Favorite TV Shows?

[KenFSU]

Between being sick all week, the NBA playoffs ending, and this constant rain, I've had a chance to clear a lot of stuff off the old DVR as of late.

This year, I've really enjoyed:

- Mad Men (incredible season, especially a stretch in the middle of the season that featured some of the episodes the series has ever produced)
- Sherlock (the BBC version, which is absolutely fantastic)
- Parks and Rec (another solid season from the most consistently great comedy on television)
- The Office (found a surprisingly solid footing after struggling for the first half of the season)
- Homeland (really fun first season)
- Girls (really witty, if not intentionally irritating)
- Game of Thrones
- Community (weirdest season ever; great show, but I can't imagine it winning any new fans it's gotten so inside)
- Portlandia
- SNL (surprisingly great season, will be interesting to see how they cope without Kristin Wiig, Andy Samburg, and possibly Jason Sudakis)
- New Girl (loved this show, and Zooey D)
- Bob's Burgers (best new animated show in a decade)

As far as older shows go, I'm a huge sucker for the Wire, Curb your Enthusiasm, Freaks and Geeks, and the Wonder Years, and can't wait for Breaking Bad to come back.

And I also think Smash and Glee are two of the most terrible shows I've ever seen.

Those two aside, it's crazy just how good scripted television has gotten.

Just curious as to what some of the other MetroJaxers are watching these days?

[justinthered]

I second a lot of these! Community is my favorite comedy right now. I don't see Boardwalk Empire on your list though. I think that if you like mad men you'd probably like that show as well

[copperfiend]

Louie is the best thing on TV right now.

I watched Girls and thought it was decent. Could get better in it's second season.

[ben says]

Not currently playing, but The Wire and Arrested Development are easily the two best shows of the past decade. Whenever I'm sick, I usually watch those again and again.

[CityLife]

The past decade or so will be looked back upon as the "golden age" of TV. It's amazing how many great shows there are.

Great list btw Ken. I thought this was the best season of Mad Men so far, after a slow couple seasons. Guess the layoff helped. The tripping scene with Roger was beautiful and brilliant, as were several moments in the season. The show is just pure art.

I also think Breaking Bad may be one of the greatest shows ever. It started a little slow, but every season has been better and better. The last season was pretty much The Godfather of TV seasons, so I can't wait to see what happens in the finals season.

For comedies I love Parks and Rec, Curb, It's Always Sunny, Arrested development, used to love The Office, Girls and VEEP both look promising after decent first seasons.

Dexter used to be my favorite show, but the later seasons have been hit or miss. Still great though.

Homeland season 1 was stellar, but I think it will drop off a lot. Most showtime shows drop off considerably after season 1.

Speaking of which Shameless is a very underrated show. Really, really good stuff.

I'm probably forgetting a lot. That's just how good tv is these days.

[CityLife]

I don't know if you can say easily the best Ben. Maybe it's just because I finished The Wire a few years ago, but I think there is a strong case that Breaking Bad is as good or maybe even better. If Season 5 of Breaking Bad is as good as Season 4 was, I think a lot of people will consider it the best show ever (a lot already do)

[finehoe]

Game of Thrones is without a doubt the best thing on TV in quite a while.
Didn't like the premier episode of Girls, but it grew on me and now I think it is pretty darn good.
I would add The Walking Dead to the list.

[KenFSU]

- Thanks for the recommendation on Boardwalk Empire. I've heard good things about it, I'll have to check it out!

- Love Louie, but some reason, I just cannot get into The Walking Dead.

- As much as I love Breaking Bad and consider it a top five show of all time, I don't know if I could, in good conscious, put anything above Mad Men or the Wire on my all-time favorite list. It's so hard though, bordering on impossible, to subjectively compare a show like Breaking Bad to something like Mad Men. My personal list would probably be 1) Mad Men, 2) The Wire, 3) Breaking Bad, 4) The Sopranos, 5) Friday Night Lights (a nearly perfect show, save for one awful three-episode storyline).

- The more time that passes, the more I think this had to be the best season of Mad Men to date, and by proxy, maybe one of the great single seasons in television history. There was one notable miss (the Fat Betty episode), but nearly everything else was flawless. From the incredible dark Richard Speck nightmare episode, to Don's breakdown after he thought Megan left him in the Howard Johnson episode, to Peggy's reasserting her power and feminity via a movie theater hookup, to the brilliant LSD episode, to Lane's suicide, to the horrific downward spiral of Pete Campbell (watching the other guy move in on his girl at the DMV, being emmasculated when Don fixes the faucet he couldn't), to Don's unwanted birthday party, to Trudy tricking Don into coming to the party, to Roger and Sally Draper hanging out, to Paul Kinsey's return, to Ginsberg going sci-fi, to Don and Joan at the bar, etc. Just a stunningly beautiful 13 episodes. So many great little moments too. Loved when everyone was sitting around the table at the Codfish Ball with the blank, horrified expressions. Loved the Jaguar not starting when Lane tried to kill himself. Loved Peggy's smile when she got on the elevator to leave. Loved Harry Crane and Don at the Rolling Stones concert. Crazy that a show where so little actually happens can be so densely populated with greatness. If you haven't given Mad Men a chance yet, there literally are not enough superlatives in the English language to accurately convey how incredible this show is. I think the first four seasons are actually on Netflix too.

[ben says]

I don't know if you can say easily the best Ben. Maybe it's just because I finished The Wire a few years ago, but I think there is a strong case that Breaking Bad is as good or maybe even better. If Season 5 of Breaking Bad is as good as Season 4 was, I think a lot of people will consider it the best show ever (a lot already do)

I admit, Breaking Bad is damn good. Like really, really good. That being said, to me, Breaking Bad was nothing but entertainment, while The Wire was entertainment plus a hell of a lot of real world style nonfiction learning & education. You can LEARN something about the world watching The Wire (while being entertained), while BB is unadulterated fun/entertainment, and you learn very little.

[ben says]

Homeland season 1 was stellar, but I think it will drop off a lot. Most showtime shows drop off considerably after season 1.

Agree...Dexter comes to mind, as well. Used to love Dexter, but season after season, it just became TOO unbelievable. The second he started having sex w/ that girl in season 2, I kept thinking "this is out of character!!"

[KenFSU]

Homeland season 1 was stellar, but I think it will drop off a lot. Most showtime shows drop off considerably after season 1.

Agree...Dexter comes to mind, as well. Used to love Dexter, but season after season, it just became TOO unbelievable. The second he started having sex w/ that girl in season 2, I kept thinking "this is out of character!!"

I've thought about watching Dexter, but six or seven seasons is a lot to take on.

You think it's worth it?

[ben says]

Homeland season 1 was stellar, but I think it will drop off a lot. Most showtime shows drop off considerably after season 1.

Agree...Dexter comes to mind, as well. Used to love Dexter, but season after season, it just became TOO unbelievable. The second he started having sex w/ that girl in season 2, I kept thinking "this is out of character!!"

I've thought about watching Dexter, but six or seven seasons is a lot to take on.

You think it's worth it?

Season 1 was great (if you're into sociopathy dramas and dark comedies). Season 2 was doable. Season 3 was pushing it. Everything else, to me, was a HUGE letdown.

So, if you wanna ride out the first season or two and go from there, yes, it's worth it...just beware: you may get attached and at a later date become sorely disappointed.*

*I know a half dozen people who still watch Dexter and love it just as much as Season 1 Episode 1....I'm just not one of those people--I'll stop watching something, no matter how attached I once was, if it starts to suck.

[CityLife]

Homeland season 1 was stellar, but I think it will drop off a lot. Most showtime shows drop off considerably after season 1.

Agree...Dexter comes to mind, as well. Used to love Dexter, but season after season, it just became TOO unbelievable. The second he started having sex w/ that girl in season 2, I kept thinking "this is out of character!!"

I've thought about watching Dexter, but six or seven seasons is a lot to take on.

You think it's worth it?

Absolutely worth watching. Season 1 of Dexter is probably one of the best seasons of any show. Season 2 is good, 3 so so, 4 very good. 5 so so. At minimum watch Season 1. Dexter probably isn't as fresh as it was when it first came out since it has influenced the style and visuals of many other shows. Still has to be considered one of the 5 or at worst 10 best shows in recent history.

Ben did you watch season 4? A lot of people think its almost as good as 1

[ben says]

Homeland season 1 was stellar, but I think it will drop off a lot. Most showtime shows drop off considerably after season 1.

Agree...Dexter comes to mind, as well. Used to love Dexter, but season after season, it just became TOO unbelievable. The second he started having sex w/ that girl in season 2, I kept thinking "this is out of character!!"

I've thought about watching Dexter, but six or seven seasons is a lot to take on.

You think it's worth it?

Absolutely worth watching. Season 1 of Dexter is probably one of the best seasons of any show. Season 2 is good, 3 so so, 4 very good. 5 so so. At minimum watch Season 1. Dexter probably isn't as fresh as it was when it first came out since it has influenced the style and visuals of many other shows. Still has to be considered one of the 5 or at worst 10 best shows in recent history.

Ben did you watch season 4? A lot of people think its almost as good as 1

If Season 4 is the one w/ John Lithgow as the 'bad guy'--yes, I saw it, and yes, it was pretty good. I wouldn't compare anything to season 1, as season 1 blew me away, but yeah, it was pretty close. Probably the next best season (better than 2 and 3).

The Dexter seasons I can't watch are the last 2...I saw a few and just couldn't get into it. At that point, even I wanted Dexter to get caught!

[strider]

I agree that after season 1, Dexter got a bit ...old?  In any case, as one who has given up cable. dish, etc, and gone totally internet, several of my favorite shows you may not have heard of nor remember.  Most recently, The Border, a Canadian show.  How about Detroit 187?  On a couple of years then gone.  Same with Life and Jericho.  I still watch Miami Vice, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight and NCIS (Sorry).   However, of current shows, Justified is at the top of my list.   Still intend to check out Breaking Bad.  I believe TV or movies should do nothing but entertain, no matter if believable or not, so as long as I smile or laugh or even feel a bit of suspense, I'm good. Get too serious or real and I have a tendency to go the other way.  Get enough serious in real life.