Can anyone recommend more tv shows to watch?

POSTED BY: Stylinlp38
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 17:13
VIEWED: 16148
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JCLAST

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 4:50 PM

I didn't read everything, but here are my reccomendations.

The Pretender: I don't know if it's out on DVD, but if you like Alias (or even just the idea), watch The Pretender. It's Alias, but smarter. And it came first.

Stargate SG-1: Great sci-fi. Makes the shift well from monter-of-the-week episodes with arcing stories and back again very well. Some of my favorite characters of all time are from this show.

Stargate: Atlantis: Spin-off of SG-1. Same great dialogue, good characters, and a very interesting premise.

Battlestar Galactica: It's very good, but it's really dark. Heavy on character development and tension. I watch this one every week.

Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles: This one is a CG program from a few years ago. It's a lot closer to the book Heinlein wrote than the movie Vorheven made. Very good, and it's actually got character development to go along with the bug-killing.

SportsNight: This one isn't sci-fi, but it's one of my favorites. Only lasted 2 season on ABC before it got cancelled. It's an Aaron Sorkin (he does West Wing). Very smart, very funny.

JOYFULGIRL

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 5:08 PM

I would DEFINITELY recommend Arrested Development. It's unbelievably smart and funny, which of course means it's in danger of being canceled (Firefly fans can relate). Everyone who's a fan of intelligent, hilarious tv needs to be watching it!

RIVERSGUY

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 5:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by joyfulgirl:
I would DEFINITELY recommend Arrested Development. It's unbelievably smart and funny, which of course means it's in danger of being canceled (Firefly fans can relate). Everyone who's a fan of intelligent, hilarious tv needs to be watching it!

Could not agree more !! We hardly get it over here in the good ol UK, its on BBC2 but they mess around with the timeslots a lot (again like Firefly) so I had to resort to buying and downloading it.

Its so clever, there are so many levels of comedy from GOBs chicken dance or Tobias' freudian slips to jokes that make no sense unless you regularly watch it all ( anyone remember the reclining chair joke??)

Buffy & Angel I love, really really had a huge impact on my life since I was a youngs teen when Buffy came out, so obviously I recommend them.

Other than B&A and of course Firefly I don't really go for SCI FI shows.

I did manage to see The Mountain and was really starting to enjoy that before the WB canceled it.

Again, Undeclared was great but was cancelled. I really liked that and managed to spend 5 mins chtting to Charlie Hunnam about it at the Green Street premiere, which apart from meeting the BDHs, made my year!!

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"The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate vacuuming systems."

"Miranda"

The Original Grr Aggh boy

THELURKER

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:12 PM

Quote:
SportsNight: This one isn't sci-fi, but it's one of my favorites. Only lasted 2 season on ABC before it got cancelled. It's an Aaron Sorkin (he does West Wing). Very smart, very funny.

Incredible show. Tragically cut down before its time (much like Firefly, but at least SN got two seasons). Great writing. I highly recommend the DVDs.

MRWRIGHT

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:14 PM

I must direct you to my recommendation of Veronica Mars:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14288

also, Arrested Development is great, that's for sure.

oh...and Alias Season's 1 and 2...don't worry about 3 and 4 until you get there...they aren't worth it so much...but Season's 1 and 2 are some of the best tv ever (in my opinion)

MEANGOLDFISH

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 6:18 PM

oooh, i should have mentioned Da Ali G Show too. That show is awesome.

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 7:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Stylinlp38:
Basic TV format is to wrap up everything between commercials and end the entire story thread within 42 min is just lame. Every episode with a differant writer and nothing really ever changes. Thats the main reason I only watch movies. I want a TV show that is not a TV show. Firefly was like that except for a few of the episodes.

I'm pleased ('cause I love long convoluted arcs and evolving characters) to note that the trend toward episodic television is fading (thanks in large part to Lost). Arcs are becoming the way to go.

I'd recommend Prison Break when it comes out on DVD (it's on now, but you can't really jump in at this point --you need every episode to appreciate the lead character's Machiavellian genius).

This, by the way, is why I love animé. TV seems to be done differently in Japan, with arcs being encouraged and shows purchased on per-season basis (instead of having to stave off cancellation from episode to episode as they do here in NorAm).

I too am hooked on InuYasha (a tale of humans, demons, and half-demons, every one of whom is "broken" in some way). It's a faerie tale in a "real" world, where there's no "happily ever after" to solve peoples' problems, and where there are no real heroes, just various degrees of villains, looking for something they know not what. It goes from slapstick comedy to epic romance to furious battle to tear-jerking tragedy at the drop of a hat. It's one of the few shows on television that can make me sit up and gasp (tends to happen a lot with people getting impaled. Must be a pattern).

I'd also point you toward Witch Hunter Robin, which has the best on-going mystery/conspiracy plot this side of X-Files. After you finish the series (it goes one season), you'll want to go back and re-watch, because only now will you understand how everything fits together.

Quote:
Originally posted by skyscraper:
I don’t know if your into cartoons any, but check out Gargoyles. It’s by Disney, but you’d never know it unless you saw the end of the credits. I really enjoyed that cartoon. It had a good continuity, character and story development. Its almost like they used Shakespeare as the backbone for the overall development of the story. Before you say Shakespeare/gargoyle sounds like a bad combination I got two words. Space-Western. To me, Gargoyles is the Firefly of cartoons. I think it ran 3 years. I only saw the first season and half the second. I’m actually planning on getting its DVDs sometime soon. If you can rent a season, check it out. You might be surprised.

I second this, but add (sadly) that only S1 is out on DVD. The others may follow if it does well, but it's been out a while now and I've heard no news.

But yeah, awesome. This is the series that made me track down A Midsummer Night's Dream and read it for fun. In high school.

Where else in Disney will you find a hero who witnesses the massacre of his family, then attempts to commit suicide, a non-charicatured villain who manages to redeem himself (but still isn't trustworthy), an evil "princess/witch" who is justified, villains with actual motives (however flawed and irrational), a heroine who carries (and uses) a gun (not a laser blaster either, a genuine nine-mil, bullets and all), and who actually gets shot. (Blood! On screen! In a Disney cartoon!)

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

MRWRIGHT

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 8:30 PM

Quote:
Quote:

Originally posted by skyscraper:
I don’t know if your into cartoons any, but check out Gargoyles. It’s by Disney, but you’d never know it unless you saw the end of the credits. I really enjoyed that cartoon. It had a good continuity, character and story development. Its almost like they used Shakespeare as the backbone for the overall development of the story. Before you say Shakespeare/gargoyle sounds like a bad combination I got two words. Space-Western. To me, Gargoyles is the Firefly of cartoons. I think it ran 3 years. I only saw the first season and half the second. I’m actually planning on getting its DVDs sometime soon. If you can rent a season, check it out. You might be surprised.

I second this, but add (sadly) that only S1 is out on DVD. The others may follow if it does well, but it's been out a while now and I've heard no news.

But yeah, awesome. This is the series that made me track down A Midsummer Night's Dream and read it for fun. In high school.

Where else in Disney will you find a hero who witnesses the massacre of his family, then attempts to commit suicide, a non-charicatured villain who manages to redeem himself (but still isn't trustworthy), an evil "princess/witch" who is justified, villains with actual motives (however flawed and irrational), a heroine who carries (and uses) a gun (not a laser blaster either, a genuine nine-mil, bullets and all), and who actually gets shot. (Blood! On screen! In a Disney cartoon!)

I also second this...or...third it...or..."give a tertiary response regarding it"?...
anyway...Gargoyles is in fact EXCELLENT television even though it's in cartoon form.

oh...and *cough*VERONICAMARS*cough*

DIETCOKE

Tuesday, October 25, 2005 8:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by canttakesky:
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

I too recommend Profit, Wonderfalls, Buffy and Angel. Lost season 1 and Alias season 1 and 2.

NY/NJ Browncoats: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/firefly_nyc

LIMINALOSITY

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Stylinlp38:
I loved Firefly and Serenity! I hate TV shows. I cant stress strongly enough how I hate television shows. I have to leave the room. Im pretty much a movie fanatic.

Right with you. Nothing close to FF

With that in mind, my runners-up, which were probably all mentioned above in order of favs:
Farscape
not as good as FF, but as close as mere mortals may get(but the finale Peacekeeper Wars was disapointing, some of the cast thought they were playing in Sleepwaker Wars)

Deadwood
I rented it and watched it practically straignt thru, just like FF

The Black Adder
Oh my laugh till you cry

Cowboy Bebop
Could indeed be FF little cartoon brother, plus great music.

Futureama
Kiss my shiny metal ass!

Kids in the Hall network comedy was never so naughty

Dead Like Me, hope it don' happen like that!

The Prisoner yes oh yes, but thick

(new)BSG, love it, except the part where they brought Dr Smith from Lost in space Danger Danger Will Robinson!

Lost is good, being lost in the random by missing eps is fun too. Plus, David Fury is kinda Joss peep.

Thanks for the good ideas guys! You always bring me the best violence! I will be checking some of these others.
Netflix yeah

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