What he said. The Wiki article mentions the Friends comparison, but really, other than six-attractive-people-hanging-out, the similarities are pretty few. I haven’t seen season 4, but I can vouch for seasons 1-3 (for whatever good my vouching might do).
Oh, and uh, beware The Melty Man.
Are you interested in anime series’? Plenty of them are high-quality, and fit in well with your criteria…many even have finales that don’t make the viewer want to overdose on Prozac afterwards.
But yeah…Babylon 5 and Firefly. Venture Brothers after that.
Nobody’s mentioned Prime Suspect, the Helen Mirren series from England?
Good stuff. Puts US cop shows to shame, imo. Of course, start with #1.
Peace,
mangeorge
I agree that The Wire is the best show ever. You can pre-order Season Four at Amazon, and they told me I’ll have mine before Christmas.
Before The Wire, I called Tom Hanks’ miniseries From the Earth to the Moon the best show ever. It’s a brilliantly made and highly accurate history of the Apollo moon program. Great writing, great cast, great direction.
I can’t believe 44 posts in and nobody has mentioned Freaks and Geeks. One spectacular season, 18 episodes. Never jumped the shark. Heck, never even got off the sand.
Eric
I really enjoyed Rescue Me although the recent series was not as good as those that preceded it. I only rented it initially to watch one episode because not only is Denis Leary in it, he co-wrote it all. I was instantly hooked - it is very black and I love the off beat humour. It is the funniest non comedy I have ever seen.
I am surprised by the repetition of Babylon 5. I appreciate the idea of an overarching plot making it more of a giant mini-series than a traditional show, which is why I checked it out (that and that I enjoy sci-fi). However, the acting was some of the worst I have seen on television outside of a soap opera with dialog to match. The plot might be fine, but if you can’t write dialog or have actors that can speak it well, how am I ever going to stick around long enough to find out?
Thanks for the additional ideas, especially Freaks and Geeks and Six Feet Under. I’d forgotten that those are shows I wanted to see.
I appreciate the multiple suggestions of Sports Night and Northern Exposure, but like I said, I’ve seen (and enjoyed) them. Especially SN, which is probably one of my favorite shows ever.
I loved Homicide on TV but in my Netflix experience it just didn’t stand up to the test of time. I’m halfway through X-Files and it’s still good. Also, any HBO series is a good pick even though I thought Six Feet Under was unwatchable by the end of the second season.
I third The Shield. There’s only one more season left to go so now is a good time to catch up on it. And I think the ability to watch a bunch of episodes in a row really lends itself well to this show. It can be very complex with tons of throw away references to past shows.
I could never stomach Friends, but found Coupling howlingly funny. (And, as has been mentioned, the creator also re-started Doctor Who. All three “new” seasons are available. And those British seasons are short.)
Lots of good suggestions here. I’d add a vote for Firefly–because it’s so good & there are so few episodes (dammit!) Then Buffy & Angel–if I’m not too old to “get” Buffy, I’ll bet you aren’t, either.
Beware of Firefly. The first time you see it you may go into an uncontrolable rage when you think about them cancelling it.
Prime Suspect was mentioned. How about some of the other UK crime series? I am quite fond of Touching Evil (I got it off Netflix). Speaking of Touching Evil, USA Network tried to make a US version staring Jeffrey Donovan. I liked it quite a bit but it didn’t last. When Donovan’s current series Burn Notice comes out on DVD grab it. I love that show. Can’t wait for season 2.
We’re working our way alternating between Scrubs and Lost - both wildly popular shows that we’ve never watched (well, we’ve caught Scrubs via cable, to some extent). I’m watching this thread for more ideas for myself 
I’ll second “Veronica Mars.” One of my all-time favorites, and just 3 seasons.
A friend of mine loves to watch TV series on DVD and I got him hooked on “Supernatural.” It’s still on, but the first 2 seasons are on DVD. It’s not BestShowEver! TV, but it’s great fun.
I was in my 30s and my husband in his 40s when we tackled “Buffy” and “Angel.” Good stuff. (I’m one who prefers Angel to Buffy.)
“Coupling” is hilarious. The dinner party with the therapist everyone thinks is a lesbian is one of my favorite episodes of any TV series ever.
The 1st season of the Showtime series Dexter was just released to DVD. My fiancee and I have have been burning through the episodes as fast as we can. The show is about a serial killer who only goes after other serial killers so I was afraid it was going to be too gruesome and angsty. But it’s actually more of a dramatic dark comedy with a really good season-long mystery that keeps you dying to see the next episode. And despite its subject matter, it’s actually has a lot of likable characters, which was something that was starting to wear on me with the Sopranos.
Try the British version of Cracker if you can find it.
For a laugh, if The Sweeney is out on DVD, watch that, and learn lots of creative ways to make police sound like they are cursing, while getting round the ban on most words on TV at that time. People get called slags at least 15 times an episode.
Cracker is excellent. Robbie Coltrane is one of my favorite actors. His character, Fitz, is flawed, but likable.
That’s a good one. But only one DVD (I own it.)
For a blast from the past, how about Secret Agent/Danger Man? There is a set of the original 30 minute shows, and then the revival at 60 minutes. I watched the 60 minute shows when I was a kid, and they’re better now. Plus, if you have ever seen The Prisoner, you’ll love these. Number 6 is so Drake. (I know officially he isn’t.) He says “Be seeing you” and some of the shows make it very clear why he resigned. Not the highest production values - the same damn set gets used show after show ,but excellent writing and acting.
Awh… Come on.
Lost for sure.
I also love
House
The Office
Northern Exposure
Curb Your Enthusiasm
I am currently trying to get through The Office.
The writers strike is great for my catching up on TV series on DVD.
Looks like I may have to check out Firefly after I am done with The Office.
A short list of truly great classic sitcoms:
Top Tier, most episodes good to great
Dick Van Dyke show (Every show was at least good, left on their own)
Odd Couple (Good stuff, might be a little dated)
Barney Miller (Really amaizingly long run of excellence, try the brownies)
Taxi (Season 1 was hit or miss, but 2-4 are amazingly great.
WKRP (A short run awesome series)
Police Squad (already mentioned of course)
Futurama (No duds in the bunch)
next tier: Great series, but episodes are not as consistantly great
MAS*H (Seasons 4-7 are probably the best)
All in the Family (Season 1-4 are probably the best, but many gems later)
SOAP (Seasons 1-2 are hilarious)
Get Smart (avoid the final season and you can move this to the top list)
Jim