Best Looking TV series you have watched

oxygen

I was reading a pretty interesting article in the Guardian Sat about the brain drain from Cinema to TV, hence we have some spectacular looking TV shows at the moment because of better directors of photography, cinematographers etc.

I intend on catching up on most of the TV series mentioned in the article. But in case it missed some, whats the best looking TV show you have watched? Not neccesarily the best, but best looking.

I think Utopia has to be mine, its a very good TV show, but looks wise, you could take a screen shot at any instance and make a post card from it. I want to rewatch it on a higher def TV.

Any suggestions?

Richard Dower

Boardwalk Empire looks superb, Rome, Spartacus....

miralize

House of Cards.

evilivor

"Breaking Bad" is really well shot.

miralize

Sherlock too

QikBax

Well Breaking Bad is certainly up there as far as Cinematography goes.

On location shooting obviously helps a great deal.

Mr E

Pushing Daisies had a fantastic look - very colourful and had some stunning looking scenes.

In more recent times, Hannibal had a very distinctive look - some of the murder scenes (particularly the totem) looked incredible.

mike65

UTOPIA - wins.

Also I love the look of the Prisoner in a retrotastic way.

Mad Man is handsome as well.

oxygen

Some good suggestions there, I have seen most of them. Will check out Pushing Daisies, Brian Fuller also done a pilot for The Monsters, which is worth checking out, it has a strange kindof nice looking light vibe around it, that matched up really well with the show. It’s a real shame it didn’t get picked up.

I was never particularly taken back by the photography on Breaking Bad, I thought it was ok, just not great. House of Cards looks fantastic, very David Fincher. Sherlock was the first time I saw what my HD TV was capabale of, and why it was actually worth the cost. I love the just slightly soft focus shots in the first episode (taxi driver one)

WoollyRedHat

Sorry, any chance for a link to the articlle op?

Goldstein

Stargate Universe was exceptionally well shot too. The impressive score didn't hurt either.

oxygen

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Sorry, any chance for a link to the articlle op?

It was a good article,but you need to be a subscriber to read it :mad:
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/film_and_tv/tv/article1275607.ece

Newaglish

I usually think Sherlock has some nice cinematography. Game of Thrones can look very good at times from a set/costume design perspective.

squonk

I liked the look of Battlestar Galactica. I also like the look of White Collar. There's nothing jaw dropping in there but there's a consistent glitziness that makes you believe you're in NY, even though the show is shot in Canada, with some location work in NYC AFAIR. Breaking Bad is great as well.

sbsquarepants

I'd go with boardwalk empire - you can nearly smell the set building money oozing from every shot! The buildings, the cars, the clothes everything is absolutely spot on.
As an aside - i was so impressed with nuckys shoes from the opening sequence that i traced them to their makers in italy with the intention of buying a pair - untill i learned the price. You'd want to be a real gangster to afford them!:mad:

Cina

HBO generally take the biscuit because of their budgets. Rome, Deadwood, Carnivale, BWE...

Utopia is beautiful too, it must have been a nightmare to shoot it.

TwoShedsJackson

Of current shows, Hannibal.

victorpaul1

It's Breaking Bad .

Baby4

This post has been deleted.

noodler

Breaking Bad, SGU and BSG deffo worthy of a mention.

NotorietyH

Hannibal at the mo,

Best ever though, I'd say Carnivale is up there, and Deadwood too.

oxygen

I'm surprised by a couple of things in this thread.

Firstly the nominations for Breaking Bad. I know there are some well shot scenes, but I didnt find it particularly nicer to look at that any other TV show. In saying that, I said I would re-watch season 4 and 5 before the rest of the 5th season starts later this year, so I will keep an eye on that, I might have missed something.

Also, I'm surprised at the amount of US recommendations in comparison to European recommendations. Personally I think this is one area the UK and Europe have the jump on the US. As mentioned, Utopia is still the mostly beautifully shot TV show I have ever seen. Other European examples would be The Missing, Wallander, Sherlock etc. I dont see cinematography of that standard in most US shows.

mike65

No surprise you only need to read the TV forum, its dominated by US telly so there's unlikely to be many people nominating Borgen or Luther.

The Crimson Petal and the White deserves mention.

QikBax

http://vimeo.com/61847525

Breaking Bad Cinematography Video Essay

ben.schlomo

Boardwalk for me.

CorsendonkX

oxygen_temp wrote: »

I'm surprised by a couple of things in this thread.

Firstly the nominations for Breaking Bad. I know there are some well shot scenes, but I didnt find it particularly nicer to look at that any other TV show. In saying that, I said I would re-watch season 4 and 5 before the rest of the 5th season starts later this year, so I will keep an eye on that, I might have missed something.

Also, I'm surprised at the amount of US recommendations in comparison to European recommendations. Personally I think this is one area the UK and Europe have the jump on the US. As mentioned, Utopia is still the mostly beautifully shot TV show I have ever seen. Other European examples would be The Missing, Wallander, Sherlock etc. I dont see cinematography of that standard in most US shows.

I will add an Asian one

99-nen no Ai ~ Japanese Americans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Americans_(miniseries)

fergiesfolly

And if you want to go back a bit(a good bit)..Miami Vice.
Definately a case of style over substance.

oxygen

fergiesfolly wrote: »

And if you want to go back a bit(a good bit)..Miami Vice.
Definately a case of style over substance.

Watching Luther at the moment, I think there is definitely an element of style over substance with this too. Its a great tv show, but its no prime suspect. Its still very good though, Elba is very watchable and as mentioned it looks great.

Going to check out alot of the suggestions in the thread above over the coming weeks.... with the exception of Miami Vice :P

Aglomerado

I only got round to watching it recently, but the Tudors looked great IMO- costume design, sets, locations.

daredevil360

Suits for me

Zucker

Rectify has some great looking scenes in it.

Luther, The Returned, Hannibal, Community (there are some episodes that just look great!)

Manach

Favourites: Rome, Babylon 5, BSG (new series), West Wing.

Frank Black

oxygen_temp wrote: »

I'm surprised by a couple of things in this thread.

Firstly the nominations for Breaking Bad. I know there are some well shot scenes, but I didnt find it particularly nicer to look at that any other TV show. In saying that, I said I would re-watch season 4 and 5 before the rest of the 5th season starts later this year, so I will keep an eye on that, I might have missed something.

I'd agree, there's some really inventive shots in BB, but to me it looks like it's been made on a shoe-string. Nearly everything is shot in a room (home, office, lab) and it's not like there are huge set-pieces or hoards of extras used in each episode.

In Boardwalk empire you can smell the money that's been spent, and it is visually incredibly appealing.

Having said that, 'looks' in TV Shows (much like in women) aren't everything, and personality counts for a lot. So I'll take Breaking Bad every day over Boardwalk.

Padraig Mor

miralize wrote: »

House of Cards.

I thought House of Cards looked fantastic. Not 'showy' like some of the other ones listed here, just (mostly offices) lit and filmed expertly. No surprise with David Fincher at the helm I guess.

oxygen

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I thought House of Cards looked fantastic. Not 'showy' like some of the other ones listed here, just (mostly offices) lit and filmed expertly. No surprise with David Fincher at the helm I guess.

Yea, I love the look of David Fincher stuff. He only directed one or two of the episodes of HoC's but Im sure he left notes on how it should look, because the rest of it remains true to his style.

He uses alot of muted tones, and shadows, stuff that suits early century architecture very well. TBH he was a perfect fit for HoC's DC setting, with its early century town houses and street light late evening lit scene's.

Frank Black

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I thought House of Cards looked fantastic. Not 'showy' like some of the other ones listed here, just (mostly offices) lit and filmed expertly. No surprise with David Fincher at the helm I guess.

The Apple products all looked amazing.

saabsaab

Mad Men and Sherlock but the best looking series was the Avengers quirky and stylish.

Cokeistan

If documentaries counted I'd have to say Planet Earth.

Otherwise I thought Band of Brothers and Breaking Bad were really well shot

don ramo

Game of Thrones, the production value is amazing, i mean they shoot on location in the likes of morocco and iceland, and the CGI is used for what cant be done in real life,

other show look great like BSG and BB, but i think GOT is just that bit better looking than them all,

DubTony

Fair City. Since they changed the shop to a Spar, and the sets don't shake any more, it's fantastic.

I'll get me coat

Stone Deaf 4evr

Anyone see Broadchurch on ITV recently. really great shots in that, watching it in HD made it even better.

Breaking Bad do some great things, like clouds darkening the whole scene when a discussion was being held at gunpoint etc or the camera being mounted to a shovel being carried over a characters shoulder.

Liam O

Watching Borgia atm and some of the set designs are beautiful, they seem to use paintings for the wide shots of the cities which is one way to save a budget I guess. The American one may be better in this regard but the atmosphere around some of the scenes is great.