Titan Network
Community => Comics and Other Media => Topic started by: Mental Maden on December 22, 2012, 02:22:53 AM
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Every Christmas I try to snatch up seasons of a show I haven't watched before or never finished. One year was the Wire, another the Shield and it all started because I watched a Doctor Who marathon (which got me into the show). So I'm thinking this year maybe Justified or Sons of Anarchy (I've seen partial season of both but would like to catch up). BUT it doesn't have to be one of those.
So I'd love to hear some suggestions or thoughts. A few rules: no cartoons or anime. Nothing against them, just don't fit in "thematically" with what I want. More art than popcorn is preferred. I like well written and well acted better than 'splosions. I already watch most of the pay cable stuff (HBO, Showtime, etc.) I'm not opposed to indie movie or documentary suggestions either.
So sell your suggestions!
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I didn't see "Torchwood" mentioned in your list of shows watched so you might want to grab that if you don't have it.
Just finished watching a doco "She-Wolves: England's Early Queens" presenter is Helen Castor, same person who wrote the book the doco is based on.
The rest of my shows are heavily weighted toward "Top Gear" and "Wheeler Dealers". The only show I watch with any regularity when it is on is "Grimm". *mutters stupid mid season hiatus"
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I recently watched the first season of Once Upon A Time and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
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Fringe. The show keeps reinventing itself via alternate universes and timelines.
In my spy pile there's Burn Notice, Covert Affairs and Nikita. I enjoy them all.
You could catch up on Arrow, not a bad Green Arrow Nolan-like adaptation.
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Need to make sure the bases are covered here.
Firefly
Buffy
Angel
...
I agree, Once is pretty decent, my wife and kiddos love it. I also like Grimm and Walking Dead. Walking Dead is probably my favorite non comedy on TV right now.
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Be careful to who you say "X-Mas" too, some don't seem to like the word.
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-ash3%2F63160_390518804364809_157286818_n.jpg)
That happened last year when i was doing a B.A.F on my TW/Ele Skywave. Wish i could find the rest of it, i had saved the chat log somewhere and shared it on the "Rude Tells" last year but i cant seem to find my back up atm.
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Thanks for the recommendations. Feel free to keep em coming. Already a fan of many and tried some of the others.
Walking Dead- could I have my geek card and not watch this? You betcha I do.
Grimm- Watch it. Love it. Go Monroe!
Once Upon a Time- DVR it every Sunday. It's a little uneven at times, but it gets my respect for fantasy content on network TV.
Fringe- Big fan, I've been there since the beginning.
Firefly- Browncoat.....right here. Thanks to Pepsiman for the recommendation and my cable being out for two weeks a few years ago.
Covert Affairs- tried it, sort of liked it. The blind guy bugs me and pretty much got me to stop watching.
Buffy and Angel I watched on and off over the years.
Arrow and Nikita- Not feelin' these. They seem a little too "CW" for me. But thanks, Santa.
Kat-I watched the Starz Torchwood might have to give the BBC seasons a shot. I'll look for that doc, sounds interesting. Thanks
And Omni- I typed X-mas because I'm lazy.
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Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp)
Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xmas)
It was my understanding that the use of X- was because it was considered blasphemous to use say Chirst or God in vain, even if it was part of a celebration in his honor.
Just proves that ignorance of language is still going strong. Niggardly anyone?
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Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp)
Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xmas)
Niggardly anyone?
Yeah I'm being that this Christmas, Xmas, Holiday. Only a few people kept in contact all year, but many started calling now. So now when it's one of them I just say Bah Humbug and hang up.
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The BBC seasons of Torchwood make the Starz season look like complete and utter garbage, which it pretty much was. They took an entertaining humorous plot filled series and dragged the equivalent of one episode worth of plot for an entire season. I would rather have the series never come back than to come back in that form again. So yes, watch the BBC versions in order.
If you want a very entertaining comedy watch Better Off Ted. I loved this show but unfortunately it was never advertised properly so that the people who would like it never watched it.
Defying Gravity. Great series but be prepared to be upset when you finish watching it. Not because it has a bad ending but because you will immediately want to start watching the next episode which of course doesn't exist.
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Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp)
Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xmas)
It was my understanding that the use of X- was because it was considered blasphemous to use say Chirst or God in vain, even if it was part of a celebration in his honor.
Just proves that ignorance of language is still going strong. Niggardly anyone?
The origins of Xmas according to Snopes; http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp)
Basically it looks to be all Greek to me! ;)
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The emphasis here has been on fictional shows, but a big part of our (sad & meagre) holiday treats for DH and I is always the 'Mythbusters' marathons - there always seems to be some eps we've missed and if they run in chronology it's always entertaining to watch the evolution of the show's production, though I do get tired of hearing 'who *are* the Mythbusters?' after a while and the more times 'don't try this at home' gets repeated the more I contemplate actually trying it :P Another Discovery program I missed more of than i would like and I want to catch up with is Stephen Hawking's Grand Design.
It amazes me how many people do not know the origin of 'Xmas' - I've known this since Sunday School. I do wonder if they think the 'XP' (chi-rho) used extensively in Christian iconography is an emoticon, or stands for 'Windows XP'. Back in the day when everything had to be hand-lettered, I think 'Xmas' was more used and maybe understood - 'Christmas' is one of the hardest words to centre and is filled with difficult letterforms and kerning, 'Xmas' looks much more elegant in practice, especially combined with the standrad prefix 'Merry'.
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Oh oh,
Sherlock - netflix
Elementary - also good
The Mentalist - love love love love this show
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Defying Gravity. Great series but be prepared to be upset when you finish watching it. Not because it has a bad ending but because you will immediately want to start watching the next episode which of course doesn't exist.
Agreed! Loved that show. What a shame it didn't pan out.
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Totally forgot about Defy Gravity. Another interesting show shot down in it's youth.
Sherlock is very good and relatively short in it's two UK seasons.
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Be careful to who you say "X-Mas" too, some don't seem to like the word.
Keep the "Crist" in "Cristmas"! :D
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Sherlock is very good and relatively short in it's two UK seasons.
Ding Ding Ding. We have our first winner. Going to start on this right away.
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dont forget about supernatural if you havent seen that show.
very well written and the 5thseason finale was one of the best ever season finale's ive ever seen.
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We really shouldn't leave Freaks and Geeks off the list. Wonderful show cut down in it's prime, think there are 18 episodes?
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We really shouldn't leave Freaks and Geeks off the list. Wonderful show cut down in it's prime, think there are 18 episodes?
One of my all time favorites.
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Thanks for the recommendations. Feel free to keep em coming. Already a fan of many and tried some of the others.
Walking Dead- could I have my geek card and not watch this? You betcha I do.
Grimm- Watch it. Love it. Go Monroe!
Once Upon a Time- DVR it every Sunday. It's a little uneven at times, but it gets my respect for fantasy content on network TV.
Fringe- Big fan, I've been there since the beginning.
Firefly- Browncoat.....right here. Thanks to Pepsiman for the recommendation and my cable being out for two weeks a few years ago.
Covert Affairs- tried it, sort of liked it. The blind guy bugs me and pretty much got me to stop watching.
Buffy and Angel I watched on and off over the years.
Arrow and Nikita- Not feelin' these. They seem a little too "CW" for me. But thanks, Santa.
Kat-I watched the Starz Torchwood might have to give the BBC seasons a shot. I'll look for that doc, sounds interesting. Thanks
And Omni- I typed X-mas because I'm lazy.
Battlestar Galactica -- Dystopian future/past that wove a lot of then-contemporary issues into its story that are still relevant today. It would rank as one of my favorites. Available on Netflix.
Life -- Starring Damian Lewis, it's a crime procedural, but much more than that with the star trying to unravel the conspiracy that led to his improper conviction. It was a top notch show that suffered because it started just before the TV writers' strike. Damian Lewis is also the star of Homeland. Available on Netflix and Hulu.
Jericho -- possibly the grand-daddy of the contemporary apocalyptic serial. It did a lot more right to capture you than Revolution has (imho). Unfortunately, it did fizzle out towards the end, although fan pressure got an additional bunch of episodes for the 2nd season. Still a good watch. Available on Netflix.
Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles -- The 2nd season went off on a bit of a tangent with Sarah's "visions", but I felt it did a great job of recasting the mythos and basically discarding everything after T2.
Edit: I'm going to kinda sorta recommend Dollhouse too, but with a condition: it really depends on how much you liked Buffy and Angel, since you watched them off and on. Dollhouse kind of follows the buffy formula....it starts with a lot of "mind programming" of the week episodes to establish background, much like Buffy had "monster of the week" episodes. The difference in the two Whedon productions though is that while Buffy had season long arcs, Dollhouse had really a big storywide conspiracy arc, which thus required a lot more background episodes. Those background episodes made the series plod along a bit. When the cancellation order came, Whedon then knew he had a fixed end point and so the season 2 writing got a lot tighter, and better (imho). Still, it was a great ensemble cast that developed relationships really well -- typicall hallmarks of Whedon writing -- and for that I would recommend it.
edit 2: damn, fixed lots of typos! ( ' ;
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dollhouse was one of my fav shows to watch. plus i like eliza dushku too.
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Battlestar Galactica -- Dystopian future/past that wove a lot of then-contemporary issues into its story that are still relevant today. It would rank as one of my favorites. Available on Netflix.
Life -- Starring Damian Lewis, it's a crime procedural, but much more than that with the star trying to unravel the conspiracy that led to his improper conviction. It was a top notch show that suffered because it started just before the TV writer's strike. Damian Lewis is also the star of Homeland. Available on Netflix and Hulu.
Jericho -- possibly the grand-daddy of the contemporary apocalyptic serial. It did a lot more right to capture you than Revolution has (imho). Unfortunately, it did fizzle out towards the end, although fan pressure got an addition bunch of episodes for the 2nd season. Still a good watch. Available on Netflix.
Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles -- The 2nd season went off on a bit of a tangent with Sarah's "visions", but I felt it did a grate job of recasting the mythos and basically discarding everything after T2.
Edit: I'm going to kinda sorta recommend Dollhouse too, but with a condition: it really depends on how much you liked Buffy and Angel, sinceyou watched them off and on. Dollhouse kind of follows the buffy formula. It starts with a lot of "mind programming" of the week episodes to establish background, much like Buffy had "monster of the week" episodes. The difference in the two Whedon productions though is that while Buffy had season long arcs, dollhouse had really a big storywide conspiracy arc, which thus required a lot more background episodes. Those background episodes made the series plod a long a bit. When the cancellation order came, Whedon then knew he had a fixed end point and so the season 2 writer got a lot tighter, and better (imho). Still, it was a great ensemble cast that developed relationships really well -- typicall hallmarks of Whedon writing -- and for that I would recommend it.
If you are unfamiliar with the many threads in the CH/VC section at CoH then you'd probably remember my blasting of Dollhouse. I watched the run, liked some parts, made fun of the show unmercifully.
I watched and quite like Sara Connor.
Watched most of Life if I remember. Damien Lewis is great in anything.
Jericho- watched only handful of episodes, that one will be revisited. Probably not this weekend.
Galactica- yeah, I've got my geek card. Was onboard at the start.
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If you are unfamiliar with the many threads in the CH/VC section at CoH then you'd probably remember my blasting of Dollhouse. I watched the run, liked some parts, made fun of the show unmercifully.
I watched and quite like Sara Connor.
Watched most of Life if I remember. Damien Lewis is great in anything.
Jericho- watched only handful of episodes, that one will be revisited. Probably not this weekend.
Galactica- yeah, I've got my geek card. Was onboard at the start.
I don't recall seeing the threads, but I can appreciate the viewpoint on Dollhouse -- I watched the first 3-4 episodes when it started, tivo'd everything, but only watched it after cancellation. It might have had something to do with TSCC getting cancelled first, which I felt was much better.
We do generally seem to be on the same page taste-wise-- have you watched Dark Angel or Alias? They've been on my backburner/to-do list for a while now, so not recommendations, other than being on my radar.
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I don't recall seeing the threads, but I can appreciate the viewpoint on Dollhouse -- I watched the first 3-4 episodes when it started, tivo'd everything, but only watched it after cancellation. It might have had something to do with TSCC getting cancelled first, which I felt was much better.
We do generally seem to be on the same page taste-wise-- have you watched Dark Angel or Alias? They've been on my backburner/to-do list for a while now, so not recommendations, other than being on my radar.
If I remember I watched most (maybe all) of Dark Angel and liked it.
Alias is backburnered for me as well. Will put it on my "watch sometime" list.
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I assume you've watched all the Star Trek series? My favorite might actually be Enterprise even though it only got 4 seasons.
or possibly Brisco County Jr? Wild Wild West type fun with Bruce Campbell.
I also liked Legend of the Seeker.
Arrested Development, My Name is Earl, Always Sunny in Philadelphia are all good comedies
I've heard Game of Thrones, and Downton Abbey are good as well. GoT is on my to watch list.
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Pep, you have got to watch Game of Thrones. It is awesome.
Maden, I second Brisco County Jr. You can not go wrong with Bruce Campbell.
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Maden, I second Brisco County Jr. You can not go wrong with Bruce Campbell.
Bruce Campbell yay. Western no! They make my skin crawl. Deadwood being just about the only exception.
To some previous posts: I've seen most Star Trek. Not a huge fan to be honest. I lean Firefly and Star Wars (original trilogy) and I'm one of those that thinks Abrams actually improved a stale franchise. Yeah. I said it.
Arrested Development is one of my top 5 favorite TV shows of all time. Love it! "What are we going to do about the Seaward?"
Game of Thrones? Go look who started the Song of Ice and Fire (the book series GoT comes from) thread. Yeah I've seen it..........a lot. If you haven't you must.......now..........I'm serious......now.
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dollhouse was one of my fav shows to watch. plus i like eliza dushku too.
Seconding Dollhouse. Only 2 seasons, but it wraps up everything very nicely.
The Middleman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Middleman_(TV_series)) only lasted 12 episodes (and a comic) but I loved every single one of them. It's an incredibly feel good series with an unlikely superhero and an amazing snarker sidekick.
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Brisco County, Jr, is not....a western. Or rather, it is a western in the same sense that Buffy is about high school drama. Seriously, this is one you should not miss.
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Brisco County, Jr, is not....a western. Or rather, it is a western in the same sense that Buffy is about high school drama. Seriously, this is one you should not miss.
Yeah there's so much anachronism in the show I wouldn't really call it a straight western
And have to throw out Leverage out there. This is a show that more people need to be watching. :-) its a sort of Robin Hood con/heist show. Think the best/scariest part of the show is just how many of these cons are real.
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Yeah there's so much anachronism in the show I wouldn't really call it a straight western
Anachronism, magic, ancient gods, for all I know, aliens...yeah.
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Babylon 5. Hands down.
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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Brisco County, Jr, is not....a western. Or rather, it is a western in the same sense that Buffy is about high school drama. Seriously, this is one you should not miss.
Exactly. I put the extra Wild in for a reason. It's like calling Firefly a Western. I've even seen it sited as one of the first examples of steampunk on television.
Legend of the Seeker is a good show if you like Sam Raimi's Hercules, and Xena.
A show I used to like in the early 00's was Special Unit 2. A fun little Men in Black type show complete with aliens, gnomes, and crazy weapons.
A few others: Wonderfalls, Veronica Mars, Warehouse 13, Shameless, Friday Night Lights, Portlandia, Chuck, or go old school with Tales of the Gold Monkey, A-Team, or Incredible hulk.
Although it won't be released in the states until January, you may be able to find it online(like I did), Continuum is an interesting sci-fi series.
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Pep, you sure Continuum hasn't been released in the states?
And Chuck, I only finally caught onto chuck a few episodes into the last season, but from what I saw it was awesome. I need to go buy those, or force netflix to get them.
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Quick update: I figured I'd challenge myself and give Brisco County Jr. a shot. Sadly it's not on Netflix.
I will give my thoughts on shows I watched (some suggested here others from other sources) when I'm done.
Thanks all! Keep them coming. This could end up being a good all purpose "Hey you gotta see this thread" maybe getting others interested in shows/movies they'd never watched.
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Pep, you sure Continuum hasn't been released in the states?
And Chuck, I only finally caught onto chuck a few episodes into the last season, but from what I saw it was awesome. I need to go buy those, or force netflix to get them.
Yeah, apparently Jan 14th on SyFy is Premiere-> http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=96969
Another thing to like about Chuck is Zach Levy started Nerd Machine, and made Trailer Park Heroes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu17yNsg7YM, during ComicCon this year which features the reunion of Mal, Jayne, and Wash. And he's gonna be one of the Warriors Three in the next Thor movie.
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The Science channel gets all the discontinued or syndicated Science Fiction like shows. SyFy gets their series from Canada or down under (stupid Aussie K-9 series ran on SyFy today, yes the Doctor's K-9 but not, this one can fly and regenerate?!).
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Downton Abbey. Oh my word, what an excellent series. The actors are fabulous, the storyline addictive, the costuming and locales are gorgeous and the period is fascinating. Highly recommend it!