A big one for me was Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. I first read it about 2 and a half years ago, and my immediate reaction was: how the frack did I reach my mid-thirties knowing nothing whatsoever about this stunningly great work of American fiction???
I didn’t watch Six Feet Under until Bravo began to air it last fall. I really loved it, but of course, by then, everybody was done talking about it.
Simon Pegg. My sister took me to see Hot Fuzz, and I loved it so, so, so much. So I watched Shaun of the Dead. And Spaced. And I’m working on Big Train right now. I can’t wait for Run Fat Boy Run and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. I just think he’s one of the funniest, most talented performers I’ve ever come across. Just contrast his performance as Shaun to Inspector Nicholas Angel to see that he’s actually got some serious range as an actor.
All this love for Hugh Laurie as a brooding, tormented sarcastic genius is kind of funny for those who remember him as a lovable thicko back in the 80’s in Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster: I can’t watch House without expecting Stephen Fry to glide in, cock half an eyebrow and enquire loftily, “Do you think that’s wise, sir?”
I watched Spaced at my brother’s place in London; wonderful stuff.
Any clues as to how to get ahold of it in North America?
It takes a dip in season three, but picks up towards the end.
I remember on my re-watch-a-thon (Season 1 and 2) thinking about how little had happened by the end of Season 1.
Send me a PM or an email and I’ll let you know how I got my Spaced fix.
Ahem, Eroticon Six. 
eta: I seem to have been beaten to the punch. Still
The great thing about Bernard Cornwell is that he’s so damned prolific - I worked out that he’s written a book every nine months for the last 25 years or so - and that it’s almost all great: the Grail Quest trilogy is fantastic, the stand alone Gallows Thief is a wonderful detective story, and his latest series about King Alfred and the Danes is excellent. There’s just so much great Cornwell: even his missteps, like his Civil War series, are interesting failures.
As far as Firefly goes, I have to admit that I resisted it for a long time because the fanboys are so damned annoying, before finally succumbing and picking up a DVD to finally see what all the fuss was about: the first one I caught was “Out Of Gas”, and after 15 minutes I thought, “Hot damn, this is good stuff.” I still think the fanboys are annoying, however.
The Singing Loins - local folk band (TrashFolk, they call themselves). Imagine Ian Dury fronting The Pogues.
Chuck Palahniuk. After seeing Fight Club, I got Choke. And now frequently read his essays and other books, and am dieing to see one of his speaking engagements… he is a little out there though.
As for lost, it runs MUCH better on DVD through its low points… just be careful not to run through it too fast, we have till February(?) for new episodes. 
Eureka, a low-budget sci-fi channel series about a top secret town where everybody’s smart and the technology’s decades ahead. The fish-out-of-water is the new local sheriff and his teenaged daughter. It’s well-done campy, the plots are pointless excuses for humorous character development, and the characters are all top-notch. I saw ads for it for ages before it occurred to me to actually watch an episode.
Oh yeah, we watch “Eureka” when we catch it, and we like it, too. The guy’s teenaged daughter needs to die, or at least get told to sit down and shut up when she mouths off to her dad, but other than that, a solid effort.
I also like “The 4400.” I don’t know how popular it is, but I love it. It seems like a much smaller show than a lot of the big sci-fi, and I am rarely shouting at the tv because of people doing stupid stuff - the characters and the writing seems very grounded to me.
I can’t really claim that I was not informed of his brilliance before, but my recent addiction to repeats of Jeeves and Wooster has prompted me to actually get around to reading some P.G. Wodehouse. Although I have started at what is probably a low point - transcripts of his notorious monologues made for German radio in 1940 - because I’m still working through the TV Jeeves and Wooster and I don’t want to spoil the fun by being familiar with the books.
But those radio transcripts, they’re screamingly funny, whatever you think of his ignorance/obliviousness/complacency re the Nazis. A real eye-opener to how many of the contemporary humorists I admire are largely Wodehouse copyists. Not least Fry and Laurie themselves, in written form at least.