Greatest series ever watched

jamaamaj

Just finished watching House of cards season one.
Wow, i was blown away, pure entertainment for me, i was intrigued watching it.
So as the title goes what was yours.?
For the record my was The Wire.

camz09

jamaamaj wrote: »

Just finished watching House of cards season one.
Wow, i was blown away, pure entertainment for me, i was intrigued watching it.
So as the title goes what was yours.?
For the record my was The Wire.

Ok I'll be the first to mention...Breaking Bad.

djmsgs

Dexter. i got a bit bored after season 2, but then it got very interesting again, and i just couldn't stop until i watched all 7 seasons!

Fr Tod Umptious

oz

tvnutz

Probably been a million similar threads like this but my answer is always the same:

THE WIRE

jamaamaj

djmsgs wrote: »

Dexter. i got a bit bored after season 2, but then it got very interesting again, and i just couldn't stop until i watched all 7 seasons!

Have never seen it,
Is it worth a watch.?

mikom

Six feet under
Sopranos.
Oz.

In no particular order.

djmsgs

jamaamaj wrote: »

Have never seen it,
Is it worth a watch.?

definitely. normally i watch all the sit-coms, but dexter was an exception. there is a lot of blood and intrigue. it's definitely worth to watch.

batistuta9

I used to be really into lost, watched the whole first 5 seasons again before the 6th started & stayed up until 2am on tuesdays to watch it being streamed on justin.tv before it was shown here a few days later

I think that - watching a series when it's still going - adds to it a bit but it's as annoying as hell too


Oz is good, best show on tv when I was younger some crazy **** in it but wasn't watching it properly then. I have since though

Oz or the wire id say

don ramo

The West Wing for me, 7 seasons of pure top notch TV,

guinnessdrinker

Got the Twin Peaks Box Set a couple of years ago.

Series One - Amazing!!!!

First half of season two also great.

I don't think I have watched any other TV series that I have liked as much although I must say I am really enjoying Breaking Bad and I have not yet seen House of Cards.

Gmol

Breaking bad, the wire & entourage.

Pinkman

Greatest of all time for me is between The Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad and The West Wing. Most addictive and entertaining would have to be 24 though. Honorable mentions to The Shield, Oz and Damages. Of current shows my favourites would be Dexter, Homeland, Suits, Boardwalk Empire, Son and Anarchy, House Of Cards and Justified.

paddydriver

Pinkman wrote: »

Greatest of all time for me is between The Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad and The West Wing. Most addictive and entertaining would have to be 24 though. Honorable mentions to The Shield, Oz and Damages. Of current shows my favourites would be Dexter, Homeland, Suits, Boardwalk Empire, Son and Anarchy, House Of Cards and Justified.

In that order

Neither of us have seen Sopranos or 24 so looking to them next; or maybe go back and watch The Wire all over again

barneysplash

The Wire is the best television series I've seen.

If you haven't seen them, I wouldn't bother with Breaking Bad or
The Sopranos, both of these suffered from "syndication drift" where
the original series is successful and the network modifies the ideas
of the original writer to string it out because it's raking in the
cash worldwide.

I mean you could miss half a season of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos
and nothing would have changed.

Homeland seems to be going the same way too, unfortunately.

If I could get the time back spent watching these shows, I'd probably watch
the Wire again

Over in the TV recommendations forum, there are plenty of great shows:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055689569&page=6

But there is no discussion allowed in that forum - and quite right too.

I would like to see this discussion here open up in a lively and engaging debate about
our favourites, those disappointments and whatever else we can't discuss over
in the recommendations page.

But let's keep it respectful and above board.

Happy Viewing

deise48

the sopranos just edges out the wire imo. very close though

newmug

Irish Paint Magic.

They're on season 11 now you know!

That_Guy

24 is pretty addictive but was pretty up and down in terms of quality.

Prison Break season 1 and half of season 2 was very enjoyable.

johnpatrick81

barneysplash wrote: »

If you haven't seen them, I wouldn't bother with Breaking Bad or
The Sopranos,

Worst advice on boards ever?!

Sopranos is the king for me. Pure entertainment and fantastic writing and characters.

Breaking Bad is second, just excellent entertainment and dialogue.

The Wire is third, a really really smart series. Some brilliant series, for me though 5 is bad and 3 and 4 had bad moments.

Looking forward to giving Deadwood and Oz a go, and Six Feet Under.

BWSMG

Prison break

counterlock

HBO's rome

Daroxtar

In the last year the best thing I've watched was Utopia. If season 2 is as good as the first then it will be remembered as a classic.
My favourite all time is The Wire

RobbingBandit

Spartacus was great throughout the series, loved House M.D. Hugh Laurie is a genius. Scrubs was a brilliant series for 1-8, season 9 was ****. The Borgias is amazing too.

Burlap_Sack

Gotta go with the wire. Quality stuff.

mitosis

I Claudius.

The BBC House of Cards was well ahead of the current one.

Poles

Got to go with Dexter too.

Definitely going to watch Oz again. Hope it's as good as I remember.

Funfair

wanderly wagon

Starscream25

Battlestar Galactica EPIC The Wire EPIC, getting my hands on a breaking bad boxsset in a few weeks, happy day. Band of Brothers was brilliant i thought.

barneysplash

johnpatrick81 wrote: »

Looking forward to giving Deadwood and Oz a go, and Six Feet Under.

My opinion on Breaking Bad and The Sopranos has gotten me in trouble before,
but I stand by it - in my view they are woefully overrated. Boring samey stories
strung out by networks cashing in.= on a sensation. You can see the same
thing in Mad Men after the first season - it just gets formulaic and repetitive.

Deadwood is good, a shame it got cancelled. Same for Firefly.

Goodshape

I'd have to add my "+1" to The Wire. Basically flawless.

Breaking Bad might be up there too but still a little early to say. Would prefer to look back once it's finished and assess it then.


Also have a soft spot for SciFi, so Star Trek Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica are very high on my list, but carry more of an "if you like that sort of thing" disclaimer than the others.

arodabomb

Greatest is the Wire for me. If a genie gave me three wishes, at least one of them would be to make me forget having ever seen it, so that I could go back and watch it again.

Loved the first few seasons of the west wing, but felt it went downhill somewhere after season 4. Some brilliant characters (Josh, Sam etc), but a few too many terrible ones who detracted from the show.

24 was and still is probably the most addictive show, I could easily watch all 8 seasons back to back. Too addictive really.

Comedywise its Arrested development.

Freaks and Geeks, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Boulevard are two brilliant one season shows too.


I also love shows like Bones, Dexter and Blue Bloods, very fun to watch, but I don't think can be classified as great shows, way too formulaic, and not enough story/character progression.

Starscream25

Goodshape wrote: »

I'd have to add my "+1" to The Wire. Basically flawless.

Breaking Bad might be up there too but still a little early to say. Would prefer to look back once it's finished and assess it then.


Also have a soft spot for SciFi, so Star Trek Next Generation and Battlestar Galactica are very high on my list, but carry more of an "if you like that sort of thing" disclaimer than the others.

yup the next generation for me aswell, quite an iconic show, great story telling and captain picard, such an interesting intelligent character

Doom

Malcom in the middle.....

barneysplash

I have to agree, Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is fantastic.

Part of what makes it great is the quality of the acting, especially from Patrick
Stewart, you can't beat Shakespearean trained actors to bring depth and life to
a character.

It gets my vote for greatest sci-fi series. Star Trek never reached the same
heights of consistently good episodes again, in my opinion.

For comedy, I really like Operation Good Guys. A brilliantly acted and hilariously
straight-faced farce.

BrianG23

Breaking bad, Game of thrones is awesome...surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, it ties with BB for me, the wire.

I also love, Dexter, Supernatural season 1-5(haven't watched after as it's extended for the sake of it), Battlestar is very good/ Homeland was great so far. I really have to watch Soprano's...why have I not yet?? There's Anime I could recommend also which are up there in terms of entertainment and quality and suspense. For example, watch 1 ep of Death note.

don ramo

don ramo wrote: »

The West Wing for me, 7 seasons of pure top notch TV,

Without doubt it's the west wing for me
I've watched the entire series five times. Never been so invested in characters in a series before
Leo I love you!

barneysplash

Here are the bulk of my unpopular opinions from a recent thread:

It's so annoying when you get into a show and then it goes to pot.
There's some good shows out there, but there is a lot of rubbish that gets
hyped up because the studio is making a fortune from worldwide
syndication or sponsorship. In interviews, you can see some of the stars
in these shows begin to treat it like a day job - they do it just to pay
the bills and get their names out there. James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano)
and Christina Hendircks (Joan Harris in Mad Men) spring to mind.

In my opinion, what you don't watch is important as well.
You can invest a lot of time in TV series and box-sets only
to be disappointed. This can when the are over-extended by a network
looking to cash-in on a show's success i.e. Mad Men, or when the
writers go nuts/are replaced and destroy the show's credibility i.e.
Sons of Anarchy, Battlestar Galactica.

Now for the ones to avoid...

In my opinion, you should not bother with:

Breaking Bad - Starts off good, but too many "oh he just got away"
moments to make it enjoyable. It's just not dark enough to be plausible,
given the subject matter. It's the kind of show you could miss two episodes
of and come back and nothing would have changed.

Sons of Anarchy - The first episode set the tone for an unflinching looking
at the secret underbelly of American motorcycle gangs. Then the show turned into
the A-team. No-one important gets even a scratch after a car-bomb or close
up machine-gunning. A farcical shame.

The Kill Point - Great actors, terrible script, pretentious dialogue,
implausible scenarios, zzzzzz

The Sopranos - I'm probably going to get some stick for this but I wouldn't
bother if I was you. It just goes stale after a few episodes and turns into a
"dysfunctional family" drama with the occasional murder and organized crime
sub-plot thrown in. Each season works like this:
Look out Tony, you've got a new rival / oh you've killed him /
Your marriage is in trouble / your kids are becoming adults /
Your henchmen are unreliable / You are worried you are going soft
Someone from your past threatens your position / Yawn.

Mad Men - Should have been great. A very interesting time in American history.
JFK & Jackie , civil rights, women liberation, the beginning of our current consumer culture.
The amount of media attention this show has garnered is unbelievable, a shame
it's for the style and costumes and not the content. Yes, the outfits worn by the cast
are great, but the story lines don't really go anywhere. Many episodes end with
Don Draper sitting in a dark room drinking whiskey out of a big tumbler,
while looking moody, but in a nice suit.

Bomb Girls - Set in Canada during World War II, this tells the story of a
group of women drafted to work in a munitions factory. Free to earn their own living,
and live unsupervised, they soon experiment with alcohol, sex and standing up for
their political beliefs. Unfortunately it soon turns into a predictable soap-opera
with lovely sets and costumes. It started off great, but ended up like "Home and Away"
with hairnets.

Justified - falls to pieces after the first episode. The darkness and racist story line
soon get sidelined by the main character's love life. Yawn. A shame, it
could have been great. The criminal underside of the southern US has plenty of
scope for stories and plots that this show screws up - white supremacists,
black-market guns, prescription drug abuse, rural fugitive pursuit and of course good
old fashioned moonshine runners. Plenty of subject matter that the US
Marshals deal with in the real world. But, alas it all plays second fiddle to
formulaic love-triangles and implausible shoot-outs involving the lead character.

Vegas - I really wanted this to be good. The days of mob-controlled Vegas
has some great true stories that would make for great episodic television.
Again, the main character's love life gets centre stage. The mob are less than
ruthless and the local town politics angle just doesn't work. A shame.

x Purple Pawprints x

Criminal Minds for me.

I'm watching Breaking Bad at the moment as well and I love it.

Barnaboy

I've been watching Friday Night Lights on Sky Atlantic for the last few months. It's simply superb drama. Weird thing is every time I mention it to anyone I get strange looks. Nobody seems to have heard of it! They are now airing the last season and I'll be really sorry to see it finish....

omahaid

BBCs Life On Mars, was hooked on that show.

BrianG23

Firefly was very good, even for how short and anally abused by Fox it was.

tipptom

For my money it has to be The Sopranos,every character had layers of brilliant story line behind them.Best ending ever was Phil leotardos promise to his dead brothers photo behind the bar that he was" taking no more" with John Cooper Clarkes chickentown coming through inthe background,you just knew it was going to be the beginning of the end,worth checking out on utube.

Comic Book Guy

The Sopranos for me although I have not watched The Wire or Breaking Bad yet. Loved series 1 of Homeland but big drop in quality and plausibility in second series.
Game of Thrones is quality. On the comedy side God bless Sky Atlantic and Monday night Seinfeld:pac:

barneysplash

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Loved series 1 of Homeland but big drop in quality and plausibility in second series.

I agree, without giving anything away, I wonder in the original draft of the
script was it a one series deal? Fantastic acting in the first series also.

On watching The Wire, here is some advice on getting the most from the series:

Buy the box-set
Some television series you can watch in less than perfect quality
on hard drives, streaming, dodgy downloads etc. Some shows will let
you miss one or two episodes and still stay with the plot.
This won't work with The Wire. There is no "Previously on the Wire..."
recap at the start of each episode, and tiny scenes in one episode
can have vital importance in the plot development later on.

It's worth investing in the complete box-set for this series.
Save up your pennies and buy it for yourself. Anyway, if you like it,
you will come back to it many times in the years to come.
Think of the box-set like buying a set of encyclopaedias
for you family home. This series is an encyclopaedia of storytelling,
drama and the performing arts.

Keep the remote control handy
You will probably need to use the subtitles sometimes, as I did,
due to the accents and slang used. Also, don't be afraid to rewind
key parts and go over them again before moving on. Some are
so subtle you'll need a second look - a tiny nod or delicate
turn of phrase sets up a deal or condemns someone to death.

Keep away from internet forums
Try to stay away from the internet forums discussing the series.
You might be tempted to post something like "What does this
phrase mean?" or "What happened here?" People who post
recklessly in forums can ruin it for you. Even just going to a forum
and seeing the discussion thread titles, or Googling the actors to see
where you know them from can be enough to wreck your enjoyment
of the series. Just let the story reveal itself, the way it used to
before we had the internet.

Happy Viewing

Owryan

The re worked BSG was first rate tv even if the starbuck storyline stretched things.

Homicide Life on the street is a top quality cop show with great characters and writing .

Firefly, short lived but v good. ST:DS9 got better every season.

SureYWouldntYa

+1 on Dexter. What happened at the end of season 4, i was genuinely in shock after that

An Capall Dubh

Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Mad Men.

The Wire was good but massively overrated, seems like it's the "cool" show to like on TV.

tipptom

An Capall Dubh wrote: »

Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Mad Men.

The Wire was good but massively overrated, seems like it's the "cool" show to like on TV.

Inclined to agree with you about the wire,there was a kind of a political correctness cool about it because the drug dealers were seen to be on an even par with the cops.

Watched on the box first time round and liked it,wife bought me the box set and never went through more than the first series,found Mcnultys character very cliched.

The Sopranos will be hard to be surpassed in my book,great believable characters.

Layinghen

The West Wing for me. Must have rewatched the entire run at least 10 times. Just love it. Some seasons better than others but as an entire piece of work fantastic. I have a great interest in American politics and even though it was very pro Democrats it gives a very true to life version of how the American political system works.

barneysplash

Layinghen wrote: »

The West Wing for me. Must have rewatched the entire run at least 10 times. Just love it. Some seasons better than others but as an entire piece of work fantastic. I have a great interest in American politics and even though it was very pro Democrats it gives a very true to life version of how the American political system works.

Yes, I'd never heard of the Filibuster until the West Wing, and there was a real-life one
in March this year.

The West Wing was a bit too liberal, compared to the real world of US politics, it was
labelled "The Left Wing" by some TV critics in the US. Veep gives a more balanced
view of the realpolitik of Washington power and deal-making. It's very funny too.

If you like The West Wing and all things political, you might like "Yes, Prime Minister",
an excellent British political comedy from the 1980s.

You might also enjoy the shows on PBS America on Sky channel 166. PBS
really do the best of American quality programming like the BBC does in Britain.
In particular the "American Experience" series. Here's the one on President Clinton:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/clinton/

RTE showed it some time ago. You can watch the whole series, and many other PBS
shows, quite easily on youtube.

Layinghen

barneysplash wrote: »

If you like The West Wing, you might like "Yes, Prime Minister",
a political comedy from the 1980s.

I'm old enough to have watched Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister when they were first shown.:)