I think if you are looking for comedies (that aren’t traditional sitcoms) their is plenty to choose from. Arrested Development works like a Godard film in how packed it can be with references and jokes that you wont get until the 3rd viewing. Mitch Hurwitz’s method of writing the episodes in reverse allowed for the show to not have one dull second. There’s no such thing as a padding in the shows script. I have seen each season at least 4 times and praise for writing for television doesn’t come easy from me, but this show deserves all I can offer. It’s one of the few shows that I have made me laugh from just reading the scripts alone.
Probably the show that makes me the happiest is Curb Your Enthusiasm, which stars Seinfeld co-creator Larry David. The stories are created by Larry David, who writes 7-10 page outlines for the episodes. The episodes follow those plot points in the outline, but has an entirely improvised dialog. Cheryl Hines, who plays Larry’s wife on the show, has remarked that she doesn’t even get to see the episode outlines before they shoot. She is just interjected into an unknown story and has to react to whatever is happening. The show has so many talented people in it, ranging from Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, to the new addition of JB Smooth (who pretty much is the highlight of the 6th season). Hopefully the show will continue for another season (Larry David is currently shooting Woody Allen’s next film) and I can hear the phrase “Pretty Pretty Pretty Pretty Good” again.
I would also recommended the Larry Sanders Show (a show about a talk show), 30 Rock (a show about sketch show). One place that doesn’t get all it’s deserved in recognition are animated shows. Of course you have your South Park’s and you Simpson’s, but I would highly recommend The Venture Bros. It works like a spoof of Johnny Quest, but it isn’t that. It does take all of the nostalgic images of old cartoons and mock and play with those ideals.
On the non-comedic side I would recommended Mad Men. It’s follows Donald Draper who works for a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the 1960’s. The creator Matthew Weiner was a writer for the Soprano’s and the quality of that show emanates in Mad Men. He has said that Hitchcock has influenced the look and feel of the show. This is an amazingly beautiful and captivating show. Recommendations all around.
From what I’ve been hearing Twin Peaks is nothing but a genius show from David Lynch. I haven’t seen it, but I have yet to hear a negative review that convinces me in that favor. The Wire is another example of a show I hear nothing but good things about, but have yet to see. (I don’t have HBO!).
I know many people thing TV is the bane of cinema, and I understand that the majority of it is awful and unwatchable, but there are exceptions and those should be appreciated too.
Second nearly everything Mezmorized recommended, and add DEADWOOD and THE WIRE as two of the best television shows America has ever produced.
The Shield. I think it’s better than The Wire. Gritty.
I liked the first series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but then I felt it got snide and self-congratulatory, lost its human failings edge.
Television seems to be in a dual state of total decay and renaissance simultaneously. I’ve lost track of British television of late: last thing I saw was yet another terrible period drama export (The Tudors) and an episode of the p$%# bad Robin Hood. Between that and Doctor Who, I despair of the BBC sometimes.
Has anyone ever seen G.B.H. by Alan Bleasdale? (UK, Channel 4, early 90s) That was amazing.
Television. Could be such a powerful medium. But it’s long been hijacked by excessive advertising interest, even when it broadcasts with “limited commercial interruption” (at least they concede that it’s an interruption).
from Trust (Hal Hartley, 1990). I watched this again tonight, in the throes of insomnia. I quote:
Matthew Slaughter I had a bad day, I had to subvert my principles and kowtow to an idiot. Television makes these daily sacrifices possible. Deadens the inner core of my being.
Maria Coughlin Let’s move away then.
Matthew Slaughter They have television everywhere, there’s no escape.
T I agree with you about the Shield. I think the way it’s shot just makes the feel of an already gritty show even more grittier. Hopefully the final season will be as good as the rest.
FX has a lot of good shows actually. Rescue Me has it’s moments of funny and serious and I think deals with them both very well. Peter Tolan, who wrote on the Larry Sanders Show, and Denis Leary have definitely made a solid show. It’s Always Sunny on Philadelphia is coming into it’s own comic right with some of the funniest episodes on television of late. The Night Man song Charlie sings in one episode will go down in television comedy history. Nip/Tuck is OK. I don’t really watch it for the humor, but it’s a well put together show.
Their are fewer and fewer network show I watch, partly because networks like FX are able to do so much on cable now, especially if it has a late airing (case in point Nip/Tuck). I agree with you T that television has been hijacked by advertising and that it can be a great medium. A great example is TCM. Their are no commercials (only trailers of films they are showing later in the week in between films), the films are uncut and unedited. Of course the disadvantage is that you are watching it on a television, but it’s such a great resource for films if you don’t live in a big city or don’t have a regular Netflix subscription. They are the only network on cable that understands films shouldn’t have commercials in the middle of them and understand that cutting a chunk out of the film because of practices and standards doesn’t give you a complete film. Not to mention they don’t pan and scan.
Mezm, I agree: TCM is great. I forgot about that. IFC tries hard, but it’s become something of an all-white male joke: I get kind of disturbed by the total absence of any other kind of presenter anywhere on the channel. But they are pushing other ideas: like web exclusive TV series on their site. Their heart’s in the right place.
Has anyone seen “Breaking Bad”? I saw the first two episodes and then lost track of it: but I thought it really powerful from my partial viewing.
I would have to say Twin Peaks is my favorite television show of all time.
Mine too Matthew, even with the drop in quality and erratic-ness of season 2.
i have wathced the whole six seasons of the tv show “six feet under” and i loved it !i highly recommend it to anyone who likes tv series.
hint: the executive producer is alan ball who is well known for being the writer of the film “american beauty”
The Shield’s really about shock value isn’t it, though? In that way it’s far more “Hollywood” than you care to recognise. I’d rate The Wire as a piece that really reveals the potential of television in it’s breadth of storytelling and understanding of character, place and time.
Halim said:
I also think “Lost” is definitly a very unique TV Show that built itself and various characters on the background of a one-of-a-kind mystery that uses a large selection of eclectic themes/motifs that resembles anything from the great works of Literature by writers like Kafka and Vonnegut, to B-rate Cult Sci-Fic Films, to the labyrinth paintings of Escher.
Absolutely. Even though it doesn’t necessarily maintain consistent quality from episode to episode (particularly when it was unable to establish an end date for the series) it manages to cram an enormous amount of philosophical thought into a mainstream series.
I’d agree with the comments on Curb Your Enthusiasm (series 6 was David on towering form) and Arrested Development. 30 Rock is also worth giving time to.
Deadwood and Carnivale were both excellent, truncated far too soon. And Battlestar Galactica’s reimagining has been utterly unlike anything anyone who saw the moribund original would have expected.
I mean to check out Weeds. I’ve enjoyed the first series of Californication (dumb title, great cast) and The Riches (Eddie Izzard a surprisingly good serious performer – although nothing excuses his “They will tear you apart like warm bread” line from that appalling Valkyrie trailer). Also Pushing Daisies; the sort of show the UK might once have come up with, with it’s shades of The Avengers quirkiness.
Current US TV is far more interesting than movie fare – if you want dumb action, 24 is more exciting than any of the action movies coming out – even when it’s resting on the lamest of plotting devices and progressions.
In contrast, UK TV mostly sucks. The series getting the raves; Doctor Who, Ashes to Ashes etc mostly show how embarrassingly deficient writers are here compared to their transatlantic counterparts. There’s been some good one-offs of late such as State of Play, The State Within and Jekyll but I’ve recently been rewatching some of the best ‘90s programmes like (as T says) GBH and Cracker, and they’re leagues ahead of anything coming out now. It says something that the UK is so creatively sterile that it is indulging itself in the remake arena repeatedly, be it with The Prisoner, Survivors or Minder.
Going further back, Edge of Darkness remains my favourite TV drama ever, still losing none of it’s bite. The Prisoner remains an enigmatic masterpiece, and Twin Peaks at it’s best is haunting and hysterical.
The Sopranos, the Wire and Deadwood all shut up cinema purists and cathode ray nay-sayers with their better-than-movie dialogue and evolving characters and story lines. It has to be said, it is impossible to immerse oneself in the emotional battles of movie characters because there is so little time to do so, especially when asked to sympathise with someone who has lost, for example, their family (how can I really feel Brad Pitt’s loss in Se7en when we only met Gwyneth an hour ago?). TV also gives actresses better roles than in the cinema (where they are only asked to play girlfriends and hookers) because TV allows actors breadth of range and the feeling that they are going to be able to truly construct a role that will develop with time, a luxury compared to the exposition/flashback constrictions of film.
It’s been a long time since TV was seen as cinema’s less creative cousin.
I think the Shield and the Wire are the best works regarding cops ever in a audiovisual format.
Battlestar Galactica, Mad Men, Lost, Breaking Bad, and the Office are all excellent.
The Shield is worth watching every episode for the camera work alone. I think the Shield has been the most influential work from a camera perspective this decade. The show is consistently pushing characters to the limits and the directorial choices (lack of non-diegetic music) make it something else. A must see. The series finale is airing tonight. Cannot wait.
The Wire is possibly perfection. Flawless. Every episode feels life changing. For a show that’s five seasons long that’s amazing.
Battlestar Galactica is the best show on TV given the week. The show has ridiculous highs that even surpass the Shield in intensity. I think it’s the most important sci-fi work of recent years.
Mad Men simply grabs fantastic characters in the 60’s and lets us peek into their lives. It’s quite amazing that it is so entertaining.
Lost is all about the mystery and production values. And boy does it deliver. It’s what showed me that TV can be something other than committee written junk.
All I can say about Breaking Bad is amazing premise, amazing execution.
The Office should be commended on how consistently funny it is considering how many episodes they pump out. Possibly the best ensemble comedy cast ever. Some of the performances are excellent as well (Toby).
I think the Shield and the Wire are the best works regarding cops ever in a audiovisual format.
Battlestar Galactica, Mad Men, Lost, Breaking Bad, and the Office are all excellent.
The Shield is worth watching every episode for the camera work alone. I think the Shield has been the most influential work from a camera perspective this decade. The show is consistently pushing characters to the limits and the directorial choices (lack of non-diegetic music) make it something else. A must see. The series finale is airing tonight. Cannot wait.
The Wire is the best television show ever made, to me. I can’t think of a single movie that has been more relevant this decade than that show.
Watch the Dennis Potter mini-series THE SINGING DETECTIVE (not the Robert Downey film), considered by many to be among the best things ever on television.
All the great HBO shows..Six feet under,The wire,Sopranos,Curb….Deadwood..the writing in that is just superb…funny as hell…which I wasn’t expecting it to be…..and Carnivale too was great….Carnivale was criminally cut short before it’s time….currently watching Arrested development…so good……The current and last series of The shield is gripping as all hell…….check out Brotherhood too…
The Wire and The Sopranos are truly extraordinary – they act as the novels of the millenial age. Nothing else I’ve seen really holds up to that level, particularly on repeated viewings.
I have so much fun watching Boston Legal, that show seems to relish continually breaking the fourth wall in more and more subtle ways…
I think everyone’s mentioned a lot of my favorites—Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Arrested Development—but I guess I’ll be the first to name Gilmore Girls as perhaps the finest TV series I’ve ever seen. Its narrative is, in my opinion, every bit as elegant as those of the more heralded series. Also, Freaks and Geeks. Great, great stuff.
The Sopranos is one of the best shows of all time.
I honestly consider LOST to be one of the greatest stories ever told. But I don’t watch it as a character show, I watch it as an adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s VALIS.
I also really enjoy Mad Men, Dexter,The West Wing, Studio 60, Twin Peaks, Californication, among others.
As far as comedy goes, 30 Rock and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia are very original.
As much as I love film, I think television can be just as rewarding.
The Sopranos, The Shield, and one of the best written sitcom’s next to Cheers, Seinfeld:)
The first season of Carnivale was amazing
I really like HBO’s True Blood
I thought it would be terrible…but the characters are strong and it works for me. Some may disagree because it is a bit cheesy at times.
I started watching Gilmore Girls with my wife, and the first 4 seasons move like a Howard Hawks film, especially the dialogue.
it’s dialogue is fantastic…
I’m a massive television fan. My TV-on-DVD collection is almost as large as my movie collection. Notable shows folks should check out:
THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW is probably the best sitcom of all time. Brilliantly written, funny, touching, awkward, and sad often within the span of thirty minutes, Garry Shandling really came along and set the stage for HBO for the next fifteen years. It’s the show that inspired Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchent to write THE OFFICE, and was a major influence on Mitch Hurowitz for ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, among many others (30 ROCK is essentially a really broad version of the same show; Aaron Sorkin clearly had seen it when he started STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, etc). It ran for 89 episodes, and there wasn’t a bad one in the lot. NOT JUST THE BEST OF THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW is a “Best-Of” collection with close to thirty episodes, as well as eight hours of bonus materials that are astounding. Shandling basically uses the DVD as therapy, and it’s just as engaging as the show itself.
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 is comedy writing at its finest :) Each episode has close to 600 jokes, and while its premise is simple, the comedy rarely ever is. (Mike is better than Joel…)
FREAKS AND GEEKS was a wonderful little show that was killed before its prime. Co-created by Judd Apatow (THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, KNOCKED UP, and a driving force behind the aforementioned THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW), it easily has the best pilot of all time.
EDIT: Gah, double post.
Most television programs are so fettered by convention, that there isn’t much out there that is truly great. The following are the shows which achieve such a rare level of excellence…
All of Joss Whedon’s work (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly)
Lost
Battlestar Galactica
The Shield
The Wire
Freaks & Geeks
Arrested Development
Spaced
Six Feet Under
Twin Peaks
HBO is responsible for most of my favorite TV shows of the last decade. I’m not a big fan of the boob tube in general, but every once in a while a gem comes along…sadly, it’s often the gems that get cancelled.
HBO: The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, Carnivale, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Extras, Tales From The Crypt
Freaks & Geeks, Arrested Development, Twin Peaks, Lost, Seinfeld, early Simpsons, the UK version of The Office (as well as the first few seasons of the American series), Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, The Twilight Zone, Firefly, Dexter, Futurama, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
I agree with a lot of the recommendations cited above, but I have to insert a little defense for “Doctor Who,” which isn’t getting much love here. The writers certainly falter occasionally, but some of the episodes — particularly the ones written by Steven Moffat, such as “Blink” and “The Girl in the Fireplace” — are absolutely brilliant. The thing I love about the new Doctor Who series is that it has so much heart and inspires me occasionally with reminders of how much good humans, and a lone Time Lord, can do. Unfortunately, it’s not consistently great, but I would feel a significant loss if it were no longer with us … It’s one of the many reasons I love the Brits:)
Halim Cillov
For the longest time, I considered myself as a hardcore Cinephile who was not very into what Television offers, besides its movies of course. Though, within the last couple of years, I realize that the quality of TV Shows, both in terms of their writing and also production values, increased immensely. While, only within the last few years United States was producing shows that became HUGE cult favorites such as “Alias” and “Lost” that also became international Hits; all over the world incredibly well written and shot new shows were being produced, Britain’s “Office,” Brazil’s “City of Men” and Colombian Telenovela “Yo Soy Betty La Fea” ( which already has an American remake as “Ugly Betty”) are just a few Brillaint examples which postulated clearly that TV Shows are not only limited to American Sitcoms or never-ending Soap Operas.
Among this diverse pool of TV shows, my immediate favorite ones, from the States, are “Weeds and "Dexter,” which are both great examples of Black-Comedy that mixes a lot of dark drama with bittersweet and sometimes laud-aloud comedy. In addition to these, I also think “Lost” is definitly a very unique TV Show that built itself and various characters on the background of a one-of-a-kind mystery that uses a large selection of eclectic themes/motifs that resembles anything from the great works of Literature by writers like Kafka and Vonnegut, to B-rate Cult Sci-Fic Films, to the labyrinth paintings of Escher.
Though, my most recent favorite TV-Show is a British Dramedy called “Skins.” “Skins” revolves around a very eclectic group of youngsters who live in Bristol, UK. This group of friends include a very popular and a manipulative boy, his equally popular and also equally demanding girlfriend, a sympathetic and goofy Muslim boy, his openly gay best friend, a matchlessly eccentric anorexic girl, a sharp-edged and saucy musician girl, care-free bohemian and, a shy and introverted boy trying to find his place in this motley crew. Each episode of the series focuses on a different character and reflects its protagonists point-of-view as it introduces us the inner and the outer world of the episodes main character. While each episode has a self-contained theme and a story, there are also many plot-lines that span various episodes and some even seasons. What I find remarkable about this show is its superb first-class writing, that brilliantly and realistically represent its young characters as real people dealing with real dramatic situations, as oppose to showing them as cliche teenagers who are capable of ONLY irresponsible drinking and promiscuous sex just like many endless sitcoms and TV Shows does. As the show develops, its characters also mature as they deal with intense dramatic issues such as death of a parent, suicide, eating disorders and anti-depressants, all the while as they also try to deal with regular growing-pains like first crushes, break-ups, friendship rivalries and the never-ending exam stress for University entrance exams. Overall, I think “Skins” is one of most enjoyable TV Shows of recent memory that I highly celebrate for the unique and also too-real world that it presents, which I think honestly portrays the life as we know it…
While there is such a big TV Revolution happening all over the world, I was wondering what are some shows that people like or just plain addicted to and can’t wait for the newest episode to be aired…