Yeah, both Firefly (the TV series) and Farscape are two of my favourite shows of all time. I think Farscape wins, simply because of the scope and the emotional involvement the show gave us. Firefly was fun. Farscape was fun too, but a lot more. I never really enjoyed Serenity, though. While it capped the series, it also cut off a lot of plotlines for any future renaissance of the show. Now that we know who the Reavers are ...and so many plotlines are now defunct ...well, I'm not sure. I'd certainly see it, but without my favourite character? Wouldn't be the same. BUT ...here's good news indeed.... http://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/scifi/babylon-5s-michael-straczynski-bringing-iconic-scifi-book-trilogy-television.html
Stuff that I've been watching would extend to Banshee Spartacus Those two are just mindless, blood gore and sex, pretty much mindless entertainment which is often quite handy in distracting myself. Shows I love though and have watched recently would be Arrow True Detective Top Gear Key and Peele Avatar: Legend of Aang The Prisoner (Late 60's really damn good) Utopia And Gossip Girl, because everyone has a guilty pleasure and mine is Blair Waldorf
Downton abbey and Mr.Selfredge. I just love TV shows and movies that based on the 19th & 18th Especially British ones
I don't watch a lot of TV. There is so much of it I just can't sit through: - CSI or anything in that vein (all style and no substance), Most ITV crime dramas (often involving religious text in blood on walls), Almost any Sunday night genteel drama in the UK, Slapstick comedy, Anything that relies on innuendo almost exclusively for laughs, Most comedies that are clearly written by committee in the US, Almost all reality TV (and especially the reality TV with the pretence of being worthwhile programming, like the Apprentice or Gogglebox, while actually showing a bunch of inept morons acting like arsehats for the cameras), All soaps without exception- irritating people screaming at each other for half an hour- why would I want to watch that? Documentaries made for stupid people, where 5 minutes worth of content is spread over one hour and some presenter who knows sweet FA about the subject gets to travel all over the world waxing lyrical. Pseudo-scientific documentaries shown on the likes of National Geographic or Discovery about UFO's or ghosts or any other horse shit subject. Glad I got that off my chest.
CHANNEL CHIN 'And now on BBC1, a special production entirely for a Mister Chin Spinner of Auckland, GB, we bring you "Secret Army." The English paratroopers are trapped deep behind Jerry lines. Can Marcel and the resistance rescue the chaps with their stens, and why is Tiffany flirting with the Gestapo? Episode 742, A Malicious Fist.' 'That was quality viewin, what's next?' 'Presented by the esteemed professor Dr David Starkey, we bring you 'The Grey Potato,' a documentary perspective of world geo-political sexuality through the eyes of everyday pensioners.' ...Nice, better lock the door, a fackin racket downstairs. Women, bloody women watching detectives and facking mystery twat. We all know what's gonna happen, someone will doi! How many convicts can one island have for gawd's sake? Idiots. That's more like it: 'Presenting The Crimea War in Colour.' If I see that Florence, or that other one, that facking PC bitch, I'll switch ova. Seacole, right, Channel 5 it is. 'Liam Neeson stars in "Action Fuck it In Your Face," Bugger, I seen it. Back to the old stalwart, eh eh, fetch my cigars: 'Welcome to the Rugby Channel here in Wellington where we bring you highlights of Waratah under 12s versus the infants of Montgomery Academy.'
Does anyone watch this? It sounds interesting, but I want to make sure if it's worth giving it a try. Ripper Street http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2183641/?ref_=nv_sr_1
My mum watches it. It is original in that the gangsters are from Birmingham...the first series was 'critically acclaimed.' They had problems getting a second series made and there was a popular outcry. Although, maybe some perceived it as 'worthy,' or 'earnest' - dull, and the show never received significant viewing figures. You either like these things or not. If you like 'Call the Midwife' and 'Dr Who' and...well if you like TV drama and cinema you might enjoy it.
There seems to be no point to checking out highly rated shows 'cause I end up disliking them and consuming something that has been bashed all around. Case in point: Orphan Black. Supposed to be great. Watched first episode. The MC made such silly mistakes upon assuming the identity of her doppelgänger that I was too pissed off to continue watching. What's with the lazy writing? It's like they forgot the character is supposed to think and make decisions and plan in between the scenes. The NZ show Top of the Lake was also highly rated and directed by no other than Jane Campion, so you'd expect greatness. Nah, it was predictable and actually a bit boring, plus there was surprisingly strong all-straight-white-men-are-monsters ethos going on, which made me a bit uncomfortable. I've seen worse, but it didn't work for me. Then comes Hemlock Grove. It's received some shitty reviews, yet I was too interested in the plot to abandon it despite the gothic clichés, Famke Janssen's odd accent, clunky dialogue, and non-existent chemistry between the main love birds (there was more attraction between the two male MCs and they're supposed to be safely straight as rulers!). I loved the character of Shelley, probably inspired by Frankenstein's monster. This was the 1st season. The 2nd season feels less fresh so I probably want continue watching it. Apparently I shouldn't have wasted my time with HG and instead watch True Blood or Vampire Diaries, but I can't stand either.
I agree with you entirely on Orphan Black, Top of the Lake and True Blood. All of them critically acclaimed and all of them a bit shit. I particularly felt the slight discomfort you felt watching Top of the Lake. I missed the first season of Broadchurch but started watching the second. I don't know if it was second season syndrome but it all felt slightly absurd and melodramatic. Again critically acclaimed. The Walking Dead just feels like a soap with zombies. I hate soaps. In fact I am trying to think of critically acclaimed dramas I enjoyed and the only one that jumps to mind is Breaking Bad. There must be others. Edit, and Orange is the New Black.
Agreed. I watched a few episodes of the first season, but it took a soapy turn pretty quickly, and I really hate drama for drama's sake and bitchy characters. I liked Deadwood, which was highly rated at the time. I also thought Battlestar Galactica (reimagined) was pretty awesome, although by the time they tried to explain their crazy premise, the plot and philosophy nosedived. There was some unnecessary drama as well, but all in all I enjoyed it. The first seasons of Misfits and Being Human (UK, the US version is shit) were gold. There must be others, yeah, I just can't think of them now. Sometimes I forgive dumb writing if either the story/plot seems intriguing, or the characters and humor are well done. I gave Buffy and Angel a lot of leeway 'cause I genuinely cared about the characters and both shows made me laugh. Same goes with Supernatural (the first few seasons). Honest to Pink Unicorn, I don't watch it 'cause the male leads are pretty-faced (in fact it sometimes annoys me; I like interesting faces), I just like the humor and the lack of romantic blah-blah
Yeah, the mini-series and first 3 seasons of BSG were great then everything started to get horribly inconsistent and contrived. I added Orange is the New Black to my post above, very funny. Not watched any of the others you mentioned other than in passing.
What about True Detective? It's highly rated and it's actually an excellent show IMO. The Sopranos is also highly rated show and is considered as one of the best. I didn't watch, so I can't say my opinion, but publicly it's regarded as a very good show. I agree with Supernatural. The first couple seasons were the best, then there were a few boring ones, but the current one is interesting again.
First 3 seasons of Misfits and Being Human (UK) were good, Primeval was another good show until they killed Helen Cutter, obviously crazy but what she said made sense. Only show I watch now is Orphan Black, once it gets going it is brilliant. Being Human was the same, it took a few episodes to find its feet. Watched some episodes of Sons of Anarchy and thought it was blah!
It is? I started watching it, but I felt like it was a bit uninspired. Maybe I should give it another shot. With Orphan Black, another problem for me was clones. I'm actually not interested in clones, although, funnily enough, I got a short story idea that would include a doppelgänger of sorts, most likely a clone. I'm not sure if I'll ever write it, so for now I'm letting it simmer and focus on other writing.
There are two series that were absolutely dreadful (strangely one of the two actually got reasonable reviews). I could not stop watching either of them: - The Event. I think the was cancelled very early on in its first season and went through a hiatus as the second half of the season was rewritten. In the UK it started off on prime time Friday night and about a third of the way through ended up on in the early hours of Monday morning. It is pointless me listing the ways in which this was bad; it was like a "how not to make a TV show" guide. It was awful on every level. Meandering, confused plot, which would regularly perform a complete u-turn or just randomly veer off into left field without rhyme or reason; schizophrenic characters, bad acting, bad script; it was just awful. I couldn't stop watching it. It was like watching a car crash, I just had this morbid curiosity. The Following. I assume people on here have seen this. There is a serial killer, with a network of other serial killers, hundreds of them, who all wind up living together in some "hippy" commune. Everything about it was horribly contrived and just beyond absurd; I cannot find words to describe how ridiculous it was. Its only saving grace was Kevin Bacon. Strangely, I think it is still going, and has reviewed fairly well. Again I couldn't stop watching the first season because it was like watching a car crash, or so I thought, but it seems this car crash will be going on a while longer.
True Detective is a critically acclaimed drama that it is one of the best television shows of all time, I PROMISE YOU. For the record, you couldn't get me to watch even one episode of any of the shows you named, save maybe Breaking Bad.
