What's the Best TV Series to Rent?

TV series I am going to probably purchase:

Shameless (UK version)

Venture Brothers

Freaks and Geeks

Cheers (classic)

Skins (UK version)

Star Trek (digitally enhanced original series)

Star Trek DS9

Doctor Who (all incarnations)

Torchwood

Sarah Jane Adventures

Dead Like Me - My favorite

Carnivale

Firefly

Dr Who

Originally posted by wookiee
Dead Like Me - My favorite

Carnivale

Firefly

Dr Who

replace DR Who with True Blood

I don't know if you have any interest what so ever in the older days but I highly recommend Centennial. If your lucky enough to find it, it starts out with a Frenchman moving into Indian territory trapping beaver for pelts and packing them in his canoe and making the long journey back to sell them. He later abandoned beaver trapping for gold mining.

The series is twelve movies long and is quite refreshing from your every day smoke and smog. Its cast in the time when Indians were run off their lands and moved to reservations. That's not my favorite part of the movie but it is a part of history regardless.
It features - Richard Chamberland and Robert Conrad as the trapper.

Its one of my all time favorite movies. Here is a link as well-

www.imdb.com...

IMHO, West Wing is the best drama ever created. People hear "political drama" and think...boring....but i can tell you, i have already watched it once, and then persuaded my kids (youngest 13) to watch an episode with me, and now they want to watch one every day. It's funny, the scripts are brilliant, fast moving and it's just very good.

I'll second Buffy and Firefly, I've watched Buffy all the way through 6 times now - I need to get a life, but I don't sleep much...

The Wire is stunning, a real benchmark in serialised TV, although Breaking Bad sucked me in more.

OZ is great, HBO and a fore-runner to a lot of current stuff, with a truly stunning cast - although it's quite gritty.

As an aside, you can probably pick up Buffy really cheap to buy these days.

I forgot to mention, for comic relief ...
Laugh-In
Dean Martin's Variety Show.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Modern or retro?

Retro -

Red Dwarf
Blackadder
Freaks and Geeks
Monty Python
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Bottom
MacGyver

More modern -

The Big Bang Theory
Dexter
The Mentalist
Firefly - Seriously if you haven't watched this you need to
South Park
Alias
Boston Legal
Farscape

Oh there are plenty more. Man i sound like tv junkie lol.

Some of the best shows on television, all that I went through back-to-back on DVD and thoroughly enjoyed it much more.

Lost - if you're going to watch this, do it from the beginning and commit to it. Take it right through until the end. Brilliant show and you won't be the same afterwards. One of the best shows of all-time.

The Sopranos - another all-time best. If you haven't seen it yet, I'm sure you're familiar with it. I'll just say that it's a show with a slow pace that makes it perfect for this sort of back-to-back viewing.

Friday Night Lights - the best show on television that nobody knows about. A high school drama set in Texas with the football team as the backdrop. It's the most authentic show on television. Despite poor ratings, the quality of this show has kept it going for five seasons. Again, this is the best show on television that most people don't know about.

Entourage - a fictional television show set in real-time Hollywood. If you like to laugh, you'll love this show. Hilarious without resorting to cheap humor.

Californication - Agent Mulder as a sex addict. This show is as funny as it is serious at times. Three seasons to watch and a fourth starting up soon. You won't be let down by this show.

United States of Tara - Toni Collette is Tara who has multiple personality disorder. It's written by Diablo Cody who is fantastic and Steven Speilberg as an executive director or producer. Two seasons deep and it's a top notch show. I preferred the first season to the second, but both are great.

Dexter - You need to watch this show simply to watch season four. Such a great show!

Mad Men - this show wins Best show at the Emmy's the last 3 years. Even the Sopranos only won it once. Set in the 60's at a New York advertisement agency, it really gives a good insight on how the work place operated back then and the gender dynamics that operated among co-workers. It uses historical events as a small back drop to give you an idea of how much time has passed. Another one of the best!

The Office - funniest show on television and one of the best casts!

30 Rock - I've never been a fan of Alec Baldwin and I've thoroughly despised Tracy Morgan. Then I watched this show. I always try to compare it to The Office, but it just doesn't work. This show is just as good and much more cerebral.

Breaking Bad - a high school teacher who is diagnosed with terminal cancer resorts to drugs to make money. On the surface it seems like a weak plot, but it's not at all. And Bryan Cranston gives some of the best performances you can find on television.

Just to name a few.

reply to post by Gazrok


I was just about to say that Gazrok. I am finishihng season one now.


I also suggest the Sopranos.




Now I despised that show at first.Everytime I turned it on it was violence and violence and abuse against women.
But I got stuck watching a full episode one day and the show ended up captivating me. STill not crazy about the violence, but the rest is good.

John Adams is another one.

Two more:

My absolute favorite: Boston Legal.



Denny Crane. coo coo for cocoa puffs



And Enterprise.

Originally posted by nixie_nox

And Enterprise.

That's heavy man.........

Haven't seen anyone recommend Absolutely Fabulous yet.


TheAssoc.

True Blood
Dexter
Sopranos

I could watch The Wire all day, every day.

As far as I'm concerned, it's a masterpiece without rival. Who else thinks or at least sort-of-thinks-so besides several other awesome people in this thread? Telegraph, Guardian, SF Chronicle, oh yeah, and Harvard and Duke have classes on it.

Beware of reading too far into the Guardian/Telegraph/SF Chronicle links. There are some spoilers.


[edit on 26-8-2010 by bikeshedding]

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Gossip Girl, season 3...lol Just Kidding!

Ummm, if you are into war and mini-series than Generation Kill or Band of Brothers....

reply to post by chissler

Entourage - a fictional television show set in real-time Hollywood. If you like to laugh, you'll love this show. Hilarious without resorting to cheap humor.

Season Seven sucks! It looks like they are running out of ideas. Season Four was cool though...

I also forgot to say, keep away from the mentalist, it is a total rip off of the show Psych on USA..

Well Im currently rewatching Angel,its a great series,5 seasons in all.I highly recommend it,Kyle XY,Smallville,Supernatural,The Gates,The Vampire Diaries.and well everybody already said True Blood so no need for me to say it too.
oh well,yeah if you'd like,watch the series written above, hope ya'll like them

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


The Office

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

M*A*S*H*

Boston Legal

Blackadder

Monty Python's Flying Circus

30 Rock


I could go on forever but I'll stop here.

I would suggest a load of British things but I have no idea if they would be available in the US

I loved Reno 911, but It's not on in the UK at the moment and I miss it!