QotD: Set Your DVR

Sep 25, 2006 at 8:30 PM
4 comments

What TV show(s) will you be watching this season? Why?
Submitted by ducnly.vox.com.

Lost - (but I will bail as soon as it becomes Gilligan's Island).
Deadwood - Season's over, but whenever those mini-movies come out I'm there.
The Wire - As Tom (Tom Talk tom) said earlier today, it's the best show about work in the history of television. It just happens to take place in the world of police, drug dealers, longshoremen, and politicians, but it could be about any job and any company.
The Sopranos - whenever the next "this season" is.

Between those and sports, I'm pretty good.

A quick programming note for our viewers at home: coming up on Extraface -- the hobby roll call.

4 comments

Tags:

qotd,
fall tv

Comments

Pretty much the same. I want to like the Wire but I think I need to delve into the early DVDs first--it was under my radar when it started.

Deadwood is fantastic and I'm annoyed Max (aka Mr. "Is this something you need to have a television to know about?") is discouraged with it. You need a while to get into the convoluted language and relationships, and this last season was some of the best TV I've ever seen.

I feel Lost is on the verge of silly, but I watched last season avidly, even though ABC made some dumb scheduling decisions. I watch it for the puzzles and speculation more than anything.

Couple of suggestions:
> House is great, Hugh Laurie does an impressively accurate American accent, and the writers clearly have fun with it. Look for the sometimes obvious Sherlock Holmes shout-outs.

> Weeds is very funny. I have never been impressed with the Showtime original series until this one.

Count me into the "would like to get into the Wire but after I see the early episodes first" camp. I think it's mostly a novelty thing, seeing as the show is filmed 45 minutes from here. I certainly spent my fair share of time in Baltimore waiting around to see if I could catch Richard Belzer outside in a non-work moment for the same reason when Homicide was on the air.

I will warn you both, watching the first episode of The Wire can feel like school. The first time I watched it I couldn't follow it at all, because they don't spoon-feed you exposition and it's tough to keep track of all the characters. It really turned me off the whole show on the first viewing. But about a year later I gave it another try and that time it really grabbed me.

I know that's not the way to get people to watch a show, but The Wire is a wily mistress and should be initially approached with care.

Once it's sunk it's teeth into you, you can play the "which Wire character am I feeling like today" game with me.

P.S. With the possible exception of the Joss Whedon franchise, I can't think of another television show creator working today that has this much sack: "We would certainly lose some viewers: those who did not devote enough effort to follow the intricate story, those who gave it their all but were confused nonetheless, and those who, expecting an episodic television drama, would be bored to death by the novelistic pace of [the show]."

QotD: Set Your DVR

Comments

Post a comment

About Me

Me's Elsewhere

Neighborhood

Tags

Archives