Wondering if anyone could recommend any excellent TV shows. For reference, I just finished watching Better Call Saul, and very much enjoyed the style of storytelling. Also really liked Silicon Valley.
i'm currently watching parks and rec, and finding the humour a bit forced.
That it is. I have watched all 5 seasons at least 4 times over the years and i am just 29.
It’s 2019. What year are you in?? Haha
Can't beat some of the classics 😉
House MD was freaking hilarious and dramatic at the same time
some of the funniest one liners in any TV show
Try Seinfeld, Frasier, Friends, Two and a Half Men, or the original run of I Love Lucy. They are all great sitcoms and if you like just one of them then you have like 100 episodes of basically the same gags.
surely 2 and a half men is not comparable to the others you mentioned. more and more i find that what makes or breaks a sure is the presence or lack of an outstanding actor in the perfect role. examples are jared in silicon valley, saul in better call saul, kramer in seinfeld
I think two and a half men is as good as any of the others I mentioned. The roll was practically based on Charlie Sheen's actual lifestyle. He contracted HIV while filming even, something that was joked about Charlie Harper a lot. The show works because the sets are great, the lighting good, the jokes come at a steady pace, and most of them are about sex and sex is very funny especially when you aren't really meant to be so direct about it on TV. and there is some character development, Charlie does get lonely and starts taking relationships seriously, and his brother does get corrupted by living with him for so long.
personally i find it a bit too 'primetime' and cheap. not to say it didnt have its moments, but its down there with big bang theory in my books. just personal preference.
@belongsinforums: Big Bang theory I don’t like the jokes, but the sets and lighting are even better. Production value on TAHM was high but it’s theough the roof on BBT.
@AustriaBargain: BBT = haha look at this autistic nerd! ahaha and these other nerds too. isnt it funny ahahahha. what!? a girl nerd!? wow. oh and…is that…a blonde bimbo? wow LOL. oh shit! an indian! ahaha funny accent lololol.
@belongsinforums: Yeah BBT never resonated with me, but the jokes are always kind of on the mark for geek culture. I just didn’t find it funny. I can see why people do, but it doesn’t do it for me. I know an autistic guy who was like Sheldon before the show came out, it’s uncanny, so it’s not even that it doesn’t ring true for me.
But jokes about sex are funny and TAHM delivers them well. It was the most popular show on TV because it was consistently funny, just like the original I love Lucy was and is.
@belongsinforums: The jokes and the canned laughter in BBT are abysmal.
This little piece of genius completely exposes the script.
Couldn't stand the distinctive boat shoes and white socks, shorts and shirt wardrobe, though.
“if you like just one of them then you have like 100 episodes of basically the same gags.”
That sounds absolutely terrible.
That’s what sitcoms are all about. Lucy makes a scheme, tries to hide it from Ricky, Ricky figures it out and says “LUUUUCCYYYY!!!” then Lucy looks at the camera and says “wahhhhh”. And it never stops being funny.
That sounds absolutely terrible.
@The Quote Train: It was actually very funny and offers some good insight into. American society and television at the time. Lucy is gorgeous and the show is built around her marriage to Ricky, her Cuban TV entertainer husband. I think it holds up well and is a timeless sitcom despite being made in what the 50s, but the later versions are pretty unwatchable. This is the kind of situation the show likes to set up, Lucy getting in over her head and trying to deal with it, this is probably one of the most famous episodes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI
Another classic is when she decides to start a business selling preserves and is a big hit after she gets an ad on TV, but can't keep up with demand and of course didn't bother checking to see if she's making any profit per jar.
Seinfeld, Frasier still funny, Frasier very well written but perhaps ran a couple of seasons too long. Friends is just a soap opera with a laugh track - not saying it's not good, but you would get more laughs from 5 minutes of Fawlty Towers than the whole run or friends. Two and a half men had an interesting premise, but quickly became boring, I love Lucy had Lucille Ball, but a lot of that has naturally dated.
Frasier very well written but perhaps ran a couple of seasons too long
The story got a bit boring at the end but Frasier himself just became more and more eccentric which IMO kept it good. I still cry that he didn't end up with Claire.
It's also amazing the Kelsey Grammer was completely off his nut for many seasons. Apparently he'd come in for filming, bleary eyed and slurring, they'd yell action and he'd snap into Frasier, do the scene and as soon as they yelled cut he'd drop back into his drugged out self.
@macrocephalic: Yeah, a real pro. I've watched all of Frasier many times and the more I watch the more I focus on his (and David Hyde Pierce's) performances - in a special league for sure.
@fantombloo: Also, they probably chose the right person to play Roz - it was between Peri Gilpin, and Lisa Kudrow (of Friends' fame). A test pilot version with Lisa was shown to audience, before they settled on Peri.
Veep is great.
I also really enjoy Kim's Convenience.
+1 on Kim's! Needed something to fill the void when we ran out of episodes from our favourite comedies on Netflix, and now we can't help but binge on Kim's.
(B99, Schitt's Creek and Great News are the other comedies we like if OP was interested in what they were)
Suits (Harvey Specter)
Suits, The Blacklist, Empire, Power, How to get away with murder, All American
looks entertaining.
.
Thank for this one, gives me more reason to come back to YouTube premium than just cobra kai season 2
Some that haven't been mentioned yet;
Archer
Battlestar Galactica (remake, although the original has it's value)
Black Adder
Deadwood
Fringe
Harpers Island
The Hollowmen
Oz
The Wire
X-Files
.
Add Counterpart to this list.
I'm scrolling down and thinking 'is anybody going to mention counterpart?'
The best part is that it's on SBS so anyone cn watch it for free.
So gutted when Season 3 was cancelled!
Good thing there is a proper, concise ending to the whole series, unlike other shows…
It’s 100% worth the watch.
^this. counterpart is by far one of the best newer shows. Awesome characters, a story that is actually well written and fantastic cast/acting.
+1 for fringe, great character development. Every episode had some crazy Sci-fi twist that would put X-Files to shame. Doesn't try to dumb everything down either, gets real crazy towards the end - just layers and layers of thinking going on.
Modern Family is hilarious
God no it isn’t. It’s a cringe fest. Full of bad acting, clique characters and typical low brow sitcom writing.
There's actually some clever jokes and plot weaving, surprisingly.
It's not surprising.
I liked Modern Family until I realised how laboured and formulaic the jokes were - once you see it you can't get past it, but the jokes are essentially all one liner retorts (in the vein of 'thats what she said')
The humour is totally reliant on the set up, so half of the script uses bizarre turns of phrase to set up jokes. It comes across witty, untill all of a sudden you see through it.
I felt really stupid for liking the show so much :(
After Life on Netflix. I'm not a fan of Ricky Gervais but this series is quite wonderful. You will laugh out loud if you like your comedy black.
Tony had a perfect life — until his wife Lisa died. After that tragic event, the formerly nice guy changed. After contemplating taking his life, Tony decides he would rather live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes. He thinks of it as a superpower — not caring about himself or anybody else — but it ends up being trickier than he envisioned when his friends and family try to save the nice guy that they used to know. Golden Globe winner Ricky Gervais stars in the comedy series, which he also writes and directs.
also not a fan of ricky gervais. his disdain for humans is offputting
he gets extra points from me for what he does for animal cruelty and conservation
what he does for animal cruelty
What's that exactly? Showing off his tofu bowls while he's not munching on corpses?
He loves humans, it's so obvious in everything he says and does inside and outside of his works. What the hell is wrong with you? Sounds like you're the one who disdains intelligence.
I dunno, I think he could be a bit disdainful. I've seen all his stuff and have been relistening to his old radio shows lately. He definitely has a bit of an ego which makes him block out other people a bit and inflate his own intelligence more than deserved, which then turns into some phony appreciation and guidance of others from a pedestal he made for himself.
It's especially obvious in the way he's treated Karl. In the old radio shows, he's either amused by Karl, or yelling at him for being wrong, which then turns into thin excuses to show off how much smarter he is (but only ever with pretty ordinary examples). And then with An Idiot Abroad, he basically presented Karl to the world as a source of amusement for being small-minded, and having an odd perspective on things. And so the show was all about laughing at Karl's intelligence and showing off Karl's opinions and reactions to experiences.
But with his latest show, and with Karls recent show, I get the feeling that Ricky never really understood Karl and misrepresented him to the world. There is a very stark difference in messaging in both of their shows.
In Karl's show, he doesn't push his views, and he doesn't act like he's better than anyone, or that a difference in opinion means that anyone is right or wrong. The other characters have their own lives, and Karl can learn from them as easily as he can disagree. It's a show from a guy who sees other people as equals with unique experiences and perspectives, with nothing inherently superior about anyone. He's famous for his way of thinking because someone else wanted the world to pay attention to him, but doesn't think that he is more deserving of attention than anyone else.
In Ricky's show, he's always the smartest person in the room, he's never wrong about anything, and the other characters only serve to support his arguments. It's a show from a guy who has spent many years thinking he's right about everything, and that other people must be grateful to be corrected because their opinions are obviously wrong. And whose value to him has either been as a source of amusement, or an audience to his slightly above average intelligence.
Ricky might love humans, but he definitely loves himself more.
@crentist: 'In Ricky's show, he's always the smartest person in the room;
Really? - don't think you could say that about Derek.
Surrounded by fans of Gervais that I thought I was the only one who felt this.
+1 for this.
I don't like a lot of Ricky Gervais' stuff - too cringe-worthy - but this show was surprisingly warm and funny.
This show was crap. It was just Ricky being a dick and showing off how smart he thinks he is. None of the other characters existed for any reason except to support his character, and give him undeserved praise or something to put down.
eg it made no sense for the new girl to cry about how much she cares about him, when every single scene with her was just him making fun of everyone else in the office.
Funny thing is, that's what I was worried Karl Pilkington's recent show Sick Of It would be, and why I hadn't got around to it. I watched it right afterwards, and it was waaayy better. Karl made a much better show than Ricky, with better writing, characters, and acting. I was very surprised, and thought it was great. Not some wacky Karl crap either, it's a more genuine and heartfelt show than After Life, with a bit of humour speckled throughout
Sick Of It. download it or whatever, awesome show
I quite liked Derek, another Ricky Gervais show. Was a bit concerned going into it as he plays a disabled person but he pulls it off and it has more heart than anything else I have seen him in.
I like Derek for everyone in it but him. He really doesn't pull it off IMO.
Agreed. I have never like Gervais before, but After Life was amazing. And in typical British fashion, it ended before it got stale.
Just started watching "The Act", it's pretty good. Also started season 3 of Line of Duty.
11.22.63 (another Hulu original mini series) is beyond fantastic too!
Cheers i'll check that out!
Stranger Things
Curb your enthusiasm is the best
2nd only to seinfeld1
Try Dirk Gently! Different style, but definitely best comedy I've ever watched!
I loved the UK dirk, got 10 mins into the US version and decided it wasn't for me :(
You should give it 1-2 episodes. :) It definitely improves. The first episode in particular is very weird!
Banshee
+1
Another huge +1. All other plot complexity aside, some of the best / most brutal fight scenes I've had the pleasure to watch.
4 seasons of gold, just a great series.
4 seasons of absolute brilliance. I was sad that it ended.
Superstore
Atypical
Good Girls (female version of Breaking Bad)
Schitts Creek
Bobs Burgers
And with P& R, stick through to Season 2; 1 sucks.
Love Bob's Burgers.
I am enjoying THE ROOKIE at the moment, its still in its first season abut had about 18 episodes in.
Its stars Nathan Fillion from Firefly and Castle
The Expanse, Justified, Better Off Ted, 30 Rock, The Office(US), Arrested Development(seasons 1-3)
The Orville!
(It took about 5 episodes to settle in to a good flow though)
i gave up halfway thru first ep.
.
Yeah the first time I watched it I did too. I think they realised the slapstick comedy didn’t work and by ep 5 they settled into good sitcom story telling
Love this show! Just binged s2
Yep - if you like Star Trek but think it too itself too seriously you will love The Orville.
Game of Thrones hasn't been mentioned
Recently I really like Love, Death & Robots
+1 for love, death and robots. Threw it on to kill a little downtime due to the short episode format and ended up binge watching the whole thing!
A bit hit and miss for me. I liked episodes 1, 4, 5 and 13 but while a few had some pretty effects the majority felt disjointed, or unfinished even considering the time limitations. The hype was a bit overdone.
Yeah, there were some really well done episodes and some others that were just ok. I could easily watch a whole series based on the first episode though. I need so much more of that story!
If anything it was pretty cool to see a bunch of episodes with a variety of animation styles.
And episode 7 is so HD and crisp I didn't even care about the story, I was just in awe lol
Gotham if you are a DC Comics fan or don't mind either way (Marvel or DC) like me.
Kingdom - Netflix, Korean, if you don't mind subtitles.
The Punisher - Netflix
a neg for suggesting a (what I personally thought) good tv show? what a waste of 5 negs quota… can't imagine what they are going to do with 15 lol
+1 for Kingdom.
It is really good and very tense sometimes.
It's on par or even better than season 1 of Walking Dead
Lost
Game of Thrones
Dexter
(As said above, Orville, BSG remake, Fringe)
I can't believe Brooklyn 99 hasn't been mentioned yet!
NINE-NINE!
Noin noin!
Nein nein!
Seems to be misfiring a bit this last season though. And now that Gina's gone…
NOICE!
Hannibal
Game of Thrones
Sons of anarchy
Mary Kills People (available on SBS On Demand).
Line of Duty. One of those shows where you have to re-watch in it entirety to pick up all the subtle hints you missed first time around.
i stopped watching the advertisement box a long time ago sorry.
I still watch TV but record everything and skip over the ads.
But if anyone asks, I study the ads closely and act on the messages from the kind sponsors. Keep pumping in money and maintaining free to air TV.
oh yes they are doing it all out of kindness…
You're literally using the internet to post this comment, and yet you still think only over-the-air TV exists? I don't even know anyone who uses that anymore, time to climb out from under that rock.
Another vote for Boston Legal, ending each show with two best friends have a scotch and cigar and just enjoying each other's company was almost cathartic for me.