Thank you all for coming through on the viewing suggestions. I now have a huge list of shows to watch.
Four of you waxed poetic about the third season of Friday Night Lights, so I immediately set to work. I’m four episodes in now and happy to be back with the characters I love. New storylines are shaping up nicely. I particularly like seeing Coach Taylor defending his quarterback.
The other show so many of you spoke about is Sons of Anarachy — FX’s series about a motorcycle gang. I’ve been following this through the season. It had one of the best pilots of the year, but I don’t think it’s totally delivered on its potential. I know many of you disagree and if you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out. It’s good — better than a lot of this season’s offerings — but it could be great.
Sunny in Philadelephia was also mentioned a lot times. The other shows recommended multiple times were Californication, Dexter, The Office, House and Life on Mars — both the original and American remake.
I love learning about series from outside North America. I already checked the first episode of Dead Set and OH MY GOD, wow. Good thing I got over my dislike of horror last week, because I need an open mind for this show. I can’t wait to see more. I’ve seen some Spooks/MI-5, but now I think I’ll go back and revisit the whole series. I haven’t gotten through a whole episode of Little Dorrit so the jury’s still out. It’s one of those quintessentially British costume dramas that we don’t do here. In terms of action and intensity, it’s the complete opposite of Dead Set. But I’m intrigued and will go back to it.
Even more exciting than the suggestion of British series was the mention of two European crime series. Engrenages (known in English as Spiral) is a French police drama in its second season on Canal+. KDD, Kriminaldauerdienst a German crime series. I’m dying to see both of them, so if you find a torrent or a stream, lemme know.
Another way-off-shore show that got mentioned is the Australian series Summer Heights High.
So I have a lot of watching to do. If you’re looking for something new, here’s the complete list:
Top Three:
Sons of Anarchy
Friday Night Lights
Always Sunny in Philedelphia
Multiple Recommendations:
Californication
Spooks/MI-5 (especially seasons 1,2 & 4) – British
The Office
Dexter
House
Life on Mars
British:
Dead Set
Dr Who
Little Dorrit
No Heroics
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Other European:
Spiral (Engrenages)
KDD, Kriminaldauerdienst
Australian:
Summer Heights High
More Suggestions:
Life
Brotherhood
The Shield
Flight of the Conchords
IT Crowd
Curb
Dirty Sexy Money
Sarah Silverman
Ghost Hunters
Chuck
Fringe
Skins
30 Rock
Breaking Bad
Not Yet On Air:
Zach Galifianakis show (Speed Freaks, I assume)
Apparitions (supernatural drama sereis from BBC One)
Survivors (a remake of BBC series from the 70s)
Outnumbered (British comedy)
DVD Suggestions:
Babylon 5
West Wing (2 – 7th season)
Primeval
R.A. Porter
Oh, and don’t forget Leverage is premiering on TNT, December 7th.
admin
I will not forget Leverage. I am really looking forward to it. The pilot is great.
J
I liked Californication…although I think Duchovny really makes that role likable. If it wasn’t for him that character would be an unbearable dbag.
Nadia
Life is actually excellent. I second that recommendation. Dirty Sexy Money, as well, is a lot better than one might guess from the title alone, but I don’t know if it’s the kind of thing you would like. Have fun finding something new to watch!
Scott Strybos
If you’re going to watch Life on MArs, watch the British one… DON NOT THE US one… it’s really bad, pratically unwatchable. The British Original is much better.
If you’re going to watch The Office, one again, watch the British one first- far superior.
Scott Strybos
also, I would put DEXTER at the very, very top of your list. Best show on Television.
It’s Always Sunny, HALARIOUS. Loses it a bit in 3rd Season, but still really, really funny. Just hotrrible, narcissistic characters….
Matthew
How would you watch Kriminaldauerdienst?, i dont think its subtitled
admin
The person who first suggested Kriminaldauerdienst said there was a torrent around with subtitles. But there are no seeds around for it at the moment and the DVDs don’t seem to subtitled… so that is a problem.
Racicot
Hey Jill,
I can’t recall whether you’ve written about ‘Flight of the Conchords’ or not… I’d just like to say that this is still the ONLY show that’s made me say aloud: “I can’t believe you can do that on television – that is so Awesome!”
I’m typing, of course, about the singing (Folk/Pop) in the episodes. Never a minute wasted with these 3 Guys.
Jasonia
Alright, I just asked my ‘source’ about the KDD torrent I mentioned so frivolously. Seems that the one I was talking about was indeed announced as including subtitles, but it doesn’t have any.
It’s a shame, really – after years, well decades of horrible German television this was the first show worth mentioning (we don’t talk about Cobra 11 which seems to be quite successful around the world).
dfmamea
hi Jill – in Godzone (that’s New Zealand, not some commune Down Under), there’s Outrageous Fortune which has made it to four seasons (and counting), and is being remade in the UK and the US.
admin
Bad news from Jasonia on the KDD front (and I did see the torrent that claimed to have subtitles), but let’s keep our eyes open… maybe it will get subtitled yet.
And DFMAMEA, I’m going to go look for Outrageous Fortune. I actually posted about it here about a year ago and put up a video of the trailer: https://www.jillgolick.com/2007/11/screenwriting-in-new-zealand/
Lee
Apparitions kicked off last night and was pretty good – worth a look.
will
Dead Set was a great one-off. Didn’t see how it ended, but what I saw was pretty ground-breaking in terms of what TV can get away with.
Spooks is one I definitely recommend as well, it’s like 24 but infinitely better.