best of the new season?

pickarooney

I haven't been near a television in a while. What do people reckon are the best new series to come out so far this year on US and UK TV?

Vokes

A tie between Dexter and Heroes (both on US telly)

pickarooney

Yeah, seems to be a few enthusiastic threads on Dexter. Not heard of Heroes before, though.
Has anyone seen/heard of a show called The Nine?

Vokes

Yes, ive watched some of The Nine (chances are it may be cancelled) but Heroes is better

User45701

Dexter definatley dexter

Basq

Too close to call between 'Dexter' and 'Heroes'.... both have been absolutely fantastic. But i think 'Dexter' edges it if just for for Michael C Hall's remarkable performance week after week alone.

PS - SofaKing, 'The Nine' is indeed cancelled. Thought it was pants myself. Watched the first three and it really wasn't going anywhere.

Mossy Monk

Heroes definately from what i have seen. not seen Dexter (yet )

ixoy

"Heroes" and "Dexter" as well, with "Ugly Betty" thrown in for its great kitsch charm. All three are doing very well and will have full seasons and, given current ratings, second seasons as well ("Dexter" definetely).

tolosenc

Jericho on CBS is by far the highlight of the new season for me.

User45701

Its good to see people say that aboutjericho.
There are allot of problems with it and i find most of the people in the town and there reationships are boring and uninteresting.

The only thing i like about jericho is the general plot and also the 2 storylines of both of the "mystery" charactors backrounds , turns out they where both pool boys.....

I want jericho to keep running just so i can find out more about those 2 charactors backrounds so its good to see that at least some people love it

Takeshi_Kovacs

Yeah Heroes and Dexter are quality viewing.. I also like Daybreak very much too as well,
I like Jericho as well, but it does seem a bit slow at times (and they could beef up the realism a bit..)

seabee

obl wrote:

Jericho on CBS is by far the highlight of the new season for me.

It starts on tv3 this wednesday at 9

Mossy Monk

TV3 buy in some more **** programming i find Jericho to be awful

Chevano Riley

i just got through watching the first 4 episodes of Day Break. i can't imagine it keeping up momentum with its restrictive concept (Groundhog Day-setup with a cop trying to prove his innocence of a murder). i like it though. ratings aren't too great, i hear. i would hate to see it cancelled before it can wrap up the story.

is_that_so

I watched Jericho for a good number of weeks but it didn't seem to be anything other than the usual post-apocalyptic storyline. Day Break as mentioned is probably limited by its format but is not too bad.

Personally I have enjoyed a couple of shorter series - notably The State Within and yet another season of Spooks. They remind me what some US series overlook, the need for people who can actually act.

On the far side of the pond I find Studio 60 growing slowly on me and a curiosity as to where Six Degrees will go, if it ever comes back.

SoSueMe

Six Degrees
Brothers and Sisters
30 Rock

Mr E

Heroes, Dexter and Jericho for me. Day Break is getting interesting, but I get a feeling that they're making it up as they go along.

I liked Smith (cancelled), Vanished (cancelled) and 3 lbs (cancelled).

Special sophomore mentions to Prison Break (as good as, if not better than S1) and Criminal Minds (which has had an absolutely superb second season so far - not one weak episode - last weeks "Lessons Learned" episode was one the most compelling 40 minutes of TV this year).

tv400

Does anyone know if any irish channels are planning on showing heroes? i'm quite interested in seeing it now

Mr E

Don't know about Irish channels, but I know BBC2 have UK rights to it (so all people on Sky/NTL/Chorus will be able to watch it, without ads!)

tvnutz

Dexter and Heroes by far the best new shows.

donhughberto

Brothers and sisters is good, get a batch each week from a mate in us as i hate downloads and the hassle.

Rescue me was class this season finished now, not yet on sky

Jericho is slow.

Heros is good.

Battlestar galactica this season is terrible, slow and boring.

I liked runaway but it got canned after 3 episodes.

Some shows i havent watched yet like dexter, think i have eight sitting in a box to watch, havent got time, hopefully xmas.

Great thing about direct recording is closed captions as i am hoh hence downloads never have them, lost in the stream.

Biggest problem in US is shows fighting in one spot, hence greys, csi, supernatural all at 9pm on a thursday and the oc has got thrown in there as well. Impossible.

jor el

Dexter and Heroes would be my top new shows too. I watched one episode of The Nine and didn't think much of it. Also tried to watch Brothers & Sisters but it was awful rubbish all together.

There's been plenty of shows cancelled without a full run this year, more than last year I think. Some were pretty good I thought (Smith anyway). Good to see Dexter will continue on, and I'd be pretty sure that Heroes will also get a 2nd run too.

Basq

Yep.. it's been a relatively poor year for TV. I mean apart from Dexter and Heroes.. everything else has turned out a bit meh! (though i was enjoying Smith ) Not even DayBreak has really grabbed me!

Still.. looking forward to mid-season. I saw a lot of promising pilots that were pushed back to mid-season such as:

- The Black Donnellys (BEST.. PILOT... EVER!)
- Traveller (very promising pilot.. could be excellent)
- The Singles Table (which was excellent due to John Cho.. but apparently the show has gone through a complete overhaul - with recasts and everything! )
- The Knights Of Prosperity (a pilot that got funnier on repeat viewings.. and from the creators of Ed so SIGN ME UP!)

valor

I just watched the pilot for the black donnelleys, it was ****ing savage

rikerdonegal

Friday Night Lights, Standoff, Dexter, Day Break

The pilots for Jericho and Heroes did nothing for me. Very obvious attempts by CBS and NBC to have their own versions of Lost.

Friday Night Lights is an awsome show about small town life, where everyone is obsessed with the local football team (reminds me of my younger days in Leitrim). It's a pretty bleak show in many ways, avoids all the cliches you'd expect with a show like this, well worth checking out.

Standoff is a throwback to older cop shows like the ones we used to get every night in the 70s and 80s. It's got great leads.

What can I say about Dexter that hasn't been said?

And, poor old Day Break has totally failed to catch on with the American Viewership, but it's a brilliant idea (24 done as Groundhog Day) and it totally works. Very complex and fast moving. Wish there was more TV like this.

Devon

I'm with rikerdonegal on the pilot for Heroes. That and episode 2 were both too slow. Yeah I know they were setting the foundation for the storyline that we have now, but I'm just too impatient for protracted scenes I guess.

Back on thread: Heroes is now fantastic with Dexter a very VERY close 2nd place.

Did anyone catch the series finale of Vanished? I got it there a few days ago and must say I'm disappointed.

Mr E

I've been glued to Vanished all season, and saw the finale last night. Its been a great series - I've been completely hooked. The ending was TERRIBLE, and felt tacked on. Plus there were SO MANY loose threads (

Rainer being shot, Jeffrey's father and the secret organisation, Tyner being a mole, the Dead Sea Scrolls stuff, the death row guy.

). Frustrating..... fickle Americans and their fickle fickleness.

Devon

TmB wrote:

I've been glued to Vanished all season, and saw the finale last night. Its been a great series - I've been completely hooked. The ending was TERRIBLE, and felt tacked on. Plus there were SO MANY loose threads

I think what happened was the writers didn't expect fox to cancel it, and had to jam the rest of the season into 4 episodes. Everything was way too rushed in the finale so you could tell that it was just a rush job to get it out of the way.

Mr E

I don't think they crammed the rest of the season into 4 episodes - that would have been loads of time to play out a decent ending. I think the real episode 13 would have ended with Sarah getting on the bus, the shooting, and the secret meeting.

Devon

So you think they crammed in all into episode 13 instead? I don't want to spoil the ending in case people haven't seen it, but it's definitely not the ending I had foreseen...

Mr E

They didn't cram anything, Devon. Episode 13 was as eventful as any other episode. I assume they had most episodes filmed when they were told that the plug was being pulled. Episode 13 played out as if it was part of a full 22 episode season, but since Vanished wasn't extended past a 13 episode run, they had to tack on the ending to give it a bit of closure.

I'd love to have seen them given an extra 3 or 4 episodes to finish the story properly (like Surface last year).

Catari Jaguar

Why have I never heard of these shows?? Lousy internet and boards.ie stealing my quality time with TV away. We used to have such a good relationship. Now it's all "you never call, you never write..." *sigh*

Everybody hates Chris and My Name is Earl are my fave new series. Only started this year yes?

Devon

TmB wrote:

They didn't cram anything, Devon.

Oh come on TmB, you didn't think the nurses's assistant and her family were rushed? Of course the episode was eventful, way too eventful! I read on Fox's boards that they ordered 4 scripts after they seen pilot initially and then another 4 bringing it up to episode 9, but didn't order any more after that when ratings dropped after the dismal episode 7 when Agent Kelton got killed off.

The last 4 scripts were apparently negotiated at a low ball figure because they were going to go straight to web AND be the last Fox would buy. The (apparent) reason there was a full month break after episode 7 was so the writers could re-write the next 4 episodes (10-13) to be the last ones.

Hurry up January and Prison Break S02E14...

Smurfpiss

Dexter, fantastic!
Heros- must give that a goo while im off college "working"
and yes, i cannot wait till the black donnellys starts up.
oh lord and 24...
sigh..

ixoy

Lil Kitten wrote:

Why have I never heard of these shows?? Lousy internet and boards.ie stealing my quality time with TV away. We used to have such a good relationship. Now it's all "you never call, you never write..." *sigh*

But "Heroes" in particular is quite prominent on this forum. It's got a lot of press in the US so it'll be interesting to see if it can make it here...

Everybody hates Chris and My Name is Earl are my fave new series. Only started this year yes?

No. Both are on their second season actually. FWIW, I stopped watching "Everybody Hates Chris" when I realized I wasn't actually enjoying it at all. "My Name is Earl" is still good but not as captivating as it was in its first season.

BopNiblets

Thought Heores started off a bit slow, but now I'm into it.

Hiro: "Great Scott!"
Awesome.