General TV Recommendations

[swo17]

Also, while I'm here, can anyone recommend any good series, under the radar or fabulously popular, to catch up with? This is going to be the Summer of TV! I'm already in the middle of Breaking Bad and have Big Love, Parenthood, Pretty Little Liars (Provisional-- I'm skeptical but it was recommended to me), and the final season of In Treatment sets in my small cache of non-storaged discs, but I'm open to suggestions, especially those I can stream on Hulu Plus or Netflix

I don't know if these are strictly under the radar but off the top of my head...Thief, starring the great Andre Braugher + Plainface Anne from AD is a short-lived, very tense series centered around a single heist, Carnivàle, especially recommended if you're at all a fan of Twin Peaks, and The Shield--surely you've seen this one?--if you haven't, it should be a top priority considering how much I know you like Justified.

[Professor Wagstaff]

If you haven't started Big Love yet I'd say don't bother. The earlier seasons are flawed but entertaining, however around season 4 (and arguably earlier than that) the plotlines bust off the rails and the characters become truly unbearable. Season 5 is particularly void of entertainment, just plain dull by that point. If you haven't checked out Steven Moffat's terrific Sherlock series yet, I might give that a try (only six episodes in total, with Benedict Cumberbatch ranking as my favorite Holmes actor to date). The pilot for Amy Sherman-Palladino's new show Bunheads was surprisingly charming, though it still has some kinks to work out. Certainly it's worth a look for any Gilmore Girls fans.

[swo17]

Yeah, living in Utah, I found the characterizations of residents in Big Love to be sort of ridiculously off the mark, though to be fair, I didn't give the series much of a chance beyond a few episodes.

[mfunk9786]

Carnivàle

This.

[Murdoch]

If you're looking for suggestions for past TV as well, then Battlestar Galactica is well worth you time, domino. While the series takes an unfortunate turn its fourth season, the third season rans among the best written drama (science fiction or otherwise) I've seen on television, and nothing I've seen has topped the shocking and risky turn the show takes in its opening episodes. I've never particularly enjoyed science fiction, especially these spaceships-go-boom stories, but such subjects as racism, genocide, terrorism, and rape are dealt with the utmost maturity. While at first it sports the run-of-the-mill us vs. them mentality, the series takes such a drastic and risky turn its third season where it becomes this brilliant political commentary that I can't help but recommend this to everyone I know.

The series is certainly flawed, but I urge you and anyone interested to check this out, and if you're not convinced its great television after you see those third season opening eps then I will hang my head but continue my quest to put this gem on people's radars. And the entire series (minus the opening mini series which act as the first episodes) is available on Hulu Plus.

[swo17]

Oh, I forgot to mention another personal favorite: Weeds. We have a thread for it here. And by we, I mean me and Murdoch.

[A man stayed-put]

I don't know if anyone else ever watched it, but Showtime's Sleeper Cell which ran for two seasons from 2005 was a highly enjoyable and tense answer to '24' which actually had some interesting things to say while serving up its popcorn thrills. Cheap as chips on DVD too.

[Murdoch]

Oh, I forgot to mention another personal favorite: Weeds. We have a thread for it here. And by we, I mean me and Murdoch.

Ha! I remember that. It gets my vote as well.

[The Narrator Returns]

American Dad gets my vote. It's so much funnier than Family Guy, and the characters are more than simple joke machines (which makes its attempts at heart less forced than those of FG). Some of the early episodes are pretty rough, so I recommend starting at Season 2, where it gets really good, and it only gets better from there.

[mfunk9786]

I'm throwing my support behind Homeland - it's only gone one season so far, so it's a short commitment, and it's (in my opinion) Showtime's first great show. Incredibly tense and exciting, and Claire Danes gives a phenomenal performance.

[domino harvey]

Great suggestions everyone-- keep 'em coming, we're all learning a lot! I've been meaning to see Thief and it's short, so that's a definite. I watched the Shield at the very beginning when it started but sort of drifted away. It like Weeds or Gilmore Girls or Battlestar Galactica seem like such huge commitments right now, but I definitely have heard good things and am interested. Carnivale's been rec'd to me a few times and now a few more, guess I do have to seek it out. Bunheads is a dumb title but there's only one ep so far, so the commitment level is low low low-- I'll give it a try! I vaguely remember hearing about Sleeper Cell, will have to look into that. Homeland was already on my radar. I'm skeptical about American Dad, but, to bring it full circle, the creator of Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 is a former writer/producer for that show, and another writer went on to Community, so maybe there is something there after all.

Re: my own picks, are all the Friday Night Lights fans aware that Parenthood is run by Jason Katims? That coupled with a friend who rarely gets attached to TV series gushing about how much he cared for the characters made me push it up the queue.

[Roger Ryan]

Carnivàle

This.

I didn't care for this series as much as I wanted to but there are some very good episodes, especially the two directed by Tim Hunter. Just be prepared for it to end in a fairly unsatisfactory manner (similar to the more recent HUNG, I got the impression the producers were counting on one more season to wrap things up which they didn't get).

[swo17]

Re: Carnivàle, six seasons (and a movie???) were planned, with three main stories each taking up two seasons. (The show only lasted two.) So most of the pressing plot threads were resolved by the end of the second season, though they ended the very last episode with a setup for further seasons that never came to be. If this bothers you, just don't watch the last five minutes of the series finale.

Also, I'm very hesitant to make this recommendation domino, but were you aware that Dan Harmon was heavily involved with the first season and a half or so of The Sarah Silverman Program? The end product is very much a Community-esque ice cream sundae with Sarah Silverman syrup slathered all over it. I predict you would adore about 20% of the show and perhaps loathe the rest. I'll leave it to you to decide if those numbers are worth taking a bite!

[mfunk9786]

It's worth a peek for the episode where Sarah decides she's a lesbian alone.

SpoilerShow

Halliburton,
Dick Cheney,
I think we've all lost. our. brainy!

[swo17]

OK, a couple more recommendations (my last, I swear), and perfect timing with the horror list presently going on (both are also very short time commitments): Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, a spoof of Stephen King-y supernatural 1980s horror programs set in hospitals (because apparently there were a lot of these?) brought to you by Richard Ayoade, director of Submarine and the My Dinner with Andre episode of Community; and Jam, a seriously disturbing sketch comedy show from the warped, brilliant mind of Chris Morris. On second thought, don't actually watch this one. No, wait, do. Seriously, don't though. (Do it. DOOOOO IIIIIIIIIT.)

[Murdoch]

My last as well (probably) is The Booth at the End, which is only six or so episodes and available on Hulu. The show is like a cross between My Dinner With Andre and Twin Peaks as a diverse assortment of individuals are given a proposition by a mysterious stranger at a diner - do some act and their wish will come true. The acts range from the mundane (watch a little girl) to the despicable (detonate a bomb in a populated area), and the way the stories interact is clever without being too contrived. You never see the characters commit the acts, only hear their descriptions of their actions to the diner-dwelling stranger after the fact and the moral quandries each face and their description of the events are far more interesting than anything that could be shown as you witness the characters mull over the nasty details. It's well worth your time and very short.

[colinr0380]

If we are still recommending shows to domino, I'd definitely say to check out the Danish series Borgen, which is quite a neat political drama series. Arrow are releasing the first series on DVD in the UK soon.