TV Series that are worth my time?!?

[Just Gus]

What TV series--old or new, comedy, drama, whatever genre--would you say are worth a persons' time?

I know my wife thinks that West Wing falls into this elite class.

Year before West Wing, she was a big fan of Hill Street Blues....

[Spindaddydad]

Mad Men

Breaking Bad

[sevenstars]

Well, Netflix just added a series about two women who make cupcakes for various occasions.  That sounds like it might be good.

[Dianne]

I am really enjoying White Collar and Sons of Anarchy.

[ocontraire]

If you loved Hill Street and West Wing,  "The Shield" 5+ seasons scored very high on our list.

 Also now viewing season 1 of "Homeland" (highly rated drama from Showtime) (NF released this wk.) very good drama despite a few contrivances, with Claire Danes.

[eviltimes]

Breaking Bad

The second season is slow, but once you crunch through it this is the best show on TV.  Now in the middle of it's fifth and final season on AMC.

[Just Gus]

We can go older series too......

[Just Gus]

Does M*A*S*H stand the test of time?

I remember LA Law was big.....does it stand up?

Twin Peaks?  Had a large cult following--and was also pretty mainstream.

I liked Weeds....but it ran out of steam IMO.

I also liked Rescue Me....but SPOILER ALERT--when Jerry killed himself, I lost interest.  I felt strongly his character wouldn't commit suicide....and there were other problems with the story arcs for me.

[Just Gus]

Just found this.....

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2007/06/re...

The Watcher

by Maureen Ryan

June 28, 2007

'Rescue Me' actor blasts show creator Denis Leary

The following post discusses plot points from Wednesday's episode of "Rescue Me." Don't read further if you haven't seen it.

Chief Jerry Reilly, one of my favorite characters on “Rescue Me” – actually, one of the two characters I have any lingering affection for – was killed off on Wednesday's episode of the FX show.

Now the actor who plays that character, Jack McGee, has blasted “Rescue Me” creator Denis Leary in a no-holds-barred interview by Matt Zoller Seitz at TelevisionWithoutPity.com.

“My own true feeling is, I think the wrong character killed himself,” McGee says, referring to Leary’s character, troubled firefighter Tommy Gavin.

The decision to kill off Reilly didn’t make much sense, McGee said: “Tell me, how does the only guy [on the series], the guy who always does the right thing, a stand-up guy with all the other guys, the guy everybody goes to when they have a problem, the guy who stood by his wife after she developed Alzheimer's, go off and take his life?”

Indeed, the decision did appear to come from “Rescue Me’s” can-you-top-this school of writing – a ramshackle, frustrating philosophy that could be stated as, “When in doubt, do something ‘shocking,’ or better yet, do five ‘shocking’ things in a row, even if most of those developments make little dramatic sense.”

According to Seitz’s piece, “McGee says the character might have considered suicide after losing his dream job, but he wouldn't have followed through, because he was a tough, adaptable man with a wife who depended on him.”

McGee says he wasn’t even told by Leary that his character would commit suicide -- that duty was left to other producers on the show. And after McGee filmed his final scene, Leary walked away “without saying a word.” McGee also speculates that Dean Winters, who played Johnny Gavin, was written out of the show because he was not suitably deferential to Leary.

“He's a bully, is what he is,” McGee says. “Bullies most of the time don't have the guts to do things themselves.”

He also blasts Leary as being an egomaniac, which is a real shocker to anyone who’s ever grown tired of the idea that we should find Gavin’s endless self-absorption (not to mention women’s insatiable attraction to him) amusing, or even remotely realistic.

“The promos are all him -- you'd think there was nobody else on the show,” McGee said. “His persona would make you think he's straight up, he's honest and he's forthright. But I never got an indication of that. The truth is, if he knocked on my door right now, I'd be able to look him right in the eye. I don't know if he could do that.”

“Jack is being disingenuous if he says nobody explained to him what was going on,” executive producer Peter Tolan told Seitz. “The difference he's drawing is, apparently he wanted to hear [the bad news] from Denis, when the fact remains that Denis is wearing about eight different hats on the show and doesn't have anything to do with the hiring and firing of actors.”

Tolan added that Reilly’s death was “about violating audience expectations,” and added that McGee may have created problems on the set. He says McGee threatened to not return for the show’s fourth season after he found out his character was being killed, but McGee denies that.

Well, whomever you believe, I closed my most recent review of “Rescue Me” by saying that Reilly and Kenny “Lou” Shea (John Scurti) were, in my opinion, the only two reasons to continue watching the show. Now one of those reasons is gone. And everything that is wrong with the show creatively emanates from its constant need to convince us that, despite his flaws, Gavin is really, deep down, a cool, brave guy and catnip to women. Given that Leary is the star as well as the show's co-creator, it's not hard to imagine where those creative impulses come from.   

Others may continue to be enthralled by Tommy Gavin’s narcissism and his problems, which each season take up more and more screen time on “Rescue Me.” Me, not so much.

[Sevorin]

Fuck Twin Peaks.

And fuck the M.A.S.H. TV series while you're at it.

[Just Gus]

You know Sevorin can on occasion be a man of few well-selected words....I get his point. 

[eviltimes]

Gotta agree with Sev on those two.

Twin Peaks  was a one time only "ya had to be there" type of experience.  My friend would come over and we'd have coffee and doughnuts (later a feather and some red cake icing, too).

M.A.S.H.  the TV show blew chunks - The original film was too good for it to be whored out like that - and for what seemed like an eternity, as well!

And Rescue Me  went off the rails after the second season.  I was lucky and got out early.

[Netflowers]

"DEADWOOD"

"BOARDWALK EMPIRE"

"McCLEOD'S DAUGHTERS"

"OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE"

"LIP SERVICE"

"LUTHER"

"NURSE JACKIE"

"DEXTER"

"ROME"

"TRUE BLOOD"

..