Can anyone recommend more tv shows to watch?
POSTED BY: Stylinlp38
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 17:13
VIEWED: 16148
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I loved Firefly and Serenity! I hate TV shows. I cant stress strongly enough how I hate television shows. I might sit down with some food and casually catch something on tv. That lasts about 5 min when I have to leave the room. Im pretty much a movie fanatic. The only tv show I could ever sit thru and enjoy is StarTrek and MASH.
All those SciFi shows are just Low B grade garbage which I cannot enjoy.
Then I came across Firefly DVD's. I never experienced Firefly on TV. I got to watch them for the first time on DVD on my 8' wide projection screen. To me Firefly is a loooong movie. Then I went and saw Serenity. Im like the rest of you depressed there is nothing more to watch. So, my question is what else could I watch that isnt horrible tv crap? I did catch Muffy the steak driver a few times and thought it was bad tv. Cant stand StarGate 11 seasons of nothing.
Caught Battlestar Galaga a few times and that looked interesting. What about Some other programs I can rent on DVD? Farscape or Buffy2? battlestar? What would a Firefly fan like?
Help is much appreciated :)
*Analog fans may be blind-but digital fans are deaf*
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I found Farscape amazing and would strongly reccomend that. Felt very much like a Joss show to me, great character interactions. Just make sure you give it a chance, it's a bit slow picking up at the start.(the *main* storylines don't really get going until near the end of season 1, though there is plenty of good stuff before that too)
And of course, Buffy/Angel.
I haven't seen battlestar etc, so I can't really comment on those, or think of any other good sci fi shows.
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Okay these aren't going to be unique, but here they are:
Farscape. This show is awesome, in spite of a few quirky flaws. It kicks ass.
Cowboy Bebop. This is an anime and part of the source material from which Firefly was born. The other was Outlaw Star, which I haven't seen but have heard was also good.
The new Dr. Who is quite good, if you can get ahold of any. This is very slapstick stuff, much more like Red Dwarf. Not to be taken seriously.
Another one not to take seriously and not to everyone's taste is Lexx. As I said in another post, if you keep wishing that Firefly would spend more time with reavers, and maybe in Inara's shuttle during business hours, then Lexx is for you, if not, you might want to leave Lexx 'til later.
Buffy. Buffy is the best show ever. Bar none. Not ever Firefly. In time firefly can compete with Buffy, but at the moment it doesn't have enough material. This is also Whedon.
Don't rush out and see Angel, it's really a lot like Buffy but weaker in many ways. This is for watching once you are out of Buffy eps and still need more.
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I enjoyed Dark Angel for the first season, and some of the second, Buffy was good after they cast Tara, Farscape was one of the better shows I've seen. Battle Star Galactica the new series is good TV in my opinion. lately though I've been getting into shows that run in syndication or re-runs, shows like "Boy meets World", that used to run on TGIF and was slightly more reality based than other shows i've seen. If you like Japanese TV shows anime or Live action I watched the first 3 seasons of Power Rangers during the mid 90's got out of the habit for a more realistic view of life, ie. high school and college, then saw the latest series on ABC family a while ago, and got back into it. that's just me though.
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this is way out of the sci-fi loop thing, but my favorite show on tv right now is Curb Your Enthusiasm. If you don't get HBO, then, well, you're out of luck. Unless you get the DVDs.
It's the only show i watch on TV, besides [adult swim] and conan of course.
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If you don't like "Muffy the Stake Driver," you probably wouldn't like Buffy either. 
I am not a big Buffy fan (interested enough to watch it once, but won't watch it again), but I did like and buy Angel. (Angel had a lot of collaborators who went on to work on Firefly.) So there is a lot of diversity in the way Firefly fans react to other Whedon shows.
Here are other shows that I love and recommend.
1. Profit (created by Angel co-creator, David Greenwalt) 8 episodes only, also cancelled by FOX, but ever sooo clever. Recommended if you like darker series shown on HBO. Maybe take a few episodes to hook you, but it is excellent.
2. Wonderfalls (created by Firefly co-writer, Tim Minnear) NOT sci-fi--got some supernatural/fantasy. 13 episodes only, also cancelled by FOX. Takes a good 6 episodes to get you hooked, so be patient when it seems stupid at the beginning. It gets very, very good.
3. Dark Angel. The first season was quite phenomenal, but degenerated into "fluff" in the second season. Eventually, it came together again, but it was too late. Also cancelled by FOX.
4. Red Dwarf. British sit com, sci-fi but cheesy special effects. It's strength is its writing. It has some of the funniest dialogue / metaphors this side of Dennis Miller.
5. Yes, Prime Minister / Yes, Minister. These series are NOT sci-fi--they are British political satire. But they are my favorite TV shows of all time right under Firefly, because like Firefly, they are consistently "A" quality. Clever and tight script, amazing acting, exceptionally funny.
Can't Take My Gorram Sky 
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Buffy is a fantastic show that has the bulk of Joss Whedon's best work, and it has the same style of humor as Firefly and the same tendency for turning genre conventions on their heads. And don't be afraid to start with season 2. You won't miss much before that.
By the way, Angel was mostly David Greenwalt's baby, and Whedon had very little direct influence on most episodes. But "Shindig" writer Jane Espenson and Whedon both worked full-time on Buffy for the entire series, with Whedon editing every script and overseeing every episode, except for Buffy season 6 (when Whedon was doing Firefly).
Aside from that, I've developed a fondness for Inuyasha on Adult Swim lately. I usually hate anime with a passion, but this is different - in a good way. Kind of reminds me of the old Tom Cruise movie "Legend" mixed with a modern Japanese art film like "House of Flying Daggers."
---
"If wishes were horses, we'd all be eatin' steak."
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You could latch on to some other Joss Whedon shows. That is what I did. I caught on to Firefly first and then gave Angel a try and really enjoyed it. Obviously, the premise is completely different but the same style is there. The playful dialogue, the broodish hero, the "merry" band, the overpowering enemy.
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Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
5. Yes, Prime Minister / Yes, Minister. These series are NOT sci-fi--they are British political satire. But they are my favorite TV shows of all time right under Firefly, because like Firefly, they are consistently "A" quality. Clever and tight script, amazing acting, exceptionally funny.
Can't Take My Gorram Sky
You're a star, you know that? That's one of my all time fave shows! Possibly the best written comedy there has ever been, apart from...
"The Armando Iannucci Shows"
Which aired a couple of years ago and have never been repeated. Or sold anywhere. Gagh. Yet it was the funniest, most interesting show I've seen. Armando gives us a view on the life of the modern Briton, with his inability to kick a ball, a Serbian sniper hired by a village to improve tourism, the dead dancing for God, Jesus returns and heals the sick, but doesn't believe in M.E and people who are witty at dinner parties secretly having their jokes and quips hidden as paper messages inside of their pies.
Armando: "We all have that awful feeling that our lives took a wrong turn somewhere. Usually about eight years ago. We go to work and try not to think on it, try not to think about how after a day of squandered dreams we return home to eat microwave spring rolls and watch boxed DVD sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer alone in our carpeted rooms stained with bitter tears of a life of failure - and yourself?"
Hugh, the lovable old man with confused nostalgic memories: "When 'Return of the Jedi' came out, there were street parties. George V came out to see it, and we were all given a silver sixpence with a picture of Queen Victoria on one side and a picture of Jabba the Hut on the other."
Brilliant. Oh, and yes, the quiet voiced writer, novelist and comedy genius Armando is a massive fan of Buffy. Wonder if he is of Firefly?
As to the big question, go and buy Ultraviolet on DVD at Amazon. It's a highly inventive Brit sci-fi miniseries about vampires. Only six episodes but fantastic characterisation and quite chilling in parts. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash
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canttakesky,
Give buffy another shot. I thought nothing of buffy for my first three episodes. I sat down, watched one, didn't get it, and it happened repeatedly, with maybe one year intervals. Then finally i got stuff in a hotel room and there was nothing else on, and I got hooked. It's a multiple episode thing, these characters grow on you. Certainly if you like angel, and you like firefly, you will like buffy.
angel is a lot less joss, so it's not as strong. buffy, well first six seasons, is a lot of joss.
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