Most consistently good tv series

Frank Black

Given that we’ve had two threads on the “most dramatic drop in quality of a tv series” and “standout seasons of tv series” I’m wondering what people would consider to be the tv series that have avoided any major drops in quality over their entirety.
I’d have to go for the Wire – although Season 5 with the whole McNulty/serial killer story arc was a (slight) let down and possibly The Sopranos.

Richard Dower

Nikita!!!....consistenly cracking from episode to episode!!
By far the best new network show of the 2010-11 season!

Plentyofice

Sopranos- every series, every episode was deadly to watch...

The shield and grey's anatomy both started great then levelled off

Killinascully :D:D:D:p

evil_seed

Breaking Bad
/thread

Frank Black

Honorable mentions for BSG up until the last episode.
This Life – only lasted 2 seasons but still.

xalot

I'd say Mad Men, Sopranos (with the exception of the season where tony was in the coma - a bit too surreal for my taste), Breaking Bad and The Wire.

JBnaglfar

Have to agree with most of the choices here, particularly The Wire, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad.

The West Wing was an amazingly well written show. Although it dipped a little bit after a while, it was not a major drop in quality imo.

aliocroc

evil_seed wrote: »

Breaking Bad
/thread

Defo the best! Cant wait for the new season!!!

Mindkiller

xalot wrote: »

I'd say Mad Men, Sopranos (with the exception of the season where tony was in the coma - a bit too surreal for my taste), Breaking Bad and The Wire.

I thought that was a superb episode. Interpretation of dreams and Freudian analysis of the subconsicous has always been a major theme with Sopranos.

pickarooney

I'm ignoring series which are still running.

The Shield was probably the most consistently good series I've watched. Six Feet Under and Lost were very close to being consistently great but there were a couple of sub-par episodes in the third season of SFU and the final season of Lost just did not live up to expectation at all. The Sopranos likewise had a couple of dodgy moments in the third and fourth season but was overall of a very high quality.

I can't think of any more off hand but there are bound to be a lot more from a few years back I've overlooked.

The King of Moo

I'm going for BSG as well (and I even liked the last episode!). I understand why many didn't like seasons 3 and 4, but I felt that they were just as good as the first two and the changes in them were organic developments of the story.

Brussels Sprout

Mad Men-Just gets better and better

South Park-Some of the episodes are duds but judged on a series by series basis I think it's been amazingly consistent for such a simple format

The Wire-I think the fact that each series was themed enabled them to use the same basic formula within each series whilst also building on the themes from the previous series

Father Ted-Only 3 Series but no loss in quality over them

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

deadwood

while it was cancelled after 3 seasons, there wasn't a bad episode or moment.

malcolm in the middle stayed consistently hilarious throughout its run.

D'Agger

For me The Wire & Californication have been consistently brilliant from start to finish/present...Californication has never waned in it's ability to provide hilarious storylines with a main underlying one being pulled out over the course of the season - and the use of the English language in the way it's written is just brilliant.

Breaking Bad is fantastic too must be said.

May get slated for this but South Park deserves a mention for being consistently funny for 15 seasons - the Simpsons has dropped way off and Family guy dropped after season 3 before picking it back up again with the latest season.

It takes the píss out of everything and I love it for that!

hidinginthebush

Breaking Bad has been phenomenal since the beginning, I cannot wait for the new series! I think the Wire and Sopranos were also incredible (Eventhough I did have to watch the Wire twice to see what all the fuss was about :eek:). You can't forget Band of Brothers either (though I'd class it as more of a big film than a series... whatever it is, it's the best thing I've ever seen on telly). The IT Crowd has also been consistently excellent during it's existence, so was the UK Office and Extras now that I think of it. The US Office has sort of lost the run of itself in the current season.

Family Guy has really gone downhill for me, shame really as it used to be excellent. Same goes for South Park.

I'm going to give Deadwood and The Shield a go based on what I've seen here.

Daith

Fawlty Towers: Not a bad episode.

The Wire: I'm still unsure about the last season though but still pretty good.

petes

The Wire, BSG and The Shield.

I was completley gripped all the way through The Shield. Cracking show.

smuckers

Have to disagree about Mad Men think it may have reached its peak, S1 and 2were fantastic, 3 was ok, but 4 was very lagged, found it very boring.

Shows which are still on I'm going to go for:

Curb Your Enthusiasm, maybe S4 was a bit hit and miss but bar that season, its been wonderful, and David keeps on coming up with the goods.
Entourage was very good for the first 5 seasons but there be been a massive decline.

Have to agree about Family G, not finding S10 as funny.

bogmanfan

Seinfeld

smuckers

Of course Bogman didn't put in there as I was only choosing present tv shows.

liah

Trailer Park Boys. Genius and stayed consistent the whole way through.

petes

liah wrote: »

Trailer Park Boys. Genius and stayed consistent the whole way through.

Oh and Trailer Park Boys..almost forgot about that.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

trailer park boys was definitely consistent.

stonybroke

Entourage

D'Agger

stonybroke wrote: »

Entourage

Love Entourage but it's gone down since season 5 - The last season was absolutely useless imo

The Wire is the obvious example. I think season 5 does get somewhat farcical but that was the point of it.

Babylon 5 is another which for 4 seasons was the best thing on TV. Every episode played into the overall story and small lines of dialgue from season 1 could have serious implications later on. While season 5 did take a dip in quality it was never less than entertaining and intelligent sci fi.

ReacherCreature

hidinginthebush wrote: »

You can't forget Band of Brothers either (though I'd class it as more of a big film than a series... whatever it is, it's the best thing I've ever seen on telly).


I'm going to give Deadwood and The Shield a go based on what I've seen here.

Although Band of Brothers is spectacularly good, it's not really a consistently good series as there was only one. Other shows mentioned, The Wire, Breaking Bad had multiple series.

Go for The Shield. It's excellent entertainment and highly recommended. I've finished the first two and moving on to The Shield as soon as I get through The Wire!

mike65

Hill Street Blues
Cheers

pablomakaveli

The Wire was consistently strong every season. Never really dipped in quality.

The Shield was another very consistent show. It felt like a rollercoaster with an excellent ending.

I'm glad to see people saying Breaking Bad has been consistent. I watched the first series and loved it and im about to get stuck into the second.

KeanSeenan

Arrested Development.
Always Sunny in Philly wasn't consistent, after the first or second season it got brilliant though and the quality hasn't dropped since.

Teyla Emmagan

I'm going with Mad Men. It's changed alright over the series, but it's still consistently good.

Californication has become very tedious IMO.