Best Television Drama of all time...

[Cat G]

I'm certain all of us have enough drama in our daily lives, but would like to know what ur small screen drama favorites were.

If you've made a netflix list, the RSS feed will do. The L.A. Law (movie) is the series (gotta fix that)!

My Best Drama Picks

[joeoftexas]

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Twin_Peaks_Season_1/70086595?trkid=222...

[pihkal020]

Good choice, joeoftexas.

[Secret Agent Gal]

The West Wing was certainly excellent, but I'd have to give the #1 spot to The Sopranos as exploring territory that the Godfather movies only BEGAN to cover - the daily life, and home life, in a Mafia household.

[MorrisWarrenSussex]

I'm watching Season 4 of the Wire right now for the first time. I'm so excited.

[beeswax]

The Wire. I watch them on dvd, so please don't tell me anything about season 5. I'm afraid I'm going to miss it as much as I miss The Sopranos.

For people who are already going into Wire-withdrawal, remember The Corner and Homicide: Life on the Streets were also adapted from David Simon's books.

For people who are not afraid of outer space, I recommend these as drama, as much as any other genre they fit:
Battlestar Galactica
Firefly

For people who are not afraid of teenagers or smart-alecks:
Freaks and Geeks
My So-Called Life
Veronica Mars
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Degrassi Junior High

I loved the original British Queer as Folk so much that I have an actual hatred of the American version. We can agree to disagree. (Fans of The Wire would enjoy seeing Aidan Gillen -- aka Tommy Carcetti -- before he moved to Baltimore, if only we could get a region 1 release.)

For people who aren't afraid of foreigners:
The Best of Youth
The Decalogue
Heimat

For fans of Twin Peaks:
The Kingdom

For people who aren't afraid of the Brits:
Cracker
Prime Suspect
I, Claudius
Traffik

A guilty pleasure:
Friday Night Lights

Some of these are miniseries. I could go on, but obviously I watch far too much tv-on-dvd.

[joeoftexas]

I started The Best of Youth (2003) on DVD and liked it a lot
( I still need to watch Disc 2).

Lars von Trier's The Kingdom (1995) is great !

[Jackie]

ER!!!!!!!

Why one can think anything else, I have no idea.
I would love to get into watching another tv drama from beginning to end - any recommendations?

[runnr1]

have you been watching ER since it first started? i loved it back when clooney was on there. i stopped watching somewhere around the time that wyle left. it's been on for, what, 10 years or more?

[ocontraire]

Sopranos
Six Feet Under
Friday Night Lights
Once And Again
Hill Street Blues
St. Elsewhere
Family
Northern Exposure
Thirty Something
LA Law
Sunshine (from the 70's?)

[ocontraire]

Forgot:
"The Shield"

[theresa herringshaw]

I can't believe no one is talking about CSI. The original, of course. The others are fairly entertaining from time to time, but combination of talents and storylines have been compelling for years. CSI Miami is too societally specific for someone in backwoods Maine, like myself, to grasp onto. Columbian drug lord don't tend to wander around our cities. It reminds me too much of Miami Vice. CSI NY is contrived and far too rehearsed for any one to believe those characters could ever had made it through the police academy, never mind have become specialized detectives. As usual, the original tops any of the "wanna be"s.

[Cat G]

Boy do I agree with you on this one!! If David Caruso spoke anymore deliberately to make his points, you'd fall asleep before he hit the end of his sentences. They would have been much better off putting Emily Procter in the lead for CSI Miami. I got hooked on her in West Wing. CSI NY is the most contrived show ever conceived of! My husband loves it, so am forced to watch it occasionally but hate the long musical interludes of people mixing, cutting, and examining pieces of evidence that seem to take forever and add nothing to the storyline.

CSI Crime Scene Investigation, however, is the epitome of drama and has great characters. I've noticed that the last few episodes of this year have gone to the comic side. I hope they reverse that trend.