Fishing for series recs

[tavella]

On the subject of TV, does anyone want to throw out some suggestions for our TV night? We've been doing this for six or seven years now every Wednesday; it started out Movie Night and settled into DVD night instead. We just finished up Scrubs and Burn Notice, and have Being Human queued up for this week, but we are running a little short on shows

Comments

[tersa]

I started watching (the first 2 eps) of the BBC "Merlin" back around Christmas, and wouldn't mind continuing to watch that.

ebonlock rec'ed me another BBC show, "White Chapel", last night, which she described as a murder-mystery show set in modern day, but the murders seemed tied in with the Jack the Ripper murders (I have the DVD of eps).

I think I have all or most of "Leverage" on DVD already waiting for me to watch.

I think we're not short on dramas at all, it's the short fluffy stuff we're short on. :)

[scarlettgirl]

Leverage would be my rec. Its smart, fast and funny with a hint of angst that catches up with you. It snuck up on me how much I loved it.

[tavella]

I'm willing to give Merlin a try, though mumblemutter warns that there may be some 'oh no they didn't' moments with the female characters. I think I'm going to suggest Leverage for our next drama after Being Human, though, it seems to have near universal approval.

[cyranocyrano]

I can't recall if anybody has already pooh poohed these, but they're all shows I'm considering watching.
Deadwood is probably too grim.
Queer as Folk might also be.
Six Feet Under
Arrested Development
The 4400
West Wing
House

That's all off hand. I should actually do some work.

[cyranocyrano]

Well. Farscape and DS9 are on my list too, but too bad on me.

Lie to Me has been okay thus far, but not so I'd stand up for it. Kind of like House, but with more corpses.
The one episode I saw of Weeds was funny.
How I Met Your Mother
Chuck
Invader Zim (I've seen this one)
Alias? I occasionally hear good things about this.
Highlander? See above.

[tersa]

I've heard okay things about Weeds, How I Met Your Mother, and Chuck, and wouldn't mind those. What little I've seen of Zim hasn't appealed to me.

I like Highlander and wouldn't mind running through the entire series, but I'm 'eh' about Alias. But, again, hour dramas aren't our shortcoming right now. :)

[tavella]

I wouldn totally rewatch Farscape, because I kind of adore the show, but I suspect once was enough for tersa. I enjoyed what I saw of Chuck, and definitely wouldn't object to it, and How I Met Your Mother seems to come up a lot in recs, so we can check it out, doesn't sound bad at all.

Arrested Development... I only saw one episode, and my main memory from it was how I despised pretty much everyone involved. House is wallpaper TV for me -- I don't mind watching it when someone turns it on, but I find it very repetitive.

Alias was a little too giant secret conspiracy for me, and I don't object to Zim or Highlander.

[bossymarmalade]

Twin Peaks
Homicide: Life on the Street (especially if y'all enjoyed The Wire)
Little Mosque on the Prairie
Futurama

I love them all!

[tavella]

James Nicoll has mentioned "Little Mosque on the Prairie". What's the skinny on it? Apart from presumably it's about a rural mosque :)

I quite liked H:LotS in the day, but I caught a couple of episodes on cable a year or so back and discovered it hasn't really aged that well, sadly.

[bossymarmalade]

It's a Canadian show about a small town in Alberta (mostly prairie land) with a diverse population, including a large Muslim community. It's a light-hearted half-hour sitcom, but the subject matter's handled really well -- the show was created by Zarqa Nawaz, who's also done a documentary about women's relationships with the mosque.

In the first season some of the acting by the two young leads is a little ... Canadian ... but the rest of the cast is stellar. *g*

[tersa]

I've seen ads for "Little Mosque on the Prairie" watching hockey, and I would love to watch it for real. :) However, last time I checked, it wasn't available from Netflix and only available for purchase from amazon.ca at rather exorbitant prices (which may be better now that the Canadian dollar has fallen in value as compared to the US dollar).

[kent]

Freaks & Geeks, and then Undeclared when you're through and want some more. (These are Apatow's high school and college years, before the 20/20-something slacker comedy period he's in now.) Boy do I miss those shows.

How I Met Your Mother is great, too. Arrested Development is superb!

Popular was quite subversive and funny, although it ends quite abruptly and has some uneven periods.

[tavella]

I'm getting lots of _How I Met Your Mother_ recs. It sounded really gimmicky and 'how does this work beyond a season' from the concept, but I gather it has overcome that?

[kent]

I think it works so well because the whole mystery over the mother's identity is somewhat secondary to the other strengths of the series, which are 1) the cast and characters really play off each other well, and 2) the show uses flashbacks and retelling events from different points of view a lot -- it's not just a one-off gimmick but a regular storytelling device. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of Dr. Horrible, but Neil Patrick Harris is excellent.

[zdashamber]

I am all over The Tick (animated or live, actually), thanks for remembering that one! Ashes to Ashes also.

I can't think of much stuff, though I've been considering for awhile. Not my forte. I was sort of thinking about suggesting that we spend part of the evening as a project night, quilting and talking or something.

[cyranocyrano]

Bah! Talking!

[zdashamber]

In part, the thought came to me when I happened to walk by Silk Road Fabrics on Thursday and saw that they were having a sale, and I walked in, and they had the most gorgeous silk brocade in oriental patterns on sale, and I was like Waaaaaant but I need an excuse because I am all full up on fabric and I thought to myself I bet Cyrano would like this too because it could be gorgeous waitcoats or jackets what if we were to pretend that we would piece out these things and sew them up that would be so awesome

[cyranocyrano]

You are so full of coolness.
But see? That's not talking. That's making lovely things for me. Totally different. (: