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domino harvey wrote:We don't need a poll. Start the thread now. In two and a half months we can decide if we need a new one

Sounds good to me. To get the ball rolling...

List your favorite TV shows here that have not yet ended, and update your list accordingly as each show inevitably lets you down.

Good point about AD though I think I'd hold off on putting it on my own list until seeing the quality of the new product. Community has at least had new episodes air this year, which my placement is based on.

Good point. Editing. This is why I like rules, damnit

1. Breaking Bad
2. Community
3. Bob's Burgers
4. Hannibal
5. Gravity Falls
6. American Dad
7. Archer
8. Girls
9. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
10. American Horror Story

1. Atlanta
2. Barry
3. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
4. Master of None
5. Mindhunter
6. Better Call Saul
7. Euphoria
8. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
9. Ted Lasso
10. Rutherford Falls

Russian Doll, Peacemaker, Fargo, Rick & Morty, Black Mirror, Succession, Chef's Table, and Ugly Delicious remain just outside the Top 10 for now.

Favourite concluded/cancelled shows: Mad Men, Happy Endings, The Americans, The Good Place, Bojack Horseman, Watchmen, The Knick, Breaking Bad, 30 Rock, Hannibal, Parks & Recreation, Community, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, Halt & Catch Fire, The Leftovers, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Veep, black-ish/mixed-ish, Single Parents, Benched, Ben and Kate, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Married, Gravity Falls, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Glow, Jessica Jones, Masters of Sex, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Louie, Silicon Valley

Everything has either taken an unfortunate direction or ended. I'm beginning to think we're less in a golden age of television and more in one bloated with mediocre content.

Andre Jurieu wrote:I also didn't know if Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations would really qualify, since I thought it was cancelled.

The last season is currently airing (it was filmed before the announcement, I think) and he should be moving to CNN.

1) Rick and Morty
2) American Crime Story
3) Fargo
4) Better Call Saul
5) Veep
6) The Knick
7) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
8) Inside Amy Schumer
9) Catastrophe
10) Black-ish

1. Breaking Bad
2. Mad Men
3. Louie
4. Game of Thrones
5. Curb Your Enthusiasm
6. Homeland
7. The Walking Dead
8. Justified
9. Enlightened
10. Boardwalk Empire

1. Mad Men
2. Game of Thrones
3. Justified
4. Hannibal
5. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
6. Bloodline
7. The Leftovers
8. Veep
9. Better Call Saul
10. The Walking Dead

1. Breaking Bad
2. Mad Men
3. Louie
4. Enlightened
5. Parks & Recreation
6. Bob's Burgers
7. Happy Endings
8. Curb Your Enthusiasm
9. House of Cards
10. The New Girl

1. Treme
2. Breaking Bad
3. Mad Men
4. Sherlock
5. Louie
6. Boardwalk Empire
7. Happy Endings
8. Downton Abbey
9. Bob's Burgers
10. Homeland

My wife and I have yet to try Homeland; our understanding is that it's something of a procedural, which, The Wire aside, we generally get bored with pretty quickly. I'm hopeful the third series of Sherlock is its last for that very reason. As clever and well-acted as it is, nine 90-minute episodes seems a solid run for what is otherwise a pretty bog standard whodunit.

I'm always shocked at the lack of love for Treme. Outside of Deadwood, I'm not certain I've ever seen an ongoing television program deal as well with the concept of a community trying to hold itself together. Maybe after next year's final run of however-many episodes, the show'll rise in public estimation, as seems to frequently be the case with cable dramas.

Oh, and anyone who swore off Boardwalk Empire after the first season's style-over-substance approach? It's safe to come back in the water. I'm not sure any show had a more focused single season in 2011.

EDIT: So we did finally give Homeland's first season a spin -- you were right, Murdoch, definitely not a procedural -- and despite some early pacing problems, I thought the series was addictive and ultimately pretty terrific. The notion that the men and women waging the War on Terror are among its biggest casualties may have been explored with more nuance elsewhere, but I thought Claire Danes and Damian Lewis were both fantastic and capably carried some pretty heavy material. I've heard the show falls apart in the second season (and truth be told, I'd be fine leaving the show where I did), but we're invested enough that we'll probably check it out when it's on Amazon.

Homeland is definitely not a procedural.

Breaking Bad
Mad Men
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Louie
Real Time With Bill Maher
The First 48
C-SPAN's Book TV
Fareed Zakaria GPS
Doomsday Preppers
My Strange Addiction

A few notes:

-- Book TV: I don't have enough time to read all the books I want to and so this is a great way of getting a taste of ones that might be worth it. Sometimes the events themselves, by virtue of their added interviews and participants, seem like they transcend the conventional book chat and might be better than the books could ever be on their own. Case in point are two recent ones about the books Escape From North Korea and Among The Truthers, the later of which is one of the more illuminating things I've seen all year. All of these programs are free and streaming on-line at C-SPAN's website. I was almost tempted to include another C-SPAN show that I used to watch all the time -- Prime Minister's Questions, the mere thought of which makes me sad we have no such institution in the U.S., but I don't catch it enough anymore.

--Fareed Zakaria GPS is what I always thought those other pundit shows ought to be. On just about every major issue of the day, he's always getting just the right guests and asking them all the hard questions. Almost completely free of baseless partisan squabbling. He's a realist and a practical problem solver interested in seeing things for what they are and moving forward optimistically in spite of it all.

--My Strange Addiction: Before anyone says anything about this, I dare you to watch the episodes about the

Spoiler

gasoline drinking (as in several times a day!) girl and the car loving (as in romantically) guy.

2015 BASED SOLELY ON EPISODES AIRED IN 2015

01 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
02 Game of Thrones
03 iZombie
04 Parks and Recreation
05 Wayward Pines
06 Justified
07 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Also Current On House of Cards


2014 BASED SOLELY ON EPISODES AIRED IN 2014

01 Justified
02 the Knick
03 Parks and Recreation
04 True Detective
05 Game of Thrones
06 Broad City
07 House of Cards


2013 BASED SOLELY ON EPISODES AIRED IN 2013

01 Justified
02 the Americans
03 Game of Thrones
04 Parks and Recreation
05 Happy Endings
06 Enlightened
07 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
08 Treme
09 Masters of Sex
10 House of Cards

Also Current On Bates Motel, Breaking Bad, Childrens Hospital, Community, Fringe, Orphan Black


2012 BASED SOLELY ON EPISODES AIRED IN 2012

01 Happy Endings
02 Treme
03 Skins (UK)
04 Justified
05 Parks and Recreation
06 Game of Thrones
07 Hart of Dixie
08 Hunted
09 Childrens Hospital
10 Don't Trust the B---- in Apt 23

Also Current On Breaking Bad, Community, Fringe, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Newsroom, Sherlock, Suburgatory


Last Updated 06/16/2015

1. Breaking Bad
2. Mad Men
3. 30 Rock
4. Community
5. Boardwalk Empire
6. Treme
7. Parks & Recreation
8. In Treatment
9. Curb Your Enthusiasm
10. Homeland

01 Real Housewives of Orange County
02 Bunheads
03 Girls
04 Nashville
05 Bates Motel
06 The Killing
07 Princesses of Long Island
08 Pretty Little Liars
09 Hannibal
10 Twisted

Old List [Feb 2013]
01 Enlightened
02 Bunheads
03 Scandal
04 Nashville
05 Girls
06 Secret Life of the American Teenager
07 Vanderpump Rules
08 Catfish
09 Body of Proof
10 Deception

The Carrie Diaries is not good, guys, sorry :-#


[Oct 2012]
01 The Real L Word
02 Gossip Girl (last season right now, does it count?)
03 In Treatment
04 Curb Your Enthusiasm
05 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
06 Secret Life of the American Teenager
07 Bunheads
08 Eastbound & Down
09 Girls
10 The Killing

I expect The Carrie Diaries to top this list in a few months
Arrested Development will be Top 3 once it's back on

wigwam wrote:03 Gossip Girl (last season right now, does it count?)

It certainly should still count as long as new episodes are airing.

Though Arrested Development doesn't.

1. Mad Men
2. Breaking Bad
3. Rectify
4. The Americans
5. Eastbound and Down
6. Louie
7. Veep
8. Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
9. South Park
10. All in with Chris Hayes

09/13: removed Curb Your Enthusiasm, simply because I'm not sure if it will be back again. As Breaking Bad winds down, I'm starting to feel like Mad Men is the better show; I suspect I won't have a final answer on which series I prefer until next June, when Don Draper finally reaches either the abyss or the seventies. Also, The Newsroom: still hate-love that show so much, but season 2 has brought me closer to love.

wigwam wrote:07 Secret Life of the American Teenager

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this. From the two episodes I saw all I could find worthwhile was a few unintentionally funny scenes of awkward exchanges.

thx swo, ok funk, ur right murdoch at first it was just unintentional hilarity and irresponsible attraction to young girls but the soap opera scope becomes sorta trainwreck interesting after than and them some serious wtfness happens when the downs syndrome brother threatens his christian sister with ratting her out to mom and dad about her masturbation addiction she's sunk into after breaking up with her boyfriend and then Steve Shripa from Sopranos nearly makes you cry and soon you're singing along with Molly Ringwald to the theme song and high fiving your wife

sometimes i think this show is the actual 3rd season of Twin Peaks

1. Homeland
2. Boss (none of you watch this?!)
3. Mad Men
4. American Horror Story
5. The Walking Dead
6. Game of Thrones
7. Boardwalk Empire
8. Dexter
9. Fringe
10. Sons of Anarchy

1. Game of Thrones
2. Jessica Jones
3. Mr. Robot

I generally don't like following shows that are still on-going, and usually prefer to watch shows that have already ended. I thought I'd post anyways in-case that ever changes.

YnEoS wrote:1. Game of Thrones
2. Community

I generally don't like following shows that are still on-going, and usually prefer to watch shows that have already ended. I thought I'd post anyways in-case that ever changes.

The wait to watch The Simpsons must be maddening.