Since Nobody Talks About Music Here Anymore....

[Captain Hate]

I need some DVD recs of television shows. As a non-cable guy I got to enjoy the Sopranos through the magic of DVDs (and cheap they're not) and I'm currently through season two of Entourage (pretty good *guy* humor). Of course I'm aware of the wonderfulness of The Wire so you don't have to further emphasize that, but what else is out there that's good?

[tippy]

Love Entourage

Deadwood is an all time fave of mine

Also, I liked Six Feet Under

Carnivale was interesting and weird

Weeds 1 and 2 - 3 was off for me but probably still worth it

I mean if you haven't seen any of that stuff. I liked it at least as juicy first time viewing.

[Vince Kargatis]

I've only seen an ep or two, but they were good, and the series is generally thought highly of: The Shield.

And definitely: Battlestar Galactica

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by tippy

Love Entourage

I just finished season 2 last night and was wondering about how they ended the season with Vince agreeing to stay on "Aquaman": It seemed like they took the easy way out by having that happen in terms of the series going forward. Is there any case of an up and coming actor turning down a plum role by a large producer and the actor succeeding despite that? Not that they couldn't have had a very interesting series of Vince totally self-destructing and all his crew dumping on him but that's not the type of feelgood stuff that seems to have a home anywhere.

[tippy]

Oh Hate, I wish I could discuss with you but it has been too long time since I've seen it... It's like when I finished the finale of the Sopranos and was all excited about it and made an entry on the Sopranos thread and people were completely over it since it had been at least a year previously. I just know that Entourage has remained consistently good (in 4 seasons I think I've seen) in a way I find unexpected for a series like that.

[walto]

My wife and I really enjoyed the British version of The Office. Maybe it'd be wrecked if you've seen any of the American one, though.

[tippy]

oh no there's almost nothing funnier than the original The Office - go for it!

[Gary Sisco]

Capt -- Netflix, man. It saves a lot of money and has a huge selection.

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by walto

My wife and I really enjoyed the British version of The Office. Maybe it'd be wrecked if you've seen any of the American one, though.

I enjoyed Extras as much as The Office. I particularly loved season two.

I just started the American Office. I'm also going back to re-watch the superior British version so I can compare. I think the Gareth character is much better than the Dwight one. Steve Carell is good but he's no Ricky Gervais.

The first season of Californication started slow but overall was a pretty good show. I like David Duchovny in the lead role.

[rollhead]

Go for "Deadwood" if you haven't seen it already.

You might try "Oz", too.

"State of Play" is good

There is a lot of good documentary on TV, too, if you are into that.

A personal favorite of mine is Errol Morris' "First Person."

Highly Recommended: "When the Levees Broke" from Spike Lee.

All of this is available on Netflix.

[Tom Storer]

There's a British series called Shameless that is brilliant. I've only seen two or three seasons, and this thread has reminded me to go further in it. It takes place in Manchester and the accent was a bit of a hurdle for my American ear at first, but I got past that quickly enough.

It's about a dysfunctional working-class family with many children whose father, Frank, is a barely functioning alcoholic with strongly expressed views. It manages to be obscene, harsh, horrifying, shocking, and a sentimental, feel-good soap opera all at the same time.

A further look at YouTube gives Frank's holiday greetings. Avoid if strong language and non-PC attitudes offend you.

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

Avoid if strong language and non-PC attitudes offend you.

Have you spent the day at the Auld Alliance?

Gary, Mrs Hate has a netflix account but I can get 'em free at the local library.

[Gary Sisco]

Cool. Free is best, of course.

[Gary Sisco]

We've been watching the *Prime Suspects* series with Helen Mirrin, and *The Jewel In The Crown* series. The former I watched the first season when it first aired in the US, years ago, but not the others. The latter I also watched years ago as a series. I'm enjoying it because it's been so long I've forgotten a lot of the story's twists. All on DVD.

[Scott Dolan]

Season 2 and season 3 of Rescue Me.

I'll also second Battlestar Galactica. It shouldn't be that good, but it is.

[Pete C]

The first season of the BBC series The Vice is available. Excellent, gritty crime drama about the London vice squad.

I've been enjoying John Adams on DVD.

I've liked the episodes of Six Feet Under I've seen, but just a few.

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by Gary Sisco

*The Jewel In The Crown* series.

I've never seen the series, but the novels by Paul Scott are a great read. Highly recommended.

[clinthopson]

I would also recommend The Shield, but get the first seasons or the later ones won't make as much sense.

We also liked Dead Like Me especially since Manny Potemkin doesn't sing.

I think everyone here will agree that all the seasons of The Wire are worth your time.

[Captain Hate]

Originally Posted by clinthopson

I think everyone here will agree that all the seasons of The Wire are worth your time.

Yeah, I've taken that as a given and have had that on reserve like forever. One thing I wanted to aks about that though: Some buds of mine have recommended that I watch it with the subtitles on. Is that necessary? Keep in mind I grew up (in a manner of speaking) in the Baltimore area and worked in the city. I'm used to waitresses calling me "hon".

[clinthopson]

We watched The Wire with subtitles because we couldn't understand what the black characters said. They mumbled a lot.

Of course we also watch some of the Brit show with subtitles, especially if they are set in the hinterlands. I'm not sure what they speak is really English.

[Jon Abbey]

I watch pretty much everything with closed captioning on, not sports of course.

Originally Posted by Gordon B

I just started the American Office. I'm also going back to re-watch the superior British version so I can compare. I think the Gareth character is much better than the Dwight one. Steve Carell is good but he's no Ricky Gervais.

this is a little apples and oranges just because the British one is so short. it's a lot easier to finetune every tiny detail to be perfect when you only make a few hours of product per year and kill the whole thing after 7 or 8 hours total.

[Gary Sisco]

With my tinnitus, I wish all DVDs were subtitled but they aren't. My tinnitus makes it difficult sometimes to hear consonant sounds in the upper frequencies so that some women's voices especially are difficult to decipher. Toss in some foreign accents and things can get really frustrating.

And on the other side, Bronwyn has a hard time reading subtitles on our small-screen.

Can't win for losing in this game.

Thankfully, it hasn't effected my sense of pitch. Lyrics are sometimes mysteries, though, for which I'm likely grateful in a lot of cases.

[Nim Chimpsky]

Originally Posted by clinthopson

Of course we also watch some of the Brit show with subtitles, especially if they are set in the hinterlands. I'm not sure what they speak is really English.

Ha! I always find it funny that Americans watch British stuff with subtitles. It just doesn't happen the other way round. You guys need to catch up and have a Great Vowel Shift too. I'd like to know more about your idea of what the British Hinterlands are or which accents you have trouble with.

[tippy]

I watch everything with subtitles. American too. Brit shows are most in need of them (outside a foreign language) - I mean for ME - and least likely to include them. What's up with that?

[clinthopson]

We consider anything outside of London the hinterlands and if they speak some of the Cockney lingo, subtitles, plus translation, is necessary.

Of course here in the Good Old USofA, many think that anything outside NYC is hinterland.

[Nim Chimpsky]

Originally Posted by tippy

I watch everything with subtitles. American too. Brit shows are most in need of them (outside a foreign language) - I mean for ME - and least likely to include them. What's up with that?

I'm not sure why they don't end up on the format that you watch them on because all TV programmes are required by law to have them for the deaf at the time of broadcast.

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Nim Chimpsky

I'm not sure why they don't end up on the format that you watch them on because all TV programmes are required by law to have them for the deaf at the time of broadcast.

In the US, the closed caption is a peripheral (it seems to me anyway, someone with bad hearing, spelling and typing skills, LOL) but admittedly the stuff I am talking about is 70s and 80s BBC television so... But it seems to me too I ran into something more recent that did not have captions in DVD. I just don't think they care to include this capability since certainly everybody can understand the English.

One I remember watching - Duchess of Duke Street - was particularly difficult without the captions but I watched the whole series in two seasons anyway so I'm die hard that way. My father makes fun of my mother and her British television watching self and whenever she is watching "The English" he makes those sounds like the adults in Peanuts. Not to demoralize. In reality I am jealous of those who can understand. It's, like, embarrassing when you laugh at the joke 5 minutes later but at least that's better than not getting it at all.

[Jon Abbey]

I think in the US it depends on the channel, not all cable channels have mandatory closed captioning added, or at least that's what it seems like.

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

I watch pretty much everything with closed captioning on, not sports of course.



this is a little apples and oranges just because the British one is so short. it's a lot easier to finetune every tiny detail to be perfect when you only make a few hours of product per year and kill the whole thing after 7 or 8 hours total.

That explains in part why most of the shows I've enjoyed in recent years have only 6-12 episodes per season.

I forgot "Mad Men", another 12 episode/season cable show (AMC) that I think is very good. Season One is coming out around now on DVD and season two is starting fairly soon I think.

[Jon Abbey]

Originally Posted by Gordon B

That explains in part why most of the shows I've enjoyed in recent years have only 6-12 episodes per season.

I doubt many shows in TV history have had the care and attention to detail put into them as the British Office clearly did, it's a definite outlier.

I finally got Yuko into The Wire (you can imagine how tough it is to follow if you're Japanese), so I think we might take a shot at the first few seasons of Oz, which I haven't seen since they were originally on.