Shows We Like (The TV Appreciation Thread For All!)

[Phillip Dampier]

I thought it would be fun to compile a list of television shows we enjoy watching, updated whenever we find something new that's worthwhile.

I am going to kick things off with a nod to a show that is among my favorites, but isn't even on American television.  It's something from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and it's about to kick off a new season.

The Chaser's War on Everything is a fun look at the week's events in Australian pop culture (especially what commercial television networks are on about) and politics.  The hosts lampoon the vapidity of things like sensationalistic TV news-tabloid candy like the always-shallow Today Tonight or Current Affair programs (Americans - imagine if E! was in charge of running a serious newscast), poke fun at Australian business excess, and even gets access to John Howard from time to time, showing Australian politicians are considerably more accessible than American ones are.

Even if you won't get all of the political and cultural references, the show is incredibly original and entertaining for everyone.  If you like The Daily Show, you'd probably find plenty to enjoy from The Chaser's.

Best of all this show can be downloaded (and even subscribed to as a video podcast) so everyone can watch.  I highly recommend it, and the new season starts March 28th!

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/

[injest]

ok this isn't any high brow entertainment...but I sure enjoy "The Best Week Ever" on VH1...their comments on current events crack me up!

[mvansand76]

Really the only TV shows I watch are:

Grey's Anatomy
Lost
House

GA because of the great dialogue and the flawed, almost unlikeable characters. Lost because I really have no clue what's going on and House because I love Hugh Laurie and he is such a bastard in this.

[Jeff Wrangler]

My current list:

NCIS

Law and Order: SVU

Crossing Jordan

Medium

My Name is Earl

C.S.I.

Numbers

Kinda heavy on the crime procedurals, isn't it?

A show I've caught a couple of times and liked is The Dresden Files.

[Kelda]

The Amazing Race - its interesting to see all the different cultures and the beautiful bits of worlds out there and also to see the American teams interaction and integration (or the lack of it) with these cultures.

Its also interesting to see how team dynamics move and how relationships grow or flounder under the pressure, the scary tasks, but also the new world they are seeing with each other and the new appreciation for each other they may or may not be finding.

It also helps me to grow my ever expanding list of places to see and things to do.

[David]

Shows I watch:

The Amazing Race.   CBS

Desparate Housewives.  ABC

The Riches   

Boston Legal.   ABC

Jericho. CBS
 
Survivor.   CBS

LOST.   ABC

CSI  Las Vegas.   CBS

sometimes:

Law & Order.    NBC

SmallVille.      WB   

[Ellemeno]

Arrested Development

The Colbert Report

Psych (silly but cute)


For the four year old crowd:

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Postcards from Buster

Signing Time

[Ellemeno]

I forgot to include

The Riches

I've been giving that a chance.  Anybody else seen it?

[David]

I forgot to include

The Riches

I've been giving that a chance.  Anybody else seen it?

I do!    I just went up and added it to my list!    LOL.


I think it is one of the most original shows on TV right now.

[oilgun]

Ok, I just watched the pilot of Steven's Botchco's war series Over There and was blown away it was even better the second time around!  But the reason I'm posting is that I googled Luke McFarlane who plays Frank "Dim" Dumphy, I'm gathering a list of sexy Canadians, and gort all this shit about him being Wentworth Miller's lover!!  How the fuck did I miss that?!  Is there any truth to this wet dream of a rumour?!



Anyhoo, I'm off to visit my sister for the holidays tomorrow so I wish you all a great Christmas or whatever else you might be celebrating!!  May it be filled with love, fun and sexiness!  I'll check back here on Thursday or Friday...

[Jeff Wrangler]

Ok, I just watched the pilot of Steven's Botchco's war series Over There and was blown away it was even better the second time around!  But the reason I'm posting is that I googled Luke McFarlane who plays Frank "Dim" Dumphy, I'm gathering a list of sexy Canadians, and gort all this shit about him being Wentworth Miller's lover!!  How the fuck did I miss that?!  Is there any truth to this wet dream of a rumour?!



Anyhoo, I'm off to visit my sister for the holidays tomorrow so I wish you all a great Christmas or whatever else you might be celebrating!!  May it be filled with love, fun and sexiness!  I'll check back here on Thursday or Friday...

Sounds like a match made in "slash" heaven to me. ... 

[oilgun]

A new (Fox) show I'm looking forward to is NEW AMSTERDAM.  The pilot is directed by Lasse Holstrom and the main actor is Danish superhunk Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.  The Pilot is airing this Tuesday and Thursday and then it reverts to Mondays at 9:00.

 


Show Description

NEW AMSTERDAM centers on a brilliant and enigmatic New York homicide detective unlike any other. And he has a profound secret - he is immortal.

In 1642, JOHN AMSTERDAM (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), then a Dutch solider in the colony of New Amsterdam - later to become New York City - stepped in front of a sword to save the life of a Native American girl during a massacre of her indigenous tribe. The girl in turn rescued Amsterdam, weaving an ancient spell that conferred immortality upon him. Amsterdam will not age, she told him, until he finds his one true love. Only then will he become whole and ready for mortality.

Amsterdam has found this to be a mixed blessing. Over the course of three centuries, he's experienced endless adventure and honed his many talents. But everyone Amsterdam meets must leave him in time; friends, lovers and children grow old and eventually die, while he remains young. The exhilaration of eternal life has given way to emotional isolation and loneliness; the blessing has become a curse. His sole confidant and current lifelong friend is the sage jazz club owner OMAR (Stephen Henderson), the keeper of Amsterdam's secret, as well as a few of his own.

Having witnessed its entire history from colonial outpost to mega-metropolis, John Amsterdam is the living embodiment of New York City. He and the island of Manhattan are joined - part and parcel. Bringing to bear the unorthodox techniques and unique knowledge gained from his vast life experience, Amsterdam today is one of the NYPD's best homicide detectives, sparring with his vibrant, strong-willed partner EVA MARQUEZ (Zuleikha Robinson) as they solve difficult murder cases.

But when Amsterdam suffers and then recovers what appears to be a massive heart attack while chasing a suspect, and DR. SARA DILLANE (Alexie Gilmore) pronounces him dead in the ER, he realizes that the prophesy may have come true - he felt the pain in his heart foretold so long ago. His soul mate must have been nearby. As he works to bring closure to the lives of others, Amsterdam also seeks closure of his own

[oilgun]

Has anyone seen the three part BBC series THE LINE OF BEAUTY, based on Allan Hollinghurst's novel?  It played here on BBC Canada and a work colleague recommended I rent it.  I finally got the DVD and watched the first two episodes and it's FANTASTIC!  It's  like a cross between QAF and BRIDESHEAD REVISITED set in London during Thatcher's  reign.  I very HIGHLY recommend it!



An IMDb Comment: Okay, so it may seem unfair to review The Line of Beauty after having only seen Episode One, but the sneaky peek on show last night at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival gave every indication that this adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel is a classic in the making.

Everyone who has read the novel will have his or her own impression of the characters and locales. (I lived in Notting Hill for more than a decade, so my mental picture of the story was probably more vivid than most.) But within minutes of the bravura opening sequence (grafted onto the novel by canny adapter Andrew Davies), director Saul Dibb makes Nick Guest's world his own.

What I found so extraordinary about this adaptation (or at least the first episode) is how cleverly Davies has mined the novel for humour, social commentary and romance. On- screen representations of the upper-middle-classes tend to show us the wholly implausible world of PG Wodehouse, but without Wodehouse's wit, or stick the knife in with bitter class hatred. The Line of Beauty does neither; showing us the Fedden family warts and all. Gerald Fedden MP (in a stunningly good characterisation by Tim McInnerney) is quite the pompous paterfamilias, but is also generous, funny and kind.

As our "eyes and ears" through the story, newcomer Dan Stevens is pitch-perfect; his clear, blue eyes miss nothing as his life becomes more and more entwined with the Feddens and their glittering world.

 

[Jeff Wrangler]

A new (Fox) show I'm looking forward to is NEW AMSTERDAM.  The pilot is directed by Lasse Holstrom and the main actor is Danish superhunk Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.  The Pilot is airing this Tuesday and Thursday and then it reverts to Mondays at 9:00.

I loved New Amsterdam. Unfortunately, the series was not renewed. 

However, I read or heard somewhere that N C-W has landed a role in a sci-fi series, so we may see more of him on TV. 

[CellarDweller]

Oh God.......TV......my fave shows have always been geared to the teenage girl!

 


The first show I really loved was this one!



[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WpwNJx91UQ[/youtube]



and then I moved on to this..........





[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp8l3UerZ5w&feature=related[/youtube]



and then finally, moved onto this one........




[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwoF_YhK1Mw[/youtube]

[Kelda]

Was charmed the SHannon doherty copnnection or the magi/fantasy connection!?!

[CellarDweller]

Whut? ? ?   


If you've never heard of Charmed, here's a brief explanation.

After the death of their grandmother, Prudence (Shannen Dougherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs) move into her house.  They are joined by youngest sister Pheobe (Allysa Milano).  On Pheobe's first night there, she goes into the attic, and finds a trunk with a large book called "The Book Of Shadows".

She reads an incantation on the first page, and discovers that she and her sisters are witches, destined to be "The Charmed Ones", three powerful witches who protect the innocent from demons, each sister with a specific power.

Prudence can move objects with her mind, Piper can freeze time, and Phoebe can see the future.

[oilgun]

Oh God.......TV......my fave shows have always been geared to the teenage girl!

 


The first show I really loved was this one!



[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WpwNJx91UQ[/youtube]



and then I moved on to this..........





[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp8l3UerZ5w&feature=related[/youtube]



and then finally, moved onto this one........




[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwoF_YhK1Mw[/youtube]

What about these, my favourite teen shows?!:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc4gL1zusoQ&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7eqsU48qEM&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvUocTBwlSY&feature=related[/youtube]

[jstephens9]

I watched Eli Stone for the first time last night. It's actually a very good show. I had heard of it, but never really watched it closely. And Johnny Lee Miller who plays Eli is not bad to look at either 

[Kelda]

Was charmed the SHannon doherty copnnection or the magi/fantasy connection!?!

Oh dear god! Rereading that and then your reply I see I wasn't very good at explaining myself...

I meant since you like 90210 and then Buffy...

was the reason you liked Charmed (which I know and quite like but not as much as Buffy.. Spike... *sexy growl* swoon!) because of the magic/fantasy connection to Buffy or the Shannon Docherty connection to 90210?

[CellarDweller]

Oh dear god! Rereading that and then your reply I see I wasn't very good at explaining myself...

I meant since you like 90210 and then Buffy...

was the reason you liked Charmed (which I know and quite like but not as much as Buffy.. Spike... *sexy growl* swoon!) because of the magic/fantasy connection to Buffy or the Shannon Docherty connection to 90210?

haahaahaa!

Ok, now I get your question...

I wasn't really a Shannen fan, although I did like her in both shows.  Not sure why I fell to 90210...not usually my type of show.  I do like the "magic" connection, and watched both "Buffy" and "Charmed" religiously when they were on.

[cmr107]

I used to love Buffy when it was on! I even got my parents hooked on it! We also watched Angel, the spin-off show. Haha, and we have a cute little fluffy dog, and decided to name it Buffy.  I watched Charmed and Felicity for a while too, but lost interest after a few seasons.

I just got into The Office. I had seen it a few time and thought it was ok, but my friend is obsessed with it. She made me start from the beginning. So I watched all four seasons earlier this summer, and now I love it.

Arrested Development is another one I just got into. Too bad they stopped making it. I haven't seen the third season yet, but I enjoyed the first two.

The only shows I watch when I'm here at school are Grey's Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars, and that's mostly just because I watch them with friends (a different group for each show). We never have a chance to see them when they're on, so we tape them and watch together later.

Oh, and I've loved So You Think You Can Dance this summer and last summer. There are some really amazing dancers out there!

[southendmd]

Hey Gil, I'm with you re Roswell.  Jason Behr is one sexy alien.

[oilgun]

Is anyone watching MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL?   I can't believe that Holly won over Perry and Bronnie!  I couldn't believe that she made it to the final four!:

Holly the "Supermodel":


Runner-up Perry:


Runner-up Ben:


Runner-up Ronnie:



If you think this is bad, I also watched WIPEOUT and laughed my head off.  In fact I think I'm developing a crush on its dorky host, John Henson.



Obviously, my brain is shrinking...

[BelAir]

I'm currently addicted to Law and Order (all versions - though I do have some preferences) and Without A Trace.  Oh yeah, also USA's In Plain Sight.

Not what I would necessarily advertise as high quality art - but they're entertaining enough for moi.

I used to love love love Alias.  But got pretty sick of it by the final season.  Knowing how JJ Abrams let Alias go to waste, I only watched Lost for the first season, as I figured he'd likely do the same to that one.

[oilgun]

Hey Gil, I'm with you re Roswell.  Jason Behr is one sexy alien.

Jason is gorgeous, but I was more a fan of bad boy Brendan Fehr.