[Indi]

I'm not a massive TV viewer as much as film, but I do admire several shows:

The Office (UK)
Arrested Development
Futurama
Friends

Friends would probably be my favourite though.

[ThePinkFloydSound]

I'm more of a film man too, well, maybe 50/50 but if you like film I'd suggest you try The Sopranos. It's very like a film in the way the characters play out. They're close to an hour long episodes and it's quite possible one of the greatest things I've ever seen. Everyone that finished a season will finish the whole show. Its unreal. Anyone that has completed it will say it's one of the best, if not the best shows they've watched. You can't do any harm, only pleasure to yourself after watching The Sopranos.

When I encounter people who have liked The Sopranos, they usually would like The Wire. The writing in that show is technically better.. I mean some of the quotes and lines from the film are extremely witty, thought-provoking and are a great social commentary.

Other people that like both those shows may like Boardwalk Empire too.

I find the first seasons of these shows, the most difficult to get in to. I mean they are great but unlike films, they have, say 13 hours, to develop characters rather than say 1hr 30 mins of a film. These gives leeway for very creative, not rushed character development, deeper subplots, time to process thoughts on characters and just and all an all out good time stretched out over 12 or so episodes.

If you think of a season as 1 film but a huge epic film and each episode as chapters, it's nice. Something always crazy happens in the second last and last episode that leaves you wanting more in the next season. Characters come and go, characters you'll love, characters you'll hate. The benefit of seasons or series/tv shows if having the time to keep stuff fresh by adding new characters and bumping some off.

Truly and amazing experience. Please, all of you. Try watch one season of The Sopranos or The Wire. The only depressing thing about doing so is that the shows will end and after you watch them you'll compare everything else against them. They will raise the bar so high that you'll only demand the finest T.V after them.

The Sopranos has a 9.3 rating at IMDB and the first season has a 100% rating Rotten Tomatoes.

@Jake: Nice one! Watching it the second time is crazy. So much I forgot about, it's mental. It defo not boring, it's like watching it all over again except knowing the faces better and you just pick up on more stuff!

This post has been edited by ThePinkFloydSound on Monday, Mar 12 2012, 23:54

[Redketman]

The Simpsons and Two and a Half Men. I have watched the episodes over and over again but still finds them very entertaining. The best of all is that they still make episodes of these two series.

[SlickSpencer8]

Southland, The Unit.

[StoneHead37]

Oz is, hands down, one of the most well-written TV shows I've ever seen. Lee Tergesen, J.K. Simmons, Christopher Meloni, Dean Winters, Harold Perrineau, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney and all of the others are phenomenal actors.

I'm also a big fan of Family Ties and The Sopranos.

This post has been edited by StoneHead37 on Friday, Mar 16 2012, 21:34

[ilovebender.com]

The Simpsons
Futurama
South Park
American Dad!
Family Guy
The Cleveland Show
Pushing Daisies
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: DS9
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Red Dwarf
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Canadian Pickers (Cash Cowboys)
American Pickers
Pawn Stars
American Restoration
Life After People
The Nostradamus Effect
Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker
Cake Boss: In Italy
Ace of Cakes
Top Gear
Top Gear Australia
Absolutely Fabulous
The Young Ones
Blackadder
Father Ted
Stephen Fry In America
Being Human
MTVs Cribs
Pimp My Ride
The Osbournes
HISTK - Honey I Shrunk the Kids
... *sigh
and others.

This post has been edited by ilovebender.com on Monday, Mar 19 2012, 23:44

[MrDanceWithLance]

QUOTE (ilovebender.com @ Monday, Mar 19 2012, 23:41)

The Simpsons Futurama South Park American Dad! Family Guy The Cleveland Show Pushing Daisies Star Trek: Voyager Star Trek: DS9 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Red Dwarf Buffy the Vampire Slayer Angel Canadian Pickers (Cash Cowboys) American Pickers Pawn Stars American Restoration Life After People The Nostradamus Effect Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker Cake Boss: In Italy Ace of Cakes Top Gear Top Gear Australia Absolutely Fabulous The Young Ones Blackadder Father Ted Stephen Fry In America Being Human MTVs Cribs Pimp My Ride The Osbournes HISTK - Honey I Shrunk the Kids ... *sigh and others.

You sure love your TV, mate.

[The Scottish Guy]

The Sopranos is the best f*cking series in the history of television. As I mentioned in another topic, it has everything from drama to humour to violence to sex to drugs. Everything that entertains me. I've seen every episode a hundred times and it still doesn't bore me. You seem to pick up on new things all the time.

South Park and Boardwalk Empire come second.

Alot of people say that if you like Sopranos you'll like The Wire. Haven't watched that yet so might give it a shot.

Everything else on tv these days is some f*cking reality show with that square-headed prick Cowell dumbing down the nation.

[Mr.Funny12]

I have to say Burn Notice is probably one of my favorite TV series. It mixes, action with drama and problems are usually solved with the least amount of gun fire possible which adds to the realism.

[Tommy34]

Only Fools and Horses is the best ever.

[El_Diablo]

favorite TV series of all time?
it's a tie.

The Sopranos and Deadwood.
both from HBO.

I could go into why and talk for hours.
but there's no point unless you've seen the shows for yourself.

anyone who knows anything about the medium of storytelling and film making that has seen these shows would agree; nothing has ever really come close to being as good as they were in every aspect; the story, characters, acting, writing, direction, cinematography, editing, costume and set design. they were the perfect shows in every way and nothing before or after them has been anywhere near the same level of excellence.

[Marlowe.]

QUOTE (El_Diablo @ Monday, Mar 26 2012, 10:11)

favorite TV series of all time? it's a tie. The Sopranos and Deadwood. both from HBO. I could go into why and talk for hours. but there's no point unless you've seen the shows for yourself. anyone who knows anything about the medium of storytelling and film making that has seen these shows would agree; nothing has ever really come close to being as good as they were in every aspect; the story, characters, acting, writing, direction, cinematography, editing, costume and set design they were the perfect shows in every way and nothing before or after them has been anywhere near the same level of excellence.

Have you seen either The Wire or Mad Men? I'm not going to argue your opinion - to each his own, yada yada yada - but there are most definitely shows that do come close, and many would argue that they surpass the shows you mention.

[El_Diablo]

well in a nutshell...

The Sopranos completely reset the stage for everything that has come since on both the large and small screen.
it managed to be cerebral, complex, focused, and coherent while also visceral, intense, haunting, and tragic while still being fascinating, exciting, curious, and hilarious. ultimately it had no message, no morals, no sap, no mush, no filler, no drainer - it was nothing but pace and style drizzled over the universal themes of life, death, and the little things in between. it was almost too perfect, it felt so real, it was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. it was a reflection of us; ordinary people in all shapes, sizes, and situations. it didn't matter that the world in which the characters existed could hardly be imagined by most people (power, wealth, excess, violence). those characters were as close to human as a figment of someone's imagination could ever be. anyone could find someone on the show to relate to or feel like they knew, either through their personality or in their all-too-common struggles.

it didn't really matter who you were, The Sopranos managed to portray such a photogenic reality that you kept forgetting it was fiction.
watching new episodes for the first time (without any knowledge of what's coming) is an experience you'll only have once when you watch a TV series. this experience with The Sopranos was like nothing that has come before or since - it was like plugging into the Matrix, ignorance is bliss. I've never been more attached to "people" who society normally considers the bad guys; cheering for, feeling sorry, and empathizing with murderers, criminals, and thugs.

it really was surreal.
when it was over you had dreams about it, the people and the events, like it was all a memory from a distant past life.

most shows are still just shows.
and there's been a lot of great shows which are great for different reasons. and some can momentarily suspend your disbelief and some can make you care about their characters and some have clever plot lines. but they're still not like The Sopranos, the sustained level of excellence, something about that show it was just the total package. anyone who watched it from start to finish will tell you there's nothing else like it.

Boardwalk Empire is shaping up to follow in a similar vein but it's not quite there yet.
Game of Thrones is also poised to make a similar run but is too early to call.

The Wire might be close depending on which season(s) you're referring to.
but it's consistency does not begin to compare to that of The Sopranos; week-in and week-out it was the most well developed long-form drama ever produced at such continually high levels of performance and delivery. The Wire is certainly up there at times though it fails to maintain this degree of quality for as long or as often as the boys from Jersey.

Deadwood can avoid the criteria of consistency because it was too short-lived at just 3 seasons, but plenty of consistency was there already. most would argue that in spite of how incredible those 3 seasons were, the show was really just hitting it's stride when it was given the axe for being too expensive. those 3 years were more than enough however to establish Deadwood firmly alongside the likes of the greatest TV and/or movie dramas ever created. it's at least as good as The Sopranos in terms of its production values and only falls slightly short due to its untimely demise which killed any possibility of finishing the storylines and fleshing out the remaining secondary and tertiary characters.
but for all other intents and purposes - if you could only compare 1 season to just 1 season - The Sopranos and Deadwood are tied.

Mad Men is perhaps the single best network TV show ever made and easily the best show on right now. "network" as in basic cable, as in any show that's not made for "premium" channels that you have to pay extra for. any show that has commercial breaks is "network TV."
so in that respect Mad Men is by far the most well written, best acted, and most bold/creative show being produced under network cable restrictions (for graphic language, adult themes, and sexual content). unfortunately it's competition is not very strong because most network TV shows are cookie-cutter, sappy, bullsh*t with little creativity if any... or reality shows.
but this doesn't diminish how well Mad Men stands out on its own merits. it's very healthy for network TV and we could use more shows like it.

that being said, even Mad Men also doesn't begin to compare to Sopranos or Deadwood.
it's a really great show that is very well cast but it will never be able to travel too far off the beaten path. there are certain aspects of its plot devices and character complexions that it will never be able to explore and that must remain somewhat dry and predictable. this is not really the shows fault either, merely a reality. if Mad Men could be converted to premium cable (HBO, ShowTime, CineMax) then it actually has all the potential for being able to meet the Sopranos on some level.

but not as it exists today.

[Chunkyman]

I'm really into Game of Thrones right now. It's like Lord of the Rings, but a TV show.

[The Scottish Guy]

@El_Diablo

You counldn't be more right. Everything in your summary of the Sopranos is exactly how I feel about the show. It really does make you feel like you know the characters personally from some kind of past.

[ThePinkFloydSound]

@El_Diablo: Wow, great words on The Sopranos man. You nailed it.

[Marlowe.]

See, I feel like El Diablo's write-up of The Sopranos could just as easily have been about The Wire. They really are one and two as far as dramatic television is concerned.
That said, great job.

[Nick Foster]

Since I play on an American Football team, Friday Night Lights really appealed to me, which I thought was my favorite. Drama, drugs, teenage stuff, and most of all, the actual thrill of a Football game, and how deeply the tradition is rooted in parts of America. I absolutely loved it.

[El_Diablo]

QUOTE (Marlowe. @ Wednesday, Mar 28 2012, 16:39)

See, I feel like El Diablo's write-up of The Sopranos could just as easily have been about The Wire. They really are one and two as far as dramatic television is concerned. That said, great job.

well they're pretty close, I tried to make that clear without sounding too harsh.

the deal-breaker for me comes down to consistency.
The Wire was superb in virtually every aspect but compared to Sopranos it just wasn't superb for as long or as often.

it's a fine line.
I have nothing against The Wire. fantastic drama.

[ugotsmoked]

1. Breaking Bad
2. 24
3. The Shield
4. The Office (US)
5. Louie