OT: What Are You Watching Now? No Spoilers

[Diop]

Which version? The Showtime USA version or the english version?

I made it thru the first 2.5 season of the USA version before I finally quit. Really good show for a while, probably still is...

The us version, last season had me laughing out loud several times. How do they make such bad people so likeable ?

one day i will go back and see how it ends. must know what happens to frank.

The man is indestructible. Always finding a way to keep on living

[Liver_Pooty]

I don't understand how the hell can you guys watch so many TV series at once. I suppose it's way different when your TV channels air them though.

I watch wrestling, ESPN, and Sons of Anarchy.

Thats about it.

I used to be a huge wrestling fan. My buddy still is and goes to any show that is near him. I try to talk to him about it, but I have tried to watch a few times and the writing and story lines were just horrendous. The guys suck on the mic now. It seems to be more about the in ring product when I preferred the era when the in ring was just a side story to what was really going on. The days of Stone Cold bringing in the beer truck and Mankind fighting hell in a cells, and guys getting ambushed in the back.

Yeah its way too PG now.

[amcoolio]

Now this my type of thread!

I just finished rewatching House of Cards. I know the criticisms... "second season not as good as the first season" "kevin spacey overacts" but it is such a well produced show and if you like dark Washington politics like I do then you'll love it. A lot of good characters.

Also it is definitely worth a rewatch if you only watched it once. I picked up on so many things that I missed the first time. House of Cards is a very dense show so there's no way you can process it all on the first watch through.

I've never seen Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. If you had to choose, which should I start with? I just can't get motivated to start either of them even though I know I would love both.

I agree about Fats with Parks and Rec...

Spoiler:

It had such a strong-ass opening to the series like the Office but like the Office (one of my favorite shows of all time) it became too complicated and got away from its core plot of what made it great

What is one show that you'll stop and watch when its on no matter what, and it doesn't get old all year?

This is probably a trick question but its an easy answer to me. I will always watch Seinfeld, every week, til the day I die. I seriously doubt there will ever be a show like it.

[yosemiteben]

I've never seen Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. If you had to choose, which should I start with? I just can't get motivated to start either of them even though I know I would love both.

I haven't seen Game of Thrones because I don't have free access to it. If you have Netflix you can stream all of Breaking Bad for free. Do it.

What is one show that you'll stop and watch when its on no matter what, and it doesn't get old all year?

[LamarMatic7]

I've never seen Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. If you had to choose, which should I start with? I just can't get motivated to start either of them even though I know I would love both.

I agree about Fats with Parks and Rec...

Spoiler:

It had such a strong-ass opening to the series like the Office but like the Office (one of my favorite shows of all time) it became too complicated and got away from its core plot of what made it great

I haven't watched Game of Thrones and I won't say anything new about Breaking Bad, but, yeah you should watch it. I think the writing and the way the plot develops is what stands out about the show.

spoiler-ish Office post but it's The Office so who cares:

I recently saw some random Office episodes and got sucked in again. Randomly picked up some story-line that starts at season 4 and now am almost at the end of season 5. It gets sucky about the time Erin (not to say anything bad about her) joins the show and the cast in general changes. In a weird way I have to say that it's almost better than I remember it to be. I guess the fact that I've seen these episodes before allows me to appreciate it from a different point of way like noticing the way Michael constructs his sentences in his one-on-ones with the doc crew and tries to portray himself the best way possible.

But, yeah, I love it as well. The Office UK is miles better though.

[EwingSweatsALot]

I've never seen Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. If you had to choose, which should I start with? I just can't get motivated to start either of them even though I know I would love both.

Breaking Bad for sure. Definitely one of the top shows of all time.

[LamarMatic7]

What is one show that you'll stop and watch when its on no matter what, and it doesn't get old all year?

The Wire - it's the best series ever, it's genius and I swear that you might have seen an episode of it for five times (I've been there) and there's still something you didn't quite catch.

but I sense the spirit of your question and the "right" answer for me probably is Friends. My last post was about getting sucked in an Office story-line... well, it's happened several times with me and Friends. Last time it happened was with a female friend of mine who hadn't watched it season by season ever. So we binge-watched it a couple of times together and I was there for the time she got until the end. The night ended in me crying during the scene where Joey and Chandler are for the last time in their apartment (mind you, I was watching that episode for the 4th or 5th time) while she was shrugging her shoulders and laughing. That's how emotional I am and that's how much I love Friends, even despite the way it jumped the shark towards its end (ugh.. the Joey learns French episode).

[LamarMatic7]

I've never seen Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. If you had to choose, which should I start with? I just can't get motivated to start either of them even though I know I would love both.

Breaking Bad for sure. Definitely one of the top shows of all time.

these type of questions and the way you put GoT a tier below The Wire, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are moving us towards the inevitable discussion of the best top5 shows ever that we'll have one day soon I fell.

[LamarMatic7]

oh my god.. what hypes me up even more than the Twin Peaks news is that David Simon has started working on a new TV mini-series. I had learned about the headline a few days back, bookmarked it and couldn't remember what I was forgetting this whole time. But, what the hell, it now makes for two great news about TV in one day.

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/w ... /16569869/

For some time I thought that Treme would be it. He had said things along the lines of his work not being suited for TV and that maybe he needs to do something else. But thank god he is back.

I'm a fanatic of his work. I have read both Homicide and The Corner (highly recommend them), I track down and listen to any podcasts that have him as a guest or read any interviews, it's only understandable that I've seen all of his work in TV (The Wire, The Corner mini-series, Treme, Generation Kill... I guess everything except the few episodes he wrote way back for the TV show, Homicide, inspired by the book) and I can't get enough of insightful material about The Wire. Watched it several times, watched the episodes that have audio commentary with the audio commentary, read this one book by one of the writers about The Wire, etc... I even wanted to do my thesis on The Wire and how it differs from the average TV drama but as of this point that idea is on hold because of the other issues I have to resolve at some subjects at university.

[AttitudeAjusta]

My night isn't complete without watching at least 1 episode of King of the Hill.

Not currently watching any series at the moment, but I would highly recommend to you guys:

- Breaking Bad
- Oz
- The Shield

I had the weirdest experience with Oz. I don't think there's a show as good as Oz that I didn't watch until the end. Admired how ahead of its time it was and it certainly was thrilling, yet after 2 seasons and a few episodes I wasn't particularly interested of what will happen next. It almost seemed like a non-sequential series. New characters will show up and slash the throats of some old characters, but some of the old characters will rape some of the new characters to death as well. I didn't feel the need to get through it and find out how it ends.

I tend to like some of the more gritty crime-related shows and documentaries, so Oz was naturally something I would like. I agree with you about being ahead of its time.

The show seemed pretty inventive as the series continued, and I watched it like year ago. Especially one of the main characters' evolution/change as a character is just unbelievable and shows you how much some depth some actors have.

Funny backstory on this show- My (ex) neighbor who used to lived across from me, was an ex-felon that moved in with the girl living there. He did time for I can't remember exactly what, but he wasn't shy talking about it loudly outside, as if it didn't make any of the other neighbors a bit scared and/or concerned.
Anyway, the whole point of this is that during one our conversations, he mentioned the show Oz and how it was the most realistic portrayal of prison life out of all shows depicting prison life.

[EwingSweatsALot]

I've never seen Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. If you had to choose, which should I start with? I just can't get motivated to start either of them even though I know I would love both.

Breaking Bad for sure. Definitely one of the top shows of all time.

these type of questions and the way you put GoT a tier below The Wire, The Sopranos and Breaking Bad are moving us towards the inevitable discussion of the best top5 shows ever that we'll have one day soon I fell.

I've mentioned my binge of all binges a few times so I will rank them at least. Would take me awhile and thought to remember which shows I have watched to go from all time. But over the last year I have streamed 12 shows, only one is currently on TV, with 3 still having future seasons.

Tier One
The Wire
Breaking Bad

Tier Two
True Detective

Tier Three
The Sopranos
Game of Thrones
Sons of Anarchy

Tier Four
Friday Night Lights
Dexter
Six Feet Under
Orange is the New Black
Entourage

Tier Five
House of Cards

[fatlever]

I have a spreadsheet where I keep my rankings of my favorite TV shows (dramas). Is anyone surprised? Of course not.

My top 3 is rather rock solid. The rest kinda changes based on seasons of shows and my mood.

1. Spartacus - I just love love love this show. The over-the-top gory fighting scenes, the near porn orgies, the political plot twists and the awesome old-school latin dialogue.

2. The Wire - for all the reasons Lamar mentions

3. Breaking Bad - yup, its that good.

[AttitudeAjusta]

What is one show that you'll stop and watch when its on no matter what, and it doesn't get old all year?

The Wire - it's the best series ever, it's genius and I swear that you might have seen an episode of it for five times (I've been there) and there's still something you didn't quite catch.

You know I watched that entire series and the only thing I liked about it were the scenes depicting the streets, Omar, gangs, etc. which was like a good 60% of the show IIRC, luckily for me.

I didn't care much for NcNulty, his partner or any of the higher-level/ legislative stuff, I found all of that legal/court sh*t boring.

But that was like 6 years ago and I've gotten a lot older and wiser since, so maybe I'll have to re-watch that series and find a new appreciation for it, along with some of the things I didn't catch at first like you were saying

[LamarMatic7]

What is one show that you'll stop and watch when its on no matter what, and it doesn't get old all year?

The Wire - it's the best series ever, it's genius and I swear that you might have seen an episode of it for five times (I've been there) and there's still something you didn't quite catch.

You know I watched that entire series and the only thing I liked about it were the scenes depicting the streets, Omar, gangs, etc. which was like a good 60% of the show IIRC, luckily for me.

I didn't care much for NcNulty, his partner or any of the higher-level/ legislative stuff, I found all of that legal/court sh*t boring.

But that was like 6 years ago and I've gotten a lot older and wiser since, so maybe I'll have to re-watch that series and find a new appreciation for it, along with some of the things I didn't catch at first like you were saying

It seems like you consumed it as a regular cop show drama and didn't quite buy into it's larger meaning.

I didn't mean to sound snobbish, by the way, and I hope you don't take it the wrong way since you, yourself, admit it that you watched it a long time ago.

[LamarMatic7]

my top5:

1. The Wire
2. Breaking Bad
3. True Detective
4. The Prisoner - a 60s British TV series. A secret agent is abducted and taken to a bizarre village on an island which serves as a prison. He's referred to by his number and the powers that be try to get secret information from him. There's this feeling that he idea is superb, yet not perfectly executed due to demands from the TV station (not as much as this is the case with Twin Peaks) though.
5. House MD

I have The Sopranos up there and I might be stubbornly trying to prove a point by not making them #5, but I feel a certain lack of a message and lack of a deeper meaning about the series. It's a fun ride but it almost feels like a too long Goodfellas TV series. (and, by the way, that train of thought isn't affected by the controversial finale)

[fatlever]

I have a spreadsheet where I keep my rankings of my favorite TV shows (dramas). Is anyone surprised? Of course not.

My top 3 is rather rock solid. The rest kinda changes based on seasons of shows and my mood.

1. Spartacus - I just love love love this show. The over-the-top gory fighting scenes, the near porn orgies, the political plot twists and the awesome old-school latin dialogue.

2. The Wire - for all the reasons Lamar mentions

3. Breaking Bad - yup, its that good.

found my spreadsheet. took me a while and its a bit outdated. hard to truly rank a series until its done, so current shows still fluctuating. the rest of the top 15 probably looks like this

4. Mad Men - its slow but brilliant

5. Walking Dead - could fall depending on what happens, dont see it going any higher. hasnt been as good lately.

6. Hell on Wheels - my favorite current show, keeps getting better and better.

7. True Detective Season 1 - both Woody and Matthew were amazing

8. Game of Thrones - another that could rise or fall depending on future seasons

9. Friday Night Lights - last few seasons were pretty bad but the rest were fantastic.

10. Fargo - gets in the top 10 based on Billy Bob alone

11. Deadwood - really should have ended higher, but it kinda fell apart in season 3 and they never really got to finish it properly due to the writers strike.

12. Six Feet Under - I actually prefer it to Sopranos in the overall rankings

13. Sopranos - i hated everyone by the end, which made it hard to watch, kinda like how i feel about Sons of Anarchy

14. Sons of Anarchy - I actually loathe watching it now. they should have ended it two years ago.

15. Prison Break - great for the first few years, awful at the end. hard to rank as a result.

16. Weeds - another show that was great for the first several years and awful at the end.

(random thought - i wish more shows would just end the show when it needs to be ended and stop getting greedy by extending for extra seasons. so many great shows have been ruined this way. at least breaking bad did it right)

17. Battlestar Galactica - back when Grace Park weighed more than 80 lbs.

18. Homeland - if they had stopped after season 1 it would have been top 10. I gave up after season 2.

19. True Blood - another show that was great, then awful. i stopped after season 5.

20. Shameless - i stopped halfway thru season 3. Just couldnt take anymore drama. Almost worth top 10 for the crazy hot fake wife of steve. Lip is a great character though.

[fatlever]

4. The Prisoner - a 60s British TV series. A secret agent is abducted and taken to a bizarre village on an island which serves as a prison. He's referred to by his number and the powers that be try to get secret information from him. There's this feeling that he idea is superb, yet not perfectly executed due to demands from the TV station (not as much as this is the case with Twin Peaks) though.

my dad used to make me watch this prisoner with him when i was a kid. all i remember was this big ball that would come around chase people (or did i make that part up)?

[BlackOutBuzz]

What is one show that you'll stop and watch when its on no matter what, and it doesn't get old all year?

Definitely The Office (U.S.) for me. That's not to say there aren't low points (Season 6 is integral to the story, but lacks comedic value compared to the other seasons), but even those are better than most comedies. Whenever I catch it on I'll watch even though I own every episode.

Sent from my SM-G900V using RealGM Forums mobile app

[fatlever]

i forgot two comedies on my current list, both HBO shows - Veep and Silcon Valley.

[Diop]

any arguments with Dexter winning worst finale of all time?

that last season was such a drag and the finale just totally ridiculous.

2 old shows that I can watch whenever they're repeated are MASH and Fawlty Towers.

Both brilliant in different and John Cleese is borderline insane. He put the co-star in hospital once with some of his slap stick comedy.