wasn't much of shtako. Cheesy, silly, bad pilot... But slowly it turned into a watchable sci fi. I'd say 6/10 for the first season, hopefully the next one will be better as so many posibilities are left open.
 
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Few remakes stand up to the original. Only one I can think of was battlestar galactic, which far exceeded

it looked about as interesting as Babylon 5, so I passed.

--

Just finished watching a marathon of House of Cards(US) and Arrested Development.

On the former, good acting saves this wannabe soap opera and cable style gratuity. We're lead to believe that only one man (or three - including an outsider) plays political intrigues in Washington. Also, there is no direct B-line from congress to the White House that this series assumes. This would make more sense in a Parliamentary system where the elected party has a near monopoly of power. I might check out the British version but fear it might be even more of a soap opera the way MI5/6 is.

--

ok, I'm shocked by Arrested Development. There are more laughs per minute in this show than anything since Airplane. I never got around to it the first time and I never knew it was cancelled. I guess that's owed to its cult following or the rap group of the same name.

The attention to the complex details is something akin to Lost but without the plot holes or unresolved threads. In fact, there are story arcs that go unnoticed until its final season. when they're resolved. You only discover that they didn't come out of nowhere but their subtle hints in the early episodes. The big scene stealer is Tony Rossi as the brother in law Tobias, who was not intended to be a major character.

The new season is not as good but it gets better. I can name three things that are problematic about it: the focus on individuals, though probably necessary given their filing schedules, rather than the ensemble; the retconning of two characters; and the change in the character we had the most empathy for, because now there's no one to like or feel (bad) for.
 
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It's over, and is not cancelled.
And in the end it wasn't much of shtako. Cheesy, silly, bad pilot… But slowly it turned into a watchable sci fi. I'd say 6/10 for the first season, hopefully the next one will be better as so many posibilities are left open.
Yeah, I ended up sticking with it. Seems like the writers were having trouble picking a direction, though. So many "bad guys" introduced, fleshed out, and then inexplicably discarded. Don't think I like the "mystical" angles introduced in the last couple episodes, though. I guess we'll see how it does in season two. It's easy enough to have the DVR record it...

I'm really hating the crazy timing on stuff now, though. Shows taking 3 months off around XMas, shows starting in early August, shows not starting until late October... I miss the bad old days when everything came out at the beginning of September, ran until the week before Christmas, and then the midseason replacements rolled out in January and ran thru May. Now it's nearly impossible to keep track of what's happening when.
 
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