# What are your second tier TV recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301 "2014-11-11T02:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 11, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/21 "2014-11-11T18:52:08Z")
**Fringe** - one of the best science fiction series ever, IMO. It starts off as an _X-Files_ clone, with an episodic “monster-of-the-week” structure, but by the end of season 2 and forward it becomes heavily serialized. Unlike _The X-Files_ (of which I am a fan), _Fringe_ actually delivers answers (mostly) and brings its long-term story to a satisfying conclusion. John Noble–who plays the character Walter Bishop–really does an astounding job, and the rest of the cast is pretty great, too. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/22 "2014-11-12T00:58:36Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **BoJack Horseman** – new on Netflix, it’s an animated show about the title character – a horse – who is the washed up star of a 70s family comedy (think **Family Ties** with only three kids and a horse as the father). It’s set in a world where humans live with anthropomorphic animals: BoJack’s agent is a cat; his rival (Mr. Peanutbutter), a dog. Bojack (voiced by Will Arnett) is a self-centered alcoholic mess who is writing his memoirs with the help of a human ghostwriter (voice of Allison Brie). The show has some ongoing continuity for an overarching plot, and the characters grow and change over the course of it. I love the [show opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQvIR1oL1vE) and can watch it over and over. It reminds me of something but I can’t remember what. It’s a little annoying that his deck can’t possibly contain that pool though. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/23 "2014-11-12T09:16:56Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > **Fringe** - one of the best science fiction series ever, IMO. It starts off as an _X-Files_ clone, with an episodic “monster-of-the-week” structure, but by the end of season 2 and forward it becomes heavily serialized. Unlike _The X-Files_ (of which I am a fan), _Fringe_ actually delivers answers (mostly) and brings its long-term story to a satisfying conclusion. John Noble–who plays the character Walter Bishop–really does an astounding job, and the rest of the cast is pretty great, too. Completely agree. Indeed, if you are one of the “Lost fans”, who was left empty by that crappy series after the promises, watch Fringe. It does all the things Lost should have and much more. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/24 "2014-11-18T02:09:02Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > **Fringe** - one of the best science fiction series ever, IMO. It starts off as an _X-Files_ clone, with an episodic “monster-of-the-week” structure, but by the end of season 2 and forward it becomes heavily serialized. Unlike _The X-Files_ (of which I am a fan), _Fringe_ actually delivers answers (mostly) and brings its long-term story to a satisfying conclusion. John Noble–who plays the character Walter Bishop–really does an astounding job, and the rest of the cast is pretty great, too. **Fringe** was actually going to be my second recommendation. I had no idea this show even existed while it was on the air, but I ended up watching the entire series on Netflix. As you noted, there’s a lot of great acting on the show, particularly from John Noble, and especially since the majority of the cast act in multiple roles as their doppelgangers from an alternate dimension. I cracked up every time there was mention of “Walternate” or “Fauxlivia.” The monster-of-the-week stuff from the first season got a little repetitive, and the show kind of wandered around aimlessly for the first half of the fourth season, but it finished strong with its fifth season and overall I think it was a very good show. My next recommendation is a classic from my youth: **The O.C.** Far more intelligent and witty than it seems at first glance, this show was like a glorious pornographic exaggeration of the American dream; everyone is beautiful and rich, but they still drink and get in fist fights constantly because their emotions are valid, damn it! **The O.C.** was the kind of series where they had a fashion show every week while simultaneously mocking a society that would tune in to watch a fashion show every week. The third season was pretty worthless but it rebounded with an improved fourth and final season. **The O.C.** was self aware trashy fun, and it proved, using peer reviewed scientific methodology, that they got more bounce in California than all y’all combined. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/25 "2014-11-18T02:20:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > If you have Netflix: > > **The Miss Fisher Mysteries**. A charming detective show featuring Phryne Fisher, a 20s liberated woman who has a modern (21st century) concept of a the role of women, much to the dismay of those around her. It’s based on a series of Australian detective novels (the show is set in Melbourne) and has a wonderful cast of characters. Generally light and fun (though there was a dark subplot about her past in the first season) and very funny seeing the others react to her. Seconding this. Netflix recently picked up season 2 and there’s a third currently in production. If you don’t have Netflix, check your local PBS listings. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/26 "2014-11-18T02:27:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Second-tier for me would be Agents of Shield and Sleepy Hollow. We watch them both regularly and reasonably enjoy them, but neither one is a show I’d recommend somebody go seek out. I watched the first couple episodes of both theses shows but then lost interest. Do they improve at all as they progress? I really enjoyed the all over the place absurdity of **Sleepy Hollow** but the shtick got old for me pretty fast. I’ll give anything Whedon is associated with a shot, but **Agents of Shield** bored me. It did seem like they were working towards building some good characters, particularly the Fitz-Simmons science duo. I also thought the actress who played Skye was incredibly beautiful. Literally, I had a hard time believing that the world’s greatest computer hacker who lives in a van would look like that. And the special snowflakeness of her character was a bit grating to me too. > [@RickJay](#): > > We’re also recently enjoying "Lilyhammer, "the show in which Steven Van Zandt plays a guy basically like the guy he played on The Sopranos, except that he’s in the Witness Protection Program and decides to be relocated to Lillehammer, Norway. (He really liked the 1994 Olympics.) The show uses Norway and Norwegian culture as a central character in itself (and so it’s immensely popular in Norway) and while it’s slow and really unlike other shows, it grows on you. **Lilyhammer** is a pretty perfect example for this thread. Steven Van Zandt’s sleazy charm and the fish out of water humor really work in that series. It’s interesting to learn a bit about Norwegian society, since it’s such an out of the way country with a tiny population. It sometimes strains credulity by going a bit over the top, and there’s way too many jokes where the punchline is nothing more than “this man is a homosexual.” But overall it’s definitely a fun and interesting watch. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/27 "2014-11-18T02:41:21Z")
**Moone Boy** Irish sitcom set in the 80’s. **Rev** Britcom, very intelligent writing. About a Vicar of an inner city London church. The Rev himself is consumed with existential thoughts. Even if you’re an Atheist like myself, you’ll enjoy this show. (I have other (non British shows) I’ll post later.) ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/28 "2014-11-18T02:51:00Z")
[Pushing Daisies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925266/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) – Comedy/mystery about a man who can raise the dead by touching them. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/29 "2014-11-18T03:04:43Z")
Going off a list of all shows on HBO and Showtime, here’s what I recommend among their second tier titles: Six Feet Under, because HBO is like pizza: Even when it’s bad it’s good. But Six Feet Under wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t _as good_ as The Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome or In Treatment. Speaking of In Treatment, the first season is stellar, and the second season is solid as well. I particularly liked Mia Wasikowska from the first season and Allison Pill in the second. This is really a first tier show, but I don’t think people watched it. Big Love is officially in “bad HBO” territory, but there are still some great moments and performances throughout. I still occasionally think of [The Happiest Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZegnocvoBU), which won’t mean anything out of context but was a fairly powerful scene in the show. (The girl singing is a villain, and a pretty despicable one, but her life sucks and she’s legitimately miserable.) Weeds started out as a fantastic comedy about a soccer mom forced to sell pot in the suburbs to make ends meet after her husband dies. It goes off the rails in spectacular fashion in the third season finale, and is generally terrible from then on, but the first few seasons are great. Californication is David Duchovny in all his sex addict glory. The first couple seasons were very good, and the third is notable for a stunning appearance by Eva Amurri, but then it quickly devolves into a caricature of itself. The Borgias and The Tudors were Showtime’s period pieces. Neither were particularly great, but I don’t regret watching them. I think The Tudors was overall better, but The Borgias had its moments. Compared to HBO’s Rome, I’d give Rome an A+, The Tudors a C+ and The Borgias a C. Dexter is yet another in the long line of Showtime shows that started out strong, put out two or three very good seasons, then kind of petered out over many seasons before finally dying with a whimper. However, Dexter departs from the standard formula by having excellent first, second and fourth seasons, with the fourth season (Trinity Killer) as far and away the best in the show’s run. Parts of that season are literally breathtaking. This magic is once again captured in the first two episodes of Season 7, but other than that, season 3 and everything else after season 4 can be reasonably skipped. Episodes, a British-y sitcom starring Matt LeBlanc, is possibly my favorite show currently on television. In terms of how excited I get when a new episode airs, it’s on par with Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Ray Donovan is a total guy show despite being written by a woman. I love it, but I generally like stereotypically guy stuff. Shameless is exactly that, an hourlong dramedy of terrible people doing terrible things for terrible reasons. I love it just for that alone, but the tons of gratuitous nudity make it even better. I forgot I was going to do Starz shows as well. Let’s see if I can get them in before the edit window closes: Spartacus is essentially a comic book, with all the stupidness you’d expect. Even still, it’s got some redeeming drama in between the teenage-boy-wet-dream sex and fight scenes. Black Sails is a pretty fun pirate show. It’s only had one season so far, and it’s no Shakespeare, but it’s fun enough that I’m looking forward to next season. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/30 "2014-11-18T04:15:28Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > \ > For me, my favorite show I consider second-tier is probably the British show Misfits. It’s a show in which a bunch of juvenile deliquints randomly get superpowers. Instead of becoming superheros, however, they just continue being juvenile delinquints. Only with superpowers. It’s suprisingly understated and nuanced at times and frequently uproariously funny, but it’s too messy and never quite gels enough for me to want to call it top-tier. I will probably take flak from somebody for that verdict. Fourthing “Misfits.” I adored the first couple of season of this show, and the current one on Netflix is still pretty good. > [@Quimby](#): > > \ > Jericho\ Seconded. I picked this up on Netflix, and enjoyed the whole thing. > [@jharvey963](#): > > \ > Oh, boy. I hate to recommend this one, but **Drop Dead Diva** really isn’t horrible, as bad as it sounds. A “would be model” dies and gets returned to earth in a lawyers body.\ I started watching “Drop Dead Diva” just out of curiosity (it isn’t my kind of show at all), and I loved it. It’s much more clever than I expected, and it’s a perfect guilty pleasure of a show - everything happens pretty much as you expect it to, but you still enjoy the journey. > [@EllisDee](#): > > \ > Episodes, a British-y sitcom starring Matt LeBlanc, is possibly my favorite show currently on television. In terms of how excited I get when a new episode airs, it’s on par with Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.\ This isn’t even second-tier - it should be first-tier, it’s so good. So good. Another BBC show I loved - [Survivors.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258189/) Post-apocalyptic world, pandemic kills 90% of the population - it was everything “The Walking Dead” should have been. I don’t know why it isn’t still on tv. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/31 "2014-11-18T04:31:55Z")
**You’re the Worst** - Fantastic, beautiful little show to come out of FX. It’s hard exact to say what this show is about and translate what it means to me. At first glance it’s about a toxic relationship between Gretchen and Jimmy, and the horrible things they say and do. However, what starts as a C-list Fox premise with too much sex in it winds up being fantastic through amazingly smart writing and careful, thoughtful character development. Like BoJack Horseman, you get hooked on it as a simple comedy but then it sinks it’s teeth in you as the stories and characters develop. I’ve been preaching to the skies how good this TV show is and, at 13 episodes, you can blow through it in an afternoon ---
**Author:** ![tenacious\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tenacious\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tenacious_j)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/32 "2014-11-18T04:35:00Z")
Came to recommend Pushing Daisies, but it’s already here, so I’ll second. Cute, charming, sweet, yet dark and twisty. It really deserved more seasons. Another great but short-lived show that I’m sure everyone already knows about is Freaks and Geeks. Still watch every episode every few years when I notice it’s on cable. Also seconding Orphan Black, Psych and the first few seasons each of Drop Dead Diva and Weeds (yeah, my taste is all over the place). Weeds had some of the best one liners in, like, ever. Kevin Nealon stole the show. On TV now, I love The Middle and it seems like not a lot of people I know are watching. They should be! It’s a family sitcom set in the middle of the US, mid-income, mid-achieving kids with Patty Heaton and Neil Flynn as their hardworking, tired but loving parents. Reminds me of my neighborhood growing up. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/33 "2014-11-18T06:40:29Z")
I’m with **tenacious j** , that Pushing Daisies and The Middle are both great. Hell, The Middle is one of my favorite family sitcom shows ever and I put it up there with Roseanne in the sense that I feel like I know these people. I’m going to put up an oldie but goodie: Homicide:Life on the Streets. If you like The Wire or Treme or saw The Corner miniseries, you will enjoy it. It’s based on David Simon’s novel _Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets_ and it grew from what he wrote about spending a year with the homicide detectives in Baltimore. It was filmed in Baltimore. A special place in my heart, b/c it’s the first series I really fangirled (even visited Baltimore just for it) and got into heated arguments with others online about characters. It’s on Netflix on DVD only. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/34 "2014-11-18T08:25:01Z")
A couple of series cut a bit short: [Dollhouse](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135300/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1): Joss Whedon was cursed, I think - this series was quite interesting to me, and thoughtful as well. A shady organization hires out mind-wiped people who have been programmed with particular personalities and skills. Only two seasons. [Life](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874936/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1): Damian Lewis kills it as Charlie, a cop who had been sent to jail on false charges, then exonerated (and paid a nice settlement for the inconvenience). He returns to police work. Again, only two seasons, but they did manage to wrap up the central mystery, albeit in a rather rushed way. Good stories, good acting all around. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/35 "2014-11-19T05:32:01Z")
I love Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad as much as any discerning TV watcher, but I also like watching shows that don’t demand that level of attention while doing other stuff. For my recent-ish picks, Justified - I don’t quite put it in the top tier, but it’s definitely up there. For me, it’s the odd kind of show that has great serialized season long plots, but I often wish it would slow down a bit to let us just hang out with the characters a bit more. Tim and Rachel are sorely underutilized. Arrow - It really shouldn’t be a good show, being on the CW and constantly threatening to collapse under the weight of its soap opera elements, but somehow it manages to navigate around the pitfalls and be solid superhero fun after a sort of shaky start. Burn Notice - Breezy, kinda silly fun for at least the first few seasons. Never a great show, but as far as I’m concerned watching Bruce Campbell lying to stupid criminals will always be fun to watch. Person of Notice - Much better than “CBS procedural” would suggest. Starts off as a decent though unexceptional show about a couple guys helping people with a fairly magical premise, but over time veers toward the techno thriller category with some decent insight into the surveillance state. Psych - A very silly show with a premise that strains credulity the longer it goes on. Really, though, it’s almost always fun to watch the leads getting into trouble and bicker with each other. Notable for having a lot of concept episodes. The Twin Peaks inspired episode in particular seems to be a favorite of a lot of people. Sleepy Hollow - This is the kind of show that I really, really would not have expected to be good. The American Revolution was actually tied up in a battle with various supernatural forces of darkness and General Washington’s agent Ichabod Crane Rip Van Winkles himself into modern day where he joins up with a police officer to fight the horsemen of the apocalypse as the pair prophesied to combat the apocalypse? Yeah, I would expect it to deliver a bit of camp and collapse in three episodes. And yet, it somehow manages to be all around solid and fun. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/36 "2015-01-03T03:54:46Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Black Sails is a pretty fun pirate show. It’s only had one season so far, and it’s no Shakespeare, but it’s fun enough that I’m looking forward to next season. I really liked Black Sails. I even started a thread about it a while back. > **[Black Sails (Pirate show on Starz) is really good!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=718467)** > > I’ll confess I was skeptical when I first saw advertising for Black Sails. But the season finale just aired last night and overall I’m very impressed with the show. I’m not claiming it’s the next Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, but it was really... ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/37 "2015-01-03T22:51:08Z")
Lately Law and Order: SVU. I’m addicted to watching this on Netflix. Writing is pretty cliched, bordering on the surreal at times, acting is fine (nothing special), and it follows a pretty set pattern. But damned if you can’t watch just one. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/38 "2015-01-04T00:08:38Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > De gustibus and all, but Justified is one of my top-tier shows; it makes me laugh more than any other show I can think of. The relationship between the protagonist and his boss is a thing of beauty; both of them has spectacular comedic chops, and I’d say their headlining a drama is a waste of their talents except that the writers constantly play to their talents. > > I agree with Misfits. The first season was really, really funny. After that, it felt like a rehash. Several other British shows available on Hulu have felt similar to us (Whites, Fresh Meat, Pramface)–a single season is a lot of fun, more that gets old. I’d give all of them second-tier recommendations. > > Second-tier for me would be Agents of Shield and Sleepy Hollow. We watch them both regularly and reasonably enjoy them, but neither one is a show I’d recommend somebody go seek out. > > On a slight tangent, I heard a bunch of people recommending Arrow, so we finally watched the beginning of the third season. We couldn’t make it fifteen minutes in–the dialog was so terrible, and everyone was so damned serious about the essentially ridiculous setup. Gotham was different when we started watching it–people are serious, but everything is so silly that it’s more like they’re making straightfaced jokes (“That’s a second person murdered by weather balloon–and it’s the priest they call The Diddling Father!”) which made it okay. Am I missing something with Arrow? Would anyone put it second-tier, even? I started watching Justified. I just cant get past my dislike of Timothy Olyphant as an actor. I hated him in Deadwood and have for some reason disliked him as an actor ever since. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/39 "2015-01-04T00:11:13Z")
All my faves have been listed already, but I’d also recommend: _The Musketeers_, a swashbuckling adventure series from the UK with a lot of humour. Tonally very fun and exciting, the kind I like best. In a similar style, _Merlin_, also from the BBC. And finally _Brooklyn Nine Nine_, a cop sitcom that has an unusual premise of having the characters actually be good at their jobs, so much of the humour comes from their downtime shenanigans within the Precinct rather than laughing at their incompetence. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301/40 "2015-01-04T00:29:49Z")
We just watched **Olive Kitteridge** on HBO. It’s a four episode mini-series with Francis McDormand in the lead role. The four episodes cover about 25 years in the life of this woman, her husband and her son. We thought it was pretty good. **Sonic Highways** , a six part HBO series produced by Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters. Very interesting, if you like music. His band travels to six different cities where various genres of music were born. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-second-tier-tv-recommendations/704301.md?page=3)