Your favorite shows

[STiFU]

What are your favorite shows? Or don't the darkmoders watch anything at all?

 

I recently started watching Lost, because so many poeple said it was so amazing, but I must say, it's not by far as good as Heroes or Prison Break (First season mostly). I also really like Sitcoms. I got damn many around here and I love the CBS-Monday. How I met your mother and The Big Bang Theory are simply hilarious!! The first one is a Sitcom like every other basically, but TBBT is about four nerds (!!) trying to develop a social competence, which is absolutely funny. One of them, for instance, dresses as the Doppler-Effect on halloween.

[Dram]

I'm a sucker for House. Really well done imo.

 

I'm not one to die for another season of it etc, but I watch it when it's on, though ice skating and hockey takes preference

[Vadrosaul]

The only original shows I'm catching right now are Battlestar Galactica, the new Doctor Who eps, and Sarah Connor Chronicles. Of course, I watch the Daily Show in a regular basis.

[Komag]

I'm in the middle of the second season of Babylon 5

 

My wife and I have loved "The Tudors" first two seasons.

[demagogue]

I think I'll just pilfer my Facebook list.

 

I've liked a lot of cable shows ... the Wire, the Tudors, Sopranos, Flight of the Conchords, Real Time with Bill Maher...

I'm also a sucker for stuff on the Science and History Channels like Master Blasters and Naked Archaeologist.

House and Battlestar Galactica are good ...

I can still stand law-related shows, and Law and Order is still the best (for a lawyer).

In the past I liked, let's see, Frasier, Reno 911, 24 ...

Britcoms like Black Adder and (for some reason) As Time Goes By.

Then there are the Japanese shows ... MXC, Unbeatable Banzuke, etc, and anime ... Lupin III, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Wolf's Rain, Last Exile, FMA, Haruhi Suzumiya...

That said, I hardly watch tv anymore.

[STiFU]

Hehe yeah, Reno 911 is hilarious!! I remember that one episode, where the gay cop accidentally shot someone because he was scared by his suprise party.

 

Gonna have to check out Doctor Who some time. Heard many good things about it...

 

But when it comes to law-shows, I am very choosy.There are basically only two I like, which are Boston Legal and Edel & Starck. Most of you probably woun't know the latter, because it's a german TV-show, with a nice subtle kind of humour.

[Crispy]

In no particular order, the well-known shows I watch which are still current are: Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes. Yes there is a pattern here.

 

Last Exile and Noir get standout mentions as far as anime is concerned... plus most of Miyazaki's work (the elder, not the son) if we're counting movies.

[Springheel]

I'm in the middle of the second season of Babylon 5

 

Ah, you're in for a treat...that's right about where it starts getting pretty good. Third and Fourth season *rocked*. Fifth was a disappointment, since JMS wrapped up the main story arc in season 4 when he thought they were going to cancel it.

[Komag]

Cool, sounds good. I pretty much completely missed the show back when it came out in the mid 90's. The graphics are often pretty cheesy and "bubbly" like old 3D0 or Playstation 1 cutscenes, but it still has a decent "Deep Space 9" vibe and a very interesting cast of characters.

[STiFU]

Well 3d-graphics in TV-shows have never been good. Even Heroes starts looking weird sometimes. Not to mention the black smokepuff-security systems from Lost...

[Crispy]

Yeah, it's true; TV is often where you get the low-end special effects. Having said that, very occasionally, the best "special effects" are the ultra-low-budget ones. Heroes is a perfect example. You know what my favourite effect in that show is? The mind-reading thing, cutting between shots of the guy's head at different angles, playing that sound effect... every time I see it I go "oh that's cool".

 

Especially when Peter meets Matt for the first time and there's a feedback effect. Awesome geek moment there.

 

(To head off the obvious argument: I reckon it still counts as a special effect even though it's so simple. It's a special manipulation of the recorded film to produce an effect; what else does something need to qualify as a "special effect"?)

[Springheel]

Babylon 5 had some of the best sfx on television when it first came out. Some of the larger space battles in seasons 3 & 4 were better than a lot of movies at the time. Of course, it's over ten years old now, so it's going to look somewhat dated by today's standards.

[STiFU]

Yeah that was definitely cool. But Heroes is a totally new chapter anyway. I think it kind of set new standards for TV-shows, like The Matrix did for Movies. The Radioactive-glow effect was really cheap though, but not by far as cheap as the fire and smoke effects from Lost.

[sparhawk]

My favourite show is Dr. House. I also watch some other shows, because my wife watches them a lot. The one I also like is Criminal Intent, but mostly the episodes with D'Nofrio. He acts quite believable and I always like it when he starts that psycholgical talking.

And one show, which I can only watch on DVD, because it is not available here in Germany is "Red Dwarf". It's really a totally funny series. It has this attributes that had several other good shows I also liked. Low budget, small cast, excellent humor and good dialogues. Sometimes I get the feeling that lower budget means more creativity. It was the same with the Monthy Pythons. They had creative ideas, instead of sinking money into "kewl" effects to make up for a bad script.

[Komag]

There is a lot of truth to that low budget forces higher creativity idea. I think that is a very large part of what feuled Star Wars' original success back in 1977, since the movie had a very low budget they had to just make these crazy alien costumes and jimmy-rig the sets and stuff, and they had to really maximize their creativity and ingenuity to make it all work out. It's got a "spirit" that is somewhat missing from the new prequel movies.