US Telly: What do you recommend?
 

Over on the British Telly thread, I mentioned that I'd never seen Hugh Laurie in anything other than comedy roles and DanaC said how good he was in 'House'.

I managed to track down an (almost) reasonably priced box set and took the plunge. It should be here on Monday.

It caused me to think about all the US series of which I'd heard, but never watched, and came up with the following:

The West Wing

24

Homeland

Seinfeld

Cheers

Frasier

Scrubs

I have an Amazon DVD wish list on which the above now appear, but it's a long term project, not least because of the costs involved but comments would be welcome on my choices.

Recommendations for other series would also be gratefully received.

Thanks.:thumb:

PS I already have the box set of MASH.

I find it odd to buy the show without seeing a couple first... at least one to get some idea. Don't you have some way to rent or stream these, or does that get into the not-in-your-country thing?
I suppose you can see samples on youtube, but "best of" or highlights can be misleading.

I loved Cheers, but with a large cast it can be uneven sometimes.
I thought Seinfeld worked because once you are familiar with the characters, it was a combination of the expected and unexpected. After seeing all the shows a few times it loses the unexpected.

Yes, there are various streaming services available but I don't subscribe to any because of the costs involved and the limited use I would make of them.
I've had a taste of one or two on YouTube, but it might be an idea to go for a cheap second hand single series DVD first before committing myself to the full works.
As mentioned, it's a long term project due to current circumstances, so I'm not going to be shelling out huge sums of money.
Occasionally, there are bargains to be had, so it's a question of keeping an eye on Amazon, Ebay, etc.

I bought the whole of series one of The Walking Dead sight unseen because it was recommended on here. Second hand, and a good few seasons behind.

Of the above I would think you would get the most out of the West Wing.
Frasier is very verbal, so it can be listened to almost like a radio series (he also works in a radio statio, which is fun). That's my favourite comedy from the list, also hopefully old enough now to be cheaper. I didn't like Seinfeld at all, and yet many of my comedy heroes venerate it. I must have missed something good about it.

Is this about what you feel you've missed out on culturally, or just series you've seen/ heard referred to most often?

There a regular reruns of Frasier on tv during day -in the morning I think. Mum's been rewatching them that way. In fact she's totally addicted to Frasier at the moment lol.

There's the Wire - though I have only seen the first two seasons. The two seasons I watched were incredible, but I never went back after that. Each season shifts perspective to look at a different aspect of Baltimore law, order, justice, and politics. The acting is stellar, the writing brilliant.

It's probably series that I have seen or heard referred to most often, and with the greatest approval.

Thanks for the recommendation of the West Wing.

All those on my wish list will be grabbed when the opportunity presents itself, ie when they're cheap, but coincidentally The West Wing is at the top of the list.


ETA Thanks for your recommendation re The Wire, Dani. I'll add that to the list.

ebay is quite a good source for these. Also, if you have a decent local library a lot of these should be available to rent/

Also, though it will be a while before it is available cheaply on dvd, Mr Robot is stunning. One of the best tv shows I have seen in a very long time.

I'm watching Sons of Anarchy now. Have you seen that? It's pretty bad ass

Of the lot, I myself would pick Frasier every time. The cast is all exceptional. David Hyde Pierce.

And even though it was the smartest situation comedy the US networks ever produced (if you don't include The Simpsons seasons 2-7 as a sitcom), it still had fun with itself and just worked for everybody.

Seinfeld was so good that it broke the sitcom. For a while after it, everything else seemed trivial or something. Being about "nothing" made it seem like forced comic situations were too forced, or something. But I'm not sure it plays as well outside of its moment in time.

Frasier stands up today much better than Cheers does. Though Cheers was great and I do love occasionally rewatching - it is very dated compared to Frasier. Frasier stands upmuch better than Friends too, imo. Than a lot of sitcoms of its time.

I'm assuming you're mostly looking for shows which are complete, so you can get the whole box set at once? I'd strongly recommend:

How I Met Your Mother
Breaking Bad

@ lumberjim, Clodfobble, DanaC and Undertoad

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. More food for thought there.

Yes, I'll go for the complete box set if I can. There are economies of scale in both new and second hand versions.

I second Frasier and Breaking bad. I didn't make it all the way through breaking bad, but it was definitely very good to start. They just tried to flog a dead horse later on imo

Battlestar Galactica, the new miniseries, not the one from 1978-1980 It has three entities, BSG, Blood and Chrome and Caprica. All are the same story told from different viewpoints. Highly recommended.

Also Firefly if you can find it.

ooo... Firefly.

The New Battle Star Galactica was outstanding, you only have to be a little bit into sci fi, the acting and dramatic tension are what carry the show.
Caprica was OK as back story, haven't seen blood and Chrome

Cheers - Enjoyed it at the time, but it's very dated and doesn't hold up
How I Met Your Mother - I never got in to this one.
Sons of Anarchy - Unfamiliar
Mr. Robot - Unfamiliar
The Walking Dead - I haven't gotten in to it, but what little I've seen has been good.
Frasier - Good
Scrubs - Good
West Wing - Good (and very good the first 2-3 seasons. It jumped the shark after 9/11. Just wasn't the same.)
Seinfeld - Very good
Firefly - Very good
Battlestar Galactica - Awesome
The Wire - Awesome
Breaking Bad - Awesome

Parks and Recreation - most excellent, very funny

I've been watching Scandal. It's pretty good, but not sure how much life is left in it, although the writers seem to be very good at still coming up with surprises.

Having sought wise counsel here, and having researched reviews, awards etc., I've narrowed it down to The West Wing and Frasier.

There are well over fifty DVDs in my Amazon wish list including fourteen US TV series.

The list will have to remain firmly in the 'wish' category pending the arrival of the lottery jackpot, but I'll be on the lookout for the above two when the economic opportunity presents itself.

Thanks one and all.

can DVD players still be hacked to be "all region"?

I believe so. To the best of my recollection there is usually a hidden menu which requires the inputting of a code from the remote.

ETA: CAN I MAKE MY DVD PLAYER MULTI-REGION?

I haven't looked at that one in depth, but if there is a fee involved vote with your feet, or your mouse. There should be plenty of free sites.

When I looked into this years ago, it was only certain models that could be and lots of googling was required. I'd say odds are that any one particular model can not be hacked.

if you can find an Apex 1500 that can easily be hacked. Not sure if they still make them

we hacked both of ours when we were there. Then you can order from overseas. Or overseas friends can send you stuf..... Jus' sayin' ;)

Do Not EVER watch Big Bang Theory. I saw it involuntarily for the first time last night and now I can hear it in the background. wtff?

Well, it IS on all channels, at all times of day.

is it? I never watch tv :lol: but I wanted a foot massage badly enough to venture in there. I doubt I'll ever want a foot massage that badly again

Well it's on TBS right fucking now, in case you get this message in the next 25 minutes and change your mind.

(It is. I looked it up.)

Now I don't think I've ever criticised the Big Bang Theory on here, because I know Infi likes it and you don't diss other people's comedy tastes (unless they're really grim).

But I never found it remotely funny.
Still, I didn't like Friends either, so what do I know?

I don't remember talking about big bang here. I like it well enough I guess, but I don't even watch it anymore, not having of the government supplied television. I watch library dvds.

Friends...I'll go to my grave for. No stuffy hoity toity sniffy language for me to pretend to languour in. That shirt bores the fuckz out of me. I can be haughty on my very own. ;)

Maybe if there were some sort of alien being or otherworld introduced...something like a robot butler...

Oh, the sniffy hilarity that ensues, m'lord! :lol:

The sitcom format of drama has a very specific sort of pace and approach. It's like, it's not real life, we wouldn't communicate like that in real life. It's more of a platform for gags. You have to be ready for that and accept it, at the pace they use, in order for the comedy to take effect.

You have to eat enough of it in order to like it.

Exactly, like sci-if comdrama that goes on for 40 years. I won't eat it.

3rd rock from the sun was good

I may be mis-remembering (is that a made-up word-hybrid?!)
I tried Big Bang a few times and was just, "Meh."

Perhaps that was my problem with Friends. I didn't find the wordplay funny enough. I like words.
I think most of us here do, just in case I'm sounding snotty, but to me it was like being back in school before people started to like me. Oh, Joel says that, so everyone laughs. Oh Jacqui says that so it's cute... Then of course it was Cherry says that, so she's so clever. That was the good bit :p:

And also I was force-fed Friends. My housemates watched it EVERY DAY. On my lovely big television. Which I put in the living room as I was the only one with two TVs, and kept the little one upstairs for my own solitary pleasure. And no, that wasn't anything I'd have been embarrassed to watch with my Mum. Although she wouldn't have appreciated me singing along to Clarissa the Teenage Witch (the College Years) theme tune. Hey, Saturday morning TV. I had Clueless and Pokemon down pat too.

I accept that most of my problem was actually with my housemates, but the only episode of Friends I enjoyed was when I'd nommed down some magic mushrooms. FTR they were legal at the time.
And my bro, who I adore, loved Friends.

But I agree that if you like something it gets funnier with repetition.
I can rock with silent laughter at The Blackadder (1st series) episode The Witchsmeller Pursuivant. I'm sure it's not really all that funny. But the cadence and rhythm of it.
RIP Frank Finlay.

My problem with Big Bang is the number of clueless people who are like, "oh, I can tell Sheldon's autistic, that's exactly what it must be like living with an autistic person" and I'm like "fuck you stop talking." He's more of a bad "prissy gay guy" stereotype than anything.

it was the alleged ?Indian guy who really did me in