Best Current Series Television

[deepthroat]

Started talking about the current crop of tv shows with some other Yanks on the last trip, and found that although our tastes are sometimes similar, there are also widely divergent opinions about some shows.

For example, I love "Parks and Recreation" which is on NBC here in the USA. Season 1 was tepid at best, but Season 2 really ramped things up and Season 3 is now probably my favorite current situation comedy on American telly. But ThaiBound felt that "Community" was the best situation comedy, and the rest of the group seemed to agree with him. I watched the first episode of the new season last night and it still left me cold, but at least it was more interesting to me than the first couple of episodes of season one, which was the last time I watched.

With that said, I'm curious what you guys find interesting. Since many are not Americans we may not be seeing the same shows but I'd still love to see what you find enjoyable.

What's your favorite comedy? Favorite drama? Other? Favorite classic show?

My favorite comedy: "Parks and Recreation". Honorable mention goes to "South Park" which still hasn't lost it's edge. (This season's first episode - about the TSA - was perhaps the most disgusting episode ever!)

My favorite drama: "Boardwalk Empire" on HBO. Honorable mention to "Breaking Bad" which I bought in LOS (seasons 1-4) and plan to watch soon.

Favorite other: I must confess a weakness for "Cops". Love watching them taze those mothefu**ers!

Favorite classic show? Wow, too many to chose from. "Fawlty Towers" would have to be up there. "SCTV" was a comedy classic. I still love "The Simpsons" (it's still running but its best seasons are behind it).

[SiamSam]

2 Broke Girls.

I love all the ethnic politically incorrect humor.

[Rukki]

Shameless! It's showtime series, comedy drama. There is a UK version which the US version has been re-done, and better I think.

Californication another comedy drama series. I think from HBO. This one might be my favorite. It's about a guy that's drunk all the time fucking random girls. Just like most of us!

:devil:

[grakallen]

In no particular order:

- Eastbound and Down, first two seasons amazing. Have just watched first episode of last season

- Parks and Recreations. Pure brilliance, Ron Swanson for president!

- Community. Actually did not like it too much at first but I was sick and bored and watched 5-6 episodes in a row and now I just love it!

- Some episodes of South Park and Family Guy, best episodes are genius but lots of average stuff also

- Modern Family. Great cast and Al Bundy is still #1

- Benidorm. UK show about charter tourists, maybe not the best show ever but some episodes are really fun

- The increasingly bad decisions of Todd Margaret. Good fun with David Cross and Will Arnett.

I guess if we talk about best ever Seinfelt and Arrested Development needs to be mentioned, but if I have to chose one it would be Trailer Park Boys.

[KendoUK]

I've grown to love anything from HBO barring Sex and the City! - The Sopranos & The Wire were classics. I also dig their current shows such as Boardwalk Empire, Game Of Thrones, True Blood and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Non-HBO? - Been really into The Walking Dead as well. I've heard good things about Homeland so plan to check that out soon

British TV has looked pants next to these shows but the BBC remake of Sherlock has been awesome.

[Snick]

2 Broke Girls.

I love all the ethnic politically incorrect humor.

Agreed, '2 Broke Girls' is the best new show.

'Once Upon a Time' is also very good.

'Community' and '30 Rock' are still going strong.

on HBO, 'Game of Thrones' and 'True Blood' are a must

I also like Hawaii-5-0 , its so damn cheezy. Besides that I watch the Sunday funnies, Simpsons,American Dad,Family Guy; and there is always South Park.

But the shows I watch the most are 'The Daily Show', and 'The Colbert Report'. They both feature this really funny guy named Mitt Romney, who is like a modern Thurston Howell III.

[williethepimp]

I've grown to love anything from HBO barring Sex and the City! - The Sopranos & The Wire were classics. I also dig their current shows such as Boardwalk Empire, Game Of Thrones, True Blood and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Non-HBO? - Been really into The Walking Dead as well. I've heard good things about Homeland so plan to check that out soon

British TV has looked pants next to these shows but the BBC remake of Sherlock has been awesome.

me too ,love most things by HBO-agreed "sex and the city" is cack...i never fancied any if those girls,the dark haired one i'd fuck,but the skinny one,no way,proper ugly bitch.

Ive seen the American shameless.....liked it.....some great American comedy,but they don't seem to do the off the wall stuff that they do in the UK/Ireland.....eg,The League of Gentlemen,Peep Show, and Father Ted

[strocube]

The only TV I watch is whatever I can stream from netflix and utube. So that means I watch a lot of documentaries and the occasional feature films.

Though I was able to catch up on Mad Men, which I though was an excellent show.

[deepthroat]

Have just watched first episode of last season- Parks and Recreations. Pure brilliance, Ron Swanson for president!.... some episodes of South Park and Family Guy, best episodes are genius but lots of average stuff also - Modern Family. Great cast and Al Bundy is still #1- - The increasingly bad decisions of Todd Margaret. Good fun with David Cross and Will Arnett.I guess if we talk about best ever Seinfelt and Arrested Development needs to be mentioned

God, I cannot believe I left out both "Modern Family" and "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret". Both are in my TIVO subscription list and among the best comedies running right now. And "Arrested Development" - of COURSE! How did I miss this? Right up there with Fawlty Towers in the Top-20 comedy series of all time. Haven't been able to get into "Family Guy" but I'll give it another try.

'30 Rock' still going strong.on HBO, 'Game of Thrones' and 'True Blood' are a must... But the shows I watch the most are 'The Daily Show', and 'The Colbert Report'. They both feature this really funny guy named Mitt Romney, who is like a modern Thurston Howell III.

Cool, I've got all 10 episodes of "Game of Thrones" saved on my TIVO to watch one of these days. Hopefully I'll enjoy it. As for Mitt Romney, I just hope his series doesn't get renewed for 4 more seasons next winter.

Speaking of TIVO - I bought the new TIVO Premier Elite just before my last LOS jaunt, and highly recommend it. It has 4 (FOUR!) tuners, which means I can record 4 different channels at once. It has a 2 TB hard drive, so I can store 1,000 hours of programming. I record everything in HiDef and even with all my subscriptions I got home from LOS after nearly a month and had only 23% of my hard drive full. I had 10 episodes each of Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, the Super Bowl and all it's pre-and-post game hoopla, the Grammy awards, 5-7 episodes each of about 8 different subscriptions, a couple of movies.... My old TIVO would have been full and deleting nearly 2/3 of what I had stored on the new one.

[Hefe]

Bill Maher, Simpsons, 60 Minutes, Colbert & The Daily Show, Frontline, Anthony Bourdain.... that's really all, I watch classic movies from TCM the rest of the time.

BUT .... there's a very interesting show I catch now & then: "River Monsters" even tho I'm not interested in fishing. Besides the unusual creatures that are landed in the last 5 minutes it also has what I consider to be the best production values of any TV series besides Bourdain's 2 shows & a host who is slightly mad in that obsessed sort of way that is rarely seen on the broadcast wasteland.

Best recent show: a one off doc I happened on called "Walking the Amazon" with another truly obsessed Brit who somehow survived this trek, but at times it seems like he's tempting real madness, recommended. Think it was Nat'l Geo.

[Lefty]

Current favorite non comedies are Weeds, and Boardwalk Empire.

Another recent show I kind of liked, but since cancelled, is Bored to Death.

I watch Family Guy as often as possible too. I really like Modern Family.

Friend of mine here told me about Hell on Wheels, and I'm going to start checking it out from the beginning.

[SiamSam]

Lefty!!! Good to see you posting. We were wondering where you were. We all miss you.

[deepthroat]

I just tried 3 episodes of "Community" based upon recommendations from some of the guys I met on the last trip, and I just can't get into it.

"Modern Family" and "Parks and Recreation" are still head and shoulders above this in my book for intelligence, warmth, and humor.

[seanbeag7]

I love NCIS and NCIS,LA, and also the new Kiefer Suderland Touch, and Hawaii-five-o , but my favourites are re-runs of band of brothers or pacific and castle, and fringe.

[JaiDee]

Breaking Bad may be the best show ever shown on the TV, not only now; but ever!

If you guys haven't seen this one yes, pick up every episode like DT did and watch 'em all; this is groundbreaking, revolutionary television.

The Wire is a great series, kind of dated now as it goes back to about 2003-2007 or so, but still worth watching all 5 seasons; could be the best cop/lawyer show ever and makes "Law and Order" seem so passe by comparison. I do like Weeds also, typical :)

For comedies I like Big Bang theory {I know, kinda cheesy} and How I met your Mother [same-same] - the latter being kind of like a new generation Seinfeld and Big bang theory is original if nothing else.

Yes Hefe, agreed Bill Maher's hour every friday night is must-see TV as well, he's the best.

My favorite TV is always stuff on the History channel, Discovery, TLC, et al......documentaries and mindless stuff like Ax-men, Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch......great to see people working their asses off in shitty weather and saying "better them than me"

[johnlbx]

A great show you've probably never heard of is Justified.

It stars Timothy Olyphant (from Deadwood - another show you must see)

as a marshall fighting crime in Kentucky. While Kentucky is in the

eastern US the show feels like a western with justice delivered from

the barrel of a gun.

Olyphant makes a great hero but there some really really good

villains. The writing is excellent, it's a location that's fresh

for a crime drama and there is action in every episode.

Season 3 is just finishing up. You should start with season 1 to

get to know all the crazy characters.

[SiamSam]

Thanks for the tip Johnlbx. I will download and take a gander.

[ArchieBunker]

Now, we all know that the best show of all time was/is ALL IN THE FAMILY. That Meathead really gets right up my nose!! What a scrounger he is!!!

I have just discovered THE BIG BANG THEORY. Never watch the original episodes but I started watching the reruns on TBS when I am on the road. Very funny and Penny......WOWZA!!!!

I like some of the "reality/documentary" shows but some are just bullshit and half made up. I always loved the DEADLIEST CATCH. That show is the grandaddy of them all. It came out as a one hour documenatry of crab fishermen. Now they turned it into a series and a brand. Good for them I say....

[deepthroat]

I also love the three different reality series devoted to storage auctions - Auction Hunters, Storage Wars, and Storage Wars Texas.

There's something about that which really appeals to me - like urban gold prospecting. I've actually put myself on some mailing lists for storage auctions here in Spokane, but so far they've always conflicted with my work schedule.

There's a 4th series called Storage Hunters but it's not as fun. The main protagonists are a really obnoxious husband/wife combo that are always getting into conflict with the other bidders, which makes it far less enjoyable than the other 3 shows.

[Lefty]

A great show you've probably never heard of is Justified.

It stars Timothy Olyphant (from Deadwood - another show you must see)

as a marshall fighting crime in Kentucky. While Kentucky is in the

eastern US the show feels like a western with justice delivered from

the barrel of a gun.

Olyphant makes a great hero but there some really really good

villains. The writing is excellent, it's a location that's fresh

for a crime drama and there is action in every episode.

Season 3 is just finishing up. You should start with season 1 to

get to know all the crazy characters.

Timothy Olyphant is a helluva actor. He can do comedy and drama both very well. He had a part in the movie The Girl Next Door and pulled it off really well. Also was a guest star in some My Name is Earl episodes.

The latter is a hilarious show and I was really pissed off when it was cancelled. It basically makes fun of the Spam eating trailer trash types, which is cool with me.

Since you mentioned Deadwood, that was to me, the best TV show of all time. The character of Al Swearengen as portrayed by the very talented Ian McShane was the best character in a TV series of all time. IMO.

It was downright criminal that the show was cancelled after 3 seasons. I know my good friend Panzer Porn would agree with me. The show was immensely popular.

Back in 2007, HBO and David Milch ran a one season series I liked a lot. Just 10-12 1 hr episodes. John From Cincinnati. I found it on torrent, if anyone is interested. Several of the Deadwood cast are also in JFC, like Jim Beaver (Ellsworth), Dayton Callie (Charley Utter) and Garret Dillahunt (Jack McCall and Francis Wolcott). The star of JFC, Austin Nichols, had a small part in Deadwood as Morgan Earp.

David Milch is a genius. Not just for Deadwood and John From Cincinnati, but he also did Brooklyn South, a very good cop show of the late 90s and he also edited and produced a lot of Hill Street Blues, which I consider the best cop show ever. He is also the brains behind NYPD Blue.

[deepthroat]

David Milch is a genius. Not just for Deadwood and John From Cincinnati, but he also did Brooklyn South, a very good cop show of the late 90s and he also edited and produced a lot of Hill Street Blues, which I consider the best cop show ever. He is also the brains behind NYPD Blue.

I thought Steven Bochko was the guy behind Hill Street Blues (also my favorite cop show of all-time). He went on to do LA Law and one of the biggest flops of all time, "Cop Rock".

I talk to people about "Cop Rock" and they think I'm kidding. It lasted less than a season (I think only 6-8 episodes aired). It was on ABC around 1985 or so, and it was a police procedural musical. Imagine Hill Street Blues but with the cops and perps breaking into song.

I shit you not.

If memory serves, the songs were written by Randy Newman (one of my all time favorites as well).

I used to have 3 or 4 episodes saved on my favorite medium from that era, a Sony Betamax tape. it was the only VCR that offered affordable stereo recording back in the day.

I've never seen it since, and no one else seems to remember it.

[Lefty]

I thought Steven Bochko was the guy behind Hill Street Blues (also my favorite cop show of all-time). He went on to do LA Law and one of the biggest flops of all time, "Cop Rock".

I talk to people about "Cop Rock" and they think I'm kidding. It lasted less than a season (I think only 6-8 episodes aired). It was on ABC around 1985 or so, and it was a police procedural musical. Imagine Hill Street Blues but with the cops and perps breaking into song.

I shit you not.

If memory serves, the songs were written by Randy Newman (one of my all time favorites as well).

I used to have 3 or 4 episodes saved on my favorite medium from that era, a Sony Betamax tape. it was the only VCR that offered affordable stereo recording back in the day.

I've never seen it since, and no one else seems to remember it.

Steven Bochco did create Hill Street Blues. Milch got his start there as a writer, then on to bigger and better things like editing and producing. Shows seem to have multiple producers on any given episode. The two of them did collaborate a lot too on later projects like NYPD Blue..

[Lefty]

Here's the wiki page for Cop Rock. I never heard of it either.

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

[ArchieBunker]

Ahhh Hill St Blues. Its on once in a while on some obscure channel. I will ahve a looksee sometimes. It could never get made today. It was WAAAAAAAY too un PC.