Ask Lemmy

The Singing Detective https://archive.org/details/the-singing-detective

Band of Brothers or The West Wing. Both are brilliantly written… for something funny I like Chuck

The Americans. The two leads are great and it's gripping from beginning to end.

Rome. I was so sad when they cancelled it.

Best: Probably Breaking Bad or The Wire. Favorite: Deadwood

Drama: Mad Men

Comedy: Monty Python's Flying Circus

Animation: Rick & Morty

Educational: Connections (1970s, with James Burke as host)

Miniseries: tossup between True Detective Season One and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (BBC, 1979, with Alec Guinness)

Utopia - the 2013 conspiracy theory spy drama. It's bold and striking. The music, visual style, writing. Even the recaps - you know, the "previously..." bit. What other show has notable recaps?

Watch the first scene. It doesn't need any of that "give it a few episodes" nonsense. You'll know within the first scene if you want to stick with it.

Definitely Mad Men. The high quality and attention to detail are something incredibly rare in television.

For the uninitiated: the story follows the main character, Don Draper, a New York advertising executive in the 1960's. Don struggles to deal with the memories of his horrible childhood and the things he did to try to escape from it. His increasingly heavy drinking and philandering lead to the collapse of his personal life and career, until he reaches rock bottom and realizes he no longer needs to hold up the carefully crafted image of himself which has become so heavy.

My favorite scene Don, having been fired from his job, takes his kids to see the place he grew up and has a moment of understanding with his daughter, Sally. This is the kind of writing that shows you can say a lot with almost no dialogue.

BREAKING BAD

X-files.

Tales from the Loop. It's wonderfully imaginative, mysterious and uncanny. Highly recommended even if you're not into sci-fi (I'm not).

Unsaid so far: Samurai Jack.

Call the Midwife! is in a category of its own.

The original Twilight Zone.

Six Feet Under.

I can't choose favorites, so the last great TV show I watched was Superstore. Loved it!

Nathan for You

Psych (2006) is by far the best series I have seen

I think Will & Grace held their own and Malcolm in the Middle still makes me laugh.

Scrubs is still my favorite. If you want a (very) little gem I would recommend Over the Garden Wall. Such a beautiful Autumn atmosphere, awesome music, a great story.

It's between The Wire and Deadwood for me. If forced to choose, Deadwood is just a little closer to my heart. It's the closest a TV show has gotten to rich literature, in my opinion.

Edited to add: The Bear Season 2 also broke me. I cried like a baby. To a Taylor Swift song, no less. Check it out if you haven't.

BEST TV show? Hmmm.... Better Call Saul, The West Wing, The Leftovers, The Wire, Friends

I'll go ahead and second people praising The Wire and Twin Peaks, but Deadwood is on the same level. The cast is loaded with some of the best character actors of the era. The writing is remarkable. No other show has ever made the word cocksucker sound so Shakespearean