I’ll repeat The Wire and Mad Men and add the Canadian series Murdoch Mysteries (available on Netflix. ) Hour long crime drama set in 1895 Toronto, featuring handsome but geekish detective who does early forensics and beautiful but geekish coroner. Only 3 seasons out now, but there are also movies which I think are more true to the books than the hour long series. Great characters, good mysteries, and often funny. Can’t speak to the movies yet - the first is next on my Netflix queue.
We also liked A Touch of Frost a British series which has about 12 or 15 very short seasons. Interesting because the TV series is far, far, better than the books. It ran on Mystery, but there are a lot more shows than they showed.
I have a kidney condition that keeps me immobile for hours or days at a time on occasion. What I do is watch old series episodes one after the other to keep myself from going stir crazy. I’ve been know to knock out an entire 13 episode season of a show in one day. I bought the BBC version of Shameless and it was disappointingly short. Apparently only season one is available in US format at this time as well.
Longer series tend to make the time go faster if I am stuck on the couch for a week.
I liked the jail episodes, and I admired the way that a show which had every reason to invent a ridiculous excuse for him to escape being sentenced and go back to business as usual instead decided to try something a little different.
GO. Now. Drop Everything. Prepare yourself for The Best Television Show In the History of the World. (Okay, there’s maybe room for disagreement about this, but really, not very much. It’s certainly a SERIOUS contender for the title!)
'zackly.
Having said that, may I also lend my voice in support of Dexter, which I adore, and Deadwood, which was fucking brilliant, and Mad Men, which I warn you may have a bit of a time warming up to initially, but it will suck you in pretty hard if you give it a chance…be patient.
Definitely give Burn Notice a look. It’s up to season 5 at least now. Newer seasons are not quite as spectacularly awesome as early seasons, but it’s a very fun show with good action, (mostly) good acting, and (mostly) good writing.
If you want a comedic touch, Psych is my favorite comedy on TV. You will particularly enjoy it if you have fond nostalgia for the 80s (though it is set in the present). Funnier by far than anything on network TV, IMO.
I really liked It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, a comedy series. I watched the first four seasons nearly back to back and have now seen all episodes available on DVD.
Maybe it’s one of those “love it or hate it” type shows but if you liked Seinfeld, Curb your Enthusiasm or other comedies about often unlikable characters you may enjoy it.
Right—now’s the perfect time to start. Watch the first three seasons at a leisurely pace (as if that’s even possible), and by the time you’re finished the fourth season will be a few episodes in. That way you’ll get to watch the first few episodes of the new season back-to-back, and you’ll be spared the torture the rest of are going to experience waiting for each new episode to air. I envy anybody who hasn’t seen Breaking Bad. I spent all day on the fourth rewatching seasons one and two, skimming through each episode in about 15 minutes to refresh myself on the high points. Now I’m watching each episode of season three in its entirety, one episode each night until the season premiere. You must see Breaking Bad. You have to—this is not optional. I repeat—this is not optional.
I’ve seen tons of things I would have already suggested posted so far, but I would add MEDIUM as well…series just ended so you should be able to watch from beginning to end.
When this topic comes up, I’m always compelled in my OCD way to bleat “Northern Exposure! Northern Exposure!”… I can recommend Upstairs, Downstairs. And Carnivale is only two seasons, but they are an unforgettable two seasons. And when it gets really hot in August most years, I like to make a gin and tonic, sit under a ceiling fan and watch Jewel In The Crown.
I seriously have not heard of it though. Well, actually, now that I think of it, I may have heard the title in passing in some news story or other, but don’t know anything about it. We’ll put it on the list along with Dexter.
