Sci-Fi:
Doctor Who
The Daddy of sci-fi series. Probably peaked creepiness-wise with The Empty Child and rather shot its load with Doomsday. This last series has been a little kiddified, with little character development.
The Prisoner
Surreal old Sci-fi drama thing. 17 episodes of wuhtuhfuh. Well worth watching
Lexx
Bit of a marmite show, you will either love it or think its shit. Personally, I love it *because* its shit. Its fully aware of how shit it is, and how daft it is, and that makes it utterly wonderful. Imagine a serious show that has accidentally been written by someone who is both stoned and horny.
Eureka
Very funny. Based around the concept of a small american town that happens to house the smartest people in the world (for silly reasons). The whole place is stocked with mad scientists, and the story revolves around the local sherrif. Massively entertaining.
Battlestar Galactica
Fucking Cylons and epic space battles separated by character building/filler episodes of varying quality. The miniseries, Resurrection Ship and Exodus are fine examples of what the new BSG is capable of.
Bionic Woman
First ep aired last night. I swept it out of curiosity. I'm sure I don't need to explain the plot, it's a re-make of the 70's show. Once you get past the fact that the Bionic Woman is played by Michelle Ryan (of Eastenders fame) it shapes up fairly well. Ryan fakes (to me, at least) a decent Merkin accent and the effects are pretty good.
I'll be watching the first few to see how it goes. Worth a sweep.
Farscape
Cracking scifi about a somewhat annoying american test pilot shot through a wormhole and ending up with a band of complete misfits. Sounds formulaic but isn't. Sadly got canned suddenly at the end of S5 by those whores at SCIFI channel, something to do with it costing 1M per episode to make, which explains why the last 4 episodes make no sense whatsoever. Got ressurected thanks to DVD sales and a miniseries (peacekeeper wars) was released to better tie up the plot arc. The completion of teh whole arc was a great loss to television imo although possibly not as big a loss as another mentionable (see below). I have seen all of this but bought the box set for myself my wife for christmas and so am just about to start watching it from the beginning again.
Buffy the vampire slayer
My mate once spent 2 hours in the pub talking with a new work colleague about their mutual love of all things scifi and (decent) fantasy before one of them broached the subject of "errrm, so do you like Buffy then?" Another boxed set that I "bought for the wife" worth every minute of the 4 months it took us to get through the whole thing. Joss Whedon for President
Angel
Buffy spinoff about her boyfriend the friendly vampire. Not as original as buffy but still good
Firefly
more cracking scifi but rather than cutting this one down in its prime, SCIFI Channel performed a late abortion and cut it off at 9 episodes, with only 6 having aired. cunts. Take BtVS mix in some Farscape adding a pinch of Deadwood and you have the glory that could almost have been Firefly. Again, DVD sales revived interest and the movie Serenity was released in 2005. I believe that Serenity tries to describe the whole plot arc planned for the original TV show, but in a couple of hours. As such, it doesn't stand on its own but needs to be viewed with the surviving episodes to aid characterisations. Joss whedon for god.
The Outer Limits (1995)
All kinds of trashy sci-fi win
Tripping the Rift
Animated semi-humourous sci-fi-esque thing about a purple thing with a big arse called Chode, and his spaceship crew including a sex android, some golden robot (3cpo?), some green lizardish shit, and an ugly cow with three boobs. I kinda like it, it's worth a shot, but I can't guarantee you'll like it.
Farscape
Not sure if it has been mentioned before, since search is currently disabled and I'm basically a lazy fuck. Awesome sci-fi eaten by the owner channel, but pretty much every channel is the same, right, they either fail to come up with a good show or cancel any good shows to make space for bad ones and turn into type 1 channels. Anyway, Farscape is, Doctor Who and Eureka aside, a truely awesome sci-fi, while a bit to serious it never fails to be comical.
Comedy:
The Young Ones
Oh no, the front door's exploded! While not consistently funny (Alexi Sayle) the bits that are funny, are still very funny. Best thing Rik Mayall has ever done.
Blackadder
While the series were fun, they got a little bit samey, but this special does rather well, especially in this rather sparse field.
Teachers
Teachers acting like prats. Still enjoyable, worth a re-watch if you liked it originally.
Penn & Teller: Bullshit
Massively biased rants about everything. Very enjoyable
Blackadder
Still genius
Absolutely
Not to be confused with Naked Video, this was the other, funnier, sometimes more surreal scottish comedy sketch show. John Sparkes and Morwenna Banks did all the best characters.
Newman & Baddiel's History Today
The rest of the show wasn't very memorable, but this was the funniest sketch evar.
Father Ted
Still funny, but very much one for small doses.
Red Dwarf
Small cast, smaller budget space-based comedy. Shittest special effects ever, and absolutely amazing. If you haven't seen it, amend your ways immediately.
Fawlty Towers
Mid-seventies British sitcom written by and featuring John Cleese and Connie Booth. Only had 12 episodes made, and each one is ace.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_chicken">Robot Chicken</a>
Very funny stop motion animation from Seth Green (Scott Evil, Chris Griffin) and a few of the others responsible for Family Guy and American Dad.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Train">Big Train</a>
Cracking but incredibly surreal comedy from Simon Pegg, Mark Heap et al. Everyone should be able to quote this at each other (you fat handed tw<b></b>at).
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperdrive ... Hyperdrive (Series 2)</a>
Seems to be bit better than the last series, which was very hit and miss I thought. Perhaps it's finding it's feet at last. Worth a watch if you like sci-fi comedy.
Red Dwarf
Seven and a Half serieses of fucking awesome, half a series of good enough.
You've all seen it, but you should watch it again. so there.
I usually end up watching the whole lot and all extras etc. twice a year.
Porridge
Very clever, funny even after thirty years. I think there are three series out on DVD, probably quite cheaply.
The Big Bang Theory
Only saw this for the first time a few nights ago, thought it was awesome. Two apartment sharing geeks (they put most 5punkers to shame) have the extremely tasty Kaley Cuoco aka Penny move into the apartment across the hall. She then shows them how little they actually know about real life. One of the funniest Merkin shows I've liked since Scrubs.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Another American sitcom that I quite enjoy. Three young friends who own an Irish bar. They're all bonkers. Also Danny DeVito.
Spaced: A short, 2 series comedy look into the life of twenty-something culture vultures of the highest order, finding their feet in life in 21st century London. Filled from beginning to end with fast paced action, incredible characters, cracking acting, excellent jokes, more pop culture references than any one person could possibly get, excellent soundtrack, superb set design, classic cameos and fantastic story lines. Shorter than everyone wanted, but there's no going back for the stars as they've migrated to celluloid with panache. A must see if you have eyes. Best comedy series ever filmed.
15 Storeys High:
Possibly my favourite sitcom of the past 10 years, which virtually no one has heard of. I think it suffered from being shown in the early days of BBC3, thus largely ignored. I only discovered it by accident a few months ago. Watched one episode and immediately ordered the DVD of both series. It's unfortunate that's all there is.
Sean Lock plays a miserable, cynical bastard who lives in a block of flats, he gets a lodger who is the polar opposite. Hilarity ensues. Well, it doesn't but it is funny, clever and surreal in parts. One of the highlights is the some times bizarre insights into the other residents of the flats. It takes a couple of episodes to get going but once it does I think most will thoroughly enjoy it.
The Inbetweeners is much better than skins, more lifelike and funny. Less DRAMA too.
'Allo 'Allo
Sitcom series set during World War II in a the french town of Nouvion, in Café René, whose owner René gets forced into helping the French Resistance, while is forced to collaborate with the stationed german troops, and the Gestapo, and while trying to hide the fact he's assisting each from the other two. There were 9 series produced and there wasn't a single episode I didn't enjoy. A must.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Agent ... ies)">Free Agents</a>
It's alright and mostly for (relatively) old people like me. It features Garth Marenghi and Buffy's Prime Minister. As well is a woman I find quite attractive called Sharon Horgan. Even though she's 5 years old than me and that makes her ancient.
At least it's a British programme
Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle
Very funny, mostly. There was a weak bit in the middle, but otherwise excellent. Don't watch that sketch show with that fat one and the other one from Gavin & Stacey. It's shit (I'm lead to believe), watch this instead.
The Life & Times of Tim
Short animated episode thing. Follows a guy called Tim, who is like young and more modern, New-York version of Unlucky Alf.
I guess it's not laugh out loud kinda funny but it is good fun. I think its the kind of stuff 5punkers would like, the first episode is called "Angry Unpaid Hooker".
Two episodes are bundled together for each release. Tricky to sweep of teh newzes, apparently HBO had a takedown spree but it is possible.
Pete versus Life
From the makers of Peep Show, I can't be arsed describing it myself, so instead I'll just cut and paste from the website:
"Pete is a struggling young sports writer. He's an average bloke - apart from the lying, selfishness and laziness. He tends to overperform in these areas. But what really sets Pete apart is the two top-flight commentators who observe, analyse and comment on every move he makes..."
So, there are a lot of comedies where the main character isn't particularly likeable (Alan Partridge etc), but they somehow still manage to work. Problem with this show is that I find the main character utterly detestable with no redeeming features whatsoever. At least on some level I can identify with the likes of Partridge and Mark and Jez from Peep Show, but the bloke in this is just your average moronic football fan who talks about birds and sport all the time.
At least there are some fit women in it - phwoar!*
*irony
Edit: I think this quote I saw accurately describes it:
Council Estate humour ,for people that think Ian Wright is good on the telly.
Drama:
Hill Street Blues
Made by NYPD Blue creator, and in my opinion more entertaining, with better, more interesting characters. Apart from the clothes, it's aged remarkably well.
Soldier Soldier
Squaddies acting like prats, Utter trash, but moderately enjoyable.
The X-Files
Remarkably, as good as it ever was (though I'm only up to season 4)
The Wire
Probably the best Policey show I've seen, definitely worth starting at the start though
Jonathan Creek
Total and utter shite. Fucking Great
Sharpe
Swashbuckling adventures set during the Napoleonic Wars, based on the books by Bernard Cornwell. Sean Beans best role IMO. Learn how to fire 4 shots in a minute
The Sopranos
The best thing on telly ever! Probably best to watch from the beginning though.
4400
Same kind of thing as Heroes, but not as good, probably *hasn't seen heroes*
Band of Brothers
Bloody excellent WW2 mini series, probably the highest rating I've seen on IMDB, even has a small role from Simon Pegg
Burn Notice
Spy Michael Westen gets "burned" by the U.S. Government and all his assets are frozen. Using his spy knowledge, he gets by doing odd jobs and finding out who burned him, and why. Awesome show so far, it's got some detective work, some action, and a dose of MacGyver. Also, motherfucking Bruce Campbell.
The Kill Point
Newish merkin series about a bank robbery (I don't wanna give much away) certainly worth a watch.
K-Ville
Cop drama set in (post Katrina) New Orleans, Shows promise (have only watched the first ep)
might appeal if you liked the wire.
Dexter
Forensics expert working for police, also a serial killer.
mid way into its second season. fucking awesome.
DeadWood
OMFG this is fucking awesome! Just finished the first season and i can safely say it's one of the best dramas on tv.
It's a western set in the small town of Deadwood in the 1870's (based on a real town of the same name). The show follows its evolution from a small prospecters camp to a regular town. A lot of the characters are also based on real life people like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Wyatt Earp.
Some of the dialogue is almost Shakespearean so it can be a bit hard to follow what's going on at times. But this doesn't seem to matter as the characters and acting is so good. And it's got lots of swearing.
Charlie Brooker reviews it just over half way through this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkgsUHxlL6Y
some of which i copied for my mini review
Morse
Essential watching for anyone who's ever spent time in Oxford and frankly for anyone who hasn't either. John Thaw is the acerbic classically trained and cultured Chief Inspector Morse with Kevin Whatley as his long suffering Sergeant Lewis. How Lewis managed to support a family while buying all those beers (food fro teh brain, Lewis) for Morse, I will never know. Superb. For any of you across the pond; watch this, that's what we're all like. Honestly.
House M.D.
House (Hugh Lawrie, aka Stupid Prince George) is a diagnostics specialist at some American hospital. Part hospital drama, part detective show, I love this for the comic dark side of Hugh.
Lost
I'm hooked on this. Plane crashes on a tropical island. Several (about 40) passengers make a very unlikely survival. Each character has his own past and secrets, some clearly relevant to the island itself, some less so (or as yet unclarified, I've only seen S1). The biggest secret of all is the island itself, which makes some very odd and threating noises indeed, especially at night. Best summed up by the radio signal the survivors manage to pick up of a French woman repeating the phrase "they came and killed us all" over and over for 16 years.
Heroes
Plenty of talk about this elsewhere on the forums. This is brilliant. Watch it. Hiro for president (now Joss Whedon is God)
ReGenesis
Best way I can describe it is like kinda like House, but with Viruses, and less funny.
Mostly awesome, onto its 4th season now.
Jericho
America gets nuclear bummed. Small town trying to survive. Much win
Reaper
The devils hitman for escaped souls, so far Gary Glitter has not shown up. Utter trash. Great
Six Feet Under
Set in a funeral home, not sure how to define it really. It has elements of drama so I will stick with that for now, with quite a lot of dark humour and based around a family funeral business. It started back in 2001 I think and ran for 5 seasons. Thoroughly recommended if only for the random daydreams they all have
The Fixer
ITV thing, some guy gets released from prison to become a hitman (think Nikita, but less french)
Not sure about it yet, only 2 eps have aired. worth a look probably.
Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but Skins is better than I was expecting.
Nearly at the end of the first series, and apart from one off-kilter episode, has been pretty enjoyable so far. Its a comedy/drama based around a bunch of kids in (I think) a sixth form college. Each episode is focused mainly on one character's story, and while not brilliant, it's perfectly enjoyable. It's kind of like Teachers, a little bit, ish, but not as good.
I'll see how the second series pans out.
Flashpoint
Kinda like The Unit, but with a SWAT team, so kinda like SWAT too, but less 70s, and more pretty.
Shows potential in the action/drama way.
Traveler
Originally 13 episodes were planned but some cunting motherfucker butchered it to 8. Quite interesting, but the missing 5 episodes ruin it.
My keywords: action/corrupt FBI agents/false accusations/animal in title
Generation Kill
Wiki says: Based on Evan Wright's book about his experiences as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the Iraq war's first phase in 2003.
Berk says: Rather good, kinda band of brothers 2003, worth a sweep.
Just watched the last episode (the 7th)
Whole series is fucking awesome, Pretty much up there with Band of Brothers.
Grey's Anatomy
Hospital story on two threads (multitasking!). Hospital thread: 4 new trainees arrive at Grey's Anatomy, who usually fuck up everything, but from right here it's typical hospital story. The other thread hosts a love line, which just means that by the end of series 4, everyone probably fucked everyone in every possible place. To avoid confusion and abuse: I don't recommend this show.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_(TV_ ... ">Chuck</a>
Action Comedy about a geek that ends up with the contents of a CIA and NSA computer in his brain, and as such forced to work for both.
Quite pleasing, amusing in places, but not massively funny.
Spooks: Code 9
As a big fan of the original series I thought this was going be more of the same. Set in a post-nuclear-attack England it sounds liked the story could be something special too.
How wrong I was.
When watching I feel like I've somehow started to watch CBBC by mistake. The acting is piss poor. The story is worse than piss poor. The characters are weak, they have potential but they don't explore any of it. The only way you could possibly enjoy this show would be to suspend your disbelief that the country's security has been handed over to a bunch of teenagers. These 'agents' couldn't even spell Intelligence, let alone work for such an agency.
Why they have tainted the Spooks brand with such utter rubbish God only knows.
The Mentalist
Mix CSI with a magical 8-ball and this is what you get. I think it's worth watching though.
<B><a href="http://www.tvrage.com/Boston_Legal">Boston legal</a></B>:
Legal drama with comedy.
Contains the shat, that's all you really need to know.
Not super funny, but consistently pleasingly amusing, a bit like Arrested Development in that respect.
<B><a href="http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-20649">Chris Ryan's Elite Police</a></B>:
Chris Ryan playing with various 1337 police units, Handy education.
<B><a href="http://www.tvrage.com/The_Unit">The Unit</a></B>:
Somehow, I forgot to review this, I think (fuck you disabled search)
Super secret merkin special horses team lead by president palmer, mostly action, but contains their families too, fortunately, there's only a few episodes where the families bit is overpowering and pisses me off. Generally good
By far one of my favourite TV serieses of the last few years.
Wallander
The fantastic luvvie Kenneth Branagh plays the eponymous Swedish detective. A relatively run-of-mill TV detective show but Branagh puts in a cracking performance. It has a wonderfully low-key feeling and the plots are almost secondary to the personal aspect as Wallander almost seems too bumble through the investigations. Available on the aye-playa (be aware, they are also showing the Swedish versions, which ain't too bad either).
If nothing else, it has prompted me to add the original novels to my "should read" list.
Kingdom
Righto, first off, this is basically Heartbeat with Stephen Fry, but it is Heartbeat with Stephen Fry. Lord Fry plays a small-town Norfolk solicitor. He's hardly acting; the character is pretty much Stephen Fry as he appears in most other stuff but it is charming, light-hearted and Fry is perfect. Worth a look if you have a spare hour or two.
Leverage
TNT series; entertainingish series about a group of incompatible criminal specialists working on break-in jobs and stuff. First season's pretty promising (well more than previous volumes of Heroes anyway). I'd rate it Burn Notice minus two on a Sarah Connor Chronicles to House scale.
Castle
Short Version: Nathan Fillion(Mal from Firefly/Serenity) is a mystery book writer helping a female-cop catch a copycat killer of his books. Comedy/Drama methinks...
Long version: Wildly famous mystery novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is bored with his own success. Then he learns that a real-world copycat killer has started staging murder scenes depicted in his novels. Castle is questioned by NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), a bright and aggressive detective who keeps her investigations under tight rein. Though they instantly clash, sparks of another sort also begin to fly, leading both to danger and a hint of romance as Castle steps in to help find the killer. And once that case is solved, he and Beckett build on their new relationship as they look to solve more strange homicides in New York - as much fun as one can have with death and murder.
Castle is kept grounded by his Broadway diva mother, Martha Rodgers (Susan Sullivan), and quick-witted teenage daughter Alexis (Molly Quinn). Also starring in the series are Ruben Santiago-Hudson as NYPD Captain Roy Montgomery, Tamala Jones as Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, Jon Huertas as NYPD Detective Javier Esposito and Seamus Dever as NYPD Detective Kevin Ryan.
"Castle" is produced by ABC Studios. Andrew Marlowe (writer, "Air horse One") serves as executive producer/writer, along with executive producers Armyan Bernstein, Barry Schindel, Rob Bowman (who also directed the pilot) and Laurie Zaks.
First episode was good. Nice introduction to all the characters. Decent murder story. Looking forward to next weeks ep which should have more story to it. Fillion was quite funny and is likable. Cop-chick is nice...and serious. If they keep the drama a bit complicated as a "murder" novelist is the main character...I'll be happy...right until they cancel it.
Southland
L.A. cop show, follows story of rookie cop. Watching beat cops interact with their community has potential for goodness, but the show needs to overcome cop show stereotypes. I'm going to be watching this one some more.
Ashes to Ashes started last night, was okay - bit more on track with the story. Also Mrs McClusky FTW.
Fringe
Have we done this yet? Yet another "FBI working with wacky scientist" thing. Think X-Files meets Warehouse 13. When it's doing X-Files it's not too bad. There is a decent conspiracy idea building and the action and effects are OK. When it's doing the W13 bit it falls on it's arse. They seem to use the "Fringe" science as a mechanism to get round any of those pesky plot and continuity problems. Frankly, it gets a bit daft at times.
Up to ep 5 now and I think I'll probably manage the full season (first season finished in May).
Worth a look.
Oh, and it's a J.J Abrams job. I've never seen any of his stuff but I gather some people aren't his biggest fans.
Breaking Bad
One of the best drama series I've seen, it stars Bryan Cranston (Hal from Malcom in the Middle) as a chemistry school teacher who is diagosed with terminal lung cancer and so chooses to use his skills as a chemist to produce crystal meth to leave his family financially well off.
It first aired in the US Jan 08 and has won several awards, it's a wonder then that it hasn't made it over here and that no one seems to know about it. The 1st season is 7 episodes and seasons 2 and 3 are 13 long, with a 4th being made. Now even though I say it's one of the best things I've seen, up there with Band of Brothers for me, and I want to recommend it, I have to admit the first series is the best. Season 2 goes downhill till the end (slightly) but then picks up a bit for season 3 before going downhill again (slightly). Season 1 had me genuinely grinning with glee. The premise may seem familiar, but I'd imagine you'll never have seen anything like it, it's quirky, riveting, sad, and blackly funny. The story arcs are generally genius, with something new being revealed every episode, although season 3's stories get a little weak with plots micro focused on a couple of people rather than the initial (almost) ensemble cast. I think one of the reasons it runs out of steam is due to it being based around a guy who is doing something illegal and completely alien to himself, and with only a short time left, but once the story gets passed that and he's a full time criminal the writers don't seem to know where to take it. Each episode also starts with a set up scene which generally depicts a later point in the episode, which leaves you eager to see what is going to happen to cause it. Oh yeah, and it can be quite violent at times to boot.
IMdb gives it a 9 and I think it deserves it, but for it's slight flaws in story as the seasons go on I'll give it:
:starfull::starfull::starfull::starfull::starfull::starfull::starfull::starempty::starempty:(Just wanted to do the stars thing...)
Kids:
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Doubtless you Lazytown-wanking pervs will think this is more of the same, but it's genuinely entertaining and funny. And my favourite character is the cat.
Rex the Runt
Made by Aardman, possibly while under the influence of something. Plasticine dogs, doing adventures, tuesday, Random Pavarotti Disease. Absolute must see (there's at least one episode on the Joost aardman channel)
Aqua Teen Hunger horse
This show really defies description. Basically an animated comedy show about three fast food items, their next door neighbour, and an assorted cast of other weird misfits, but it really has to be seen. The first episode I saw, I thought, "this is stupid". The second episode I saw (it was on before Cowboy Bebop at the time), I thought, "this is stupid, and also fecking hilarious, and I need MOAR". From that moment on, I was hooked.
Gameshow:
Robot Wars
Stomps mercilessly on any similar-themed US version, where salmon-coloured robots have to escape from damp paper bags and slap each others legs. No, these bots kick arse. Unforgettable robots, and equally weird roboteers.
Factual
Good Eats
Food TV, Geeky male presenter, Covers a lot of the science of cooking, along with good recipes and guides on everything.
Mythbusters
Geeks exploding shit. Very much worth stealing the proper American version.
The World at War
Which is quite old but very interesting, if you want to learn more about the second world war. Mostly in black and white due to the heavy use of archive footage, but it does show plenty of the harshness of war.
Stephen Fry in America
also Wiki
Stephen Fry wandering across America, being splendidly faaabulous and bemused by Americans.
Really enjoyed this, but I am faaabulous for the fry.
Overhaulin'
Think pimp my ride meets groundforce.
They steal a someone's (usually sheddy old) car with the help of a family member, and overhaul it into something special.
Unlike pimp my ride, they do a really good job of it, and don't just spruce up a pile of crap with a can of spraypaint and some furry dice.
Misc/Other
Hellsing
If you only watch one anime thing ever. Watch this.
Hard
