Netflix TV series recommendations

Cafe Society
1

We’re about to finish up the seven series of Prime Suspect and are feeling pretty good that our next series to “get caught up on” will be 30 Rock which we have yet to see the first episode of.

Based on the series we have gotten from Netflix, could you suggest one or more series that we might enjoy?

Ones we have seen:

Bleak House
Dexter
Weeds
The X-Files
Connections
Grey’s Anatomy
Young People’s Concerts
All Creatures Great and Small
As Time Goes By
A Fine Romance
Band of Brothers
The Forsyte Saga
Sex and the City

We may have given up on some of these without making it all the way through every season, but I listed them to avoid having them reappear in any you might suggest.

Series we already know and have watched on TV include:

The Sopranos
Deadwood
Rome
Six Feet Under
24
Bones
House
The Unit
The Shield
The West Wing
The Office (British version)
Sarah Connor Chronicles
Medium
Boston Legal
Flight of the Conchords
John From Cincinnati (disliked it intensely)

I’m sure I haven’t listed all of them. In case you would suggest the Netflix recommendations feature, let me just say that they’re close on maybe one out of five.

That’s why I came here for input.

2

The Wire. The Wire. The Wire. A thousand times The Wire. The single best cop show I have ever seen.

3

Highly recommend Big Love and Carnivale.

The American version of The Office is also quite excellent, but starts off kinda crappy.

4

Thanks! Yes, we do need to get that one going. I know I’ll like it, but I’m not sure she will.

5

I overlooked Carnivale in my saw and liked list. Big Love is one I’ll pass on, even though I hear it’s pretty good.

Yes, the American The Office is a good shot.

6

ER seasons 1-7-ish. The quality drops way down at the end, but these seasons are some of the best TV out there.

7

Given that you have As Time Goes By and therefore might enjoy a British comedy, how about Father Ted or Black Books?

8

Thanks. I’ll look those up for descriptions. We’ve been drawn to the British TV shows mostly by way of Judi Dench and Helen Mirren, with “All Creatures…” being one my wife liked before we ever met. I found it okay, but not a true favorite.

I saw an episode of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes the other night, and it surely doesn’t age well. When it was first-run there was nothing better. Now it’s way too dated. I never could get into the various Agatha Christie things, either.

I’m afraid Black Adder would suffer the same fate, although Hugh Laurie was terrific that season he was on it.

9

I’m currently watching, and enjoying, Gilmore Girls, which is all about snappy dialogue and relationships between mothers and daughters. The former is of course not gender specific – the latter might be.

10

Alec Guiness as George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People.

11

You know, I sometimes forget how much I really liked the Gilmore Girls when it was first on because the last season pissed me off so much. My wife got me into watching it, and it really is very good for the majority of its run.

12

Frankly, though, As Time Goes By is a very light (even twee?) comedy, while Black Books and Father Ted are more outrageous.

13

Can you compare ER with Grey’s Anatomy and House, please?

Before it gets to be a topic, let me mention that I have no interest in trying to get caught up on CSI (in all its incarnations) nor on the many flavors of Law & Order.

14

My wife is even more addicted to it than I am. We’re just about to start the last season.

If you like old shows, I recommend Secret Agent / Danger Man. Very edgy, and Patrick McGoohan is great.

15

I saw most of the episodes to Secret Agent and The Prisoner when they were new.

As for our tastes meshing, I’d say we’re in the 75% range. If it’s too “guy” she won’t like it, and if it’s too “gal” I won’t. But we both like quality writing and gritty themes, as well as the more experimental things.

One show I was surprised I could handle was Sex and the City and I can’t tell you just why. But I had zero interest in seeing the movie and I wouldn’t care to see the series again.

16

Have you seen the “Jeeves and Wooster” with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry?

17

Only isolated episodes, and quite a while ago. Hilarious stuff. Thanks for the reminder.

There was a movie with those guys, Branagh, Emma Thompson, Rita Rudner, and several others. Peter’s Friends, maybe? (I could look it up, I guess). Anyway, it was less quirky/zany than J&W but pretty good.

18

Spaced
Carnivale – already mentioned. Kind of a downer at the end because there was room to do so much more stuff but it just ends.
Brun Notice – Mrs. Intergalactic Gladiator and I just watched the 1st season.
Torchwood

19

I so agree on Carnivale. HBO began messing with perfectly good series in the waning days of The Sopranos and yanked the plug too quickly on so many good shows. I might have been willing to invest time in Big Love if it hadn’t been for that and the fact that ever since Brown Bunny (which I didn’t see – and won’t) I have had a hard time taking Chloe Sevigny seriously. I mean: Vincent Gallo?!

20

Oh, I got another one. Mad Men. My wife and I liked the first season enough that we bought the second season on iTunes so we didn’t have to wait for the DVDs to be released.