# Recommend me some tv binge-watching **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995 "2014-06-17T16:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/21 "2014-06-17T20:33:07Z")
Given your tastes, you’ve probably already watched: Lost Alias But, if you haven’t watched them, you’ve got to. Both are produced by JJ Abrams, who’s kind of a genius. I loved Alias and it seems right up your alley. I’m plowing through Lost right now and it’s been amazing. I’m in season three, but my understanding is that there’s a TON of disappointment with the last (sixth) season. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/22 "2014-06-17T20:42:39Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > How about [Bored To Death](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1255913/)? Yay, _Bored to Death_! (I miss that show. I can hear the theme song playing in my head…) The American _House of Cards_ has been mentioned more than once, but I’d nominate the BBC version. It’s a trilogy: _House of Cards To Play the King The Final Cut_ Each is four fifty-minute episodes. Riveting. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/23 "2014-06-17T21:59:21Z")
**The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.** - quirky comedy/western which was unjustly cancelled after its first season. If you’re a Bruce Campbell fan and haven’t watched this, shame on you. **Shameless** , based on a UK series (which I haven’t seen) **Touch** , despite miscasting Kiefer Sutherland. Similar to _Alphas_, but actually good! ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/24 "2014-06-17T23:31:16Z")
I"m currently bingeing Nip/Tuck which is going to be pulled from Netflix 7/1. It’s 6 seasons worth though, so better get crackin’ if you want to catch it. ---
**Author:** ![pythonzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@pythonzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pythonzzz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/25 "2014-06-18T03:15:02Z")
Some more Brit series: Fortysomething - 6 episodes (stars a pre-House Hugh Laurie, pre-Sherlock Benedict Cumberbatch, and pre-Who Peter Capaldi) Case Histories - 2 seasons, so far New Tricks - multiple seasons Blackout - 3 episodes (stars Christopher Eccelston, Andrew Scott) Inspector Lynley / Inspector Lewis - multiple seasons Doc Martin - multiple seasons (stars Martin Clunes) The Town - 3 episodes (stars Martin Clunes, Andrew Scott) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/26 "2014-06-18T04:03:39Z")
**Boardwalk Empire Sons of Anarchy** **The Fall** (a British crime drama available on Netflix) \*\*Broadchurch \*\*(another UK murder mystery, starring David Tennant. Not sure where to find it online.) **Downton Abbey Elementary** ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/27 "2014-06-18T05:57:35Z")
If you appreciate adult entertainment, I would recommend Doc Martin. It’s a British comedy/drama series and there are several threads about it here. Also, if you’ve never seen Holly Hunter’s vehicle “Saving Grace”, it can be fairly enjoyable - but only if you like Holly Hunter - and I really do. One show I would caution you to avoid is “Major Crimes”. A lot of people here really like it. If you ever watched Kyra Sedgewick’s vehicle “The Closer”, Kyra left the show after many (far too many) seasons and Mary McCormick (spelling?) took over. I enjoyed The Closer for a season or two but then it just got horribly repetitive and stupid (just my opinon and I know most people will disagree). But Major Crimes is just a continuation of that show except that everything is only about half as good as it was before the change in command. And I found it really piss poor before the change. So you can imagine how I feel about it now. Anyway, you should try it for yourself to get to your own opinion. I am cautioning you against it because I find it really insipid, stupid, boring and a waste of a lot of good talent. But see for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/28 "2014-06-18T06:11:36Z")
Netflix has the entire Clone Wars series … I dunno about binge watching, but it’s a nice little sci fi hit when you need one. The graphics are very nice indeed, as you might expect from Lucasfilms, and the stories move right along. I also found that it was nice the way they humanized some of the clones. Fighting against droids that could not feel and with Jedi that had superhuman powers they were the Red Shirts of the series, but they often showed great courage and initiative. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/29 "2014-06-18T07:09:49Z")
_Arrow_ is a lot of fun–the best TV treatment of a costumed superhero that I’ve seen. Season 3 recently ended. _Rectify_ is a pretty slow-paced drama about a man just freed from death row, but it’s very good and there are only 6 episodes in season 1. Season 2 starts Thursday night. _Longmire_ is great–about a Wyoming county sheriff and his deputies. More exciting than it sounds. I believe all of these are available on Netflix. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/30 "2014-06-18T07:17:27Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you haven’t watched it yet, **House** is about as serialized as you can get. No, House is largely _episodic_. “Serialized” refers to a long story broken up over multiple episodes. House had some serial story lines, such as his drug issues, but as you noted the show was known for repeating a certain formula over and over. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/31 "2014-06-18T10:35:37Z")
Dollhouse is pretty good, it’s got the same brilliant dialogue as firefly. If you haven’t seen Firefly, then why are you wasting time on the SDMB… or eating… or sleeping. Watch. It. Now. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/32 "2014-06-18T12:46:36Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > \*\*Broadchurch \*\*(another UK murder mystery, starring David Tennant. Not sure where to find it online.) [http://watchserieshd.eu/category/broadchurch](http://watchserieshd.eu/category/broadchurch) Another good British police series is _ **Heartbeat** _, set in a small town in the 1960s: [http://www.tvmuse.com/tv-shows/Heartbeat\_25820/](http://www.tvmuse.com/tv-shows/Heartbeat_25820/) Don’t think _ **Scott and Bailey** _ and _ **A Touch of Frost** _ have been mentioned yet: [http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/scott\_and\_bailey/index.html](http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/scott_and_bailey/index.html) [http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/a\_touch\_of\_frost/](http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/a_touch_of_frost/) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/33 "2014-06-18T13:08:24Z")
Ooh, thought of another good one: True Detective. If you have HBO On Demand you should be able to watch the whole first season. 8 episodes, and it’s supposed to be an anthology series so it’s a complete story, like an 8 hour movie. The “whodunit” part of the story is good but not as interesting as the interplay of the two main characters played by Matthew mcconaughey as a damaged nihilistic detective having an existential crisis and his partner, a more conventional thinking but morally complex character played by Woody Harrelson. McConaughey’s character Rust cohle has some fantastic, priceless lines about the pointlessness of human existence that if you read them (and I have a website of Rust Cohle quotes bookmarked) they don’t sound anything like real dialogue, but mcConaughey manages to pull it off. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/34 "2014-06-18T15:42:58Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > _Arrow_ is a lot of fun–the best TV treatment of a costumed superhero that I’ve seen. Season 3 recently ended. Nitpick: season 2. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/35 "2014-06-18T21:54:00Z")
[DCI Banks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DCI_Banks) from the UK. 20 episodes so far and counting. Two episodes per “crime” so a bit longer format that most procedurals. Airs on some PBS stations in the US with two-episodes-in-one. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/36 "2014-06-18T23:21:04Z")
orphan black is very good. and on the upside, binge now and you only have to wait until the end of the week for season 2 finale! are you watching firefly now??!! why not??!! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/37 "2014-06-19T09:03:40Z")
Daughter and I are currently working our way through _Parks & Recreation_. On the surface, it bears little resemblance to the sort of qualities the OP mentioned he’s looking for, but fundamentally, I do not care. It is a delightful show, and I endorse it without reservation. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Lethargic\_Prawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@A\_Lethargic\_Prawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Lethargic_Prawn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/38 "2014-06-19T10:28:52Z")
[Hannibal](http://www.nbc.com/hannibal) Season 2 is airing at the moment. I only found the show about two weeks before season 2 started, watched one episode, then binged on the whole of season 1 in three days. It’s one of the very few shows I recommend to friends, well worth a watch. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/39 "2014-06-19T14:34:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **Lillyhammer** _ (only the first half of the first season, so far); We watched one episode last night. I really wanted to like it, but it failed on pretty much every level for me. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995/40 "2014-06-19T14:48:01Z")
If you enjoy espionage thrillers, few can surpass _Reilly, Ace of Spies_ with Sam Neill playing the part of the historical British master spy. It’s a twelve part mini-series that originally aired in 1983 on BBC. Superb. It can now be found on youtube, but is available on Netflix only on DVD. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-tv-binge-watching/690995.md?page=3)