Must Watch Series

[Buehler445]

All this talk about series, how network TV Sucks, and how hard it is to find quality shows, and some excellent shows that fly under the radar, I need a comprehensive review of all the series I need to see.

For good entertainment, I would be willing to buy DVD sets. But I've recently picked up HBOGO by kiping it from my parents, and recently got Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Here is a listing of shows that I currently own or have seen all the episodes of. If it isn't on the list, just assume I haven't seen it.

Spoiler!

Great Shows – Must See
Game of Thrones
Mad Men
Longmire
Burn Notice
House
Spartacus
House of Cards
Justified
True Detective
Breaking Bad
The Assets
The Wire
Sherlock (BBC)
The Americans
The Walking Dead
Deadwood
Netflix: Daredevil
Jack Taylor
Luther
Bosch

Good shows
Travelers
Ozark
The Leftovers
Conviction
Medici
The Last Kingdom
Firefly
Dollhouse
The Good Wife
Hell on Wheels
Big Bang Theory
Falling Skies
Suits
White Collar
Agents of SHIELD
Arrow
Boss
Rome
Orange is the New Black
Orphan Black
The Knick
Goliath (Amazon)
Iron Fist
Show Me a Hero
Hell on Wheels
Shooter

Mediocre
Robin Hood (BBC)
Vikings
How I met your Mother
Scrubs
Chuck
That 70's Show
Top Gear
Graceland
Hung (HBO)
Gotham
Conviction


Crap
Camelot
Top Shot
Defiance
Legends of Tomorrow

Here is a listing of shows that I'm currently watching

Spoiler!

Great


Good
Boardwalk Empire
Westworld

Mediocre

Crap

Here is a listing of shows on my list to watch (mostly due to this thread)

Spoiler!

The Sopranos
24
Fargo (missed getting it on the DVR )
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
The Comeback
6 Feet Under
John Adams
Battlestar Glactica
Friday Night Lights

I work a ****ton, so it is hard for me catch a series while it is on to get it on the DVR, but I recognize the entertainment value and am willing to go after the Must See shows. Accordingly, I'm not necessarily looking for anything that is still running. I'm up for watching stuff that has run its course.

So what say you, Planet? Which shows should I see?

UPDATED for the shows I've seen recently.

[TwistedChief]

(Entire) Season 2 of The Bear released yesterday.

Picks up just where the first left off and is so good.

If you haven't watched this show, do it. Now.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Ohh, you have to watch it.

It was the best season IMO and wrapped things up nicely.

The BB/BCS universe is my favorite though.

3 episodes left - gonna be all 'Gene' episodes.

I can see where this is going to go and I think they rushed the pacing on the BB universe so they could slow to a crawl in the 'modern' era. Just seems like a structure mistake. I could've spent another episode or two with the real-time impact of everything that went down. I'm happy hanging a little longer with Mike and Gus. Cramming that into a single episode and then moving on to a post BB universe seems like its burying the lede.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

(Entire) Season 2 of The Bear released yesterday.

Picks up just where the first left off and is so good.

If you haven't watched this show, do it. Now.

They dropped the whole thing?

I thought they were going week by week. I need to make this happen. I couldn't believe how into this show I was.

[BigBeauford]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

They dropped the whole thing?

I thought they were going week by week. I need to make this happen. I couldn't believe how into this show I was.

Rumor is Season 2 is...better.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Rumor is Season 2 is...better.

My mom watched the entire thing and liked it more.

I'm 3 episodes in and I can completely see it.

I feel like I want 100 more seasons of this.

(And bonus: I move to Chicago tomorrow and this helps get me hyped.)

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by BigBeauford

Rumor is Season 2 is...better.

Season 2 Episode 6.

OMG. Jaw-dropping amazing. One of the best of the year with some amazing all-star additions to the cast. Legendary.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Plowed through Silo on AppleTV+. Excited for the S1 finale next week

It's a sort of a crime investigation in a post apocalyptic setting where it's also unraveling the mysteries of how & why current society exists. It has a large cast with a mix of people I'm not familiar with and names and faces most would recognize but aren't huge stars like Will Patton.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

Plowed through Silo on AppleTV+. Excited for the S1 finale next week

It's a sort of a crime investigation in a post apocalyptic setting where it's also unraveling the mysteries of how & why current society exists. It has a large cast with a mix of people I'm not familiar with and names and faces most would recognize but aren't huge stars like Will Patton.

Read the books when I saw they were making a series out of it.

Watched the first couple episodes of the series to see how they built the universe - man the pacing is slooooooooow.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

3 episodes left - gonna be all 'Gene' episodes.

I can see where this is going to go and I think they rushed the pacing on the BB universe so they could slow to a crawl in the 'modern' era. Just seems like a structure mistake. I could've spent another episode or two with the real-time impact of everything that went down. I'm happy hanging a little longer with Mike and Gus. Cramming that into a single episode and then moving on to a post BB universe seems like its burying the lede.

Yeah, ended about like I thought it would.

Honestly, I'd have been fairly content just ending it after episode 10. The 'Gene' wrapup just felt telegraphed and fairly boring.

Spoiler!

and did we REALLY need to hear suburbanite Kim getting unsatisfyingly railed by her quasi-husband?

Great universe and I understand why they finished it like they did. But I don't think anyone NEEDS to have watched it, honestly.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah, ended about like I thought it would.

Honestly, I'd have been fairly content just ending it after episode 10. The 'Gene' wrapup just felt telegraphed and fairly boring.

Spoiler!

and did we REALLY need to hear suburbanite Kim getting unsatisfyingly railed by her quasi-husband?

Great universe and I understand why they finished it like they did. But I don't think anyone NEEDS to have watched it, honestly.

I'd probably agree with all that, but I'm glad they did it. If for no other reason to show that something besides a lowest common denominator schlock shitbox will work.

Do something well and I'm here for it. And this was that.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Can't remember if it has been discussed here, but I've been watching Shrinking and I really like it. Ford and Jessica Williams are up here throwing 100MPH the whole time. I'm not the biggest Jason Segal fan, but he's hanging in there, and it works for what they're trying to do. They're going after some godDAMN serious subject matter...with a comedy (?) and it seems to be working. So far (4 episodes in) they're doing a decent job of balancing the goofball shit with serious stuff, and delineating the two.

I admittedly wasn't expecting much, but it has me hooked. We'll see how they navigate the storylines, but I'm pretty impressed so far.

Really enjoying this as well.

And frankly, THIS is what Harrison Ford should be doing, not trying to run shotgun along angry feminists as a sidecar in his own franchise.

Ford is friggen perfect in this show. That snark that came so easily to him even when he was a matinee idol is spectacular here. The only complaint I have isn't really a complaint as much as a comment on Jason Segal - he's become Michael Cera at this point. He simply plays the same character in every role. He's playing Peter Bretter but if his wife had died instead of dumped him. Or Marshall from HIMYM if Ted realized he was Gay and Lily died in a car wreck.

But hey - it works. It's a good show. Sometimes they create drama where it wouldn't actually exist (for instance, why would Ford's daughter be THAT pissed off at him when his answer is going to be how 99% of people respond in that situation), but it's necessary for a show to exist so it is what it is.

[Zebedee DuBois]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

...Jason Segal - he's become Michael Cera at this point. He simply plays the same character in every role.

I do not disagree.

But the list of actors the play essentially the same character in every movie is endless, going back to John Wayne and Eastwood, and probably farther. Heck, in this one Harrison Ford is playing Indiana Jones as an aging therapist.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Zebedee DuBois

I do not disagree.

But the list of actors the play essentially the same character in every movie is endless, going back to John Wayne and Eastwood, and probably farther. Heck, in this one Harrison Ford is playing Indiana Jones as an aging therapist.

How DARE you, sir.

I mean how can you argue that Sean Thornton and JB Books are remotely similar characters? In Harm's Way and Brannigan are quite a bit different. Ethan Edwards vs. Rooster Cogburn. He plays a swede as the lead in a movie that was nominated for Best Picture (The Long Voyage Home). He does comedic roles - quite well actually - in Hatari and McLintock.

As John Ford once said after watching him play a heavy in Red River - "I never knew the big son of a bitch could act..."

I will not stand for this blasphemy.

[Zebedee DuBois]

Big, tough, fair, don't take no nonsense, reserved until he's forced to act.

Isn't that how he played every character?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Zebedee DuBois

Big, tough, fair, don't take no nonsense, reserved until he's forced to act.

Isn't that how he played every character?

Well he's a large human being so there's that. It's hard for 'big and tough' not to come into play. The guy dwarfed about any actor you put in front of him so having him play some squish (which he did for the most part in The Quiet Man because they finally found an actor as physically imposing as him to play against) wouldn't really work.

In many of his roles, (Red River and Searchers immediately jump out) 'fair' and 'reserved' ain't in the picture. In both of those he's just something of an angry lunatic. I'm not sure how to even describe him in Reap the Wild Wind but no, he's not what you're describing.

Moreover, you could say that description applies to him in both Rio Bravo and The Shootist but if you were to say that means he played the same guy in both you'd be WAY off base, so it's not even a terribly useful description.

The man played Genghis Khan!

This is blasphemy.