What TV shows would you binge-watch?
8Recently (past two years) I’ve binge-watched a lot of Cheers and Mad Men. I seen to do this once or twice a year.
Now, for some reason I’m binge-watching The West Wing.
I didn’t watch much of it when it was running - it was 'too Sorkin" for me at the time, and I was avoiding TV, but I knew much of the gist, people talked about it.
For some reason, now I’m kinda in the mood. I can handle the “too Sorkin” stuff - the gauzy ideal liberal humanistic West Wing, the unnecessary and cutesie conversations among the staff sometimes, the repetitive phrases that show up in all Sorkin writing, the swelling music that cues you to a “big emotional moment”. I somehow know I’ll see a lot of that and so i just “plan not to be put off by it” when I notice it.
And you get otherwise frequently excellent scripting, dialogue, and consistently astonishing acting. And because this fictional world is set somewhat in the past, it feels like a slight escape.
Perhaps i want this more pleasant fictional political reality as a contrast too … nevermind. Plenty enough going on IRL to make everyone stressed, and I don’t wish to stir that politics up here.
Someday I intend to do binge-watch also with Homicide, GOT, and the Sopranos also. In the more distant past have done that with ST:Various.
And sometimes I hit youtube and binge on Roadrunner and other Looney Toons classics. “Kill the wabbit, Kill the wabbit!”
I’ve done it with Silicon Valley and with some Larry Sanders. and with Entourage, just for the pleasure of watching the Ari Gold character. He makes the show for me.
What other shows would you binge-watch?
- 49 comments, 83 replies
- Comment
30 rock. the office, always sunny
@PantHeist Yes! to Always Sunny
Anyone surprised that that’s the gif @mfladd chose?
@PlacidPenguin Nope.
@mfladd thus season ahs been pheno,minal. %The last episode was a little dispointing, bu t dee was fucking ruthless in it.
Thinking of hosting an Animaniacs marathon (@narfcake - 1 year later; the DVD set still wasn’t opened).
@PlacidPenguin Bravo. That show brought me a lot of joy in the early 1990’s.
@PlacidPenguin Batman, The Animated Series from that era was also a great show.
@huja
Never watched any Batman shows. (I’ve watched shows with characters voices voiced by Adam West though.)
I really enjoy 90s cartoons for numerous reasons.
@PlacidPenguin Give the Animated Series a try. IMHO best-in-class presentation of the Batman character/story.
@PlacidPenguin that’s what i watch when jen isn’t arround. My childhood was spent listening to the songs on casette tspe we checked out from thje library while my mom drove me around.
@PantHeist
You saw this thread? Don’t tell @narfcake about it though.
“Northern Exposure” is the greatest show that no one ever talks about. Seasons 2-3, and some of 4 produced some of the best network TV ever.
@huja Why isn’t Northern Exposure Streaming Online?
@huja excellent, excellent show. Full of interesting, quirky, lovable characters and absolutely absurd plot lines. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
@ruouttaurmind There was simply nothing like it at the time. I think a lot of people didn’t get it first time around.
@huja Fun fact, I once humiliated Rob Morrow by accident
@KittySprinkles . . . (in my best John Travolta as Vincent Vega voice) C’mon, don’t be that way. Tell me.
@huja Years ago when the movie Quiz Show came out, I was living in Seattle. My then husband and I were trying to decide what movie to see. In my usual bitch way I started going off about why would I want to see that movie, he can’t act his way out of a paper bag, how he is the most boring, impossible to watch moron and that’s why I don’t watch Northern Exposure. I should add that I have a bit of an issue recognizing people. I’ll walk right past family sometimes and never recognize celebrities.
My husband got up, amused yet embarrassed look on his face, and pulled me aside. Asked me to look at the table by where we had been sitting at the man next to us.
Yeah…Rob Morrow, red faced as all hell and looking about to cry. My bad
@KittySprinkles Totally worth it.
@KittySprinkles
Morrow’s well paid and well-rewarded for these bad moments, I suppose he survived it.
I think you might just be a little bit of fun to hang with when one sorta just need a good bitch session.
(As long as we all are not within very close earshot of the civilized humans.)
@f00l They try to keep me away from civilized folk. It’s for the best. I swear, I can be nice!
@KittySprinkles
Enough implied.
/giphy taunt and tease
@huja Stumbled across this nugget on the NX wikipedia page . . . In 2016, Darren Burrows and his production company, Film Farms, held a crowdfunding campaign to fund a development project with the goal of creating more episodes of Northern Exposure. The working title for this project is “Northern Exposure: Home Again” according to the “More Northern Exposure Now” website.[19] Despite not meeting the original $100,000 goal, Darren decided to continue forward with the project.[20]
On June 17, 2016, Film Farms announced on their Facebook page that writer David Assael had been hired to write for the project. He previously wrote several episodes of Northern Exposure, including “Russian Flu,” “Spring Break,” and “It Happened in Juneau,” among others. Originally envisioned as a two-hour “visit to Cicely,” a 10 episode format is currently being pitched for network, cable, or streaming venues.
More . . . MoreNoXnow
@huja So I pointed you in the direction of a rabbit hole that I myself ending up falling into. Watched about four episodes of Northern Exposure the last two days.
@huja where did you find episodes to watch?
@Confusedkitty I bought DVD’s off ebay years ago. I also understand that there are digital copies roaming around the interwebs.
For some obscure, foreign viewing, try Braquo (think “The Shield” set in Paris) or Hatufim (aka “Prisoners of War”) which is the Israeli show that Homeland was based on.
Chappelle’s Show is still funny.
Check out the “Up” BBC series originally called, “7 Up” The original reality show, it’s a longitudinal study about a group of people that the documentary makers visit every seven years of their lives. Fascinating to follow these people from elementary school to middle age. The next update will be 2019, when the subjects turn 63 years old.
Up Series
(Just sticking this here due to lack of options.)
I just realized that they foresaw something by calling Alec Baldwin a president. (And that’s all I’ll say on the matter.)
What don’t I binge watch? My preferred way to watch tv nowadays.
Currently binge watching Tokyo Ghoul.
/giphy Tokyo ghoul
/image Tokyo ghoul
Ncis, recess, and madame secretary…oh and original MacGyver
@mikibell
When you say Recess, you mean the series I believe you’re talking about?
@PlacidPenguin I dunno…what do you believe?
@mikibell
@PlacidPenguin
2nd question: what are your sometime “guilty pleasure” binge-watch shows?
Mine might be a few episodes of Hawaii Five-O a few times every few years. The original version.
The show was superbly and beautifully shot, edited at a quick cut pace decades before MTV, and you got the pleasure of having Jack Lord say “Book 'em, Danno!” a lot.
HBO free this weekend on sling. We been watching west world.
Oh Lord, how could I forget to add Trailer Park Boys.
@mfladd I love Trailer Park Boys! Discovered it 7-8 years ago and couldn’t look away.
The Wire.
Good call on the Trailer Park Boys.
@transplant
Forgot to put The Wire in my list. Never seen Trailer Park Boys.
@f00l TPB? It’s culturally iconic.
@mfladd
I don’t have cable or satellite. I have a TV that’s plugged in a few times a year.
Cord cutter since before 2000?
After that, stuff just piles up on my list. I don’t research clever ways to get stuff.
Tho if I had clever ways I would prob watch more.
Would like to BW The Wire at some point too. There’s so much good said about the show.
Possibly True Blood as well.
@lordbowen True Blood was great.
This guy was my favorite:
Vikings. That dude’s eyes. He doesn’t need lines.
Leverage. Pinky & the Brain (Animanics is great, but P&tB is sublime). Mission: Impossible (back when it really was a tape that would self-destruct, and it was cutting edge tech).
@Pixy @narfcake (though he’s/you’ve seen this already.)
@PlacidPenguin I have long held that theory. Especially since megalomania (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) is recognised as a real issue, and sometimes the smartest people can be goofs (surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman). Pinky’s ponderings probably make perfect sense in the context of a complex problem requiring spherical cows.
I’m totally open to bingeing on West Wing. I’m a dyed in the wool progressive bleeding-heart hippie liberal, so for me the first run of the show was mandatory watching. I ran across House a couple of years ago, TiVO’d all of it, and binged for half a week. SUV Criminal Intent would work for me, too. And I’m totally with @huja regarding Northern Exposure; I’m about to invest in DVD’s if I can’t find it streaming anywhere. Just as a side comment, I heard on NPR that Twin Peaks will have a new series of episodes later this year. I can remember ditching a lot of social obligations while it was running originally; would have killed for a TiVO back then.
@magic_cave
For West Wing watchers:
Which characters seem to be “the central characters of the show’” to you?
I know that originally Rob Lowe’s character was supposed to be the star, but it quickly became a true ensemble drama.
For me, the two persons whom I find most compelling are Martin Sheen’s excellent portrayal of the President, and Alison Janney’s CJ.
Somehow the other characters, as written, are either scripted to be more peripheral (such as Dr. Bartlet.), or are slightly less well scripted, pr else are scripted to seem less sure of themselves as humans, as opposed to as operatives.
PS
The reason the liberal ideal West Wing bothered me more back when the show ran, is that it so clearly seemed like Sorkin’s wish fulfillment, compared to the state of things in Washington at the time.
@magic_cave Heads up about the Northern Exposure DVD’s. They went cheap and put in generic music instead of securing the right to the music that played in the original, broadcast version of the show.
@huja
I hate it when the do that. A few shows are terrible on DVD because of that.
@huja Well, carp. Thanks for the warning; geneic music would definitely change the tone and tenor of the programs.
@f00l Clearly WW’s central characters were CJ and Toby. Between the two of them, they were the voice and presence of the Oval Office.
(Plus, I’ve always had a minor case of a “CJ thing.”)
@magic_cave I learned so much about the US government and how it works by watching West Wing. More people should (or should have) watch it, just for that.
@transplant
The show is said to be the vehicle by which the terms POTUS and FLOTUS were introduced to general worldwide awareness. Before that, only Beltway nerdspeak.
@magic_cave
I know the the superb documentary series Eyes On The Prize, originally made on a shoestring budget, was only available in reruns on PBS for decades. You couldn’t get it on videocassette or DVDs. (Excepting home recorded or pirated versions.)
The reason was the cost of music rights. The doc used the music of the era. The music rights cost mega-$ and the doc producers refused to release the video versions without their original music, which they had no hope of paying for.
Not sure of the full history - but I think some good souls eventually created a charitable foundation, partly sponsored by PBS donors, to raise $ and go try to work things out with music-rights holders as a group. They were finally able to negotiate discounted music license releases just for this one doc, with everyone donating or discounting something, and finally we can purchase this documentary series on streaming and DVD/BR.
@simssj
Doesn’t everyone have a “CJ thing”? Awesome actress, incredible character.
I’m still on the first season of WW, near the end. Toby is still agonizing about stuff he should have already figured out, given his position. I do really like the character.
I recently binged The Walking Dead. Years ago I binged Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad because I did not get into those shows into well past their start. Recently I binged Santa Clarita Diet and Hellevator. Hellevator was much better than expected.
/giphy Hellevator
@conandlibrarian Sons of Anarchy was an outstanding binge watch!
@conandlibrarian hellevator is funny. Not crazy about the hosts though. I don’t find them particularly funny.
@conandlibrarian I too binge watched SOA. Was always a season or so behind because I waited until it was free on Prime, until I got a spoiler of someone dying in season 5 (I think) that I didn’t see coming. Totally killed it for me.
That’s what I get for reading a pre-New Year’s summary of most shocking deaths on TV write-up.
@thejackalope
I try to avoid spoilers, but when they happen, I refuse to allow them to destroy a series for me if the series has real value.
Does make me mad at myself for not avoiding, tho.
Shameless and weeds both hilarious!
Good shit you’ve probably never heard of on Netflix includes:
Tiempo entre costuras (“The Time in Between” for all you gringos)
Lilies (miniseries, frustratingly short but amazing characters, well written, just wow)
The Way He Looks (movie about a blind kid and his friends)
La Misma Luna (movie about a mom in the U. S., kid is in Mexico, lots of onions beware)
Other good shit includes:
Freaks and Geeks
Firefly
Foyle’s War (episodes are feature-length)
Fack Ju Göhte (German movie, haven’t seen the sequel myself yet)
Black Mirror was intense, some of them you can watch alone in the dark but it’s like a box of chocolates
I’ll leave you with that for now, tag me if you want more sometime (anyone).
@alphapeaches loved Black Mirror. I’m hoping they come out with another season.
Also, there’s a show called Parenthood; the lady from Gilmore Girls is in it.
@alphapeaches Did not know Netflix had Foyle’s War. I’ll start on that tomorrow, thanks!
Glitch is another Netflix gem.
@alphapeaches Freaks and Geeks - yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
weeds
I haven’t seen Moonlighting in forever.
/youtube Bruce Willis singing
@looseneck Ahhhh! Bruce Willis in a non-action comedic role on prime-time television…
Holy Shit you just opened up a worm hole in space!!!
@mfladd I miss old Bruce with hair (at least a hair piece.)
I binge through Grimm and Brooklyn Nine-Nine at least once a year, sometimes more. Community is another good option. Hadn’t watched Chuck since the show ended, but I also recently binged through just to remember how it all ended.
/giphy Jeffster
@thejackalope Yes to Grimm and Community (paint ball wars).
A must see!!!
Community was fucking brilliant, and then of course it was cancelled and Yahoo picked it up and completely fucked it up like Yahoo does to anything
they touch.
Of course the way amazon and netflix make the entire season available at one time-you can’t help but binge watch especially if you really get interested in the show. Like reading a book and you can’t put it down.
I binged watched 56 episodes of breaking bad in 8 days in order to be able to watch the last season in real time. That averages out to 7 hours a day. Of course you can only do this if you have no life, your wife isn’t bugging you to do something else, and your eye balls can stand the strain.
@Felton10
Did most of the first season on West Wing this weekend. My eyes are about non-functional at the moment.
I had only seen pieces of episodes before.
ANDY’S GANG!
I have been binge watching Star Wars: Rebels recently. I don’t get it streaming, however, so it’s in my Netflix DVD queue. So I binge on five episodes then wait three days, then another five. They mentioned “Fulcrum” in the last couple episodes without the introduction (yes, I have spoiled this detail), so I’m really grinding my teeth, waiting for the next disc to arrive.
I like Star Wars, so sue me.
@PocketBrain
Seinfeld, Bob’s Burgers, American Dad, News Radio (the Phil Hartman episodes).
@elimanningface Bob’s Burgers is a good binge watch candidate. I think seasons 1-3 are superior to the recent ones.
i just started to binge on Bates Motel and Penny Dreadful.
@carl669 Eva Green…nuf said.
@mfladd yup.
@carl669 Penny Dreadful was so good. Season 2 finale was incredibly gratifying.
Lately BBC America has been showing Star Trek Voyager.
If I had a copy of the series, I’d watch that since I like what I’ve seen.
(Note to self: Remember to look at cost of DVD set of Voyager)
And yes, I know it’s included in Prime Video, but…
We binge-watched Person of Interest running up to the last ‘season’. That was an interesting show and one of my wife’s favorites.
Also as @Huja mentioned above, Batman, The Animated Series and the following Justice League and Justice League Unlimited were both bingeworthy. Although the latter was uneven, it was a blast seeing all the comic book characters I grew up with showing up and kicking ass. Had to watch that alone; my wife just isn’t into animations/anime.
But my favorite was when we picked up most of the seasons of Adam-12 and Emergency. We spent a couple of weeks binging weeknights and weekends watching continuously. Fun times!
Try Banshee which was on Cinemax and now on Amazon Prime. You won’be able to turn off the program. Fast paced, lots of action, sex and everything that keeps you glued to a TV.
@Felton10 I just started this. You forgot to mention the lead can’t keep his shirt on. Thanks!
@sammydog01 I am more interesting in the girls not keeping their shirts on. It has some of the most unusual and inventive murder scenes I have ever seen. Not for the faint of heart that is for sure.
@Felton10 Haha. Skinemax.
24: Legacy is making me want to watch 24 again. This reboot isn’t the same without Jack Bauer.
Grand Tour on Amazon. I just got around to watching the first show tonight and it was as engaging as I had hoped. Maybe not quite as polished as Top Gear was, but it was only the first episode. I’m sure they’ll hit their stride soon enough. I am going to miss the “Star in a reasonably priced car” segment from Top Gear though. And The Stig of course.
Stranger things and QA
Stranger things and QA
Oh, I forgot Warehouse 13 (SyFy I hate you for killing that) and Sense8 if we’re going to include things designed to be binge-watched.
We watched Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and Malcolm in the Middle after they ended too, I can’t imagine waiting so long between shows. I’m thinking of starting Parks and Recreation. Also I’ve followed the Marvel Cinematic Timeline for movies and TV shows. (It needs updating) http://shieldtv.net/marvel-cinematic-timeline-viewing-guide
@callow Parks and Recreation is one of those shows that really found itself after the first season, so have patience.
Primeval. Dinosaurs!
I’m a West Wing junkie. Also, How I Met Your Mother.
@woodhouse
@simssj
@magic_cave
@transplant
I just found this:
https://thewestwingweekly.com/
It’s a podcast.
They devote 1 podcast - 1 hour each more or less - to each episode.
The podcasts contain spoilers, so you want to see the episode before you listen to the podcast for that episode.
They try to have guests who worked on the show or are relevant to the show or how the show mirrors and condenses political reality, or who can break down the dramatic process.
I’ve listened to two of them so far. Pretty interesting.
So far the podcasts run thru season 2 episode 19. I think they record 1 podcast per week.
@f00l I’ve heard of it (on the West Wing subreddit), but I haven’t actually listened yet. I will have to check it out! I’m always looking for new podcasts.
Despite the fact that I have 25 shows on my watch list (because one show finished in January), I may end up binge watching Bob’s Burgers.
I saw a few episodes, and I found them funny, though I suppose it may be because of my mood at the time.
Besides, a bunch of shows on my list are facing possible cancellation, and I may end up removing a couple of others (even though I usually don’t stop shows mid-series, with the exception of Seinfeld).
If you are looking for mindless fun from down unda check out Danger 5
I think it’s on netflix.
There was a show which people here suggested to me.
I can’t remember who suggested the show, or which show it was.
I only bring this up because I removed a show from my watchlist a couple of minutes ago, thus freeing up a spot.
I think it was a show from the UK which moved to Netflix.
Found it.
Black Mirror.
A few hints in my mind led to my remembering the name.
And now that I remember the name, I remember where it was suggested.
Here.
I didn’t meet the condition of waiting for shows on my list to be cancelled by their networks, so I can’t start it yet though
@PlacidPenguin you are one disciplined person!
@PlacidPenguin at least it’s on your list. That’s a step closer. They have confirmed a new season. Yay!
@RiotDemon
Earlier this week I removed another show from my list, so…
@chienfou
Disciplined? Pffft.
@magic_cave, @huja, @f00l
Definitely agree about the change in music killing the show. That’s a major reason I haven’t been back to revisit Terrance Knox and the boys in Tour of Duty
The rock and roll in the show was like another character… sadly one they cut from the series after the fact.
My other recommendation for mindless brain candy (besides several of the ones already listed) is Coupling (the BBC version). The pillow scene while couch shopping is still one I reference to my wife, and just this weekend I used the term ‘snogging’ while another couple was getting into the backseat of our car as we left the concert venue…
@chienfou
Yeah I liked Coupling.
Breaking Bad is a great show, but it takes a couple of seasons before things really start going.
OH, I also forgot Death in Paradise which is really a fun show if you love “the islands”. I particularly like the dichotomy between the French and English influences. Of course it is totally unrealistic that an island that size has a murder a week but still… it’s a fun show.
@chienfou
I’m jonesing for Cabot Cove and Jessica Fletcher. I want a serious fictional murder paradise.
@chienfou I love DiP! Impatiently waiting for the next series to be available. I also just finished the first half of Series 19 (!) of Midsomer Murders that is up streaming on Acorn. Not only is Midsomer the most deadly place in England, it also appears to have the most creative homicidal maniacs on the planet - who all seem to favor black slickers and hoodies while going about their murder sprees.
And season 5 of The Americans just started last week, so I have something to watch.
@rockblossom check out Murdoch Mystieries as well. They are set in the Toronto area at the turn of the 20th century and do a great job of integrating recent ideas/developments of the time period into a pretty fun police procedural with likeable characters that interact well. I love the way Constable Crabtree often ‘foresees’ the future use of some of the methods and processes Murdoch uses. The historical references are a fun/smart touch as well.
@chienfou Sounds great and I will look for it. I also like Whitechapel - so the bodies just pile up. (No, really, folks, it’s the mystery part, not the dead bodies part I love.) But my absolute favorite scene is Phil Davis’s banquet speech after he was almost killed by the perp. I was the kind of speech I always wanted to hear at one of those things - brutally honest.
I watch through Scrubs usually about once/year, along with The League and Always Sunny.
If you have a love/hate relationship with yourself, binge The Riches. It was incredible and had great performances by Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, but it got the plug pulled halfway through season 2 and was cut off in the middle of a story.
@Nuurgle I love Eddie… he is truly a funny guy!
@f00l Party Down was a series that came and went before its audience found it. It is absolutely hilarious. Action is another that was gone before its time.
Justify (Amazon prime)
+1 for Sons of Anarchy
Longmire
Game of Thrones
Jack Taylor
Grace and Frankie
I know there are more. One of these days I’ll try Grey’s Anatomy.
@lisaviolet I’m debating getting Netflix just for Longmire. Reading the books now.
Current Sci-Fi: The Expanse.
Classic Sci-Fi: Babylon 5. The real treat is re-watching it and really seeing the 5 year storyline unfold. Noticing setups in early season 1 that weren’t paid off for several years.
And of course Doctor Who, but that’s nearly a bottomless pit if you include the old stuff.