Chefguy, give it one or two more episodes; it gets much better, I think.
cmyk, I’d also suggest Broadchurch and Misfits, kind of like Heroes but much darker.
Another series you might like is Defiance.
If you haven’t seen it yet - Life with Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi. Only two seasons, but very good show about a cop that was re-instated after wrongfully serving 12 years in prison, where he got into Zen Buddhism.
Pushing Daisies is another good one.
Currently I’m working through The Glades, a fish out of water mystery series about a Chicago homicide cop who moves to Florida. Decent light entertainment.
A few that my wife and I have liked, all of which are a few years old, and none of which are currently streaming on Netflix, sadly:
[ul]
[li]Wonderfalls - 13 episodes made, but Fox only showed about 2 of them. A twenty-something slacker working at a Niagra Falls gift shop starts getting insistent, cryptic instructions from knick-knack animals.[/li][li]Hamish MacBeth - late-90s BBC Scotland production about a small town constable in the Scottish Highlands. Took us a couple of episodes to figure out the accents. Stars Robert Carlyle. Some fantasy and (mild) horror elements toward the end of the series. The author of the novels on which it is based apparently didn’t like it much, but since I never read the books, I think it’s kind of fun on its own merits.[/li][li]Pushing Daisies - Anything with Kristin Chenowith, Swoosie Kurtz, and Ellen Green in it is worth watching. Plus, sinister Norwegians.[/li][li]Dead Like Me - the Grim Reaper is actually an organization of formerly dead people. Do not, under any circumstances, watch the followup movie made a couple of years after the series ended. It’s the Episode I of the universe (IOW, it’s complete crap).[/li][li]Firefly - if you’ve already watched it, go ahead and watch it again. [/li][/ul]
I’ll also second the recommendation for Terriers above. Shame it was cancelled. This one does stream on Netflix, last I checked.
All the ones above that aren’t available streaming should give you a good excuse to visit your local indie video store. They do still exist, and they carry a lot of the good stuff that isn’t on the 'Net.
Case Histories, a British cop-turned-private-detective. Starring Jason Isaacs and set in Edinburgh.
No mention of Fawlty Towers, which is classic Cleese lunacy.
I’ll second DCI Banks, which is very good.
Almost forgot Luther, starring Idris Elba as yet another British cop. Some great bad guys in these.
Then you want to watch Orphan Black. If by hardcore you mean gritty, it’s pretty much equal parts hardcore, dark comedy, crime, drama, and scifi.
In my opinion, the highest quality recent pure crime show was Top of the Lake, a New Zealand based mini-series, but at 7-50minute episodes, I’m not sure it has the longevity you’d like.
The second best is The Fall, which does have a second season in production, but currently only has 5-60minute episodes available.
Third best is Luther, another British show that recently aired its third season, with a total of 14-50minute episodes available.
The lack of episodes may be a turn off if you’re looking for something longer to sink your teeth into, but, on the other hand, you could bang out all three in short order and feel oddly productive.
All this talk of episodes made me remember to make mention of the sitcom Episodes. It has the pretty clever concept of being a show about a UK couple recruited to Hollywood to remake their hit comedy for US audiences, with the (real) show having been developed to contain elements of both countries sitcom stylings so it could be marketed and aired simultaneously in both the US and UK. It also has Matt LeBlanc playing a character that’s probably a mash up of his real personality, Joey from Friends, and what people expect him to be like based on having played Joey.
Firefly is a great choice, especially because you can binge the whole series in a day. My wife and I just started watching Veronica Mars; she had watched it when it was on originally, I ignored it other than drooling over Kristen Bell. It’s sometimes a bit too clever for its own good but has some really smart writing and interesting cinematography.
I tried Lillehammer based on recs in this thread- 4 episodes in I’m really enjoying it.
Based on your tastes, cmyk, I recommend the outstanding Shameless (U. S. version) with confidence.
Here is a clip
mmm
I watched the first ep of the British series, but was unable to see any more from Amazon for some reason, as they’re unavailable. 
All 4 episodes are available on netflix.
Here’s a short piece I wrote on Top of the Lake.
Master Chef UK and Australia
BBC Silent Witness
Silk
The British version of House of Cards ****
Ambassadors is only 3 episodes, a medium-dark comedy set in fictional Central Asian country. I found it by googling a British series that I liked and clicking on the “People also search for” slide carousel.
:smack: I even started (sorta) the season 2 thread.
Another recommendation… something that’s a bit different: Attack on Titan is an anime series based on a hugely popular ongoing manga series of the same name. It’s a fantasy/sci-fi/post-apocalyptic/futuristic story, with a very unusual element to it. Season 1 is on Netflix. A second season is planned but no dates are announced yet, AFAICT.
Sorry if this was mentioned already, but I always learn something cool in every episode of the Mentalist.
I also tried binge watching Star Trek: TNG and Oz. TNG gets tiresome fast, every episode is like a copy of the last episode. Oz, like every other HBO show I’ve seen, doesn’t have subtitles so it’s hard to understand what people are saying from time to time. I didn’t really like it though, the writing was schizophrenic from show to show and made some parts just completely unbelievable, e.g. the irish guy having his brother do a hit on the doctor’s husband made zero sense because up until that point he wasn’t homicidal. Also, in the first season, the focus was on the admin, then suddenly shifted away from them to the prisoners in the next seasons, like storylines were being dropped randomly or added on a whim.
South park is great but I would recommend skipping the season with Lice Capades. It’s universally reviled as the worst season ever and Matt and Trey have publicly apologized for it. Don’t forget the shorts and the “Goin’ down to South Park” documentary.
babylon 5 for sci fi.
I am really getting into Friday Night Lights. It’s not something I would have necessarily gravitated towards, but it really is remarkable in how the ordinary lives of kids in Texas can be universal. Great acting in this show and it could have fell into soap territory but never does.
Orphan Black really cannot be recommended enough. Luther is also a great show, along with Person of Interest, which isn’t as gritty as some of the other stuff recommended here, but is pretty noir from the start, and gets particularly dark in the third season.
Firefly is a really good tv series if you like space opera television
Thanks for all the suggestions everybody!
I just watched seasons 1 & 2 of Orphan Black and House of Cards, in that order. It was pure bliss. Loved both series very strongly.
I’ve seen a lot of the suggestions for older series such as Lost, Alias, Dollhouse, Firefly, Parks & Rec, etc. But I’ll probably check out Shameless or Lillyhammer next. Or maybe Psych. Or Justified. Or…
So much goodness out there that I’ve been too busy to watch over the last couple years! I love “television.”