Which classic television series should I watch every episode of?

[Shostakovich]

Open to suggestions of course

[Great Rumbler]

Rockford Files

[nachobro]

sopranos is the best tv show of all time, easy choice there

Deep Space 9

this is an excellent suggestion

[Himu]

Simpsons but include season 8, stop at 9 beyond the first few eps like City of New York vs Homer Simpson that are leftover from 8.

[Himu]

Deep Space 9

if it's not too much trouble, could you sell me on this? I've seen eps of TNG, and I watched BSG, so those are appropriate reference points. I heard it's quite dark

DS9 is the most dark trek and also the most hopeful trek. Can't get into much because spoilers but TNG basically shows achieving the future Utopia as easy. DS9 shows it as a proper challenge and that we can certainly try. It's the most hopeful Trek because more than any other Trek it shows the obstacles it takes to understand one another and why it's worth doing.

[jakefromstatefarm]

simpsons for funsies

the wire and sopranos for tv that isnt awful

tng for space hos

[Yeti]

Monk and Psych

[Himu]

The Wire by comparison will make you far more cynical about systems in America. But it may also light a stronger fire in you.

[Himu]

Do it.

[Himu]

Deep Space 9

if it's not too much trouble, could you sell me on this? I've seen eps of TNG, and I watched BSG, so those are appropriate reference points. I heard it's quite dark

I'm really not a TV guy, nor am I a film guy, so maybe someone else could do it better justice but I just love the series. It takes everything I love about TNG from the Star Trek universe and modernizes it. The show has a lot of episodes, covering a lot of different metaphors for what we experience in life. The dork left economist in you will love the bits about trade and intersociety relations, imperialism, gender, technology, race, the conflict between science and religion. DS9 is such a vast show in terms of its vision, that it's almost difficult to believe it touches on so many things but manages to construct a pretty good narrative even while maintaining *some* features of what made the original Star Trek good. BSG is a good reference, but this show just feels way more comfortable and natural in its delivery even when Moore and Eick do the religion bullshit. Just watch it, it's good. The main cast is fucking amazing btw, so many good bromances


The other treks are more utopian in their character and depiction of society. DS9 assumes conflict and contradiction and builds on that.

While I agree with all of this I also think you need to watch TNG to fully appreciate DS9 to understand context and appreciate what they built. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

[Himu]

Oh fuck. Speaking of Groenig, I forgot Futurama

Futurama is good but not as good as Simpsons. Still worth watching.

[BlueTsunami]

The Wire is one of those shows I toss on in the background every once in a while. You end up seeing more and more nuance.

[jakefromstatefarm]

Psych

i think this is actually the most bingeable show ever. like, the slowest until fatigue starts setting in and it turns into white noise.

sex and the city is highkey super productive of hot takes and armchair psychoanalysis, really easy to have a lot of fun with. dunno about watching it front to back in one sitting though

[tiesto]

Was gonna suggest Married With Children but that's not on the list. Or The IT Crowd if you haven't seen it yet.

[EchoRin]

Blackadder. Season 1 is questionable.

Really I just wanted to say Blackadder Goes Forth.

The seasons are all short affairs. Each season takes place in a different time period in British history so you can argue that they each stand alone. And that last season is just *muah*

[Madrun Badrun]

BONANZA

[BisMarckie]

Watch the pre nwo Monday Nitros. That’s plenty to want to kill yourself afterwards.

[jakefromstatefarm]

sex and the city is highkey super productive of hot takes and armchair psychoanalysis, really easy to have a lot of fun with. dunno about watching it front to back in one sitting though

it's my comfort show

i totally get this because it really is Fantasyland: The Show for a particular milieu of a particular time and place.

simpsons is straight up a vindication of the wholesome, paranoid style of middle america. its epigones -even the good ones like south park- try to be more nakedly destructive about their satire and that invariably makes them sour the audience when they arent nearly as smart as they think they are. the way (the good) simpsons lampoons things feels more like play than commentary, and the shows infinitely more charming because of it.

also, let me reemphasize: tng has the finest space bitches this side of starship troopers. the world wouldnt still be barefoot if it wasnt for that show being responsible for destroying so many socks

[Himu]

While I agree with all of this I also think you need to watch TNG to fully appreciate DS9 to understand context and appreciate what they built. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

I agree but if we're being really real i think you can get that out of like most of season 3->end of trek whereas DS9 is a front to back slap that i find myself binging and rebinging seasons of at a time. To me TNG is something you can hop in and out of cuz the arcs are pretty contained.

Hmm true

[Great Rumbler]

I don't think I ever finished X-Files... just stopped watching after season 5

No, Rockford Files.

[benjipwns]

Yes, Minister if you haven't, it's short and I think better than say, Thick of It/Veep, is able to transcend its time period.

Futurama is my favorite Groening related content.

DS9 is Trek where the ship can't warp away at the end of the episode. (Babylon 5 is a similar premise.) Both TNG and BSG can "escape" certain dangers in this way. Where ultimately DS9 and B5 have to deal with any shit that happens to roost around because they are also stuck in place. Also the cast is arguably more diverse as half of it is not Starfleet officers.

Lots of USA shows are good for just sorta paying attention to because they are standalone "story of the week" with short arcs to hold things together to add to Monk and Psych there's White Collar, Burn Notice and the most serialized of the group Suits. I'm also fond of parts of Covert Affairs and Graceland. There's also Royal Pains which fits into this same format.

Limitless, which is yes, a spin-off of the movie.

[toku]

Yes, Minister if you haven't, it's short and I think better than say, Thick of It/Veep, is able to transcend its time period.

Futurama is my favorite Groening related content.

DS9 is Trek where the ship can't warp away at the end of the episode. (Babylon 5 is a similar premise.) Both TNG and BSG can "escape" certain dangers in this way. Where ultimately DS9 and B5 have to deal with any shit that happens to roost around because they are also stuck in place. Also the cast is arguably more diverse as half of it is not Starfleet officers.

Lots of USA shows are good for just sorta paying attention to because they are standalone "story of the week" with short arcs to hold things together to add to Monk and Psych there's White Collar, Burn Notice and the most serialized of the group Suits. I'm also fond of parts of Covert Affairs and Graceland. There's also Royal Pains which fits into this same format.

Limitless, which is yes, a spin-off of the movie.

Limitless still hurts. In a way it was probably for the best, they were getting really ambitious in some cool ways who knows if they could have pulled it off.

[ToxicAdam]

I recommend you watch the first season of The Sopranos regardless. You don’t  even need to watch the other 5 seasons, as everything that made that show great is right there in season 1. It even has a satisfying conclusion.

[Himu]

Thread got me to start watching M*A*S*H

[Tripon]

[thisismyusername]

Lots of USA shows are good for just sorta paying attention to because they are standalone "story of the week" with short arcs to hold things together to add to Monk and Psych there's White Collar, Burn Notice and the most serialized of the group Suits. I'm also fond of parts of Covert Affairs and Graceland. There's also Royal Pains which fits into this same format.

I dropped Covert Affairs when they never answered the "spy in the cold" storyline in like season 2. He comes back, orders Five Guys ( ) and then... fucks back off. Never to be explained again.

Burn Notice is fun in a way. But it does spin it's wheels after a while.

White Collar was fun the whole way through, but it's not for everyone. Made me a stan of Matt Bomer before he came out (which was an open secret anyway) due to the shows popularity at the time.

Graceland is from the White Collar creator (Jeff Eastin... same as... Shasta McNasty), but I felt it didn't have the same level of fun as White Collar as it didn't have a "Hook" beyond "FBI agent investigates FBI team that might possibly have a corrupt mole/bad cop in it?"

I watched Suits the whole way through. But really: Stop after Megan Markle and Patrick Adam's characters (Mike and Rachel) get married. The show runs out of gas and doesn't know what to do with itself at that point to where Gina Torres got a spin-off (which got cancelled last year due to low ratings and... not being a lawyer show. ) in one of the seasons as a back-pilot, and then the creator finally gave a (really rushed, IMO) "will they or won't they" romance to Donna and Harvey, and the lawyer that got shat on for a bunch of seasons finally gets a true-love and a baby on the way. If you MUST watch after that Mike/Rachel episode, watch the season finale only, because the rest is "whatever" but the finale (while rushed) gives a conclusion to most of the series regulars (though Markle is only mentioned in passing, and Patrick J. Adam's shows up for a little bit, thankfully).

Monk and Psych were a little before these other shows, so they don't have the same USA-isms in them.

(I watched a lot of USA in high-school until late 10's/ until Mr. Robot finished on the network. Now I don't.)

[benjipwns]

I dropped Covert Affairs when they never answered the "spy in the cold" storyline in like season 2. He comes back, orders Five Guys ( ) and then... fucks back off. Never to be explained again.

They drop it completely and reboot the show for season three. The show starts to become serialized, have actual stakes instead of a reset button and eventually Annie leaves the CIA to try and expose a giant conspiracy. It becomes epic. Season five doesn't really know what to do because it was half-cancelled then suddenly renewed.

Graceland is from the White Collar creator (Jeff Eastin... same as... Shasta McNasty), but I felt it didn't have the same level of fun as White Collar as it didn't have a "Hook" beyond "FBI agent investigates FBI team that might possibly have a corrupt mole/bad cop in it?"

It goes beyond that thankfully, but it never really figures itself out either. It has multiple plots every season and like half of them are interesting, the rest are lol. Except everything gets resolved but doesn't and everyone just stays mad at each other for fucking up their cases. In one case they actually use this as a plot point and it's great. I liked some of the actors though, and the hilarious part where a dude has to come down from a drug addiction he stupidly got in the first place when it turns it out it was not essential to his cover at all.

[team filler]

one piece!

[Mr Gilhaney]

Sopranos imo. But the wire isn't abad choice either

[benjipwns]

How did I forget Justified?

[BIONIC]

Gilmore Girls.

[BIONIC]

[thisismyusername]

I dropped Covert Affairs when they never answered the "spy in the cold" storyline in like season 2. He comes back, orders Five Guys ( ) and then... fucks back off. Never to be explained again.

They drop it completely and reboot the show for season three. The show starts to become serialized, have actual stakes instead of a reset button and eventually Annie leaves the CIA to try and expose a giant conspiracy. It becomes epic. Season five doesn't really know what to do because it was half-cancelled then suddenly renewed.

Graceland is from the White Collar creator (Jeff Eastin... same as... Shasta McNasty), but I felt it didn't have the same level of fun as White Collar as it didn't have a "Hook" beyond "FBI agent investigates FBI team that might possibly have a corrupt mole/bad cop in it?"

It goes beyond that thankfully, but it never really figures itself out either. It has multiple plots every season and like half of them are interesting, the rest are lol. Except everything gets resolved but doesn't and everyone just stays mad at each other for fucking up their cases. In one case they actually use this as a plot point and it's great. I liked some of the actors though, and the hilarious part where a dude has to come down from a drug addiction he stupidly got in the first place when it turns it out it was not essential to his cover at all.

I guess I'll have to torrent them maybe. Same with Fear the Walking Dead mid-Season 2. I dropped it when Druggie Depp got to some Mexican village and it was just "I don't give a fuck about any of these characters" but apparently season 3 was REALLY good (and then the showrunner of the mothership series jumps to it, brings Lennie James over and fucks it up with season 4-5)

Thing is, post-Mr. Robot, I haven't been watching too much TV. I just watch the Walking Dead (when it's on), Better Call Saul (which is good), and like Black Mirror (on Netflix) now. I might get into Altered Carbon and catch up on American Horror Story up to season 8/Apocolypse (since that apparently ties all the seasons before it together and I stopped after 5/Hotel finished).

[Joe Molotov]

Blossom

[toku]

Watch twiligth zone bro, great show. Columbo is great too.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

woke up this morning got yourself a gun vs you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole is a toughy, but I think The Wire takes it.

Other solid bingeables:

Person Of Interest - starts off Equaliser / A Team style nobody else can help you problem of the week, and gets increasingly serialised and veers into existential scifi by the end
The Good Wife - often a 'ripped from the headlines' courtroom drama, but really well written with great use of recurring characters you love to hate, and often really funny
The Shield - bad cops going too far, great ensemble cast, lands the ending really well.
Firefly - cowboys in space basically, but better than that sounds, and cancelled before it should have been. The movie ties up some loose ends, but eh.
Oz - basically a soap opera set in a maximum security prison. Really should be as well known as The Wire / The Sopranos is; fucking amazing ensemble cast who mostly all ended up in Law & Order something something afterwards.
Fringe - similar to the X-files I guess in being a scifi monster of the week type deal that gets increasingly serialised. Also mostly sticks the landing wrapping everything up.
House - asshole doctor figures out diseases; as with something like Burn Notice starts off incredibly entertaining but gets a little reliant on the formula.

[toku]

woke up this morning got yourself a gun vs you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole is a toughy, but I think The Wire takes it.

Other solid bingeables:

Person Of Interest - starts off Equaliser / A Team style nobody else can help you problem of the week, and gets increasingly serialised and veers into existential scifi by the end
The Good Wife - often a 'ripped from the headlines' courtroom drama, but really well written with great use of recurring characters you love to hate, and often really funny
The Shield - bad cops going too far, great ensemble cast, lands the ending really well.
Firefly - cowboys in space basically, but better than that sounds, and cancelled before it should have been. The movie ties up some loose ends, but eh.
Oz - basically a soap opera set in a maximum security prison. Really should be as well known as The Wire / The Sopranos is; fucking amazing ensemble cast who mostly all ended up in Law & Order something something afterwards.
Fringe - similar to the X-files I guess in being a scifi monster of the week type deal that gets increasingly serialised. Also mostly sticks the landing wrapping everything up.
House - asshole doctor figures out diseases; as with something like Burn Notice starts off incredibly entertaining but gets a little reliant on the formula.

Been meaning to revisit Fringe. Loved it while airing but outside a couple friends it felt like no one else was watching. A lot of great emotional gut punches. Probably the best thing JJ/Orci/Kurtzman ever did.

[thisismyusername]

Firefly is good. And the movie is even better (IMO). They continue it in the comics (well Dark Horse did, I dunno post-Wheddongate/changing publishers if Boom! is doing that now), which was ok.

I do feel Joss is better as a comic person than a TV person, though.

[benjipwns]

Cougar Town

so I can feel like I can make references to it

[toku]

Firefly is good. And the movie is even better (IMO). They continue it in the comics (well Dark Horse did, I dunno post-Wheddongate/changing publishers if Boom! is doing that now), which was ok.

I do feel Joss is better as a comic person than a TV person, though.

Yeah I'm pretty happy with the amount of Firefly/Serenity we got. Out of Gas, the Movie, whew

[VomKriege]

The Avengers. The British spy show, not the Marvel stuff.
You can skip the first season (probably not readily available) and you could stop just after watching the pilot of the New Avengers.

It's always a good time for the Prisoner too.

[team filler]

boys over flowers japanese version 

[EchoRin]

boys over flowers japanese version 

No idea they made this. Is it actually good? I'm not sure who made me watch a chunk of the Korean one (probably some girl), but it wasn't something I intended to ever continue. Though for all I know K-drama might not be my thing to begin with.

[team filler]

I loved it, the lead girl 

[Transhuman]

Home Movies
Monster
Boardwalk Empire
Freaks and Geeks
Veronica Mars
Lost
Cowboy Bebop

I'm not sure if Boardwalk Empire is classic but 10 years ago makes it sort of classic

[Uncle]

[Uncle]

this is from 2008, is it classic yet?



group of grifters set up long cons in every episode to hit big corps where it hurts and score one for the little guy

every episode an oceans 11

[Himu]

USA really did have a really strong run of great formulaic shows you could catch a random ep of in any season and not worry much about missing anything

What was that show that was popular that came on after Raw during Attitude era? La Femme Nikita?

[bork]

Lots of USA shows are good for just sorta paying attention to because they are standalone "story of the week" with short arcs to hold things together to add to Monk and Psych there's White Collar, Burn Notice and the most serialized of the group Suits. I'm also fond of parts of Covert Affairs and Graceland. There's also Royal Pains which fits into this same format.

I dropped Covert Affairs when they never answered the "spy in the cold" storyline in like season 2. He comes back, orders Five Guys ( ) and then... fucks back off. Never to be explained again.

I can't remember if I finished watching this series or not.     It was kind of a dud after season three.

Burn Notice is fun in a way. But it does spin it's wheels after a while.

Went on for too long.  The show didn't seem to know which direction to take after Michael became an 'official' spy again.  It got too serious for its own good, too.  It was a much better show during the first few seasons, when it was much more light-hearted and fun.

The creator of this show also did The Good Guys, which was a buddy cop drama starring Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford.  It had the same fun vibe as the early Burn Notice seasons, although the show was canceled after 20 episodes.

White Collar was fun the whole way through, but it's not for everyone. Made me a stan of Matt Bomer before he came out (which was an open secret anyway) due to the shows popularity at the time.

Absolutely loved this show and wish it had gone on longer!

I watched Suits the whole way through. But really: Stop after Megan Markle and Patrick Adam's characters (Mike and Rachel) get married. The show runs out of gas and doesn't know what to do with itself at that point to where Gina Torres got a spin-off (which got cancelled last year due to low ratings and... not being a lawyer show. ) in one of the seasons as a back-pilot, and then the creator finally gave a (really rushed, IMO) "will they or won't they" romance to Donna and Harvey, and the lawyer that got shat on for a bunch of seasons finally gets a true-love and a baby on the way. If you MUST watch after that Mike/Rachel episode, watch the season finale only, because the rest is "whatever" but the finale (while rushed) gives a conclusion to most of the series regulars (though Markle is only mentioned in passing, and Patrick J. Adam's shows up for a little bit, thankfully).

Really enjoyed this show for the most part, but yeah, it fell off after Mike and Rachel left.  They should have just ended it there.  I watched a few episodes of the next season following their departure and it just wasn't the same.

Did you ever watch Royal Pains?  That was another good USA show.

[mormapope]

The Sopranos is better than everything on that list. The Wire is fantastic too, but the writing in The Sopranos is the best in the entire medium.

As far as great TV shows go:

The Sopranos
The Wire
Deadwood
Six Feet Under
It's Always Sunny
The Eric Andre Show
Horace and Pete
The Shield
Chappelle's Show
Curb your Enthusiasm
Breaking Bad
The Larry Sanders Show
Oz
Eastbound and Down
Vice Principals
Nip/Tuck
The Knick
Mr. Robot
Metalocalypse

Nip/Tuck is one helluva trashy soap melodramedy show that's outrageous. I've soured on Battlestar Galactica as time goes on.

[thisismyusername]

Firefly is good. And the movie is even better (IMO). They continue it in the comics (well Dark Horse did, I dunno post-Wheddongate/changing publishers if Boom! is doing that now), which was ok.

I do feel Joss is better as a comic person than a TV person, though.

Yeah I'm pretty happy with the amount of Firefly/Serenity we got. Out of Gas, the Movie, whew

https://www.goodreads.com/series/51655-serenity

Sadly, they didn't do too many comics. Same with Dollhouse (which I liked the concept of, and would kill to see the Middle Eastern Dollhouse that was hinted in the TV shows second season). But Dark Horse was good. Buffy under them kind of spun it's wheels after... forgetting the actual plot, but then they had to give all Joss's licenses to Boom! studios and thus rushed "season 13" to an ending for Boom to reboot.

@Morma: I like Nip/Tuck in a trashy way, but it (years later) is hard to recommend. It's got decent surgery scenes (props to their art department on that) but there is a big shift in tone post season 2 (start of carver arc) and it kind of never recovers.

I'd recommend "Pose" (I haven't gotten to the second season yet and it's not on Netflix yet... which is annoying as you can pay for the second season on Google Play store/et. al. digital store-fronts otherwise) if you're wanting more Ryan Murphy. But it's very gay themed (transgender issues, mostly) with ball-culture as the backdrop, so not for everyone.

Burn Notice is fun in a way. But it does spin it's wheels after a while.

Went on for too long.  The show didn't seem to know which direction to take after Michael became an 'official' spy again.  It got too serious for its own good, too.  It was a much better show during the first few seasons, when it was much more light-hearted and fun.

The creator of this show also did The Good Guys, which was a buddy cop drama starring Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford.  It had the same fun vibe as the early Burn Notice seasons, although the show was canceled after 20 episodes.

Matt Nix also did an X-men series that got cancelled after... two seasons... compared to Legion which went on 2-3 more (stopped at... season 5, I think for Legion). Fox truly can't handle having sci-fi shows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gifted_(American_TV_series)

Did you ever watch Royal Pains?  That was another good USA show.

Nah, but I did watch "Necessary Roughness" which... wasn't terrible in a "blue-sky" sort-of deal (USA's motto at the time) but that got cancelled after John Stamos joined the cast and was the new owner of a bigger NFL league than Danni (Callie Thorn) was already under.

[Mupepe]

Yeah, I meant up to and including season 8, I'm aware that's when all the writers left

A Milhouse Dvided is in Season 9 I believe so watch that episode at least

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

catch up on American Horror Story up to season 8/Apocolypse (since that apparently ties all the seasons before it together and I stopped after 5/Hotel finished).

AHS season 7 is fucking hilarious, its literally about a bunch of women who are so butthurt hilary didn't win the election they form a murder cult 

this is from 2008, is it classic yet?

group of grifters set up long cons in every episode to hit big corps where it hurts and score one for the little guy

every episode an oceans 11

Check out the UK show Hustle if you like grifter TV, and because its a UK show each season is only 6 episodes long

Matt Nix also did an X-men series that got cancelled after... two seasons... compared to Legion which went on 2-3 more (stopped at... season 5, I think for Legion). Fox truly can't handle having sci-fi shows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gifted_(American_TV_series)

The Gifted is pretty bad though... if it wasn't for the Marvel 'authentic' mutant trappings, it might as well just be a SyFy original.
Legion is good though, but only has 3 seasons. Like Westworld, season 1 has a great twist that they didn't really know how to handle in S2 but tried anyway because they felt they had to be twisty, and then pulled it together for a satisfying S3 (which I suspect Westworld is also going to do)

[Raist]

Quantum Leap

[Himu]

I'm watching TV to escape current events but in ep 4 of ds9 there's a pandemic and quark claims his bar is technically essential so it can stay open

also the virus is an ENGINEERED BIOWEAPON

I forgot this episode

Watch The Simpsons. 9 seasons but 20 minute eps. Has funny eps, has dramatic eps, and in between. And the best part? Nothing ever changes.

Best written tv comedy that's not Seinfeld.



I think if you're trying to get away from the problems of the world right now, DS9 ain't the place to find it.  Shit like the Bell riots may depress you further because it's a current possible reality. Although it exists in an idealistic future, it still shows the more depressing elements of humanity which is also why I don't recommend watching The Wire right now for the same reasons: its analytical look at the raveling of American life: from policing, to governance, to poverty, to the war on drugs, to the war on the working class, the cyclical nature of the hood, and everything in between. If you're trying to get away? Ho boy, is The Wire the last show you want to watch right now.

[Himu]

Speaking of tv comedies, MASH is fantastic. I'm loving the more serious episodes more than the comedy episodes though.

[Uncle]

unrelated to everything, maybe this is sacrilege but

I found arrested development to be overrated (now)

I didn't see it in its heyday and I think it was so influential it set the tone of comedy for the next two decades to the point that it feels a little tame and predictable

[Himu]

Worst episode of DS9 so far is the fake trial where Sisko says to Dax "You listen to me, old man!" and I'm supposed to believe that the Trill have absolutely no legal precedent for whether symbionts can be tried for crimes made by previous hosts.

Season 1 is shaky.

Also move along home is in worse

[benjipwns]

Allamaraine, count to four.
Allamaraine, then three more.
Allamaraine, if you can see.
Allamaraine, you'll come with me.

[Himu]

So refreshing to watch a show with 20 minute eps again. Already nearly on season 2 within a day