Bleg: television series
Since Dawn and I are effete, latte-swilling, Obama-supporting liberals,* we don’t have a television. We do, however, watch television series on a laptop.** We’re running out and need suggestions.
Dawn and I mix up series like The Wire and Deadwood with guilty pleasures like Veronica Mars and the first few seasons of 24. We’re starting on The Corner. Sopranos didn’t grab us. From that list, it looks like character-driven dramas with season-long story arcs are good. Depressing is certainly OK.
We also started watching Joan of Arcadia and Dead Like Me, both of which later migrated to whole-family viewing.
With the kids, we’ve watched Buffy, Angel, Dark Angel, Tru Calling, and Lost.
Sophie and I have watched Battlestar Galactica, but Dawn and Paul are not wild about outer-space SF.
Suggestions?
* Effete, latte-swilling liberals, but also salt of the earth Midwesterners who have both*** delivered calves by hauling on chains.
** Think of a depression-era family huddled around a radio. Salt of the earth, like I said.
*** Well, I’ve only done it once. Not so fun I’d make it a habit.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Dawn and I also liked My So-Called Life. Hmm… Sophie would probably like that, and Paul might.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Gilmore Girls
Homicide: Life on the Street
Pushing Daisies (not on DVD yet AFAIK)
March 9th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Sounds like you could use a TV.
March 9th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Suggestions?
Read a book.
Even better, read a book out loud. Take turns reading chapters.
If that sounds weird, start with A. A. Milne and Winnie-the-Pooh. I still break up laughing trying to read out loud some of those stories.
If that’s too juvenile, try something like The Princess Bride, which is great when spoken, and provides even more LOL moments.
For a serious undertaking, try something like Shadow of the Wind, which Tracy and I read out loud once, but it has troubling sections: (http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Wind-Carlos-Ruiz-Zafon/dp/1594200106)
March 9th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
How about Rome?
Tracks the history quite closely from Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul to Octavian’s defeat of Anthony. Lots of intrigue and not a small amount of sex and violence. The series follows a centurion and a soldier and their families as history happens all around them.
If Deadwood is Sopranos is the wild west, Rome is Sopranos in Ancient Rome. Best HBO series by far IMO.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Heroes?
March 10th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Try House.
http://www.fox.com/house/
March 10th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Brian:
I didn’t have cable for three years and living where I do this effectively meant I had no tv. I was completely content. I have been paying for cable the last couple of years - this makes my daughter very happy. Still it is rare to get me to watch. There are only two shows that will stop me in my tracks and get me to watch. CSI Miami and House. I watched my first House show just this past November and have already bought and watched a chunk of two prior seasons. The show is simply awesome. Otherwise the idiot box (as I refer to it) could be left on a street corner.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
HBO’s Six Feet Under is arguably the best show to hit television. It’s also finished its run, which makes the large-dose digestion of a series more palatable.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
We seem to have similar tastes, so these might be good for you:
* Wonderfalls
* Avatar (the last airbender)
* Doctor Who (bbc series)