Greatest series ever watched

Daveysil15

The X-files for me. Lost was great for the first 2 seasons and had real potential, but sadly they milked it.

Ger8

The unit. Suits. And can't forget sopranos.

Chabals Beard

I loved Friday Night Lights.. the movie was OK ,reading the book at the moment, loving that too.

BostonB

Das boot
Band of Brothers.
Edge of Darkness
Babylon 5
Miami Vice
Hill Street Blues
The Professionals

TBH there's loads of stuff going back.

barneysplash

BostonB wrote: »

Das boot
Band of Brothers.
Edge of Darkness
Babylon 5
Miami Vice
Hill Street Blues
The Professionals

TBH there's loads of stuff going back.

Edge of Darkness is a real forgotten gem. Das Boot opens the discussion up
to non-English speaking shows, plenty of great series there.

Mentioning these shows and your tantalizing "loads of stuff going back" has
me intrigued. Please go on...

Here is a list from the British Film Institute, compiled in the year 2000, of
the top 100 British TV shows of all time. I've used it as a starting point
for information on quite a few good shows I've enjoyed over the years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_TV_100

BostonB

Handy link.

I loved "The World at War" as a kid. But I assume we mean dramas here.

This WWIII was good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_III_(TV_miniseries)

Also Salems Lot was good. Only a 2 parter though.

Harrys Game

Sons of Anarchy.....great show! lots of twists.....just brilliant

barneysplash

BostonB wrote: »

But I assume we mean dramas here.

I think the discussion should be open to any quality series - drama,
documentary, biography, whatever. What does anyone else think?

As you often find when hunting for new shows to watch, they
turn up in the strangest places.

For example, I was looking up Copper commodity prices, having watched
the excellent "Hunting the Elements" documentary from PBS NOVA,
and discovered the decent drama "Copper" from BBC America.

Every day is a school day!

eh i dunno

24 cant be beaten for pure excitement and addictiveness. Great show and great to see it coming back next year

Prefab Sprouter

Frida Inexpensive Trainee wrote: »

Without doubt it's the west wing for me
I've watched the entire series five times. Never been so invested in characters in a series before
Leo I love you!

One more for the West Wing. Consistent throughout. Started brilliantly and remained at that level throughout.

Honorable mention to Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.

Realtine

omahaid wrote: »

BBCs Life On Mars, was hooked on that show.

mine too.

Shane-KornSpace

Supernatural
Scrubs
Fringe

MurdyWurdy

We have two in our house: The Wire (predictable, I know) and Battlestar Galactica

Galwayguy35

Prison Break

K.Flyer

The Magic Roundabout.
Ahhh Zebedee, where art thou now in our times of need.

ixoy

barneysplash wrote: »

Justified - falls to pieces after the first episode.

How much further beyond the first episode did you watch? I thought the first half of the first season was weak but then it picked up. The next three seasons though are much better and it'd be wrong to suggest it focuses primarily on any love triangles. Instead it focuses on a number of themes and engaging plot arcs.
So therefore I recommend "Justified" as one of the best shows currently airing.

Also "The Wire" of course - I've been recommending that since its first airing on TG4. One of the few shows to know its beginning, middle, and end.

Honourable mentions to "Breaking Bad" - sure, it may be padded at times but it's generally excellent padding.

Some ones I thought were over-rated from previous recommendations:

"The Sopranos" - lost a lot of focus in its latter season and felt that the continuations were forced. The fact Tony was such a loathsome character never helped (whereas "Breaking Bad" is about the descent into that).

"Sons of Anarchy" - Just got ludicrous and the third season was just dire.

"Dexter" - Comes with a warning. Season 1,2,4, and 7 are well worth watching. Season 3 is mediocre and a lot of the fifth and sixth seasons are just bad.

sonandheir

Have to agree with some of the people on here Sopranos and Breaking Bad are overrated. Sopranos is good and I would recommend it to someone, it's just some of the storylines were weak. Wire is brillant, I mean what series do you put down and say I'm gona watch that in ten years so I can come back to it fresh.

Comedy is sorely overlooked on this thread. Father Ted, Simpsons(seasons3-8), curb your enthusiasm.

Kent Brockman: Mr. Simpson, how do you respond to the charges that petty vandalism such as graffiti is down eighty percent, while heavy sack beatings are up a shocking nine hundred percent?

Homer Simpson: Aw, you can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. Forty percent of all people know that.

Kent Brockman: I see. Well, what do you say to the accusation that your group has been causing more crimes than it's been preventing?

Homer Simpson: Oh, Kent, I'd be lying if I said my men weren't committing crimes

Conmaicne Mara

In no particular order House of Cards, Oz, Southland, and Band of Brothers I found myself really glued to, particularly Oz once I got into it (except for the priest in it, who I prayed each night would get shanked ASAP).

The Sopranos was good, but I find if it's on, I won't bother watching it again. Some episodes really caused a stir, particularly the one with the girl getting brutally beaten out back of the bar/strip club/where ever.

Never got into The Wire. Watched two episodes of The Shield and not sure if it's worth sticking with or not? I find the baldy headed lad in Strike Team ( :rolleyes: ) poor in everything I've seen him in, don't know why, just not a fan.

Not a fan of 24, Prison Break, Lost (urgh), and increasingly not a fan of Homeland (though I do like to see what ridiculous nonsense they'll come out with next) and The Walking Dead which after killing you know who is dead to me!

The Black Oil

barneysplash wrote: »

Breaking Bad - Starts off good, but too many "oh he just got away" moments to make it enjoyable.

Have you seen The Shield? It suffers from that syndrome (though still a good show), imo, Breaking Bad doesn't.

barneysplash wrote: »

It's just not dark enough to be plausible, given the subject matter.

Not dark enough, really? It hardly shies away from showing the consequences of what the characters get up to.

melekalikimaka

Spaced
Eastbound and Down
Archer
Angel
Brasseye

Tipsy McSwagger

Breaking Bad
The Wire
The Sopranos
Band of Brothers
Rome
Mad Men

barneysplash

ixoy wrote: »

How much further beyond the first episode did you watch? I thought the first half of the first season was weak but then it picked up. The next three seasons though are much better and it'd be wrong to suggest it focuses primarily on any love triangles.

I watched the entire first series of Justified. Stopped watching it after the first
episode of series two. At the time, I was beginning to become ruthless
with what I invest time in watching - as a result my rule now is - if it goes bad then I stop.

I learned this lesson with Breaking Bad - (watched four seasons hoping it would pick up)
and The Sopranos - (watched the entire series hoping it would redeem itself.)
I was to be disappointed on both counts.

There are too many good series out there to watch to justify (no pun intended )
time with mediocre ones.

ixoy wrote: »

"Sons of Anarchy" - Just got ludicrous and the third season was just dire.

Agreed, Sons of Anarchy is a great example of how to screw up a television show:

Slick worldwide marketing + Great actors + Fantastic real-life source material (biker gangs)
= a laughably bad show that ends up like Desperate Housewives with Motorbikes.

First episode was very dark and full of promise, but it just
fell apart over time.

Second season featured strong support cast and a good
story but there were just too many loose ends, and
"hang on a minute, that was a bloody car bomb / machine gun ambush
he was standing beside" moments.

The third season is terrible. There are times when I'm watching
it, it's like an episode of The A-Team. Loads of close-quarters shooting
and stuff blowing up, but nobody important ever gets injured.

The Federal agents, the ATF are supposed to be heavy-duty
law enforcement, but they seem to like to keep suspects involved
international arms smuggling in custody in small town jails,
instead of transferring them to one of many more secure locations
at their disposal.

It's hilarious, when the bikers go into the hospital and kill or intimidate
a witness. They don't seem to have any security cameras in the
hospital for some reason.

And finally, it contains my nomination for the worst Irish accent ever -
Titus Welliver as Jimmy O'Phelan, all he is short of is a shillelagh stick
and a pot of Gold.

The Black Oil wrote: »

Have you seen The Shield? It suffers from that syndrome
(though still a good show),

Yes I watched six series of The Shield. Don't bother watching it - it turns into
rubbish after the first few episodes. The very first episode is excellent, really
had my hopes up that this would be a great series, but it just twists and turns
too much, and story lines get parked and the resurrected later in the series in a
completely implausible way. A real disappointment.

The Black Oil wrote: »

imo, Breaking Bad doesn't.
Not dark enough, really? It hardly shies away from showing the consequences of what the characters get up to.

Maybe it's because I've seen some chilling documentaries on the effects of Crystal Meth,
it's a very frightening drug and it's effects are devastating. Breaking Bad never really
gets into that at all. Also, Walt and Jesse get away with too many "oh they've just
avoided being found out" moments that really punch holes on the plausibility of the show.

sonandheir wrote: »

Comedy is sorely overlooked on this thread. Father Ted, Simpsons(seasons3-8), curb your enthusiasm.

I agree, on a lighter note, here are my comedy recommendations:

Porridge
Veep
Portlandia
Yes Minister / Yes, Prime Minister
Operation Good Guys
PhoneShop
Party Down
Game On
The Critic - If you like the Simpsons, you'll love this one.
Phoenix Nights
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em

Full details, including links to Wikipedia and IMDB references, of these
shows and more are available over in the TV recommendations show forum:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055689569&page=6

Can I suggest that if you really like a show, add it to the recommendations forum.

Then it will there permanently for anyone who stops by looking for a good show to watch.
You'll also receive a notification when someone else posts up a show they think is worth
sharing. There is no discussion allowed, we can do that here The recommendations thread
is more of a library of information about quality programs for all to use as a reference.

Don't forget to the first guideline post, I didn't do this and had to repost a load
of stuff last month!

Here is a blank format that is acceptable in the recommendations forum:

Title:

Cast:

Description:

Seasons:
Network:
Links:

Watch this if you like:

Happy viewing

Trailer park boys..

Diairist

can you download series 3 and 4 from Amazon or somewhere else? I don't want to get tied inot a long contract with netflix.

desertcircus

Battlestar Galactica suffered from a number of plot issues, but it pushed harder at the limits of acceptable thought than anything I've seen before or since. Asking whether genocide in genuine self-defence is morally justifiable is possibly the most daring concept I've ever seen on the screen.

mewe

The Sopranos for me.

tattoo86

For me its prison break, married.....with children, the inbetweeners and lost.

ted1

24 for me and I hear its making a come Back.

vcshqkf9rpzgoe

Malcolm in the middle;)

ixoy

Oh and I'm going with 'The Shield' - great fun if, of course not particularly believable.

If you want a gritty, hard hitting cop show then it's definitely "Southland". Best show in the gritty ilk since the early seasons of "Homicide: Life on the Street" (also well worth a watch, although it does drop in quality for the later seasons).

rednik

In order of how I watched.

MASH
Hill Street Blues
The Sopranos

The Black Oil

barneysplash wrote: »

Maybe it's because I've seen some chilling documentaries on the effects of Crystal Meth,
it's a very frightening drug and it's effects are devastating. Breaking Bad never really
gets into that at all. Also, Walt and Jesse get away with too many "oh they've just
avoided being found out" moments that really punch holes on the plausibility of the show.

Is that the show's job, though? I haven't seen any documentaries on CM specifically. I did see one about the FBI and bodies turning up in barrels, say no more. Vince Gilligan has explained the show's title a few times and it seems very much linked to the journey of Walter White. So, it may not depict a lot of the effects on individuals based on their own drug use, but it definitely shows that there is a personal cost, and one to innocent parties. Most of main characters have been hurt by the drug industry on screen/in Breaking Bad's world, if not by touching it themselves. Hank has his struggles. Jesse, too. Walt's marriage, and so on. It hardly backs away from showing what the single minded pursuit of cooking the drug can do in f**king people up.

In terms of getting away with it, many shows do this sort of thing. Moles, evil ones hiding in plain sight - 24, Spooks, etc.

barneysplash

Hank
Hank was a great character and the whole post-traumatic-stress-disorder
sub-plot felt cobbled together to give his character depth and pad out the show.

If they had decided to use real-life DEA crime investigation procedures and techniques
as a story line, that would have blown CSI out of the water, and revealed it for the
total crock of crap that it is.

I have studied a little forensics and the whole red laser lights and perfect bullet
fragments carry-on is nothing compared to the fascinating work involved in the real thing.
There would have been plenty of scope for subtle and believable evidence to link
Heisenberg to Walt. That would have made for great telly.


Gus
A shame they never gave the back story of Gus from South America, that would
have been very interesting. The flashback where he is pitching his original idea
to Don Elario in Mexico was super. I would like to have seen how he started out.

I think Héctor Salamanca hinted he was from Chile and in the military - that would
have been a great story line - American foreign policy in South America
turned many a blind eye to drug barons in the death-spiral struggle against communism.


For the future...
It often happens with successful shows, the network washes them clean of
anything that could rock the boat and shorten the series run.

I think in twenty years time, people will be chatting on discussion boards and debating
how this happened to Breaking Bad, Homeland, The Sopranos - maybe it will be the
likes of us right here on boards!

Happy Viewing

Sergeant

I remember watching American Gothic as a teenager and being blown away by it. That and Twin Peaks are the two shows that I can still remember the place (if not the time) where I first watched them. The theme music and opening credits of Twin Peaks remains my favourite piece of television ever.

That said, my favourite TV show ever is The Sopranos. Not as consistent as The Wire, but when it was good it was stunning.

george67

Anybody watch Lillehammer a sopranos spin off. Very enjoyable.

tunguska

guinnessdrinker wrote: »

Got the Twin Peaks Box Set a couple of years ago.

Series One - Amazing!!!!

First half of season two also great.

+1. Just watched Twin peaks for the first time since it was originally aired. Theres a dramatic dip in quality after the killer is revealed but then for the last 3 episodes or so they pulled it out of the bag, especially that last episode which is amazing and as good as any movie I've ever seen. That **** in the black lodge alone is incredible.

I watched the Sopranos a while ago and even though I think it was really well done I just didnt warm to it. I found the characters very unlikeable, which is probably a reflection of how good a job the writers did. For me its like Goodfellas, again I thought it was very well done but the characters are just too despicable for me to watch it ever again.

Greatest show I've ever seen though is Madmen Honorable mention to Lost aswell.

tommy2bad

Brideshead Revisited
Breaking Bad
Justified
Sopranos
Brass eye
Minder
Fools and Horses
Twin Peaks.
All quality shows, all flawed but this is TV and the long run dosn't always benifit quality. Faulty Towers is an example of just the right amount of episodes.
Theirs also the before Hill st Blues and after divide. Since HSB we have long story archs running in shows that before were awalys event of the week, the Fugitive was a slight exeption. Cop shows blended with drama/soaps like Blue Bloods.
Oh and lets not forget Blakes 7, Fades, Dr Who.

Aidric

The Sopranos is the benchmark for me. I haven't yet seen anything that tops it.

lertsnim

BWSMG wrote: »

Prison break

First season was fantastic. Easily one of the best seasons of a show ever made but I thought that the seasons that followed were awful though

barneysplash

lertsnim wrote: »

First season was fantastic. Easily one of the best seasons of a show ever made but I thought that the seasons that followed were awful though

Agree totally, brilliant first season, really tense with loads of great twists and turns.
The use of real-life master criminal DB Cooper's missing loot was a cool idea too.
If you don't know the back story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper

I watched season two, it was ok, a great performance from William Fincher as the
relentless FBI agent pursuing the guys. But season three is when it fell to bits, the
whole conspiracy plot about "The Company" was real off-the-shelf filler, used to pad
out a show had been very successful worldwide based on the great first season.

Also, I suspect some of the show's producers saw the excellent film, Carandiru,
about a real prison in Brazil that was controlled by the prisoners, and "took inspiration"
from the movie and the story. I stopped watching it after a few episodes.
I understand it got even worse in season four.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carandiru_(film)

skeleton_boy

Friday Night Lights for me. Most addictive show I've ever watched.

pavb2

I'll give a shout for Mad Dogs, not as complex plot lines as say The Wire but made up for it in comedy. Having said that the 2nd series tailed off a bit but 1st one definitely worth a look.

kraggy

This Life on the BBC in the 90's.

Maybe because it was at an exciting time in my own life too (late teenage years). But besides that, the characters and storylines were just brilliant. The acting was top notch and I still watch it to this day.

darced

This post has been deleted.

x Purple Pawprints x

Anybody been watching the Hannibal series on Sky?

Naraka

Band of Brothers
Millenium
X Files
Twin Peaks
Lost

Ardent

barneysplash wrote: »

The Wire is the best television series I've seen.

If you haven't seen them, I wouldn't bother with Breaking Bad or
The Sopranos, both of these suffered from "syndication drift" where
the original series is successful and the network modifies the ideas
of the original writer to string it out because it's raking in the
cash worldwide.

This is so true! I found Breaking Bad frustrating because there was so much filler throughout the series, too many strung out episodes.

The wire is the best thing ever produced for TV.

Swordfish trombone

The best I've ever seen was 'The Killing' after that probably 'The Sopranos'. Back in the day, 'Hill Street Blues' was powerful stuff.

whatlliwear

Game of Thrones, the Following, American Horror Story, Breaking Bad, True Blood, the Walking Dead.

PropJoe10

THE WIRE

24
X-Files
Breaking Bad
The Sopranos
Oz
Game of Thrones
Boardwalk Empire

Nothing tops The Wire for me, though. Superb.