***Official TV sitcoms and Series recommendation thread***

[Penneywize]

Watched Dead Set. It was pretty good. Really short though, I sincerely thought there'd be 5 episodes of ~45 minutes each, not a 45 min premiere then a series of 22.5 min epsiodes :/

Anyway. I suppose the overall plot isn't all that involving and is somewhat predictable overall. Also a great deal of piss poor decisions on the part of the protagonist and their buddies. You'd think people would catch on in terms of how to deal with fucking zombies.

[Penneywize]

They're establishing what happened in the gap of time. A necessary evil. Keep going.

What happened to Portia? Is Ellen that hard on a woman?

My fucking god. I was kind of upset at first because I was quite sure they had re-casted that role. I head on over to IMDB and look her up and bam, here are pics of her at the Netflix premiere for AD. WTF? Yes, it's still her, apparently. Man, did she ever have a lot of work done.

She just doesn't look like the same person anymore. How vain do you have to be in order to want to look younger to the point where you don't even resemble yourself? Fucking sickening.

Before:



EDIT: another "before"



After



Fuck that looks terrible...

[jackvance]

So it is possible to do what movie villains sometimes do, use plastic surgery to become unrecognizable.

[Penneywize]

I have... nothing to add to that...

On a sidenote, I fucking hate Lena Dunham, and all of you men who've publicly admitted to watching 'Girls' should step on a lego piece, stub your toe, or accidentally hit your head into a drawer while bending over as punishment.

Seriously, fuck that bitch.

Untitled.png

[Penneywize]

Just realized my 2000th post was one professing my hate for Lena Dunham. I approve of this.

[wufwugy]

Why do you hate "Girls" so much? I can't stand it either and have thoroughly explained why earlier in this thread, just curious your reasons

[Galapogos]

They're establishing what happened in the gap of time. A necessary evil. Keep going.

What happened to Portia? Is Ellen that hard on a woman?

Yeah I've watched a few more now and it's definitely good. I even rewatched the first two since I watched them semi-distracted which is a bad way to watch AD since the gold isn't the big setups. Still not a fan of the first episode but like you said, it's a necessary evil.

And yeah, Portia is really hard to look at now. I always wonder if people like her are sporting a botched job and good ones sneak by without us noticing, or if this is what they expect it to look like and actually think it looks good.

[bode]

It starts rough, but definitely gets better. At least a good chunk of the Tobias episode is back to old form. I'm only down 5 eps

i'm 5 eps in also. i think they have gotten progressively better so far with the Tobias ep being on par with the originals. cant wait to finish them up this week.

[Penneywize]

@ Wuf I've never watched any "girls", just heard about it, and read a news article or two about Dunham. Enough for me to greatly dislike her and want her to fail somehow. Apparently she got a 3.7 mil advance on a book deal? For this bitch who (I've heard others say) can't write anything to save her life? Is Girls well-written? Or is it just a bunch of trite bullshit as I'm imagining it is?

[wufwugy]

@ Wuf I've never watched any "girls", just heard about it, and read a news article or two about Dunham. Enough for me to greatly dislike her and want her to fail somehow. Apparently she got a 3.7 mil advance on a book deal? For this bitch who (I've heard others say) can't write anything to save her life? Is Girls well-written? Or is it just a bunch of trite bullshit as I'm imagining it is?

It's not well-written and is mostly trite

Its only redeeming quality is some interesting dialogue and perhaps rare nifty social interactions, but it strays heavily from all the long-established aesthetics that make good storytelling and character construction. Every good story anybody has ever read revolves around protagonists struggling with conflict and the effects and resolution of the struggle, but Girls doesn't do much of that. Instead, Girls uses conflict flippantly and as a prop to give an illusion of plot and character development as justification for trying to be unique and write about entitled brats who do nothing but be entitled brats. Each episode is just a reset where the main characters learned nothing from the previous episode even though it was claimed that they did. But even then, that wouldn't be bad if it was a deliberate motif. But it's not a deliberate motif, it's just immaturity trying to act like immaturity is special

In one of the earlier episodes, Dunham's character claims she thinks she's "the voice of this generation". I think she actually means that, and she thinks she's being unique and expressive by making a rebellious show about a "rebellious" generation. That's an okay idea, but the way she goes about doing it is not. The way she does it is by using foils as an excuse to keep the protagonists the same. It's a strange idea since the foil is supposed to help drive development, not hinder it. The show basically flipped the character roles on their head and made the foils dynamic characters while keeping the protagonists as static characters.


tldr: the protagonists are static characters and the side characters are dynamic. The writers act like every day is friday, friday, gonna get down on friiiiday

[drmcboy]

finished AD today... 11-15 are pretty great, but the ending was very sudden and I felt unresolved with some of the plot lines, re watching may help.

[a500lbgorilla]

I've glanced around at a bunch of mixed reviews for AD and all sorts of other nonsense. I thought it was delightful. I genuinely enjoyed it. I think there's a natural voice in peoples heads that keeps asking "is this as good as expected?" "is this as good as it was?" but it's obvious almost immediately that the show was going for new and nuance ..newance.. and that it was doing it well.

And I'm pretty sure the episodes were meant as a prelude to some feature length motion picture...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0901469/

And on the message boards "Season 4 Just not as funny" posted on May 26th... the day the episodes were released. Come on!

"I have to agree with the OP here. I have watched the first five episodes and am disappointed. I loved the originals and it was up there as one of my all time favourite comedies, but so far the format is not working for me. "

Come on!

[d0zer]

Yeah I don't agree with the new AD hate at all, I think it's as good as it ever was. I didn't fall in love with the show after the first few episodes when I first got into it, and I found the same thing with the new episodes. With the new plots they introduced, it took a few episodes to get all those inside jokes & callbacks flowing, but once it did then I found it as good as ever. The intersecting storylines with every ep focused on a different character works really well for the AD style of inside jokes.

People do have a tendency to over-romanticizing things and then being let down when the reality doesn't live up to what they've built up in their minds. I imagine that's operating here too. Let's be honest, the original AD was great, but there were a few dud eps here and there, and I've certainly enjoyed some of the new ones less than others.

But overall I'm too happy to have AD back to shit on them at all.

[BennyLaRue]

I was very pleasantly surprised by AD (have watched all 15). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that in terms of character development and the attention to details, both meta and minor, this was maybe better (yes, BETTER) than any of the previous seasons. If nothing else, to return to characters so long after they were first aired and to have the gap in time represented as something meaningful, it's shockingly impressive.

Mitch Hurwitz deserves all the awards.

[Penneywize]

Yep, S4 of AD was great, fuck all those hating idiot old-AD fanboys.

[Galapogos]

I don't see how anyone can't think A New Start is of the best AD episodes ever.

[rong]

I've never watched the show before, just watched S02E01, it's hilarious.

[drmcboy]

I def think the dullers eps may seem better on re watch, sometimes all it takes is one good call back that I may have missed the first time to make a 1 minute dud scene awesome.

I thought the biggest problem S4 were the scenes with everyone together - maybe it was rushed because of scheduling, people's egos have changes, no one recognized Portia, w/e, but the chemistry just didn't seem to be there. That is a big change from the old seasons where family parties were always amazing. Also not enough maibe for me.

OTOH, they get soo much more out of Ron Howard, longer eps are great (maybe only George sr seemed too long?), all hail AD. If this is it I doubt another 50+ep show can ever do much better.

[bode]

I def think the dullers eps may seem better on re watch, sometimes all it takes is one good call back that I may have missed the first time to make a 1 minute dud scene awesome.

I thought the biggest problem S4 were the scenes with everyone together - maybe it was rushed because of scheduling, people's egos have changes, no one recognized Portia, w/e, but the chemistry just didn't seem to be there. That is a big change from the old seasons where family parties were always amazing. Also not enough maibe for me.

OTOH, they get soo much more out of Ron Howard, longer eps are great (maybe only George sr seemed too long?), all hail AD. If this is it I doubt another 50+ep show can ever do much better.

i still have 2 eps to finish up, but i think it was the lack of scenes with more than 2/3 people that makes this season a bit different. Some of the great scenes from the first 3 seasons were with more of the cast together.

[wufwugy]

god why do people love don draper so much? he's the biggest fucking douchebag. do people even know what a douchebag is anymore?

it's because he's smooth. it doesnt matter how bad a person you are if you're smooth

[rong]

I got that confused with Don Logan and was about to shout at you from my office.

[drmcboy]

#doneWithDon
#aLotMorePeteCampbell
#wHATaBOUTrOGER

[boost]

Strike Back:

It started on BBC, supposedly it sucked, s02 is a reboot on Cinemax. Completely new cast and characters, just generally the same premise, so you don't need any backstory and watching s01 is absolutely not required.

I'm two episodes deep into the show (s02) and it is amazing. I mean, I need to qualify that: It's a pure shoot em up action show, but it feels like it was pulled straight from the late 80's/early 90's but with subscription cable quality production value and gratuitous sex scenes and even more over the top violence. Of course the characters are cardboard cut outs of genre cliches, and the plot is paper thin, but that doesn't stop us all from loving the early Die Hards, does it?

I'm typically not a tune in and turn off the brain TV viewer, but rare is a show which packs the episodes with this much high production action and manages to string the hail of bullets and explosions together with fun, if cliche, plots and titties.

[surviva316]

If you're ever bored and looking for a way to kill 45 mins, I highly recommend QI (Quite Interesting, British game show). I could listen to Stephen Fry tell me interesting facts all day long, they have great guests and Allen Davies is a solid regular. I personally started by flying through all the episodes with David Mitchell (since he's basically my messiah), and he's truly brilliant in all of his appearances. You could start with those, or maybe I'd maybe recommend starting with the one with Dr Brian Cox (Incomprehensible, Season I [the letter], Episode 7) because it's the best balance of humor and legitimately awesome facts. It's a game show, so it's not a GOAT, you'll-totally-get-sucked-in show, but it's a really enjoyable way to spend 45 mins, and I regularly use facts I learn from the show to spruce up irl conversations.

I'm sure I've mentioned Home Movies in here before, but you really do need to give it a try. Or if you're already a Home Movies fanboy/girl, then I wouldn't be scared away by the mainstream veneer of Bob's Burgers. It's not as good, but it has the quirky character humor and, of course, inclusion of H Jon Benjamin that helped make Home Movies so great. The pilot's good, or you could start with "Art Crawl" to get a good idea of what you're in for.

Those are far from my top 3 favorite shows in the universe, but I thought they were the best candidates for ones that might be overlooked.

[d0zer]

anyone watching orange is the new black? I was hooked after ep1. pretty solid.

[Savy]

I'm sure I've mentioned Home Movies in here before, but you really do need to give it a try. Or if you're already a Home Movies fanboy/girl, then I wouldn't be scared away by the mainstream veneer of Bob's Burgers. It's not as good, but it has the quirky character humor and, of course, inclusion of H Jon Benjamin that helped make Home Movies so great. The pilot's good, or you could start with "Art Crawl" to get a good idea of what you're in for.

+1 on the Bob's Burgers (favourite cartoon atm) and QI is always a decent way to kill 30-45mins.

Speaking of Home Movies, I tried watching Dr. Katz the other day and although I didn't really give it a fair chance the first 15minutes really really bored me and the animation annoyed me (but I could get past that I suppose) have you seen it and is it worth giving a proper try?

I intend on watching Home Movies next, watching "The Critic" atm which is another cartoon you may have seen. Seems pretty average so far, but only just starting my 4th episode.

[boost]

anyone watching orange is the new black? I was hooked after ep1. pretty solid.

Deanglow is trying to get me to watch this. The trailer I watched looked like it was better than most TV, but it didn't particularly appeal to me. Also with BB coming back, I'm not sure I want to get into any more hour long dramas. I've already got BB, GoT, BE, The White Queen, The Walking Dead (for the luls, ldo), The Bridge, and House of Cards.

[fjuanl]

I didn't think I'd like Orange is the New Black but figured I'd try it out. Wasn't blown away by the pilot but I got hooked. Its kind of like Lost where you learn about what all the characters are like in a bad situation (stranded, prison) and flashbacks of their 'normal life'. Good show to watch late at night when you don't feel like thinking too much. Also the blond is really hot.

[wufwugy]

^^ ONB is fantastic. Ditto on the pilot not captivating; they crammed so many flashbacks into it that it never gained much momentum, but I understand why they did it. The flashbacks become more integrated after the pilot.

The show has potential for top character development. Not in just exploring the characters, but in changing them as well.

[wufwugy]

I think a reason Sopranos stands out is because Tony stands out, and Tony stands out because he's meant to, because he's the focus in ways other serial television haven't made single characters the focus and he often bares his soul in therapy. I think that before BB, BWE, and GoT, it could be said that Tony is the most fleshed out character ever, but that will probably change if Nuck or Arya or a few others get enough screen time. It could be argued that he's neck and neck with Walt, depends on how you want to look at it. I give Walt the edge because I think his development has been more sophisticated. Sopranos laid everything out early and kept going over a lot of the same stuff. Tony never had much of an arc and much of his development was told more than shown. He is sorta the opposite of Nuck, of whom we only know how he feels based on piecing together his behavior. Instead, Tony tells us how he feels, he tells Melfie, tells Carmela, tells Chrissy. Walt is somewhere in the middle and has an unmatched arc. He's a revolutionary character (but so is Tony). Where Tony never changes, Walt does, but in that change Walt still holds his key principles and my best prediction for how the show ends is Walt fulfilling those convictions

Nuck will probably end up being too cryptic and too unlikable, Arya and other GoT will probably end up not getting enough screen time. It's a shame Rome and Carnivale weren't finished. Rome had the best cast of characters for a long time, but now GoT is probably better in that regard. And Carnivale had, well, the GOAT who was never able to be fully goated due to the show ending so early

It has been too long since I watched SFU, so I can't comment. I recall it having better overall character development than any other, but still less focus on one individual. Wire is kinda similar. It is up and down in character development. Ones they focused on, like Bubbs, are amazing, but others, like Bunk, are still great fun but not amazing

[wufwugy]

Always forget Mad Men. Honestly I think Pete Campbell is a better character than Draper. So there

[bikes]

Always forget Mad Men. Honestly I think Pete Campbell is a better character than Draper. So there

FINALLY! SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME

[boost]

Bunk's development is a glowing example of how The Wire was able to do more with less, more so than any other show out there. The overall slow burn of the series combined with the writer's ability to apply minimalism to dialogue, scenes and entire arcs is a big part of what sets it apart from the rest for me. GoT is very similar to me. Varys, or even more so Pycelle have had relatively little screen time considering how clear of a portrait we have of them.

[wufwugy]

FINALLY! SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME

He feels human. Draper just feels like an idea that people think is human

[wufwugy]

Bunk's development is a glowing example of how The Wire was able to do more with less, more so than any other show out there. The overall slow burn of the series combined with the writer's ability to apply minimalism to dialogue, scenes and entire arcs is a big part of what sets it apart from the rest for me. GoT is very similar to me. Varys, or even more so Pycelle have had relatively little screen time considering how clear of a portrait we have of them.

Yeah Wire had a way of making things real. It didn't need to stick to any rules because it just made everything real and things fell in place.

[wufwugy]

Also Britta's hotter

[bikes]

Also Britta's hotter

thats simply not true.

[wufwugy]

You're right, it's not. But still, she's hotter to meeeeeeeeee

I like the bone structure, the dorkiness, and that she's so eager to be taken advantage of

[wufwugy]

I think my favorite female roles are still Atia and Servilia from Rome. They didn't fit any of the traditional roles we think of for women: mothers, wives, tomboys. But they were strong, smart, unique, and honestly my most interesting part of the show. Other than Lucius Vorenus ofc, who was just a stone cold bad motherfucker

Such a shame it was cancelled. The ratings were good and most of the sets were already made, but because of inefficiencies in logistics, like keeping horses, it was dumped

[surviva316]

You're right, it's not. But still, she's hotter to meeeeeeeeee

I like the bone structure, the dorkiness, and that she's so eager to be taken advantage of

Do you find yourself feeling weird inside whenever you watch Michael Jackson dance?

[boost]

and that she's so eager to be taken advantage of

I think I know the quality you speak of, but man does this come across as rapey!

Also, I gotta watch Rome. Rome and Deadwood are both on my to watch list, but I have a hard time getting into cancelled shows since my heart was broken by Firefly.

[bikes]

I think my favorite female roles are still Atia and Servilia from Rome. They didn't fit any of the traditional roles we think of for women: mothers, wives, tomboys. But they were strong, smart, unique, and honestly my most interesting part of the show. Other than Lucius Vorenus ofc, who was just a stone cold bad motherfucker

Such a shame it was cancelled. The ratings were good and most of the sets were already made, but because of inefficiencies in logistics, like keeping horses, it was dumped

how the hell can you not mention titus pullo?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?1

[NightGizmo]

Fuck, I haven't watched BB, Wire, or Rome yet, all are on my list. I have to make a decision whether I start watching one of them or start watching season 2 of Newsroom that's piling up on my DVR.

Different category of TV show, but does anyone watch Wilfred?

[surviva316]

I think I know the quality you speak of, but man does this come across as rapey!

Wufwugy on how to satisfy women: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SANlo0RxoE#t=1m18s.

[boost]

Fuck, I haven't watched BB, Wire, or Rome yet, all are on my list. I have to make a decision whether I start watching one of them or start watching season 2 of Newsroom that's piling up on my DVR.

Different category of TV show, but does anyone watch Wilfred?

Lol, Newsroom is awful television. I stuck with it through the first season finale, but so much of it was just cringe worthy. Step it up, dive into The Wire.

[wufwugy]

newsroom is what you watch when you have nothing else

dont like wilfred on account of lack of funny. australian mac in a bunny suit doesn't suffice

something about titus pullo just never sat right with me. cant say what. he's a strong character though. but i wouldnt say he achieved vorenus' level of badass. being fucked by the gods will have that effect

[wufwugy]

not my fault. she's asked for it

[wufwugy]

if vorenus and pullo were lennie and george, pullo is definitely lennie

[wufwugy]

i never understood the love for deadwood. that one fight scene in s3 was epiiiiiiiic, but that's pretty much it











the many faces of deadwood's timothy olyphant:

happy



sad



frustrated



peckish



murderous



playing with kittens

[NightGizmo]

Lol, Newsroom is awful television. I stuck with it through the first season finale, but so much of it was just cringe worthy. Step it up, dive into The Wire.

I wouldn't say it's awful television (there's much, much worse out there), but I also wouldn't put it into "Best Shows" lists; it's entertaining. But you're right, I need to watch The Wire instead, good plan.

[bikes]

this is just better.

[surviva316]

the many faces of deadwood's timothy olyphant:

happy

sad

frustrated

peckish

murderous

playing with kittens

You forgot about Blue Steel.

[jackvance]

zzz let's talk about got some more

[bikes]

once i am done with work this week i am marathoning the wire and breaking bad in that order.

[bikes]

i have mixed feelings this season on boardwalk empire.

[bikes]

zzz let's talk about got some more

there are leaked pictures from this season =(

[wufwugy]

i have mixed feelings this season on boardwalk empire.

me too. i think every bwe season starts similarly, though. i suspect s4 will be worse than s3 though. partly because s3 had the perfect characters for an exciting plot, and partly because it appears the writers are focusing more on conflicts within each individual season instead of overarching ones between seasons.

[jackvance]

there are leaked pictures from this season =(

Yikes I have to stay away from reddit for a while then?

[bikes]

Yikes I have to stay away from reddit for a while then?

probably for the next 12 hours at least.

[wufwugy]

TWD is my new favorite show. It's just so awesomely bad.

What they need is Omar. Fighting on the side of the zombies. Stalking one character per episode and killing him. Saving Rick for the series finale, of course. Rick screams "NOOOOOOOO NO NO NO NO" again as Omar blasts his head off

[boost]

TWD is my new favorite show.

I almost lost all respect for you.

[wufwugy]

no way u think i think it's quality

[boost]

Yeah, I mean, it was just a knee jerk reaction of shock and disbelief, until I read the following sentence.

[rong]

I gave up on that show years ago (i think). I don't get why people watch it. I've hears the "it's so bad it's funny" line, but that doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe you guys just have an excess of free time?

[boost]

I watched the season opener, and I was kinda feeling this way last season... its "it's so bad it's funny" charm has worn off. I don't think I'll be downloading any future episodes.

Also, VideoGum stopped doing recaps last season, and that was a huge drive to watch the show, because the recaps were brutally hilarious.

[Renton]

I just marathoned the shield. It's no the wire, but its certainly the best episodic-style cop show I've ever seen by far. It suffers from the familiar problems of other episodic cop shows, capital cases being solved every episode, cases that are more and more outrageous, etc, but the characters are good. And its a rare show like breaking bad that improves over time.

[wufwugy]

wow latest twd ep has got to be the worst so far

[boost]

you cray.

It was pretty good as far as TWD goes.

But, yeah, they're brutalizing zombie fiction.

[wufwugy]

dude, bro, hoss, that alcoholic storyline is woat of all woat, holmes

[boost]

haha, yeah, but we already knew that from earlier this season. Cutty-Dawg continuing to go HAM, then suddenly have a fairly reasonable conversation with Michonne on the flip of a dime was pretty lawl too.

But it's been much much much worse, and you know it.

[d0zer]

I think it's as bad and entertaining as it's always been *shrug*. But you guys pay more attention than I...

[JL]

Last episode was quite bad, but this season has been much better than last season.

[wufwugy]

But it's been much much much worse, and you know it.

I dunno. The bro-down face-off between d'angelo and lil merle was at least as bad as rick crying over lorrie

[boost]

So much of it seems to be editing though. Like, edited well, the actors gave a lot to work with. I mean, when in doubt, more is better, and it can be edited to look good. But the editing is just awful there. They just clearly have no clue. They probably thought that was a super bad ass moment. They're absolutely clueless...

[wufwugy]

My guess is also directing and maybe other things. I have a theory that nearly all actors are good enough to look great with the right direction and editing, but bad directors and editors can make even the best actors look terrible