Favorite TV shows thread
- Thread starter bonzo75
- Start date
Just noticed this thread, rarely make it past the audio forums ...
+1 on Fauda, Money Heist and Spiral -- most interesting thing to my insular American TV experience was deeper-than-movie exposure to other cultural norms (even if not entirely realistic because ... acting!). Fauda, in particular, was weirdly affecting during pandemic if only because the culture is waaay more touchy-feely than anything I can remember.
Of a couple others mentioned, must admit it took me several eps of The Boys to realize Banshee's Antony Starr was Homelander. Must have been the blond hair ... Anyway, both series bats*hit fun.
Some other series that I didn't see mentioned so far that some might find entertaining:
Counterpart -- double your JK Simmons pleasure
Orphan Black -- n-tuple your Tatiana Masley pleasure
Babylon Berlin -- interwar German detective noir with Baz Luhrmann aesthetics
Rake -- cheeky Aussie barrister
Penny Dreadful -- watch for the Eva Green scenes, stay if you've nothing else to do ...
Hannibal -- operatic eye-candy -- cannot believe this was network TV
Zero Zero Zero -- globe-spanning drug smuggling nuts and bolts
Homecoming -- two very different seasons
Last Kingdom -- great battle scenes and enough pre-Norman politics to make me do a little historical research
The Patriot -- once you've experienced the deadpan exchange of oilfield piping expertise, you'll know whether or not this is for you
The Spy -- wait, when's the punchline ...
Russian Doll
What We Do in the Shadows -- don't know if the most recent season was funnier or if the characters had just grown on me
Archer
Rick & Morty
Too Old to Die Young -- just occurred to me that this 10 ep series would make an amazing screen saver/drug den video background
Parker
+1 on Fauda, Money Heist and Spiral -- most interesting thing to my insular American TV experience was deeper-than-movie exposure to other cultural norms (even if not entirely realistic because ... acting!). Fauda, in particular, was weirdly affecting during pandemic if only because the culture is waaay more touchy-feely than anything I can remember.
Of a couple others mentioned, must admit it took me several eps of The Boys to realize Banshee's Antony Starr was Homelander. Must have been the blond hair ... Anyway, both series bats*hit fun.
Some other series that I didn't see mentioned so far that some might find entertaining:
Counterpart -- double your JK Simmons pleasure
Orphan Black -- n-tuple your Tatiana Masley pleasure
Babylon Berlin -- interwar German detective noir with Baz Luhrmann aesthetics
Rake -- cheeky Aussie barrister
Penny Dreadful -- watch for the Eva Green scenes, stay if you've nothing else to do ...
Hannibal -- operatic eye-candy -- cannot believe this was network TV
Zero Zero Zero -- globe-spanning drug smuggling nuts and bolts
Homecoming -- two very different seasons
Last Kingdom -- great battle scenes and enough pre-Norman politics to make me do a little historical research
The Patriot -- once you've experienced the deadpan exchange of oilfield piping expertise, you'll know whether or not this is for you
The Spy -- wait, when's the punchline ...
Russian Doll
What We Do in the Shadows -- don't know if the most recent season was funnier or if the characters had just grown on me
Archer
Rick & Morty
Too Old to Die Young -- just occurred to me that this 10 ep series would make an amazing screen saver/drug den video background
Parker
Actually, only 2-3 would make personal top 20. After reading thread, which was really more about killing pandemic time than absolute faves, thought I would suggest some alternatives that had escaped mention thus far but were potentially interesting.
Yeah, The Spy was really just a film’s worth of story. But interesting to see him doing reality pranking of an entirely different sort.
Parker
Just finished Endeavor on Amazon. Great British police drama which takes place in the 1960’s.
My favorite of the pandemic was a French series, The Bureau, about the French intelligence services. Great spy series in an intelligent way with wonderful character development over its seasons.
My favorite of the pandemic was a French series, The Bureau, about the French intelligence services. Great spy series in an intelligent way with wonderful character development over its seasons.
+1 on Endeavor. Tried to watch some Inspector Morse but couldn't take the 480i. Also enjoyed Shetland and Foyle's War.
The Bureau - sounds like an interesting recommendation. I am going to give it a try.
Caveat -- personal list is not the same as "best" or "what I would recommend" -- just what I enjoyed. Easier to throw out 20 than stop at 10 ... Other than Babylon Berlin and BCS, tried to avoid unfinished series and one-and-done's (eg Watchmen, Queen's Gambit). Some series not on list I thought may have had better seasons but not as sustained as most of these. The Expanse would probably be on the list but 1) not finished and 2) hard to separate in my head from the books.
Twin Peaks
X Files/Millenium (the saga of Frank Black often overlooked in the Carter-verse, perhaps because network didn't allow it a true final season (though may be too generous to assume Carter had an end-game in hand) -- great Sci-Fi noire
Buffy/Angel
Veronica Mars
Firefly
Battlestar Galactica
The Shield
Justified
BB/BCS (Better Call Saul)
The Wire
Fargo
The Americans
Rectify
Flight of the Conchords
Dark
Babylon Berlin (ongoing, but don't think they'll drop the ball)
Orphan Black
Seinfeld
Rick & Morty
Not ranked.
Parker
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I can see you are quite experienced in the field. It looks like a good selection. I am not sure if I even watched 20 TV shows. Out of your list I enjoyed The Shield, Fargo and X Files.
The harder question for me is how many tv shows I've watched while listening to music with the sound off/captions on ...
That's an interesting concept. Did you have a chance to compare how you perceive a film with and without the original sound and with the music of your choice in the background? I'd imagine it makes a huge difference. My first thought would be that a film without music and sound effects may seem soul-less, but if you like it this way then I guess it just adds a different dimension of entertainment. In my opinion, a lack of sound can be a powerful tool too, but only when juxtaposed with the sounds from a previous seen that were cut off. I would think that the sound in the film is almost as important as the image when it comes to delivering a film's message.
I give full A/V attention to what I expect/judge to be the better stuff and relegate the rest to video background for listening.
The shows I've mentioned were not relegated -- save the non-English-language shows, which have to be read anyway and too often can be atrociously dubbed. (I know enough French to realize that the captions rarely do justice to the dialogue, but I'm not quick enough to comfortably stay with a story en francaise otherwise.) I might rewind to listen to, say, a music hall scene in Babylon Berlin.
I rarely find soundtrack scores compelling in and of themselves, and often they are used as a crutch to induce an affect that the story/acting is inadequate to portray (worst-case: the blare scare in a horror/suspense). So generally I'm not bothered by the absence.
Occasionally I'll "read" the first few shows of a serial (or the first part of a film) and decide to devote full attention -- so hearing the actors' voices for the first time can change my views of the characters.
And speaking of actors' voices, frankly a lot of shows are more entertaining without hearing how poorly some lines can be delivered. With the sound down one won't be as annoyed by acting/dialogue that's not up to snuff. I consider the vast majority of the shows/films I've watched with music on/sound off merely as narratives -- I want to know/see what happens, but would rather use the time to listen to some music as well. (I would say the tendency to "read" TV has increased as the availability of new music has increased exponentially through streaming.) If nothing else, keeping something on the TV in the background can help prevent me from destroying my sleep patterns ...
Parker
I definitely agree that dubbing a film can turn into a miserable experience. That is why if it is one of the options I always keep the original language and put the English subtitles on. It is true that captions rarely do justice, but they are usually one level up.
I see your point regarding irrelevance of the soundtrack which does not reflect actor's acting/story. I am sure your remark applies to many films/TV shows, but I also believe that many iconic films would not be able to convey a message associated with them had it not been for the music/sounds.
Having a TV on in the background, while listening to music. I did that a number of times. However, it is not the same as dedicating your attention to a TV show, while focusing on music.
You know what, you kind of inspired me to try something new. I'll give your method a go the next time I am watching something new.
Agreed. Promising start then reverted to type.
Really enjoyed "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and "Red Oaks" both on Prime.
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