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.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by roman gnome

I agree, he was a great character!!!

Yeah, in S1:E5 I laughed hard at this exchange

Spoiler!

Young Jun: It was a dusty shitbowl. The food was shit. The beds were shit.
The whores were shit-.

Ah Sahm: That didn't stop you.

Young Jun: **** you! What else was there to do?

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

The Bear returns 6/27!

I laughed hard at

Spoiler!

John Cena

More Feck! Probably because it rhymes with ****.

[BigRichard]

Just got done watching the first season of The Gentleman on Netflix. That show was great. I thought the ending was slightly predictable though. There wasn't anything about all the pieces coming together that I went... nope... I did not see that one coming. But the acting was top notch and the rest of the story was just fantastic. There were so many scenes I really loved or was laughing my ass off about. Typical Guy Ritchie with the bouncing around a lot though but nothing that isn't hard to follow.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

The Bear returns 6/27!

So what did we think of the Bear S3? I listened to a podcast that brought it up and the impression that I got was there was some in the media that thought it got caught up smelling it's own farts a little too much (not my words).

This damn thing has it's hooks in me. I tried not to binge it, but I did like the last 4 episodes because WTF ever, it's got me. I thought it was some really powerful filmmaking. Perhaps moreso than in prior seasons that leaned on dialogue. I thought it leaned into the Forks/Christmas Dinner episode a lot which is good...for me anyway. I'm not getting that level of filmmaking anywhere else in my life.

And the shit is powerful. It affected my mood, especially when I binged the last bit. I had to gear up to watch it. I've been putting in a lot of hours and had to find the right headspace for this kind of show. I had some empty calories type shows that I put on when I was in the office needing noise. this isn't thing. And perhaps it's a good thing there isn't much in my life, because while watching compelling characters be miserable is powerful, a little goes a long way.

I also thought the internal introspection of Carmy was a really really interesting look into the human psyche.

Spoiler!

becoming those we hate is not necessarily a new concept, but goddamn this one I FELT. Plus, the confrontation with his douche ex-boss went much like it would have in real life, save for some extra exposition about it working. That was a really, really good moment. The exploration of the sacrifices necessary for greatness, and subsequently whether they're worth it is worth the price of admission.

It's probably not perfect. They glossed over some real decisions that would drive apart a partnership in real life, but they more than made up for it by hitting some of the details that other shows would gloss over.

Zooming out a bit, I think one of the big complaints is nothing happened. Well **** you. You're watching a show about starting a restaurant. Not everything needs to solve the worlds problems. They made good television that I personally found really compelling off a fairly simple subject matter. Much like much of renaissance art, beauty can be found in the most mundane details.

I'll continue to go to bat for this show. I see and acknowledge some of the criticisms here, but in today's environment, I'll watch a show like this - every time. That might all change if there is more of this, because like I said, it wasn't an easy empty watch. But the calories are worth it so to speak.

[ThrobProng]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

So what did we think of the Bear S3? I listened to a podcast that brought it up and the impressing that I got was there was some in the media that thought it got caught up smelling it's own farts a little too much (not my words).

This damn thing has it's hooks in me. I tried not to binge it, but I did like the last 4 episodes because WTF ever, it's got me. I thought it was some really powerful filmmaking. Perhaps moreso than in prior seasons that leaned on dialogue. I thought it leaned into the Forks/Christmas Dinner episode a lot which is good...for me anyway. I'm not getting that level of filmmaking anywhere else in my life.

And the shit is powerful. It affected my mood, especially when I binged the last bit. I had to gear up to watch it. I've been putting in a lot of hours and had to find the right headspace for this kind of show. I had some empty calories type shows that I put on when I was in the office needing noise. this isn't thing. And perhaps it's a good thing there isn't much in my life, because while watching compelling characters be miserable is powerful, a little goes a long way.

I also thought the internal introspection of Carmy was a really really interesting look into the human psyche.

Spoiler!

becoming those we hate is not necessarily a new concept, but goddamn this one I FELT. Plus, the confrontation with his douche ex-boss went much like it would have in real life, save for some extra exposition about it working. That was a really, really good moment. The exploration of the sacrifices necessary for greatness, and subsequently whether they're worth it is worth the price of admission.

It's probably not perfect. They glossed over some real decisions that would drive apart a partnership in real life, but they more than made up for it by hitting some of the details that other shows would gloss over.

Zooming out a bit, I think one of the big complaints is nothing happened. Well **** you. You're watching a show about starting a restaurant. Not everything needs to solve the worlds problems. They made good television that I personally found really compelling off a fairly simple subject matter. Much like much of renaissance art, beauty can be found in the most mundane details.

I'll continue to go to bat for this show. I see and acknowledge some of the criticisms here, but in today's environment, I'll watch a show like this - every time. That might all change if there is more of this, because like I said, it wasn't an easy empty watch. But the calories are worth it so to speak.

Excellent post, 100% agree.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by ThrobProng

Excellent post, 100% agree.

Me too. Awesome take on it, Buehler. I just finally finished it last night and thought it was every bit as good as the prior seasons.

I think what happened is when he conceived of this show it was a 3 season arc. But after the success of season 1, FX/Hulu wanted him to make 4 seasons of the show. So you can imagine they needed to slow walk some of the stuff as a result and that leads to what’s effectively ann elongated season 4 that focuses more on some of the character development.

I thought it was so, so powerful. “Nothing happened,” but who the **** cares? Says something about our culture that needs immediate gratification and can’t enjoy a show like this for what it is.

[kc rush]

Just finished S1&2 of Dark Winds on AMC. Really enjoyed it, glad to see S3 is green lit.

Tribal police on a Navajo reservation trying to solve a case with help and interference from the FBI.

[Zebedee DuBois]

I just finished watching The Detectorists on Prime and enjoyed it a lot. It is a BBC comedy about a group of people in rural England who go out metal detecting as a hobby. They have a club and go detecting with the hopes of finding Roman gold or some significant archeological finds. What they mostly find is ring-pulls, nails, buttons. They're nerds, of course - but the story is told in a very charming, heart warming manner.

It's comfort food in streaming form.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

So what did we think of the Bear S3? I listened to a podcast that brought it up and the impression that I got was there was some in the media that thought it got caught up smelling it's own farts a little too much (not my words).

This damn thing has it's hooks in me. I tried not to binge it, but I did like the last 4 episodes because WTF ever, it's got me. I thought it was some really powerful filmmaking. Perhaps moreso than in prior seasons that leaned on dialogue. I thought it leaned into the Forks/Christmas Dinner episode a lot which is good...for me anyway. I'm not getting that level of filmmaking anywhere else in my life.

And the shit is powerful. It affected my mood, especially when I binged the last bit. I had to gear up to watch it. I've been putting in a lot of hours and had to find the right headspace for this kind of show. I had some empty calories type shows that I put on when I was in the office needing noise. this isn't thing. And perhaps it's a good thing there isn't much in my life, because while watching compelling characters be miserable is powerful, a little goes a long way.

I also thought the internal introspection of Carmy was a really really interesting look into the human psyche.

Spoiler!

becoming those we hate is not necessarily a new concept, but goddamn this one I FELT. Plus, the confrontation with his douche ex-boss went much like it would have in real life, save for some extra exposition about it working. That was a really, really good moment. The exploration of the sacrifices necessary for greatness, and subsequently whether they're worth it is worth the price of admission.

It's probably not perfect. They glossed over some real decisions that would drive apart a partnership in real life, but they more than made up for it by hitting some of the details that other shows would gloss over.

Zooming out a bit, I think one of the big complaints is nothing happened. Well **** you. You're watching a show about starting a restaurant. Not everything needs to solve the worlds problems. They made good television that I personally found really compelling off a fairly simple subject matter. Much like much of renaissance art, beauty can be found in the most mundane details.

I'll continue to go to bat for this show. I see and acknowledge some of the criticisms here, but in today's environment, I'll watch a show like this - every time. That might all change if there is more of this, because like I said, it wasn't an easy empty watch. But the calories are worth it so to speak.

I've watched the first episode so far of season 3 and I absolutely hated it lol. I loved the show and season 2 was better than season 1, but the first episode of the new season just completely put me off. I'll watch it, but God damn that was a chore to get through.

[Dunerdr]

Anyone watching the new Vikings Vahalla? I like it a lot better than the original Vikings.

[BigRichard]

Rome on HBO is just fantastic. I hadn't watched that in years and started watching it again recently. It sucks they had to cut it short down to 2 seasons but it is a good 2 seasons. I think Titus Pullo is my favorite character but you have to hate him in so many scenes as well.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by BigRichard

Rome on HBO is just fantastic. I hadn't watched that in years and started watching it again recently. It sucks they had to cut it short down to 2 seasons but it is a good 2 seasons. I think Titus Pullo is my favorite character but you have to hate him in so many scenes as well.

That show is amazing.

[BigRichard]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

That show is amazing.

They made sister ****ers hip long before GoT did it.

[Hammock Parties]

The West Wing is brilliant.

A Democratic administration walks around treating everyone with a holier-than-thou attitude, virtue signaling at almost every possible moment.

And all the while:

One of the WH staffers is banging a DC hooker whom he also tries to use as leverage against Republicans.

The Chief of staff is an alcoholic and drug abuser trying to hide his past.

The press secretary is making out constantly with one of the reporters in the daily pool.

AND...they are covering up the fact that the President has multiple sclerosis.

And somehow Aaron Sorkin made all these people seem likable!

AND I'M ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIRST SEASON

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

The West Wing is brilliant.

A Democratic administration walks around treating everyone with a holier-than-thou attitude, virtue signaling at almost every possible moment.

And all the while:

One of the WH staffers is banging a DC hooker whom he also tries to use as leverage against Republicans.

The Chief of staff is an alcoholic and drug abuser trying to hide his past.

The press secretary is making out constantly with one of the reporters in the daily pool.

AND...they are covering up the fact that the President has multiple sclerosis.

And somehow Aaron Sorkin made all these people seem likable!

AND I'M ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIRST SEASON

HA! Shit, you're not wrong.

I always bristled at the 'good guys vs. bad guys' approach Sorkin took. But when you put it like that, you're pretty on point. Even the 'good guys' were scandalous; he just painted it differently.

But don't you dare besmirch Leo. If I could've found a way to apply for a Chief of Staff gig (but those are mostly occupied by friends of political lifers) I'd absolutely have done so. I friggen love Leo.